A Nerd Travels

This vacation was so, so needed.

Sean and I recently took a vacation to Ireland and the UK. It was. The. Best. 

Let’s start with Ireland: We flew into Dublin and picked up a rental car so that we could drive out to the west coast of Ireland. On our way out there, we took the top route that you see in the map below. We took the bottom route (with a slight detour) on our way back to Dublin.

Thankfully, Sean did all of the driving. He did so well, too! It still blows my mind that we can show up in a foreign country–one that drives on the opposite side of the road than were used to–and they’re just like “Here’s a car. Drive on the left. Don’t ding it up.” ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Doolin and the Cliffs of Moher

One of the things that I was most excited about during our stay in Ireland was seeing the Cliffs of Moher. In order to do that, we stayed in a small town, called Doolin (in an ADORABLE airbnb). Doolin was only about 15-20 minutes away from the Cliffs, by car. 

The Cliffs of Moher were absolutely incredible. We had originally planned to spend several hours there, hiking along the coast. However, while we were there, a storm was moving in, so it was even more windy than usual. I mean it was difficult to walk safely at times. So, we only got to spend about an hour there. Still, so worth it. 

Depending on whether the sun was peeking out from behind the clouds, the Cliffs look drastically different.

One of the most important things that happened during our trip is discovering that I NOW LOVE GUINNESS! Who knew? 

I think that my tastes may have changed since I started drinking cold brew coffee last summer. And since Guinness has some toasty coffee flavors, I guess that sort of thing now tastes good to me. Whatever the reason, Sean (a Guinness aficionado) is very excited about it.

In the picture below, I’m downing a Guinness at McGann’s Pub after our visit to the Cliffs. What you don’t see in that picture is that we were sitting next to a hearth with a roaring fire, warming up after being out in the cold and wind. While there, we drank some beers, and ate bonkers delicious fish and chips and beef Guinness stew. It is one of my favorite moments of the entire trip.

Burren National Park

When it came time to head back to Dublin, we made a pit stop along the way and stopped at Burren National Park. The Burren was really interesting and beautiful in its own way. Unfortunately, the same storm that cut our time at the Cliffs of Moher short caught up with us, and cold and driving rain forced us back into the car.

 

Kilkenny

On our way back to Dublin, we made sure to take a detour and stop in Kilkenny. Why, you might ask? Well, the Smithwick’s brewery is located in Kilkenny. 

Admittedly, it’s more of a museum than anything. Brewing takes place in Dublin now. But it was still pretty cool. Plus we got to enjoy the tasting room at the end of the tour.

Dublin

We tried to cram as much as possible into our time in Dublin. One of the first things that we did was tour the Guinness Storehouse. I keep telling people that Sean was more excited for that tour than he was for our wedding day. This is only a slight exaggeration.

Similar to Smithwick’s, the Guinness Storehouse is more of a museum (albeit a very informative one!) than a functioning brewery. Still very worthwhile and interesting. 

I was particularly excited to see The Long Room of the Old Library at Trinity College Dublin. It is simply gorgeous. I mean, just look at it. It also smells so good. As soon as you walk into the room, you’re hit with the smell of old books. 

We also toured Dublin Castle, which was not at all like the image that I have in my mind when I ordinarily think “castle”.

What trip to Dublin would be complete without a whiskey tasting or two? On the advice of friends who had previously been to Dublin (as well as Dublin locals), we skipped out on a Jameson Distillery tour. And tbh, I don’t feel bad about it.

Our hotel was located in an area of Dublin (the Liberties) that was rich in history AND distilleries. We stayed just around the corner from the Teeling Whiskey Distillery. We toured the distillery–which is actually a working distillery (in contrast to the breweries that we visited, which were basically museums)–and learned a lot about whiskey. I’ve always loved whiskey, but admittedly didn’t know a ton about it before this trip. And of course, we did a tasting at the end of the tour. My favorite souvenir from our trip is a bottle of single grain whiskey from Teeling.

