Ireland – JourneyToAnywhere

Day Six: Dublin

Woke up refreshed and ready to explore Dublin. I know you’ll be surprised to hear we didn’t leave the Gleich’s until 11:00. We headed to the light rail and rode into the center of Dublin. It was a beautiful and relatively warm day – in the mid-to-high fifties.

St. Stephen’s Green Entrance from Inside the Park

In the center of the city, is the beautiful St. Stephen’s Green, which reminded me of a miniature version of Central Park. We toured around and learned a bit about the history of Dublin.

One of Several Statues in St. Stephen’s Green

The next stop was the National Museum of Ireland Archaeology. There, we had our very first lunch! The most fascinating part, the most gruesome for the kids, was the Iron Age bog bodies. We saw four such partial bodies preserved in the bog with skin and hair still visible. At first, they believed that these were just accidental deaths but now they believe them to be human sacrifices associated with sovereignty and kingship rituals.

The Book of Kells was our final official tour in Dublin at Trinity College. It is said that four Celtic monks transcribed in Latin the four Gospels of the New Testament adding ornate drawings and a sort of calligraphy to the vellum pages in approximately 800 AD. These were most likely used as alter books in churches at the time Christians were converting the Irish to Catholicism.

The color is amazing after 1,000s of years.

The tour also consisted the Long Room, which is the historic “old library” of Trinity.

Beautiful two-story hall with busts lining the way.
*Picture courtesy of Book of Kells Twitter Feed

As we continued to walk around the city, we saw Dublin Castle, shops, pubs, and importantly ice cream shops. We ducked in one to enjoy a treat before jumping on the train to head back to the Gleich B&B.

Day Five: A Misstep But, Not All Was Lost

Late to rise was a definite theme to our trip. I guess that’s what happens when you carry two teenagers with you. It’s not as if Steve and I were too keen to get up at the crack of dawn. So, we missed breakfast again at the B&B. This enabled us to go back to Main/High Street do some souvenir shopping and head into a local eatery. The young-ish adults next to us at the table were clearly recovering from the previous night’s debauchery.

On the road again to Dublin with a stop off at Waterford. We chose that over Kilkenny because it was one of the oldest towns settled by the Vikings and of course the Waterford House where they make all the incredible crystal. Although interesting, there wasn’t much else to the Viking story other than a triangle of streets right on the river. We had just missed the Waterford tour so we jumped back in the car. Kilkenny would’ve been a much better choice and wouldn’t have taken us far out of our way. Lesson learned – If you only have 6 days in Ireland, skip Waterford!

We arrived at our friend’s house, Janel and Jon Gleich meeting their three absolutely lovely children. We knew Lennon (13), three when they left, and Finn (11), one when they left but had not met Nieve (6) who was born in Ireland. For those of you who might not know, I worked with Jon at Experient, my first job in Richmond and his first job ever! We became fast-friends (with Hampton & Mike Ford too). They were so gracious and we had a wonderful visit reminding me that they are two of my favorite people.

Finn and Nieve gave up their rooms and we had some of the best sleep we’ve had the entire trip.

Day Four: The Lucky Irish

Today, I woke to the sun shining brightly into the room. We have a beautiful view outside our attic window.

We had breakfast in the B&B and headed off to Killarney National Park. Our first stop was the famed Torc Waterfall. It was beautiful.

We drove a partial way around the Ring of Kerry. Absolutely stunning! Here are a couple of pictures (we have over 100 but won’t bore you with them all).

One of the Many Lakes in Killarney National Park

Ladies’ View
Received its Name from Queen Victoria’s Ladies’ Reaction to the View

After our hike, we walked into town to see the parade. We got a great spot right at the beginning on the corner.

Killarney Parade

Audrey, Steve and I ate green ice cream and headed back to the hotel for an early dinner and to bed.

Tomorrow there will be a lot of driving again as we meander through Ireland on our way to see our friends in Dublin.

PS – Hope everyone had a great St. Patrick’s Day!

The Rest of Day Three

We continue to pivot our plans throughout our trip. Getting to Killarney took a little longer than anticipated because of the holiday traffic.

After checking into the Killarney Inn (we have a room in the attic), we decided we only had time for one of our planned activities. So, we headed to Ross Castle and took a tour there.

