We are back!

We had a great time in Ireland during our vacation and can’t wait till the pictures get developed.

Friday night, we left from the US and arrived in Ireland on Saturday morning. We were very lucky to get on that plane as we were the last 3 people to receive a seat. Keith and Katelyn sat together the whole way and I was towards the back of the plane. Keith said that she was a good girl for such a long plane ride. She made a tent and lulled herself to sleep after a few hours.

On Saturday after we arrived we trekked our way to the airport by taking the city busses and the DART tram service. Everything was fine until we got off at the Dalkey exit and the directions said that it was only a 10-15 minute walk. They left out the uphill part, so we drug our luggage all the way up the hill. Later we found a bus service to take us up the hill. Once we arrived we were in shock. It was a really nice place that was an old castle that was built in the 1700’s. Of course it was completely remodeled for modern times and had an inside swimming pool and gym. Once we arrived we had to wait for our room since it was so early over there and we had an official tea party. Katelyn had a good time and we explained how she should have a tea party with her friends like this. Later that same day we finally got checked in and went further up the hill to find a grocery store about ½ the size of our smaller bathroom. We got the essentials and then went back to the place to unpack and Katelyn and I went swimming and Keith went to the local pub where Bono from U2 hangs out at to watch the Rugby match of Ireland versus England. Of course Ireland won and everyone was happy throughout the town. Katelyn and I ended up going to bed early due to the time change.

On Sunday, we got up real early ~ 4am and tried to go back to sleep, but our course off from the time change. We got dressed and headed to Dalkey to see what was there. We trekked down the hill to walk to a park to have a better view of the bay area and Irish Sea. There was an old structure at the top of the hill, but it didn’t have any plaques or anything on it. All we know is we walked a long way uphill and then up probably about 75 stairs to reach the top for the awesome view. After that, everything was downhill and went to Dalkey to try to get some lunch. We ate at a local pub called the “In”. The food was real great almost everywhere we went. Of course I had the fish and chips and I believe Keith had the Guinness Stew there. Once we ate we went to the local Dalkey castle to do a tour. We passed through a graveyard that was as old as the 1700’s and as late as the 1960’s. The graveyard was finally closed in the 1960’s and it is a good thing as the plot of grass is about 20 feet above the street level. There were 7 castles in Dalkey that were built throughout the time. We saw Bulloch castle from the road when we passed by on the bus. We found another grocery store in town which we later visited almost every day to find our dinner. We also went to the next town over in Dun Laghoire to find the bus that would take us back uphill each time to the hotel.

On Monday, we ventured to Dublin. We practically walked the whole Hop on/Hop off tour through the town. At least we got a slower version of it. We ended up eating in the Temple Bar area at Fitzers which I believe is a fancy chain wine bar restaurant. Anyway it was real great food with a great presentation on the plate. Katelyn had the best tasting hamburger we have ever had. We took lots of video pictures of this area and went and did a tour of Guinness. Guinness was not like the brewery’s here in the US where you see the production line. Over there, they have videos of the production line and then afterwards you head to the 7th/6th/5th floor to the bar areas where you try a sample of the Draught. I will have to say that Guinness was very good. The 7th floor has the best view of all over Dublin.

On Tuesday, we actually purchased the Hop On/Hop Off tour and passed by most of the sites that we saw the previous day and then took the bus all the way to the Dublin Zoo. That zoo is great as they don’t have the barriers that we have in the US and the animals are real up close and personal. We hope to have some great pictures from that day. They are adding onto the zoo in the African Safari area and should have a great restaurant in that area. Katelyn played a little in between the rain and we found a really nice cell phone that we later returned to the rightful owner. We ate at the Marakeet restaurant where the back portion of the restaurant was the Marakeet exhibit. The food was great there. Later that same day we went to the Natural History museum and saw all the “dead” animals on display. That museum must have every animal known to man as there were 4 floors of stuffed animals. Then we went to the Art Museum and actually saw the 2 Monet’s that were on display. Then we tried to find another local grocery store and then find our way home. We took the long way home as the bus ride must have take over 2 hours to get back.