A new distillery had opened up about 2 weeks before our trip, and it was right. across. the. street. from our hotel. Perfect. We toured the Dublin Liberties Distillery (also a working distillery) and did a tasting. The photo below is from this distillery. Again, it was super informative (and delicious). I’d definitely recommend doing one or both of these tours if you’re in Dublin.

 

We also made it a point to see a lot of churches while in Dublin. I love old churches. The one pictured below is Christ Church Cathedral. Even if religion isn’t really your thing (for instance, I grew up Catholic, but don’t practice anymore), I think you would appreciate these beautiful buildings and the history behind them.

I already wish that we could go back

It’s still a little hard to believe that the trip has come and gone. We had talked about visiting Ireland for years. If it wasn’t for us missing our dog so much (we really did), I think we might have been content to stay a lot longer.

All in all, I feel really good about what we did and saw while there. We got to spend a good bit of time in Dublin and enjoy all that the city has to offer, but also saw the countryside and spent time in the tiny town of Doolin. 10/10, would go back in a heartbeat (and hopefully will!).

The weekend that we got back to Durham, I immediately whipped up some Guinness Beef Stew. I would really like to share it with you all. However, the current Spring weather isn’t exactly conducive to hearty Irish comfort food. So you’ll have to stay tuned and wait until the Fall/Winter to see some Irish dishes!

Interested in my other European adventures?

• Check out the time that my mom and I spent in Munich, Germany in Fall of 2018
• Sean and I spent some time in Florence, Rome, and Cinque Terre, Italy in 2017

In September of 2018, I was fortunate enough to attend a conference in Munich, Germany. I brought my mom with me, and we made a vacation out of it. Though this wasn’t my first trip to Germany (I spent a few days in Berlin in May of 2018 for work), this was the longest stretch of time that I spent in the country. We got to explore Munich proper, as well as take some trips out fo the city.

We spent a lot of time in the city itself. We spent time in the city’s main square, Marienplatz. I probably took more photos of this building (Neues Rathaus = New City Hall) than anything else during the entire trip.

It goes without saying, but the architecture is just beautiful. It was pretty rainy the day that we arrived in Munich, but the weather improved markedly later in the trip.

We really leaned in to being tourists and took a bus tour. You’ll see my mom, below, living that bus tour life.

You could hop on and off the bus at predetermined stops. One of those stops was Schloss Nymphenburg (or Nymphenburg Palace). There were large, beautiful grounds surrounding the palace.

My mom also managed to not be attacked by a swan while at the palace. Swans are real jerks, amirite?

We also made a visit to the Deutsches Jagd und Fischereimuseum (Museum of Hunting and Fishing), which was very cool. As a hunter and fisherman myself, I really appreciated it. But I think that even non-sportsmen would appreciate it, too. It was very pretty and interesting.

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We also took a day trip to Neuschwanstein Castle in Schwangau, Germany. This is the castle that inspired Cinderella’s castle in Disney.

Schwangau is technically in the Bavarian Alps. Honestly, the scenery on the train ride alone made the trip worth it. Heart eyes emojis x10.

To get there, we had to take a train from Munich to Füssen, and then a bus from Füssen to Schwangau. Once in Schwangau, you can either walk, take a bus (what we did), or a horse and carriage up to the castle (see below). The castle is in the background.

Once further up the mountain, the views were so, so pretty. Behind my mom, and in the picture below it, you can see another castle (Hohenschwangau).

 

You have to walk a bit further up the mountain to get to the castle. Unfortunately, they didn’t allow any photos inside.

There’s also a bridge, called Marienbrücke (Queen Mary’s Bridge), that offers incredible views of the castle. It is very high up, and definitely made me a bit wobbly when walking out onto it. I took a few photos very quickly and then got off of the bridge.

