Irish bucket list (outside Dublin )

Continuing from Dublin bucket list and that old post from 2008, on the 10 best things to do in Ireland, here's my Irish bucket list (omitting Dublin ):

• See Fungi the dolphin in Dingle, and have a swim with Dustin in Doolin.   ✔ ✔
• Visit Newgrange   ✔
• Visit the Titanic exposition in Belfast   ✔✔
• lock-in a pub ( not necessarily drunk).  ✔
• See the Giant Causeway  ✔
• Games Of Thrones film location road trip:
• Tollymore Forest Park.
• Castle Ward.
• The Dark Edges.
• Downhill Strand.
• Ballintoy.
• Shillanavoghy Valley.
• Walk to the top of Croagh Patrick
• A road trip along the Atlantic Film Trail:
• Leenane (Movie: The Field)
• Cong (Movies: The Quiet Man, The Purple Taxi) ✔
• Roundstone (Movie: Into the west)
• Dingle Peninsula (Movies: Far and Away, Ryan's daughter) ✔
• Derrynane (Movie: Excalibur)
• Union Hall (Movie: The War of the button) ✔
• Kilmichael - Co Cork (Movie: The wind that shakes the barley)
• Youghal (Movie: Moby Dick)
• See the Cliffs of Moher ✔ - bonus: On a boat from the sea. ✔
• Walk the Wicklow way / St Kevin's Way
• Climb Mount Brandon (Kerry)
• Mountain bike in Ballyhoura. ✔
• Cycle the Great Western Greenway (Mayo)
• Cycle the Dublin-Galway Greenway (once completed)
• Visit the Japanese Garden in Tramore
• Cycle the Great Southern Trail
• Pub in session in the Salty dog in Kilkee. ✔
• Surf on the Clare coast. ✔
• Scuba-diving the following sites:
• Down the Skelligs. ✔
• Kilkee. ✔✔✔✔✔✔✔✔✔✔✔✔✔✔
• Inishboffin. ✔
• Hook Head. ✔
• U boat in Cork.
• Spend a week on an island off the west coast of Ireland. ✔
• Father Ted Festival
• Electric Picnic. ✔ ✔
• Body & Soul. ✔
• Sea Session. ✔
• Climb Carrauntoohill. ✔
• Attend a Munster Hurling Final in Semple Stadium.
• Listen to ghost stories in Kinsale. ✔
• Watch the sunset over Rock of Cashel. ✔
• Circumnavigate Ireland in a sea kayak.
• Sea Kayak expedition in the following:
• Kerry
• Tramore ✔
• Cork
• Dublin Bay
• Clare Coast.
• A night out in a Doolin or Brandon pub. ✔
• Spend a night on one of the Aran Island, after a day of cycling, you'll enjoy the best Guinness in the world. ✔
• Drink a pint in the South Pole Inn, on your way to Dingle. ✔
• Have an unexpected encounter with sharks on the west coast of Ireland (basking or blue). ✔
• Climb all the way up to the Skelligs.
• Participate to a Currach race down in Kerry or a Galway Hooker race up to the Arans.

My Dublin bucket list

My irish Dublin bucket list, largely inspired by French Foodie ( See her's http://www.frenchfoodieindublin.com/2015/12/my-dublin-bucket-list.html )

• Kayaking on the royal/grand canal.
• Cycle along the royal canal. (grand canal too).
• Swimming at the 40 foot.
• Visit St. Valentine in Whitefriar Street Church.
• Visit the Teeling Whiskey distillery.
• See the Final of the Hurling GAA championship in Croke Park, if possible featuring Limerick - Might have to wait a long time for that one.
• Go to a show in the Abbey Theatre.
• See the deers in the Phoenix Park.
• Cycle in Phoenix Park.
• Cycle in Clontarf.
• Visit Jeanie Johnston tall ship and famine museum.
• Visit the National Gallery of Ireland. - the restaurant is very decent, but so far I have not been to the gallery itself.
• Visit the Dublin Writers Museum.
• Visit the Áras an Uachtaráin.
• Sail in Dublin Bay.
• Visit the Irish National War Memorial Gardens.
• Go see Roller Derby in Tallaght (National Basketball Arena)
• Go to the National Aquatic Centre.
• Yoga in Ranelagh / Yoga in the Park or Yoga by the sea (Sandymount ).
• Go to the Gravediggers pub.
• Hill walk up to the Hell Fire Club.
• Walk the Dodder all the way to Lansdowne road.
• Have a bite in the following restaurants:
• Super Miss Sue
• Anything suggested by French Foodie

And my completed ones:

