Land of the Leprechauns!!!

Well, Marc and I spent one week in Ireland and it was wonderful! We took this adventure with Eric and Amanda and Amanda’s brother Kris and his girlfriend, Jennie. It was an 6.5 hour trip over to Ireland and about 8 hours back to Chicago. When we arrived in Shannon airport we met up with Jennie’s cousin, Brittney who is studying abroad right now. She was our personal tour guide for two days! We rented a car for 6 people and 6+ bags of luggage. Needless to say it wasn’t going to hold all of our stuff so we were upgraded to a van! It was huge! They drive on the left side of the road and the lanes are very small-extremely scary! They also have limited stop lights- they use roundabouts (fun)!
Our first day, on the way to the bed and breakfast, we stopped at the Cliffs of Mohr. This
is a striking sight to see! On the way to the bed and breakfast we thought that we should take the scenic route and that added several hours to our traveling journey! We slept like babies this night since we had been up for 31 hours (there is a 5 hour difference in time). The next day was the only day it rained on our vacation and we saw the Ashford Abbey and Kylemore Castle. It was enjoyable and for the most part we stayed dry. On this night we went to Brittney’s house and she shares a house with several other foreign students and Leo from Italy insisted he make us all dinner- so we couldn’t refuse!! We had spaghetti noodles with pesto. Whoda thunk we would have gone to a college party in Ireland?! Well, we did and it was full of all exchange students! After the pre-downtown party we headed to bar. They party just as hard as we all do in the states.

Our next drive was to Kilarney- we attempted to find the bed and breakfast (needless to say that no where in Ireland do they have street signs)! So we, or should I say, I had to ask several different people where our B&B was and they all said “ahead on the right side...you won’t miss it!” Well, we sure had a hard time finding it! Once we found the place it was absolutely beautiful! It was right at the beginning of the Gap of Dunloe. We then took off to visit the Dingle Peninsula. We only made it as far as Inch Beach because it was about 60 degrees and the weather was just perfect to sit and eat lunch while on the beach! After that we then went on the adventure to hike Torc Waterfall. This was a hike!!!:) We all now have buns of steel. The next morning we woke and then took a horse and carriage ride through the Gap of Dunloe. It was nothing short of marvelous!!! The girls were in one carriage pulled by Beauty and the boys were pulled by Barbie.

After the horse ride we took off and headed to the county of Cork to visit the Blarney Castle and kiss the Blarney stone. It was an experience for me [deathly afraid of heights]. I would have been upset if I didn’t climb to the top and kiss the famous stone. After kissing the stone we headed for Kilkenny. We pretty much just went out to dinner and enjoyed each other’s company in this town. We tried to see the castle but it closed at 5pm and we arrived about 5:30 and then we tried to shop and they closed at 6pm. No such luck for us in this town.

The following morning we then headed to Dublin where we checked into the hotel and the boys returned the van so then we had to rely on public transportation. We then headed over the Guinness Brewery. The tour was very interesting and interactive (Jennie got to start a batch of Guinness)! When the tour was finished we were able to head to the top of the building for a glass of Guinness. The view was spectacular. We then went down to Temple Bar (several streets with shopping and places to eat). We ended up at one bar and Marc and Kris were pulled up to sing. Go figure…Marc singing!!!

Our last day in Dublin before our flight we saw Christ Church Cathedral and St. Patrick’s Cathedral. We then did a little shopping before heading off to Jameson Whiskey Factory. Here is where Marc and I were “official” taste testers- we have a certificate to prove it! I am definitely not a fan of scotch! After the tour we headed out to eat again. Our last night in Dublin, we took it easy and played L.C.R., and then headed to bed.
Fun facts:
1) There was a cow in the middle of the road that a farmer was chasing
2) In Northern Ireland there fences are stone walls
3) In Southern Ireland their fences are bushes
4) Sheep are in abundance and are marked only with two colors to determine which farmers own them (they are marked on the buttocks, shoulders and sides). “Red marks indicate female sheep, blue marks indicate male sheep, and the sheep with both colors are from San Francisco.”
5) One of the gentleman stated he couldn’t remember a beautiful St. Patrick’s day in the last twenty years!
6) Every day Jameson Distillery loses 6,000 bottles of Whiskey to the “Angel’s Share,” never to be seen again… (Had to be there!)