Ireland: February 2011 (day 4-6)

I am so full. I had a wonderful Italian dinner tonight, but before that the day started with a super home-cooked breakfast at the b&b (hmm, food here turned out to be much better than I expected). We shared the breakfast table with a Toronto couple that were traveling with their 3 month old child (brave), they were very nice nice and traveling opposite than us so provided some tips.

We checked out and visited a 13th century church in the Dingle area (Kilmalkedar Church) and then drove to Killarney for lunch. Once we found Main St, it was really charming. After lunch, it got really rainy and just not pleasant to wander. We stopped at the woolen market, tried on 80 different wool sweaters but couldn't find anything so just checked in our next b&b for the night.



Oh and I have to give a shout out to our GPS at this time. Roads are not labeled and the signs appear after we pass them, it is just so nice to let the voice guide us. Oh and car... It is still holding in there but when I put it in reverse the back windshield wiper turns on and oh the drivers door only shuts about 60% of the time.

It was so nice getting up and not having to pack up before breakfast. We could wander down for breakfast and then head back upstairs to get ready. We walked all over the town of Youghal today. A seaside town, that not during off season is a very different town I imagine. We visited the 18th century clock tower and lighthouse and then did some local shopping, but then we decided to go on an Experience. Ohooh, but before that rachel spotted a guy in youghal wearing a Minnesota sweatshirt!


Ok, so The Jameson Experience. Super fun time. After a tour of the old distillery those of us the tour sat down to earn a certificate as an official whiskey taster. I learned a lot about Scottish, Irish and American whiskey. Plus it was a real fun time sitting around the table talking with the other folks on the tour. One Irish couple told us to visit Carlow for some interesting ruins and another Irish girl mentioned Kilkenny. Kilkenny we hit first and after some GPS trouble we found it, really busy town! Kind of crazy to drive in. They had a castle in the center of town and the Smithwick's brewery! Adorable city, I could spend a lot of time here given the chance.


Next we drove to Carlow and realized the town was much bigger than it seemed, but also the most run down. We visited the city castle, well just one wall...a guy in the 1800s was trying to remodel and accidentally blew up the whole thing. Then we saw a portal grave dating back 5000 years and Carlow held one more surprise, another castle, with a grand stone wall entrance. In the setting sun it was magical.



We arrived then at our final b&b, in Athy. The owner knew of a bar playing music this night, finally! We had yet to hear an Irish band. We waited a long time, long time...but they finally got on stage. I was giddy listening to them, it was so awesome.

The next morning, our last day. :( We had the last home-cooked breakfast today, I am going to miss eggs every morning, I would never take the time for such things. After a 10 min hunt for the car keys, we packed up the car...well we tried to pack, the dog at the b&b jumped in the car!! He was so excited to come with! It was such an ordeal to get him out but super funny. Finally on the way to the airport. The airport shuttle guy told us someone earlier in the week had wrecked the rental car and ended up paying some local 400 euro to drive him around. Ha! Glad we were able to manage on our own. Wow, the flight back is long when you are not sleeping, I managed to watch The Town, Due Date and Red. After a connection in Chicago... Home!

Ireland: February 2011 (day 2 and 3)

I spent a lot of time this morning trying to figure out why my curling iron didn't work...turns out you need to turn the outlet on. All the outlet here have switches, different.

We found our way out Dublin and hit the open road. Our stomachs planned our next stop and it was great, Kildare. We had a filling lunch at the local pub and then traveled over to The Grey Abbey, erected in 1260. It is ruins now and an outlet mall sits behind it, but it was fun to wander around.





























After being in the car about an hour it was time to stretch the legs and when we saw a castle high upon a hill, that was the place to stop! The Rock of Cashel would have been so cool to tour but we missed closing by more than an hour. That didn't stop us from climbing around the muddy exterior and getting some lovely views.

I would love to visit the town of Cashel agian, but not the town of Bruff. Bruff was our first B&B and they did NOT have our reservation!!!! Thankfully they had space, but after the screaming children and barking dogs I had enough. There was one pub in town and we did have fun sitting there for 3+ hours but we didn't want to stay any longer in town come morning.

We left Bruff by 10am the next day and started to Dingle. Driving those narrow roads are so much easier in the daylight!! Although I still screamed at every oncoming car, but it was a more comfortable scream. Our route took us through Newcastle West, charming little town with nicely maintained walk paths and a castle in the center of town. We then started our drive to the B&B outside Dingle, it was such a remote area that the GPS wouldn't even pick it up, but we found it!

The view outside our window were sheep and the second tallest mountain in Ireland, beautiful. The B&B owner laid out a wonderful path for us to tour, but of course we managed to miss every single site she circled for us on the map. Our new plan is to find them in the morning after a filling breakfast! In the mean time we drove around the Dingle penninsula and thoroughly enjoyed the views.

Ireland: February 2011 (day 0 and 1)

If I could find an air ticket for $20 I would buy it just for the chance to sit in the Surdyk's Flights bar again. There was not a soul at the MSP airport on Saturday afternoon (odd) and we were through security in 10 minutes, with an hour+ to kill. Hello, "small bubbles" wine flight and pretzel! Our first awkward interaction when I asked the waiter if we ordered at the table and he said yes and just walked away. Um, ok.

Terminal 5 at Chicago O'Hare, we are not friends. A 2 hour lay over and you don't have a restaurant for me? Just fast food and a bar that sells Bud Light for $8.25. And just our luck to discover that the food was only on the other side of security we just went through.

Finally seated in the plane for the ultimate destination!! I love in seat movies. Watched "Never Let Me Go" til it was time to get some sleep.........

We landed! And we found our way to the car rental without too much confusion. Who bet I would break the car in 10 minutes? You win! The curbs here are deadly and I forgot the bulk of the car is to my left, not my right. Whoops. Although I don't believe the amount of hub cap damage is all me, all 4 are pretty trashed. But thankfully it is now parked safely underground til tomorrow morn.

Lots are walking in Dublin. The shops were still closed when we started out, nothing opens til noon on Sundays. But we wandered til we found a pub to have lunch at, a hunk of Brie cheese on toasted bread is pretty tasty! Then the rain and wind got to be too much and we did the most touristy thing we could, jumped on city tour bus.


Good decision, it brought us right to the Guinness tour! The top floor observation area is amazing, views of Dublin as far as the eye can see.

We also hopped off the tour bus to get a better look at Christ Church Cathedral, which was stunning.

Three and half of sleep on the plane and endless walking the next day meant an early night....