IRELAND — Day 4

December 27, 2008

Jona and I spent the last full day of our trip at the cliffs on the eastern coast of Ireland:

The area (called Howth…rhymes with “both”) was so pretty that I’m gonna let the next 10 photos do the talking, although I will say quickly that the water you’re looking at is the Irish Sea:

Toward the end of our trek, I sat on the edge of a cliff:

Jona came over and joined me (her cousin Shane took the following photo) and we cheated death together:

It really was a long way down. Here’s what it looked like from where we were sitting. The red arrow (to provide some perspective) is pointing to a person who somehow found a way to climb down there:

It actually wasn’t that scary. But you know what is? Standing on the edge of the subway platform at 59th and Lexington during rush hour. Now THAT is something to think twice about.

Back in the adjacent village, the first few houses we passed were all spectacular:

It was already dark at 5pm when Shane took us into a pub to get hydrated and warm. He and Jona are sitting in the corner in the photo below:

Then we got a “take-away” order of fish and chips at this place…

…and walked to the edge of the village…

…where Seamus (Shane’s father) picked us up and drove us home.

In Ireland, there are all sorts of funny words for things…like, for example, the trunk of a car is called the “boot” and bathrooms are casually referred to as “toilets.” When it comes to food, chips are called “crisps” while french fries are inexplicably known as “chips.” That said, here’s what my fish (smoked cod) and “chips” looked like (after they were reheated and dumped on a plate):

We finished off the meal with a few mince pies:

After dinner, we watched several hilarious episodes of “Little Britain USA” and Jona spoke to one of her newly discovered half-brothers on the phone for the very first time.

Written by Zack Hample Posted in Dailies Tagged with cheating death, cliffs, fish and chips, getting fat, heart attack, howth, ireland, irish sea, lighthouse, little britain usa, mince pie, piggy-back ride, pub, weight watchers