On Wednesday, we took the train to Wicklow which was in the outskirts of Southern Dublin. When we got off the train, we thought we were in a time warp. There was nobody at the train station and all the people walked down the hill somewhere to town. We found a public swimming pool and went in to see what there was to do in that town. They too agreed that there was nothing really to do but visit the jail that wasn’t open. We found out that most things don’t really open until after St. Patrick’s day and through the summer for the tourist season. After a trek to town for Katelyn and I we stopped into a café and had some coffee and desert and waited around until the train returned back to civilization. The train ride was beautiful to/from there, but that was definitely the country side of Ireland that we got to see.

On Thursday, we took the train to the North side of Dublin and went to Malahide Castle and did the tour there. It was great to learn that the castle had been owned by the Talbot family for over 800 years and was recently sold to the government in 1973 to become a tourist site. To this day they do dinners in the castle, but no overnight guests and it is said that the castle gets haunted when changes occur that one of the masters doesn’t agree with. We ate at the castle in a little café there where they had homemade soup and homemade bread and we tried a pear and cheese tart. It was great. Katelyn played at this awesome play ground and Katelyn and I got on one side of this gyro while Keith got on the other side and played on it. Later that same day we took to bus to see a 12th century castle called Swords. There was nothing left but stones and went up on the upper deck of it and then headed back to town to get a green shake at McDonalds and Katelyn a Smartie Sundae. ½ the people over there we couldn’t understand as we believe they were speaking Gaelic to us instead of English. Keith was funny as they had a non-dairy Sundae, Smartie, or Crunchy Sundae. So Keith thought Smarties were a smarter drink. Of course they were the chocolates that look like M&Ms. We later found a pizza joint near the bus stop and had some Pizza before the long trek home on the Dart. Later that same day when we were passing through Dalkey, Keith got to use some of his American skills on a guy over there because he was so drunk that he fell over himself and knocked himself in the head on this stone fence. He finally came through and we waited around until the ambulance came for him. We learned that you don’t want to get hurt over there as it will take about 20 minutes to get an ambulance and the police over there don’t carry guns.

On Friday, we took the train North again to Howth where we went to see the working fishing village. If we would have found that place beforehand, we would have had seafood galore each night. The fish there was great. We ate at the Waterside Wheelhouse bar and Keith had the best seafood chowder he has ever tasted and my clams were awesome in a butter and garlic sauce. Keith had the fish and chips and by that time I was fished out and I had the parmesan shrimp and chips. It rained hard that day too so we didn’t get to see much outside stuff and once we ate, we went back to the hotel to pack, clean up the place, and also do our last swimming of the winter. I was finally able to use the steam room for more than 5 minutes without a screaming kid in tow. Katelyn was good this whole trip except for the last day (Friday), she became a tyrant and was ready to come home.

On Saturday, we headed home and didn’t have a problem getting on the plane. We got 3 seats in the middle and Katelyn didn’t use the baby seat. She sure was happy about that. If you go to Dublin though be sure to arrive early to return home via the airport because there are tons of security check points to go through before you get to the gate. We got up at 6am, to leave the hotel at 7am to arrive at the airport around 8:30 am to check in our luggage and get some breakfast to head through to security about 9:30 am for an 11:40 am flight. Need I say more.

On the way back the pilot said that we got a rare view of Greenland from the right side of the plane. It was nothing but snowy mountains!

All in all we had a great time and the weather was better than what we expected. The people there are very nice and friendly. We do plan on going back to Ireland and doing more of a country side tour, but for that you need a separate train ticket or tour bus to go around and see the rest of the beautiful country. Cork, Kerry, and Shannon will definitely be places that we visit next. Now we just have to get back on track with our time again as Keith, Katelyn and I were ready to go at 4am here this morning.