Ireland 2009

Well, lads and lassies, the days have gone by all to quickly and here we are, ready to embark on our final day. And guess what.. it is once again cool and cloudy. We wouldn't have it any other way.

Hello from Becky. Today was an amazing day. We took the train into Bray where we met up with Andrea. Andrea truly is the one who got me my first real job at DU! She took us on a whirlwind (the actual wind wasn't too bad today by the way) tour of part of Ireland's countryside. We started off at Powerscort in Wicklow. The gardens there are amazing and beautiful! Allison and Liam - Papa found even more leprechaun holes. It is amazing we haven't seen the actual little people that live in them. Maybe after the pubs tonight! We walked around the grounds for awhile and the weather was perfect, blue sky, sunshine and NO wind. We had a cup of hot cocoa with Andrea and talked for awhile about the state that Ireland is currently in. Very interestinng to hear from an insider! After that we were off to see the Wicklow Mountains. The scenery was amazing! Dan found some ruins... ok there were actually a lot of tour groups that found them today and evertday... we didn't want to hurt Dan's feelings... This was in the town of Glendalough and the ruins were that of a Monestary dated back to the 6th century. That is really, really old. While there a brief wind and rain storm came through but we pushed on and insisted Andrea show us the lake she had been talking about. And the view was beautiful! At this point we started to see the sheep. They are all over the hillsides in the country. From here we went to lunch in the little town of Arklow at the Ulster Gardens Cafe. Again another amazing little town. Dan ventured outside his comfort zone and ordered a fish pie. First he had to ask Andrea what it was.... the answer... fish in a pie Dan! He is always good for a laugh. From there we went to her house in a small town in the county of Wexford. So small the name isn't even on our map! There are roughly 421 people in the town. On the way there we saw even more sheep. They are like cats here. Her home and town are very pretty. I got to see her two boys, Diego and Luca. I have not seen Diego since he wass a baby and it was really fun to see him now at the age of 9! We met Luca for the first time, he is an adorable 4 year old. They are very much into soccer but I tried to turn them on a little bit to hockey. Diego is familiar with it but Luca asked his dad how it is played as we were leaving. We had a nice visit at the house with the boys, Andrea and John. The gluten free treats were fabulous! After the visit we headed back out and were off again. The driving on the country roads here is really rather interestinng. I am still not convinced there really is enough room for two cars going opposite directions. And there really wasn't as both cars would swerve off the road... We saw more sheep. We went to a seaside pier at Flannigan's wharf and saw Irish surfers and another beautiful view of the sea. After this stop it was time for Andrea to take us back to Bray but she did make one last quick stop to show us either the oldest, biggest or something "est" tree in Ireland. Sadly the place was already closed. She is going to send a picture. She dropped us off in Bray, we said our good-byes and got back on the train to Dublin. Today was one of the best days yet. I got to catch up with a dear friend and see parts of Ireland we never would have seen with out her. And we saw lots of sheep.

The wind blew so hard last night that the hotel creaked and Becky's says her bed actually moved. So it is a very cold, blustery day out, but we are still headed off to the countryside - well layered, although I doubt that any of the layers come off.

Well, the sun was deceptive. It was partly sunny, but turned out to be very cold and windy...and then raining hard tonight. But we are tough... didn't let the weather deter us. The most impressive thing we saw today was the Kilmainham Gaol (Jail). So much Irish history there. We did't realize the events there were so critical to shaping the Ireland of today. That was the "educational" highlight... as for a purely "fun" highlight" - I will let Jill tell you about that.
Hi, Jill here. Guess what? I am an official Irish whiskey taste tester. I was selected from among a group of 50 visitors to be a taste tester of the famous Jameson's Irish Whiskey. And, yes, I was able to tell the difference between Jameson's and Scotch and Jack Daniels. And this is the most surprising of all... I didn't even insist on mixing any of them with Diet Coke. Of course, that would have made them better. The Jameson's was the best and I even received a certificate.
Well, tomorrow we head out of the city once again and go south to Bray. Hopefully, the weather will finally give us a break. But if not, we will still have a great time. Cheers!

