Heading West

Two thousand miles already, or just about. Can't believe I've driven that much. Between some put craic and exhaustion from all the driving, I need to catch up a little on what has been going on over the last couple of days. I think last time I posted we were on our way to Killarney.

As we arrived in the city our first stop was at the Tourist Office. It was a short stop but while we were there checking on a boar ride at Castle Ross, a lad approached us about a musical pub tour that evening. Far be it from us to turn down the opportunity to listen to music played by a Riverdance fiddler, or visiting a couple of pubs, so we signed on and headed off for Killarney Park and the boat ride. A nice ride in an enclosed boat (we could have done the small fishing type boat, but that's not my stryle!) around Lough Leane for an hour with commentary and great views was just what we needed.

After that it was off to Muckross House and a jaunty cart ride up to Torc Waterfall. It was getting late in the day and I wanted to make sure Rita had the experience of riding in the jaunting cart pulled by an Irish Cob. We did the hike up the hill to this amazing waterfall. As Rita said, “It's like the prize at the end of the trail.” I could have stayed there all day, but our cart was waiting at the botton of the hill to take us back to our starting point. It was a little late to tour the gardens and the house so we decided to wait until the next morning before heading out of town.

We actually found our B&B easily – I”m a little more familiar with Killarney – and got checked in just in time to turn around and head out for the Musical Pub Tour. The ticket included a single course dinner and Rita and I both had the Guinness Beef Stew – delish!

Long story but I did my “noble call” by sharing a song – no one else offered - and shared “A Place in the Choir” with the group. Would have been much better if I could have remembered all the verses! It's so much easier when you sing along to the song! I can just blame it on the Guinness. LOL

The next morning we headed back to Muckross House and Gardens for a while, then off to the Ring of Kerry. I can list all the sites, but it won't mean much to anyone but me. I'm going to try and post more pictures on FB in the next day or so, now that I've gotten better Internet access. Needless to say, riding around the Ring is a wonderful day, with lots of sites. As we finished, we headed on to Dingle, past Inch Beach. Our B&B was on the Strand right in front of the harbor and just upstairs of the pub of the same name. Can't ask for anything better than that.

We had dinner down the street at John Benny's and stayed for a little music. I was drained from all the driving again, so we headed back to our room for the night. As much music as was still going on downstairs, our room was quiet.

Yesterday we dropped off our laundry after breakfast and headed out the Slea Head Drive. Ancient ruins and magnificent sea views was the plan for the day, and it didn't disappoint. The sun was in and out with a few showers, but that didn't dampen our travels. Again, I hope to be posting pictures on FB.

The little church on Main Street in Dingle has a Folk Concert once a week. We just happened to be there on Wednesday at the right time so we bought our tickets and were treated to another wonderful evening of music followed by a visit to the Dingle Pub for some libation before heading back to our beds for the night.

This morning we stayed in Dingle just long enough to visit Fungie, the dolphin statue for pictures and some pictures of the harbor, then headed off up the west coast of Ireland. I love the views over Connor Pass as we left Dingle and was tempted to climb up the rocky mountain path at the waterfall to the pristine hidden lake, but the old knees would not have made it back. Maybe that would not have been such a bad thing! Again, many stops for pictures along the way at Blennervile at the windmill, Adare for the thatched cottages and church, at Bunratty for the castle, We've ended up at Berry Lodge in a town called Miltown Malbay, right near Spanish Point watching the surfers tonight after dinner.

That catches my journal up to date for now. I'll work on pictures tomorrow after another touring day. :)

More days, and heading southwest

Good Morning! It's Monday morning here and I've just had one of the best lie ins of the trip. We're in Cork at the moment and staying at a lovely B&B called Mariaville. It's tucked down a little street not far from the University of Cork. Just have to love those power showers after a long day of touring. :)

So let's back up and catch up some. Day before yesterday was Wexford Day and we had the honor of being shown around Wexford by one of it's ambassadors. All day long we saw people wearing the purple and gold of Wexford. After breakfast we met up with the ambassador and had a chat for a while, then decided to head off for the Wexford Heritage Center. It's set up as a walk through life from time 9000 years ago. Strolling through the forest to see the exhibits was wonderful, but chatting all the way about growing up in Wexford and listing to our guides memories was the real treat. After we went to the Ferrycarig Hotel on the Rive Slaney for tea. WOW what a beautiful place. Sitting, talking with that view. I could have stayed there for the better part of the day, but it was off we must, so on to Dunbrody. Many, many thanks to our guide and Wexford ambassador for the day, Michael.

We backtracked because of the weather the day before so that my traveling partner, Rita, could do a little heritage research. I dozed in the car as she did the Dunbrody Famine ship tour. After that we headed into the west. Our next stop was Midleton for the Jameson Experience, and an experience it is. We were too late for the tours, but did do a tasting. I'm not a big whiskey drinker but the chance to taste some of the better aged stuff is a nice thing now and then. A little shopping in their place and a few pictures by the giant copper distilling kettle outside and we were off to Kinsale.

