Friday 19th June, 13.00 pm, somewhere between Donegal and Dublin.
I’m quiet. I’m as silent as serene Donegal, while we drive back to the city again. The only thing on my mind is how much I enjoyed driving through the amazing county and how much I’ll miss it. There’s a song on the radio, something about leaving and a parachute. Edd says he likes it. I do too, though neither of us heard it before. Sweet as Edd is, he planned the trip back past more beautiful places like Sligo and something called ‘Dooney Rock’. But slowly we’re going into another world.
Saturday 20th June, 14.00 pm, in the city of Dublin again.
We had booked another night at the same hotel as the one we started this trip with, so we could easily go to the airport today. When we checked in, this guy said it was a shame we were only staying one night, but he didn’t know it would be our third this week really. He explained where room number 31 was, but I said I knew, as we had 30 the other days. He joked that this one was better. It was really though! Anyway, we had dinner at the same nice place we had dinner the first night and I slowly had to get used to the idea of leaving. After we checked out again, we went for lunch in the city and we found it was a different place on Saturday. There’s lots of street artists here. One guy is singing and playing guitar as good as the Idols on X-factor. And there’s a guy with a dog. The dog is his sand sculpture!
Saturday 20th June, 22.00 pm, Edd’s home in Portsmouth.
The friendly sandy dog, would be one of the last things we saw in Neverneverland. Our plane was delayed and it took its time landing, while my left ear really gave me a hard time. I’m still deaf on that side and Edd and I are both tired. I’m glad I made the decision of having a short stop here, as I get foolishly sentimental when travelling back home from a wonderful time.
Tuesday 23rd June, 21.00 pm, my home in Heerlen.
I just typed out my notes, of which some I had scribbled down and some were just stuck in my head. I never really was a diary-writing person, but now I guess I am. Marcel was being a gentleman and picked me up from the station this afternoon. I pretty much went straight to bed though. Yes, in the middle of the day. It’s not the ferry’s fault, the beds are nice, but I was restless. It felt weird to be home again. I had to get used to the room, and my boots on the floor sounded different. I hate unpacking and I haven’t done it yet. I only took out the present for my mum, when she was just here to view the 589 pictures.
I have to get back to work again tomorrow, so I’m pretty much ‘back to reality’ again. There is a part missing in this diary though, which is the Galaxy Zoo meet-up in Oxford on Sunday and travelling with friends on the Monday. I’ll get those words on screen later though, I think I need more sleep first.
The forest at Dooney Rock, when on our way back.
I love the macro function.
Thank you Edd!
And I love all these lakes too!
Leaving the beautiful island… (Pictures: Hanny van Arkel).
3 Comments
What a lovely country it is, I really must go sometime. Thanks for opening my eyes!
Hanny, your stories really do manage to convey a dusting of the magic that is Erin. I hope that you will get the chance to go there aagain, you deserve it!
Oh! …and thanks for the pic of the shamrocks!
Ah thanks for those comments guys. It is really beautiful, so it is really hard to show that on a website, with just pictures and words even. I would love to go back some day indeed. And when I saw those shamrocks I had to take that pic. Real Irish shamrocks!