For the first time the sun is out this mornng. We can see blue sky. So we are headed out once again, today to see such things as the Dublin Zoo, the Gaol, Jamesons and who knows what else. We might have to stop by the Guinness Storehouse again... we think we have free admission. The days have flown by, but we are having a great time. Last night, Dan (Patrick to his friends in Ireland) got a leg cramp at the Auld Dubliner - Jill and Becky thought it was the London knee injury all over again... but it really was only a cramp. Nile (read below to see who Nile is) made sure I was okay. Jill's solution was a Coors Light to ease the muscle... and she is a trained nurse. Amazingly, we see Coors Light on ta here everywhere on tap. Nile says it is the new favorite light beer everywhere in Dublin. So, off we go...

Danny Boy here again. After Becky and I saw the U2 wall, we regrouped with Jill and headed downtown... Trinity College was our first stop to see the Book Of Kells and the Long Room. Becky tried to find the Bursars Office but could not. Then Jill and Becky found a Dollshouse (as they call them here) shop and will be bringing home some Irish minis. Then off to Dublin Castle - very interesting and it was being prepared for some important state dinner tonight. That we were not, for some reason, invited to. Oh, well... we went to Temple Bar instead, which is not only an area of Dublin but also an establishment at which to listen to live cultural music and have light refreshments. (We brought our own pretzels... gluten free.) Tomorrow, more adventures.

Becky here... tonight we made our way back to the Auld Dubliner... Jill didn't want to... We (or I) made another grand entrance as I tripped up a step to the second floor. Paddy one was there again and remembered us... We found out his real name is Nile. And he took great care of us. So... another flasback to Monday night, Jill is ready to talk about it. Apparently I am engaged but I have no ring... Among the people we met Monday night was Warren. He was great and bought us many rounds, which was what led to my dislike of the Harp. I made the mistake of smiling at him, I had learned thet Dublin is friendly town... he happens to be a used car salesman from CA. Any ways he stuck with us for hours. I thought he might just show up at the 4th of July but Jill says there was a marriage proposal in there some where. Back to tonight, we hd an awsome time back at the Auld Dubliner with Nile and Collins, the 60 something year old I danced with, he is just 20 years older than Warren... we enjoyed the live music and had a great night.
Allison and Liam.... papa did see a Leprechaun... he just happened to be 6 feet tall and cost one Euro to have a photo with.
We won't be posting photos at this time, we are blogging from the hotel room TV and have a hard enough time with that!
Good night from the pond.... I am turning the blog back over to O'Danny Boy... one song we have not heard once!

Becky here again... This morning Dan and I got an early start and headed out to see where it all started for U2. And we got lost. But we had a great walk along the Grand Canal. We ran across a pair of swans and waited for them to cross the street before following. Drivers waited for the swans but Dan and I were not so lucky. We did make it eventually. Once we figured out we had started off the wrong direction we turned around and headed back towards the Liffey river. We followed the canal the right direction and made our way to the river and to Windmill Road. Once we were pointed in the correct direction again by a nice Irish man who could tell we were lost... we found Windmill Road and the Windmill Studios. It was very cool to see where it all began for U2. The U2 wall is very impressive and spans several blocks. Unfortunatly Dan and I forgot our spray paint and couldn't leave our tag. We stopped in at O'Brien's Ferry pub for a pint before making our way back to Jill. Who is happily reading in the room. Now we are off to Trinity College, Dublin Castle and whatever else we stumble upon! Cheers!

Hi Allison and Liam! Aunt Becky here - We walked through an amazing forest today full of wonderment and fairy holes. While we didn't see any actual faries papa was scared by what he believed to be a leprechaun! I took lots of pictures to show you when we get back!

Well today was a quieter, more mellow day. We traveled north up the coast to the little town of Malahide. A beautiful village along the coastline. We visited the Malahide Castle which dates back over 800 years - and remarkably belonged to, and was lived in, by the same family (the Talbots) for nearly all of that time. The last of the Talbots lived there until 1975. Beautifully furnished with authentic historic belongings. We also visited a grand dollhouse museum with dollshouses dating back to the 1700s and even a dollshouse owned by Oscar Wilde's mother. And a model train exhibit that grandson Sir Liam Patrick would have loved. We then walked to the beach and saw the sea (a sea saw?), collected shells for granddaugher Allison. Wrapped it up with a stop in Duffy's, where we were the youngest people by at least 20 years (and I'm using jill as a reference point). Weather was cool and windy again today; we will see what tomorrow brings.

