The first magnet I ever collected was from Dublin, Ireland, and it was a fuzzy, wool & wooden, sheep. I had never planned on collecting magnets, as I thought they looked cheesy on a fridge. But when I moved into a new place and the fridge was a hideous off-beige, and so the magnet collecting began. Souvenir Saturday is an every-other week series on the items that represent travel memories.
Today is my birthday, and I've hit the "Big 3-0". I wanted to look back at 30 of my favorite travel memories in my life, in no particular order: Fulfilling my dream of going to Egypt, seeing so many amazing tombs and temples Sitting alone in the temples of Abu Simbel and Karnak Climbing into and on top of a pyramid Wandering the Christmas Markets of Munich Seeing the castles of Germany Taking a haunted trolly/walking tour of Boston graveyards. Seeing as many museums as I could in Washington, DC Swimming with sharks in Belize Racing golf-carts on Caye Caulker Making
Bodhrán, an Irish Drum with a "tipper" to play it. I remember in middle school, my dad found his old drum set. I had fun watching him play, and even attempted some beats myself. So when I saw this drum in Ireland I brought it home so I'd have my own little drum. It is a Bodhrán, a drum that is opened at the back, and is nicknamed the "poor man's Tamborine". You can hear how it is traditionally played. I found this drum in the shops near Blarney Castle. The back of the drum. Souvenir Saturday
Ireland was the first trip abroad where I was able to and wanted to drink. Thankfully Ireland has no shortages of drinking establishments, and none are so iconic as the traditional Irish pub. So on our first night my family and I headed out to the Temple Bar district of Dublin to get a drink. At first we tried a pint of Guinness for its 250th anniversary, but no one in our family really liked it. I wasn't surprised as I actually hate most beer. But we did greatly enjoy the traditional pub atmosphere and we learned a lot of drinking
A quirky souvenir to bring back from Ireland is a Peat (or as its often called Turf) incense burner as its said there is no other smell that will certainly bring back memories like a Turf fire! Peat is the most common fuel that the Irish burn due to the countries many bogs which produce it. It comes from the accumulation of decaying plant and organic matter over thousands of years in natural wet/acidic bogs and mires. To harvest the peat by hand it is cut out of the earth with sharp hoes, then compressed, and then dried out as
My first indication that my trip to Ireland would be unusual was at customs. My sister and I waited together and when we stepped up we answered the usual questions. When the younger custom agent asked us what we were doing we explained we were going on a tour. Curious he asked us which tour company and we said CIE. He then just started laughing at us. “You certainly are screwing with their demographics aren’t you?” He said still laughing. Confused we tried to find out what he meant, but he only replied “You’ll find out soon enough!” And boy
BuzzFeed recently had an article about the sounds from Italy that will fill you with Wanderlust. And it reminded me of all the sounds I associate with certain trips. Here are some of my top highlights that will instantly take me back in time: Toronto: Theme from House of Cards Google Play and Amazon had the first episode of House of Cars for free. I figured, sure why not, lets see what the hype is all about. I watched the first episode on my flights out...and got hooked. At night I'd watch House of Card before falling asleep. San Diego:
I was on my last afternoon in Ireland, and had a lot of euro coins left over. Knowing that my bank won't exchange coins, was buying random souvenirs as gifts. One of the last items I bought was a small county flag of Dublin, Ireland. I had seen them around while traveling and they reminded me of the flags of the different contrade of Siena. But when I returned home and open the package, I found that this 7 euro flag, was not a small flag. But it was actually the size of a traditional flag (about the size of a
An Irish Sheep with colors on its back. Ireland is full of 3 things: Pubs, Churches, and Sheep. In 2009 I visited southern Ireland for a few weeks. One thing I thought was out of the ordinary was the different colors on the sheep. Some markings are to help determine the owner of the sheep, as sometimes sheep from multiple farms are kept on the same land together. But other color markings are during the breeding season. The male sheep, a ram, has a harness installed near his neck that contains an animal friendly dye. When he mounts