See what I mean about the Alps? <3

And I haven’t even talked about the food. So. Much. Pork. I’m not complaining, but dang. Pork, cabbage, and carbs were on the menu for nearly every meal. And the beer! So much good beer.

I feel really fortunate that I got to go on this trip, and especially to have been able to go with my mom. Bavaria was incredible. 10/10 would visit again.

So, yes. I took this trip almost a year and a half ago at this point. But now that I’ve finally started reliving our trip to Italy through food (see Pasta all’Amatriciana and Cacio e Pepe), sharing these photos felt a bit more exciting.

Our trip was bookended by time spent in Rome with a trip to Florence in the middle. While in Florence, we took a bus to Cinque Terre–Five Lands, in Italian–to do a little hiking with a couple of friends. Cinque Terre is actually a collection of 5 villages set in the rugged coast of northwestern Italy.

The villages are pretty remote. Our tour guide (who was FANTASTIC) told us that a lot of the time, supplies actually need to be taken to the villages via helicopter.

First, the bus took us to Manarola, the first of the Five Lands. 

After checking out Manarola for a little while, we were bussed to the next village: Corniglia. To get to Corniglia from where the bus let us off, we had to trudge up 382 steps. It was worth it, though. Because, well, take a look at how pretty the town was.

We ate lunch at a restaurant that purported to have invented pesto. Regardless of whether that’s true, lunch (pesto pasta + a variety of seafood) was very good.

Then the hiking began. I won’t lie to you. It was pretty strenuous (lots of steep stairs!). But even my overweight, out of shape self made it in one piece.

During the hike we overlooked the Tyrrhenian Sea (so blue!) and could see little towns in the distance.

The hike culminated in Vernazza, the next village. Again, super beautiful.

Figuring I deserved it after the hiking, I treated myself to some really amazing gelato (pistachio and some kind of fig business). I also dipped my feet into the sea. It was very cold.

After being allowed to explore Vernazza for a little while, we hopped on a train and took a short trip to Monterosso al Mare. Not shown in the photos below, there were a lot of people sunbathing on the beach. Lots of Speedos. A few couples were getting a little explicit in the sand.

Another short train trip took us to the last village: Riomaggiore.

By this time, we were all pretty exhausted. But we trudged up and down the steep streets, exploring the village. The sunset really made things look beautiful.

From there, we took a train back to the bus and drove back to Florence. All told, the trip took a little more than 12 hours.

The pictures above hardly do the area justice. The landscape and houses were really vibrantly colored (not always accurately captured via my iPhone’s camera). It also seemed like everywhere you looked, people were growing lots of Meyer lemons.

10/10 would definitely (and hope to!) visit again. If you are ever able to, I can’t recommend visiting Cinque Terre highly enough.

So, you’ve seen some pictures from our time in Rome. Next, let’s head to Florence.

We took a high speed train from Rome to Florence. This is something that I really wish we had more of in the U.S. It cut what is usually a 3.5 hour drive down to only 1.5 hours.

Our first day in Florence, we did a lot of walking. Actually, we did a ton of walking each day we were there. I’m talking 20,000 steps a day without even trying.

We made our way to Ponte Vecchio, which literally means “old bridge.” It is, as the name might lead you to believe, an old bridge. It has shops (mostly pretty touristy stuff) along the bridge, which used to be common, but you don’t see it very often anymore. There we are, on the bridge.

The following picture is a view of Ponte Vecchio from atop another bridge further down the Arno River.

Just like in Rome, there were lots of old, beautiful churches. This is Santa Maria Novella

And of course, we spent a lot of time in Piazza del Duomo. You can climb to the top of both the dome of the Duomo as well as Giotto’s Bell Tower, if you’re up for it. After some research and asking around, I found that the Bell Tower involves a slightly less claustrophobia-inducing climb. So we went that route.

You can see the dome of the Duomo in the picture below.

This is the Bell Tower. 414 steps will take you to the top.

This is the front of the Cattedrale di Santa Maira del Fiore, along with the Bell Tower (on the right).