We learned all about the Irish Chieftain who initially built it. Changing hands many times over, including English occupation and its use as barracks. Recently, an American purchased the castle and the lands to return it to the people of Ireland with the condition that it be restored to its original state and made into an attraction for Killarney.

Our guide told us of the harsh living in medieval times, from damp and dank castle living, respiratory issues from the rushlights (straw dipped into animal fat), to the lead poisoning they were receiving from the serving plates, it was no wonder that you were considered old in your 30s.

For dinner, we planned a traditional Irish feast at a restaurant on the main drag in Killarney. One end of the street was High, and the other was Main. I want to find out the story behind that as I’m sure there is one. We ate at Bricin , and it was, in fact, lavish.

We’re tucked away now in our attic room listening to hail hit the roof. Fingers crossed that tomorrow is sunny, or at least dry, for the parade and all the other St. Patrick’s day festivities.

Day Two and the Morning of Day Three

Yesterday morning we woke later than expected, so we missed breakfast at the hotel. We rallied and went to a recommended spot called Cupan Tae. It was super cute, the tea and hot chocolate was delicious, as was the scone. The kids got unbelievably thick pancakes that were also very good. Steve and I got the breakfast sandwich. We both thought the apply chutney would be on the side, not so. The sandwich was excellent but SWEET! It held us to dinner.

Cupan Tae
We sat right in the window with all the cups.

The rest of the morning was spent walking around Galway City. We were amazed by how many kegs were rolling into the bars getting ready for the St. Patrick’s Day weekend celebration. Cute shops and pubs lined the streets.

Galway City Quay Street Decked out for the St. Patrick’s Day Weekend

We then headed to the main attraction for the day the Cliffs of Moher. Despite the wintery mix and the fog, it was quite a sight. No words nor pictures do it justice.

After getting out of the cold for a moment at the visitor’s center, we headed to the Burren. It’s an area in which limestone covers the ground.

Much of Ireland was this way, and when they needed to start farming the land, they cleared and used them for the stones fences Ireland is so famous for.

Poulanabrone Dolmen is in the Burren; it’s a burial site even older than Newgrange. It was after 5:00 by the time we got there, and we had the spot all to ourselves.

By that time were starving. Both Steve and I were looking forward to eating at Moran’s Oyster Cottage on the Wild Atlantic Way. We love oysters from Virginia, so we planned to eat our weight in them. We got a half-dozen of the two types offered. When they “popped them down” on the table they were gorgeous. I took my first bite to discover the taste of the Atlantic Ocean. It turns out that the plate in front of me was “sweet” compared to the plate in front of Steve. We feel very lucky to live in Virginia and eat oysters from the bay.

The drive back to The House Hotel was about a half-hour, and we tucked the kids into the hotel and then Steve, and I ventured back out. Quay Street in the Latin Quarter was hoppin’. We ended up at a pub that had some live music, but disappointingly, it wasn’t trad. Feeling old, or maybe that was just me, after a drink or two we headed back to the hotel.

Our plan this morning was to wake up early but when I rolled over it was 9:30. We were well rested and didn’t even miss breakfast at the hotel. Wes and Steve both had a traditional Irish breakfast, Audrey had pancakes, and I had Egg’s Benedict. Yum! We’re now on our three-hour journey to Killarney (I’ll have to post this later) where we will spend the next two nights. The rest of the afternoon we’ll spend in Killarney National Park, which is part of the Ring of Kerry.

Summary of travel lessons:

Ask for sweet stuff on the side if you’re not used to it.

Try new things and appreciate what’s available to you at home.

Bring hiking boots or shoes. (My slip-on tennis shoes were very comfortable but got stuck in two inches of mud, and I pulled my foot right out of it).

Set your alarm!

Day One: Plan, but Go Where the Adventure Takes You

As soon as I hit “publish” on my last post, I heard what I thought was live music. I finished my coffee and went to where the crowd was gathering. Sure enough, a three-person Irish band and dancers were performing what I now know the Irish call, Trad.

I have a video of the dancers too, who were amazing but the file is too big right now to load it to the site.

Once my troops were gathered, we headed to pick up the rental car. Steve quickly got used to driving on the right side of the vehicle, and the left side of the road. We were off to Newgrage, which is north of Dublin.