I was told by my friend Tom that I had something waiting for me at The Spaniard in Kinsale. I was determined to get there Saturday and see what it was. We were running late and also wanted to get checked into our B&B. I'm now really realizing that when I look at a map for locations here in Ireland, often I'm looking at what we would consider alley ways. After spending about an hour driving up and down and in and out the streets of Kinsale, we turned around and headed to The Spaniard for a respite. And so glad we did. I do have to say that parking in Kinsale is a nightmare, but we were lucky enough to find a tiny spot for our little car.

First, I must say, to find out about The Spaniard you must Google it and it's history. Interesting place. Now for the fun part. So we walked into this small bar area and here I walk up to the bar and tell the barman, “I'm here to collect my drink. It's been left for me in an envelope with my name on it.” So the search for the envelope began. There were quite a few white envelopes along side of the register, and none were mine. As this search was going on I was telling the story of how my friend, Tom had visited a few weeks earlier and left it there for me. One of the gents looked above the bar where there were tons of pictures and spotted the envelope tacked up there. Now everyone sitting at the bar was surprised including a gentleman whose picture I had seen in one of Tom's posts.

This was Michael Barry and he had been listening all along as I told the story. Needless to say, once I opened the envelope and gave the barman the receipt I was given my drink. We sat down with Michael and had a great chat with him and a few others at the pub. It was a great evening, but was getting late. We still had to find our B&B, so off back into town. To shorten this story, I have to say I love the Garda in Kinsale. We stopped and asked for help. The female told us just to follow her in our car, which we did. She walked, we drove, until she saw a parking space for us, then walked with us on foot down the narrow street to the B&B. It was already after 9:00 when we arrived and we still needed some dinner. That ended our Saturday. I can say, that I have been up and down the hills and streets of Kinsale multiple times!

Sunday morning we checked out Kinsale some after a wonderful breakfast, then headed to Cobh to the Heritage center. After some time there, we were on the road to Blarney.

The rest of the day was spent at Blarney Castle and the Woolen Mills. This time I did have the time to visit the Rock Close and waterfalls. We could have spent even more time walking the grounds but needed to get back to town and fine our next B&B!

Now we're sitting having our breakfast and getting ready for the ride to Killarney and a day spent roaming that area.

More later. A :)

Day 3, I think

So, where was I, oh, yes....It's day three and we are now settled in at a wonderful hotel for a pampered night in Wexford. Maybe I should back up a little since I didn't post last night.

Yesterday morning we left our B&B in Newbridge after a scrumptious breakfast at our B&B cooked by our host John.

Rita and I felt obligated that we have a full Irish breakfast at least our first morning in Ireland. We then headed off to the Irish Nation Stud. Most of our day was spent wandering around checking out amazing horses; stallions, mares, and both yearling foals, and younger foals. Beautiful horses, and the many of the foals were so friendly.

We got an up close and personal with a stallion called Indian Haven. Hard to even describe the power you could feel standing next to him. And boy, what a pampered stall. Hay piled high and metal name plates on the doors. Pretty fancy.

After we left the National Stud we headed to Kilkenney. Through the countryside for a wonderful ride and after checking in to our B&B we walked over to the castle garden and castle and did some picture taking. Across from the castle is the Kilkenney Design Center. At the back there are some craft shops that I have visited before. Veronique, a knitter who sells she scarves all over Ireland has a shop there. She aways has baskets of scarves she has in excess at great prices. We each bought something and headed in to the silversmith where I had previously purchased a bracelet. Had a wonderful visit with him and made a purchase there. Then a delicious dinner and headed back to the B&B. It was a long day and we were beat, so we headed to bed early as we wanted to get a good start for today.

This morning we headed off to Bennetsbridge and Nicholas Moss Pottery to see what goodies were there. The area is so beautiful on the River Nore around the pottery factory. From there it was Jerpoint Abbey. Jerpoint is one of my favorite places to visit. After the abbey, it was off to Waterford for a little lunch and crystal touring. The new location is quite nice. Tours are still pretty much the same, but the showroom is huge. I bought my first piece of Waterford. It's a crystal seahorse ornament that can only be purchased at the factory in Ireland – or on Ebay, I guess! LOL

It had started raining by the time we got to Jerpoint, and by Waterford it was really coming down. We passed on New Ross, in hopes the weather is good tomorrow, and came straight to Wexford to get showered, changed, and ready for some party time tonight with the Gossip Girls show and a little celebration after.

So I need to get showered and dressed. More later, :)

Rain, Wind, Lightening, Delays, and Arrival

Tuesday morning I was picked up by the shuttle at 5:45. It took 2 SWA flights to get to Chicago Midway, and then a transfer to O'Hare for the evening flight. It was then that things started to unravel. We boarded as expected and seemed all ready for a 6:45 take-off, but were notified that they were checking the electrical systems since there are no back-ups and they wanted to make sure all was good.