Waiting in line, looking up and anticipating the climb.

The climb up to the top of the Bell Tower is narrow, and can make you feel pretty claustrophobic. The stairwell gets more narrow the higher you climb, and gets to the point that it’s pretty difficult to have folks going up and down the steps at the same time. I took this picture on one of the small landings while waiting for people to go up the steps before we could continue on our way back down.

One of the great things about climbing the Bell Tower is that you are afforded gorgeous views of the Duomo and pretty much all of Florence.

Aside from sightseeing, we ate so much fantastic food. In fact, I would say that the best meal during our entire time in Italy was eaten in Florence. If you ever go, please seek out Osteria Vini e Vecchi Sapori. It’s a small restaurant (make a reservation!) with a handwritten menu that changes daily. I had pasta with zucchini flowers and a saffron ricotta cream sauce. Amazing.

Of course, even in Italy, Sean had to find an Irish pub and have a Guinness. This was right after we climbed the Bell Tower.

Here’s a link to the post about our time in Rome, in case you missed it!

Yes! Sean and I went to Italy last month! If you follow me on Instagram or follow the blog’s page on Facebook, you have likely seen a few photos already.

One of the annual scientific conferences that I attend was in Florence this year. Sean came with (of course), and we we decided to make a proper vacation of it by tacking on a few extra days before and after the meting so we could do some sightseeing. Our itinerary went like this: Rome –> Florence (+ a day trip to Cinque Terre) –> Rome. I’ll be sharing photos from Florence and Cinque Terre soon, but let’s start with Rome.

One of the first things that we did was go see the Colosseum. We’re all more or less familiar with the Colosseum, right? I think it’s probably the most easily recognizable of the ancient landmarks in Rome.

When you get off of the Metro at the Colosseo stop, it’s right there. First thing you see when you walk up the steps and out of the metro station is the Colosseum. It’s just there, in the middle of modern day Rome.

It’s incredibly impressive, both in size and also in terms of how old it is. It was built between 70 and 80 AD. You can see that the skies were pretty overcast and dreary looking; this was the worst of the weather that we experienced the entire time that we were there. We were really lucky.

Speaking of the Roman Metro system, all of the train cars are tagged up like this. Really, a good bit of the city is covered in graffiti. I think that, in the U.S. at least, we tend to equate graffiti with a geographic area not being the nicest or safest. Broken windows theory, and all that. Not so in Rome. From what we saw, most buildings were tagged. And really, a lot of it was beautiful or at least interesting to look at.

We briefly visited the Trevi Fountain, which was super crowded but also beautiful.

We also visited quite a few old Catholic churches. They were, of course, very beautiful. The photo below was taken in The Basilica of Santa Sabina, which was completed in the year 432. I lit a candle there.

This wooden door was in the Church of San Saba (13th century). It was almost directly across the street from the Airbnb we stayed in during the 2nd portion of our stay in Rome.

For me, (despite not being a very good Catholic) there’s something seriously comforting about the fact that all Catholic churches smell the same. Even the really old ones. And the ones that are 5,000 miles from home.

There’s an area in Rome called the Aventine Hill. It’s one of the seven hills on which ancient Rome was built. It has orange gardens (below), and is where the Basilica of Santa Sabina (the church with the painted ceiling, above) is located. There’s also a really nice view of some of the city, as well as the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. Unfortunately, I only brought my iPhone with me, and wasn’t able to take very clear photos of the view.

Also on Aventine Hill is The Aventine Keyhole. It’s literally a keyhole in a door. When you peer through it, you see a treelined path, and framed perfectly within the opening at the end is the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica. I couldn’t get my phone to focus on the dome, but you get the idea.

We also took a rather abbreviated trip to Vatican City. We made it through a good bit of the Vatican museums, and saw the Sistine Chapel. However, I was battling bronchitis at the end of our trip, and was fading quickly. We saw the line to enter St. Peter’s Basilica, and I knew that I just couldn’t make it. We turned around and went back to our Airbnb. I tell myself that we’ll just have to go back some day to finish what we started.