If you want to learn a little bit about it, here’s a great website. But, of course, the pictures and description don’t do it justice. Newgrange is a sacred tomb and dates back 5,000 years (before Stonehenge). There are three such structures nearby, but Newgrange is the most visited.

As you can see, we dodged the rain while we were here and the sky was beautiful and sunny. The wind, however, was another story.

The rock carvings in the limestone are incredible. There are concentric circles, diamonds, triangles, and similar shapes. There are many, of these types of structure around Europe and Africa with similar markings but, so far, Newgrange is the only one that has three interlocking spiral circles.

The the most amazing part was that we were able to enter the tomb. No pictures though… The passageways were narrow and there were carvings throughout. Once you got in, there was a domed ceiling made out of nothing but stones. In the 5,000 years it has been standing, never has a drop of water fallen in. And, as our guide John joked, “That’s saying something in Ireland.”

During the winter solstices and at sunrise, for three days sunlight moves through the tomb. They recreated it while we were inside. I can only imagine the spectacle it is when it’s actual sunlight.

The walk back to the bus was beautiful too.

Audrey and I waiting for Steve and Wes to catch up after taking the second bus.

Wes and Steve with the foot bridge behind them.

This tour took much longer than expected, although everyone agreed it was worth it. We scrapped our visit to the Hill of Tara and jumped back into the car to make the three-hour drive to Galway.

No one slept or ate much on the plane so about 2 hours in, we decided we needed to stop to eat. We ended up in Athlone in County Westmeath right on the river Shannon. The restaurant we picked was delicious, and it was a great first dining experience.

About 4:30 we made it to The House Hotel in Galway, which we will be calling home for the next two nights. By the time we got here, it was raining. That was fine with us as we just wanted to crash. I slept until 10:00 and learned that Steve and Audrey had ventured out to grab a slice of pizza and a Guinness (just Steve).

The plan was to take a double-decker bus tour of Galway at 3:00 today, but we missed it. So, we’ll see what tomorrow brings. We may stay and discover the city a bit more, or we may venture out to the surrounding areas.

Hope all is well in the US. We can mark day one in Ireland as a grand success!

Good Morning, Dublin, Ireland

Eveyone was so friendly and dressed in shades of green!

And a really, really early morning it is. I flew from Richmond through Newark to Dublin. The rest of the family flew later via Philly and will arrive in Dublin three hours after I did. My body thinks it’s 3:23 a.m, but of course in Dublin is 7:23.

Lessons I’ve already learned…don’t fly through Newark if you can help it. It’s nasty looking, full of construction, and hard to get around. My United Airline’s flight was nice and the Are Lingus one was lovely. Although I had a middle seat, there was no one beside me on one side, so I had a little extra room. The flight was only 5 1/2 hours, so not enough time to really sleep. I probably got about 3 hours and not consecutively. My second lesson was don’t do a red-eye without a neck pillow. I gave mine to Audrey, so I hope she slept well. I woke myself up twice snoring – how embarrassing!

My third and final lesson (for now) is that, if you can help it, don’t check your bags, especially if you are waiting for your family for three hours at the airport. Once you’re through customs, you cannot go back into the airport. I could’ve taken advantage of the lounge, but I was worried about picking my luggage up at baggage retrieval (aka baggage claim), so I’m sitting in this lovely coffee shop Caffe Nero right outside of customs.

So far, I’ve only run into a couple of actual Irish people. One was funny, shouting loudly trying to move us through customs quickly. His last comment to me was, “You should see me with a couple of pints of Guinness in me,” with a lovely Irish lilt. He even had red hair. The airport constable wasn’t in such good humor. He was the one that informed me that I could not, under any circumstances, go back into the airport. Noted! The final Irish person was a younger woman sitting beside me in the coffee shop. I commented on her broken arm and she began such a sweet conversation about where to go and what we might do to enjoy Ireland.

So, once the family joins, we’ll pick up the rental car and head to Newgrange. We splurged for an automatic. Steve didn’t think that as tired as we’d be trying to drive on the opposite side of the road and having a manual car would bode well for us. Smart man!

Can’t wait to get “day one” started.