Ireland

On Thursday May 21st -Monday May 25th Brian and I flew to Shannon, Ireland to meet his Dad & Laura.  They had spent the first part of their trip in NYC and then 2 days in Dublin.  Once we arrived in Shannon we got the rental car and then drove an hour north to Galway where we met with Dan and Laura who had just arrived by train from Dublin.  We were very excited to see them after 5 months and to be starting another adventure with together!  I had been to Ireland on a 3 week college program but Dan, Laura & Brian had never been.  We were especially looking forward to seeing Ireland since the Shea name originated there as O'Shea.  (The O was dropped when family heritage came to America). 

The day was windy, misty and cloudy but after a pub lunch we decided to walk around and check out the Galway waterfront.

Smiles despite the weather...

It wasn't long before the rain and wind picked up so we decided it was time for another pub stop.  From there we made our way to a restaurant called Nimmo's which was recommended to us and turned out to be fantastic! We lucked out getting in without a booking just before the rush and right after we got in others were getting turned away.  The restaurant was a really cute old fishing building and I had some of the most prettiest and most delicious fish (hake) I've ever had.

The next morning after breakfast we checked out of our hotel and set off with our driver (Brian) who drove us an hour south to the Cliffs of Mohr.  Unfortunately as we got closer the sky turned to white and by the time we got to the cliffs we couldn't see a thing.  It was very disappointing to be standing there on 700 foot cliffs and to hear the ocean way down below but not being able to see it.  This was the view... :(

I had been there before on my college trip and was excited to go back since I remembered them being so impressive.  I really wanted Brian, Dan & Laura to be able to experience the incredible view.  To get the idea what we missed out on here is a picture from when I was there 9 years earlier...

Inside the visitors center Brian and Dan found a screen you could change to your family heritage name.  Here they are with O'Shea family crest.  It said there were 270 people living with the name O'Shea in the County Clare (where we were) in 1901.  The name means "To seek the Truth".  Funny because I always tell Brian he has to be so logically all the time :)

After painfully leaving the Cliffs and accepting the fact we were not going to see them we got back in the car to start our journey down to the Dingle Peninsula.  Shortly after leaving the Cliffs though we decided to pull in and check out a tiny cemetery in a neat location along the water.  It was interesting to look around at the unique graves.  

As we drove along we came upon a little tiny village and decided to stop to find a drink.  We found a hole in the wall pub which had a bunch of local men perched at the bar (at 3:00pm).  We were clearly tourists and a local lady there came over and was excited to talk to us and find out where we were from and what we were doing.  At first it felt a little weird but by the time we left everyone was smiling, saying goodbye and waving us off...

From there we continued driving an hour or so to the town of Dingle.  Along the way we had some very green views...

Eventually the sun even came out!

  When we arrived in Dingle we quickly saw that it was a very cute, small & colorful town...

That night we found more great seafood 
when we ate at The Half Door.

After dinner we walked through the marina

to look at some of the fishing boats...

To finish the night we listened to some traditional Irish music in a packed pub and of course we had some Irish brews.

The next morning we drove a loop around the Dingle Peninsula.  Again it was a bit foggy and it felt like we may have missed some of the views.  However, it was still beautiful.

 At one point we had a cow running towards us on the road!

There also were lots of sheep :)

By about noon we were back in Dingle and poked into some of the shops and found a few treasures.  Then we checked out of our hotel and just as we were leaving Brian spotted a donkey with a dog on it!  We walked down to check it out and I could not resist getting a picture!  I mean how often do you sit on a donkey WITH a dog?!  

Well worth the change we gave the man!

They might have been smelly but they sure were cute! :)

After the excitement we started our drive down to Cork which was about 2 hours south.  The drive was filled with plenty of gorgeous countryside.

We arrived in Cork later that night and had a traditional Irish  pub dinner of beef stew and cottage pie.  After dinner we had drinks on our hotel patio where the place was running wild with kids who were there for a christening celebration.  The parents were having a good time at the bar while the kids were on the loose and throwing rocks outs out front.  The people watching was good to say the least!

The next morning we started off by touring the Blarney Castle and grounds.  

On the tiny stone spiral stairs on the way up...

Dan and Laura kissed the Blarney Stone which is said to give great eloquence to those who lay back and kiss it.  (I had done it in college and Brian just wasn't too sure).  

Later we walked through the very green castle grounds... 

and even searched for leprechauns, haha!

Next we drove to Kinsale which was less then 30 mins away on the southern coast.  This was a tiny fishing town where we walked the marina and looked in some shops.  Brian and I happened to go into a pub that was playing the Monaco Grand Prix which was fun to watch the final 10 laps since we had been there and walked the course only a couple weeks before.  Laura found the Lady Laura...

Back in Cork that night we ate a great place called Electric.  Our waitress was so friendly as we found most people to be in Ireland, I also loved her accent. 

On our last morning we toured the old Cork Gaol (jail) which our friendly waitress from the night before told us about.  The jail held many 19th century prisoners before it closed in 1923.  We saw the cells, went in a couple of them and peered through a window were you could see where the exercise ring had been. 

After freeing ourselves from the jail we did some souvenir shopping around Cork.  Then we all had lunch together at the hotel before we dropped Dan & Laura off at the train station and said our goodbye as they headed back to Dublin.  

Since our flight back to London wasn't until 8:15pm, Brian and I drove 20 mins to the town of Cobh which was the last point the Titanic sailed from (it was called Queenstown at the time).  There is a Titanic Experience museum which went in and we were given "boarding passes" with real names of passengers on the Titanic.  The original dock where the last 123 passengers walked to board Titanic is still in place.  At the end of the tour we were able to see if we survived or not, I did however Brian perished while trying to help save others.

Ireland...

Doesn't get much greener!