That took until about 7:15 and we were now running half an hour late. The sky was getting quite dark with thunder storms, but we headed to the tarmac for take-off behind 5 other planes. That's when the lightening started. All flights were being held. We were then given the news that we were going to have to deal with some strong winds while on the tarmac for about 30 minutes. STRONG!!! I'm talking 82 miles an hour!! The plane was rocking from side to side. The guys in the tower abandoned the tower it was so bad. At the gate things were blown around like toys. So before taking off, they had to check the runway and have us return to the very crowded gates to have the plane checked.

After all was said and done, we sat on the plane for 4+ hours and left 5+ hours late. So instead of arriving in Dublin at 8:00am, it was 1:30PM. We did not get out of the airport after immigration and getting our rental car until 3:30.

So our plan for the day was a visit to Jame's Joyce museum at the Martello Tower in Dun Laoghaire, lunch in Bray, Powerscourt Gardens, and Glendalough. Then a drive over the Wicklow Mountains through a town called Hollywood (named such before Hollywood, CA) and into Newbridge. Needless to say everything changed and we headed directly to Glendalough and over the Wicklow Mountains and into Newbridge. We checked into our B&B and were having dinner at 9:00 this evening. Both of us are totally wrecked and hope to get a good night's sleep. It's been a very long 36 hours with very little sleep on the plane.

On to better days tomorrow! I've put a small tripline on this blog so you can see where we are geographically. If you look to the right of this posting, there is something that says "Links to Other Travel Sites". The link to the Tripline is there.

Sunny days from here on out! :)

Ready to Leave

So my bags are packed - except for the last addition of cosmetics, and all my paperwork is printed out, including boarding passes. Other than a few last errands today, and bill paying, I'm pretty much ready to go. At least I think so! There is always that last minute detail that comes up and needs to be taken care of.

It's an early to be tonight as I'm being picked up by the shuttle before 5:00am. Southwest Airlines to Midway through Las Vegas - maybe I'll strike it rich during our short layover! Then a transfer to O'Hare and American Airlines for the overnight flight. I know that sounds strange, but there are no direct flights from LA to Ireland. And with airline miles, this trip was virtually free. So for a little inconvenience, it's worth it. Just hoping for some sleep time on the flight from Chicago to Dublin as the next day there will be no nap time in order to quickly adjust to Ireland time.

We will land in Dublin Wednesday morning, pick up the rental car, exchange enough money to get started, and be on the road. Most of the B&B's where we are staying have Internet access, so I hope to be posting a blog at least every other day with some pictures. If I can, I'll post more often, but pub time comes first, so there may be some delays! :)

I'm also going to try and use tripline to map our trip. It does show "as the crow flies", so not necessarily the roads we'll be traveling, but you'll get an idea of our location. I'll post the link on the side bar of the page after our first day and it will update as I add locations.

Now it's time I get moving and get those last minute things done. As I post this, it's just over 20 hours until our first flight leaves. YIKES!!!

Less than a week!

Just a short post here.

It's less than a week until we leave and things are still happening. We've found out about a fun event in Wexford at the hotel where we are staying. It's called Gossip Girls . Secondly, we're not quite sure where we are staying in Kinsale.

It's a long story, but basically we canceled an over night in Kinsale to stay in Wexford, and wanted to move one of our days in Cork to Kinsale. Now to locate a B&B, or Inn, in Kinsale to stay. I was not really impressed with the first one we located as they didn't have quite the room we wanted. And we have to stay in Kinsale as I have a drink waiting for me at The Spaniard. Another long story there, but suffice it so say, a kind gentleman has made these arrangements. Besides the fact that Kinsale is one of the places I've so wanted to visit in the past and never really had the chance.

At the moment, I'm out of town watching the grandkids while their dad travels for work and their mom is in Sweden with her brother. Again, a long story, but they are picking up my son's car at the Volvo plant in Sweden. Mostly I'm chauffeur for all the places the kids have to go - swim team, swimming lessons, Bible camp, and day care, and making dinners in the evening. When my SIL is here we split the driving duties. So very little can be taken care of for the trip unless it's online.

I will have 3 days back a home to catch up on sleep and get organized and packed. I'm not too panicked about this yet, as I've done this 3 times before and with a smaller suitcase. At this point I can't imagine how I possible managed.

I do want to thank a couple of people who have helped make the planning for this trip even more exciting. One is my friend, Tom, from Mass. who has given me all kinds of hidden gems from Dublin, to the Kinsale area and the Dingle Peninsula. He just returned from his trip there. The other is Michael Londra, who shared the information about Gossip Girls. It's things like this that make the trip much more of an adventure than just sightseeing. :)

My next post will probably be the night before we leave. Looking forward to sharing this will everyone who is interested.

Slan!