• I saw the Book of Kells: the long hall of the library was way more awesome than the book itself - you can only see one page.
• Visit the Guinness Storehouse: Good one, especially for the very special treat of savoring a pint of Guinness while enjoying a 360 view of Dublin.
• Visit the Little Museum of Dublin: So much to see in this tiny space, a little capharnaüm-esque. I wish the museum was somehow bigger, and there were more signs telling the story of each artifact - maybe in audio format. The guides are excellent and full of stories... don't just go there to watch the items, the stories are what makes the whole experience exhilarating.
• Boating in Dublin Bay - cruise from Dun Laoghaire to Howth.
• Eat a Dublin coddle: not sure I got what so fantastic about them, nice dish, I will probably get it the next time I see it on a menu. Pity, it is so rare to find a place which serves them in Dublin. Maybe an additional excuse to go to the gravedigger.
• Go to Johnnie Fox's: fun
• Visit the Old Jameson Distillery: Quite disappointed to be honest, I enjoyed more the Bushmills tour.
• See a GAA match in Croke Park: seen a few hurling and Football, most notably on the St Patrick.
• See a rugby match in Lansdowne road:
• France and Ireland: It was friendly, and France won .... woot
• European Cup: ASM vs Leinster, and Clermont Won.... woot
• European Cup Final: ASM vs Toulon :( we shall not talk about Alesia...
• Visit the National Botanic Gardens: Excellent, especially for kids, there is also a lovely one in Wicklow.
• Visit the Dublin Zoo: Brilliant... will return soon, and more often, my favorites: the sea lions, the otters and the red panda.
• Visit the Glasnevin cemetery : the fascinating story of the place itself and then people stories, do the guided tour, learn how enemies ended up buried feet from each other. There is a documentary worth watching: "One Million Dubliners" directed by Aoife Kelleher.
• Visit the Irish museum of Modern Art: good one, the ground are excellent for kids running, and there is a tea room for mammy to relax.
• Visit the National Museum of Ireland: If only to see some of the Eileen Gray stuff, or the military area, do take the trip to see the Asgard ship.
• Go to Forbidden Fruit.
• Go see the miniature model train in Marlay park.
• Visit and Buy a book in those brilliant bookshops:
• Hodges Figgis
• The winding Stair
• Have tea and tart in the Queen of Tarts.
• Visit the Archeology part of the National Museum - an amazing collection.
• Visit the dead animal museum - more interesting than i thought, but not buggy friendly.
• Visit Dublin Castle.
• Take a stroll along the great south walk wall, (poolbeg lighthouse walk).
• Take a stroll along the north bull wall (Clontarf).
• Have a drink in those pubs - highly recommended
• Izakaya
• Stag's Head
• Against the grain
• Anseo
• The Bernard shaw
• Have a bite in the following restaurants:
• Yamamori

The dodder ....

And this is how we started exploring the dodder ....

Where you can see a Rhino in the river

Rhino

A Weir

weir

Two Pals looking for grub.

Fishing

Chilling under trees

chilling water

Under the trees

Iceland - a first visit

So last weekend we travelled to Iceland, a brilliant birthday from my adorable girlfriend.

HALLGRÍMSKIRKJA CHURCH

Graf Reykjavik

 

Geysers

Misc

Not much to say except that I hope to come back.

Looking back at 2015... and moving on

2015 was a weird year for me, despite my vows (expressed in that post).
It felt like nothing much happened, that I was stuck in static place, and yet I am ending the year with the biggest event of my life: becoming a father.

A year which saw an imbecile and horrific attack on the newspaper which embodied my student spiritual life (Charlie Hebdo ), the resulting death of Wolinsky and Cabu.
At the beginning of the year, I thought I'd be

I have been a shitty friend throughout 2015, to some people going through hardship. Once more I gave up on the leading diver exams, I did not blog and write as much.....
That year felt like hibernating and now I am a dad....

Reading and watching Science Fiction

I have rekindled recently with reading Science Fiction books, in great part because I discovered ( probably a bit late compare to everyone else ), this "weird" author that is China Miéville.
So far I devoured "Embassytown" and "Perdido Street Station". The universe he described are something I rarely seen before, mixing steam-punk, with insects and other weird world descriptions, pulp, horror.

List SF authors and books  which had the most influence on me:

• Jules Vernes: 20000 miles under the sea but more importantly Robur the Conqueror.

• Philip Kindred Dick: The Man in the high castle, Dr Bloodmoney, Time out of JOint

• H.G.Wells: the invisible man, The Island of Doctor Moreau. The Time Machine

• Frederic Brown: Martians Go Home, What Mad Universe

• H.P.Lovecraft

• Richard Matheson: I am a legend

• John Brunner: Stand on Zanzibar

• Robert A. Heinlein: Starship Troopers

• Arthur C.Clarke

• A.E. Van Vogt

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Christophe's sf book montage

Christophe's favorite books »

[Overdue post] Diving weekend 2015 ...the story so far...

Much overdue post, just couple of pictures of diving weekends.

Connemara with Aughinish, in April.

Cleggan beach Snorkelling time.

Maybe Badger from the wind in the willows, decided to move to the seaside...