Ireland Scrapbooking: Dublin

St. Stephen's Green

Exploring the City

Dublin Castle

Chester Beatty Library

St. Patrick's Cathedral

Christchurch Cathedral

Exploring Dublin

Ireland Recap - Galway to Dublin

September 14

Clayton Hotel

Our last full day in Ireland, we woke up a little later, enjoyed the buffet breakfast again, then packed up our things and checked out of the hotel. There were a few attractions we could have checked out, but we were still pretty worn out, and the majority of the attractions involved more castles (we had already seen 8), and other things that didn't sound overly interesting to us, so we hit the road to Dublin.

Athone

Along the way, we stopped in Athone to check out a castle there, and to do a little shopping. Unfortunately, the castle wasn't open for whatever reason, so we didn't stay there too long. I found a couple shirts, but that was about it.

Athone Castle

Athone Methodist Church

We got to our hotel (Bewley's Hotel - Dublin Airport) early in the afternoon, then returned our rental car (early) and took the shuttle back to the hotel for the night.

We toyed with the idea of taking a bus back downtown to eat, but decided to just eat at the restaurant at the hotel. And gosh were we disappointed. It was pretty pricey, and my ravioli tasted like they'd taken some frozen crap out of a bag, heated it for 5 minutes in the microwave and poured a nice sauce over it. Mark wasn't overly disappointed with his wings, but he wasn't impressed either. The service wasn't bad, when they came around, but it was odd to see the waiters just kinda chillin, talking and what not up by the register - what you might see in most restaurants' back rooms. Overall, we wouldn't recommend it. It was unfortunate, considering it was our last real meal in Ireland, but oh well.

We went to bed early, eager to get a great night's sleep before our early flight the next morning.

September 15

We woke up early and were at the airport by 7am to be sure not to miss our flight. We didn't have much trouble getting through security or customs, so we just relaxed, enjoyed some breakfast, did a little shopping, and waited for our flight.



It was a really long flight home, but we made it in one piece, and were VERY glad when the plane touched down in Toronto.

We were worried we wouldn't quite make our next flight, considering we had only 90 minutes between flights, and we had to go through Canadian customs, re-check our bags, and get back through security. However, we ended up with plenty of time, and before long were on our way back to Minneapolis!

It was a great feeling to be back on US soil, and while we had a wonderful time in Ireland, we sure appreciated familiar food options, and WIDER ROADS!! Oh, and not to mention we could finally use our cellphones to call our family and friends again!

On our way home, we decided to stop for supper in Mankato (and a little shopping), so we enjoyed some Buffalo Wild Wings and picked up a few things at Kohl's. The weather got pretty crazy in Mankato, and we ended up driving home in a downpour, and even through a wall cloud, which was pretty freaky.

Our own beds felt heavenly that night :)

It was a really incredible trip, and we'd recommend it to many people, but I'd be wrong to say we'd recommend it to everyone. Ireland is one of those places where you have to pack your patience and learn to adapt quickly. You can't expect the luxuries from the USA, and you have to learn how to do things differently. It was a great experience...for US, but I wouldn't recommend it to everyone.

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Full photo dump from this day:

Ireland Recap - Dublin to Kilkenny

September 7

We woke up early and after showering, packed our bags and headed out to find some breakfast to enjoy on a walk of St. Stephen’s Green. To be honest, it was a harried morning, but it was nice to rest while enjoying some porridge and coffee in the park – where the busy city professionals were scurrying on their way to work, and stargazed tourists walked through leisurely. It was a treat to enjoy breakfast with the ducks, geese and swans on the pond, and for the first time in Ireland, it wasn’t raining!

St. Stephen's Green

Unfortunately, our relaxing time at St. Stephen’s Green came to an end quickly, and after a short stop for souveniors at Carole’s Gifts and Souveniors, we headed back to our hotel to check out and go pick up our rental car for the rest of our visit. Fortunately, the lady at the front desk of our hotel encouraged us (and made the necessary phone calls) to change our pick-up location to one just a few blocks away, instead of much further away at the airport, so we were finally on our way by around 11:00am.



It was pretty crazy for Mark, trying to adjust to driving on the opposite side of the car, on the opposite side of the road, and with such minimal road signs that you would wonder how anyone gets where they are going. And unfortunately, the signage didn’t improve on the trip, which was highly frustrating. There were many raised voices, mainly yelling at the country itself for having such horrible signs, and such strangely-constructed roads and streets, but we made it to every destination we intended to.

Bray

Shortly after getting out of the main hustle and bustle of Dublin, we pulled along the small town of Bray and enjoyed some fresh fish and chips from a small shop, Cassoni's Fish and Chips, nearby. We spent a good hour there, which we later regretted, but enjoyed the time we spent there.

Powerscourt House and Gardens

After our pitstop in Bray, we continued on to Enniskerry to visit the Powerscourt House and Gardens, which were simply breathtaking! In fact, we had a pretty pressing schedule such that we were only able to spend a little over an hour and a half there, and we wished we had much more time!

Glendalough Monastic Ruins

After the Powerscourt House and Gardens, and a bit of a directional mess up (again – those dumb road signs), we made our way to visit the monastic ruins at Glendalough – a definite site to behold!! We were fortunate to be able to use the phone at the visitor’s centre to call ahead to our B&B in Kilkenny to let them know we were running a bit late, then we explored the ruins and surrounding glen and trails for another 90 minutes or so.

Driving in the Irish Countryside

Kilkenny

After we got our fill of Glendalough, we made a beeline for our B&B (the Launard House) in Kilkenny, proceeding to be incredibly much later than our initial check-in time – partly due to just running late in general, but moreso because the roads were so horribly marked that we had no clue where we were (or rather, we knew where we were, but had no clue where we were in comparison to the B&B). We finally found the place after 45 minutes driving around in circles, and checked in before heading down t Kyteler’s Inn for supper, then called it an early night.





We stayed at the Launard House on the southern side of Kilkenny, but it would be an understatement to say that after our experience in Kilkenny, we couldn’t wait to leave! It wasn’t that the city wasn’t fun – it was – but getting lost finding our B&B, the just “alright” accommodations once we DID find our way, getting lost again getting back TO our B&B, and being exhausted just wasn’t the right combination. We hoped that a good night’s sleep would help us feel a little better about it all, but were doubtful.





The absolute best part of this day, however, was that I got word that my little brother, Josh, and his wife Tiffany welcomed my newest nephew, Reign Thomas into this world :)

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Full picture dump from this day can be found here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/rompte/Ireland03BrayWicklowGlendalough