Our time in Rome was incredible. The city is large and bustling, the people friendly to American tourists, and the food and wine were delicious. I would love to go back some day to see things that we couldn’t squeeze in this time around.

Stay tuned for more photos from our time in Florence and Cinque Terre!

 

I haven’t blogged about travel in a while.  Probably because I haven’t really gone anywhere since heading to Palm Springs for CPDD over the summer.  This is just now striking me as a little depressing.  At any rate…

Almost a month ago, Sean and I spent a long weekend in Charleston, SC.  Neither of us had ever been, and we were in desperate need of a trip that didn’t involve holiday-related travel.  Luckily Charleston is only about 4 hours away from Durham.  So, we used Airbnb (first time; definitely using it again!), hopped in the car with Maeby, and went.

The focus of the trip was on relaxation, so we didn’t get to do everything we wanted to do.  But we’ll be back.  While we were there, we ate a lot of amazing food and did some exploring.

We spent an afternoon at Folly Beach.  We ate a fantastic brunch (Lost Dog Cafe ftw), walked on the beach, and took a short hike out to the Morris Island Lighthouse.

 

After another delicious brunch at Fat Hen (thanks for the recommendation, Megan!), we also saw the Angel Oak: a big ass, super old tree.  It’s 500 years old!  It was beautiful and very impressive.

All in all, we had a really fun time.  The city is vibrant and charming, with beautiful architecture.  The food was pretty incredible.  We were able to recharge our batteries while exploring a new city.  We will definitely be back.

Hey all!  Things have been a little slower than usual around here lately, I know.  We have multiple grant submission deadlines as well as work-related and personal travel to thank for that.

I also haven’t shared one of these posts in a while.  It’s not that I haven’t been traveling (Phoenix last June, Chicago in March, etc.), I guess I’ve just forgotten to take pictures.

At any rate, I was in Palm Springs, CA last month for an annual conference.  The conference was held at the La Quinta Resort.  I shared many of these on my Instagram account, so some of you may have seen them already.

The resort itself is pretty cool.  It’s kind of sprawling, has a bunch of pools, and is surrounded on 3 sides by these amazing jagged looking mountains.  I don’t have many photos of the resort itself, mostly because I had been there 4 years ago and wasn’t super concerned with taking pictures this time around.

We went hiking at Mount San Jacinto State Park.  You take a tram two and a half miles up the mountain. Once at the top, you’re at a height of 8,516 feet.

Even though it’s like 100 degrees (not an exaggeration) in Palm Springs, because of the elevation it’s cool and very comfortable at the top of the mountain.  Perfect for hiking and not wanting to melt/die because of the heat.

Next up was Joshua Tree National Park.  It’s absolutely breathtaking.  So, so different than anything we have on the East coast.

Among the sand and rocks (many of which you can scramble on top of for really nice views), there are cacti and short scrubby sorts of plants, but also these gnarled, weathered trees that I couldn’t get enough of.

In the picture below, you’ll see some Joshua Trees.  They are, not surprisingly, everywhere within the park.

I have a serious soft spot in my heart for national parks.  I like to say that if I weren’t involved in science, that I’d love to work for the National Park Service.  Maybe if academia doesn’t pan out?

 

While I was editing these photos a bit, I realized that they were taken not this past summer, but the summer before (2013).  It’s a little hard to believe that it’s been so long.

Sean and I went canoeing on the Potomac River in Maryland with our friends, Melissa and Kevin.  The weather was perfect, and we had a blast.

I took these pictures with my little Canon PowerShot S95, which now that I think about it, gets pretty neglected since I got my DSLR.  I’m honestly not sure if they even make it anymore, but it’s a great little camera.

If you’re in the area, and are into outdoorsy kinds of things, I’d totally recommend paddling down the Potomac.