Becky's flashback to last night... after dinner at the Bad Ass Cafe we headed over to the Auld Dubliner for more drinks and live Irish music. They let me in even after breaking down their door - was just too excited about the Bulmers. We decided to go upstairs to our own private bar to start with since the music had not started yet. We had the bartender all to our selves. I shall call him Paddy for the remainder of this post. Any ways, Paddy was great and let us sample whatever we wanted to on tap. Once the music started we made our way back down to the main bar and claimed a spot at the bar. I quickly made friends with the new bartender, Paddy II. Soon Paddy the first came down and we all had a grand reunion. We met a lot of interesting people last night but that is for an entirely different blog... I quickly became a fan of Harp as we sat there listening to the music. Harp here is known as the blonde Gunniess and I helped the Paddys to sell more pints of it as I testified to its wonderful flavor. As I said, we met a lot of people and of all the people here, 1000s of miles from home, across several time zones and an ocean, we fouund a CC hockey fan. Actually he found us. My DU jacket gave me away. I made nice with him and we focused more on Air Force hockey - neutral and safe. He was nice... I guess. By this time Dan and Jill were growing sleepy and wanted to go. oh wait... we actually closed the bar down and the two Paddys made us leave. And by the way, I am no longer a fan of Harp,

The morning is cloudy again and it looks like it may rain once again too. Not a problem. We are well equipped with jackets and umbrelas. Some of the things we wanted to see yesterday, like Dublin castle, were closed due to the Bank Holiday. We will pick those up later in the week. Today we have decided to venture out of Dublin and go north up the coast.
A note to Allison and Liam - we did see a lephrecaun yesterday... a very big one on the streets of Dublin. People were taking his picture, but he vanished before we could.

A note from Becky: One Moment of silence... one year ago tonight we were all in a London hospital wth Dan... tonight was SO much different.... any ways we had a great day! And a great yesterday. the Dublin City tour bus is GREAT. We saw Christ Church, the oldest church in Dublin, and St. Patrick's cathedral where St. Patrick baptized thousands. And when it comes to holy water, we went to the Guinness Storehouse where Guinness was born and is made. We had lunch at the Bull and Castle, the first pub to sell micro-brews in Dublin. Tonight we went to hear live Irish music at the Auld Dubliner, where the singer also sang Neil Diamond and John Denver songs... what is up with that?

While waiting for our hotel room Dan and I took a quick walk around the neighborhood and found a bar called Becky Morgan. Sadly the bar is closed.

It is noon in Dublin and we are here. Had a rough flight into Atlanta - the lady sitting across from me kept making the sign of the Cross... but we made it. A smooth overnight flight from Atlanta to Dublin and they let us into the country without hesitation. The lady sitting across from Jill on the flight to Dublin kept throwing up. Truly. The attendants kept asking her if she had the swine flu but the lady kept insisting it was just bad chilli fries she ate on the concourse. Hopefully that was the case. It is cool in Dublin, but we wil hit the streets shortly after short rest and shoewers, especially the shower. And it is amazing that we have been in Ireland for 3 hours and have not yet had our first Guinness.

Sure, the vice-president says to avoid confined spaces like airplanes (his comment later "clarified" by his press secretary - I understand how that works). We're not worried about any pandemic in Ireland.

I think the best comment about swine flu came from Mike Littwin in the Post this morning. He wrote that people were "stunned" to learn that a baggage handler at DIA had the flu. "Stunned by the fact that any luggage actually gets to DIA."

We spent last night at a local Irish Pub in Denver, Jordan's, to practice drinking Guinness. Like Dan or Jill really need the practice... it was a fun pre-Ireland gathering! We have heard that once we try a Guinness in Ireland we won't be able to drink Guinness in the States. Like any of us would turn away a beer... 3 days and counting!

We are scheduled to leave DIA at 10:55 a.m. on Saturday, May 2, traveling through Atlanta and then on to Dublin.

Well the adventure begins anew! Hope you will enjoy following our treks through Ireland.