We landed in Dublin at the worst time possible- rush hour. As you can imagine after a long day on Monday and after spending a lot of the day in the airport everyone was a little bit on edge (especially the rookie travellers) so mixing traffic and exhaustion was a disaster. It took us over an hour just to get through the city. We tried to take the toll highway around the city to avoid it but there was an accident on the M50 and traffic was at a standstill so we decided to turn around and go through the city. It took soooooo long but we made it through the city and into the beautiful Irish country side. Everyone was stressed out so we stopped at a nearby fishing town which had a spectacular view of the North Sea. There was a fantastic golf course on the nearby hills and I wish I could have grabbed my sticks and played a quick 9 holes but that was not possible. We went and explored an old ruined castle that was built on former Viking territory. It is pretty amazing that I have now walked on the ground that so many historical figures and tribes have previously stood/lived/fought/died on. We then continued our trip towards Arklow which was another small town where we were planning on stopping to have some dinner. On our way we were amazed by the beautiful sunset (it felt like a lifetime ago that we had even seen the bright thing in the sky called the sun) so we felt compelled to stop on the side of the road and walk up various sand dunes. We got to the highest sand dune and got a well deserved breath of fresh air! It was a beautiful night and the sun setting over the rolling green hills as we stood on the natural sand dunes was pretty remarkable. Once we took 219 pictures we continued our trip to Arklow where we picked up some amazing pizza! After dinner we made our way towards Waterford and stopped off at the farm house that we had reserved for the night. The Farmhouse was in the middle of nowhere so trying to find it at 12:00am was a little bit difficult but when we got there we were pleasantly surprised by the traditional Irish farmhouse. I only wish we could have stayed longer!
The next morning we woke up early and set off on what proved to be a long and exhausting day. We started the day off in Waterford which was about a 45 minute drive from the farmhouse. While in Waterford the most obvious thing to do is visit the Waterford crystal factory. Since I was still in search of a nice scotch decanter we parked nearby and checked out the Waterford crystal shop. When we walked into the store it was slightly overwhelming. We saw a crystal football helmet that was a cool 40000$ CAD. After much deliberation I decided not to buy the football helmet. It was almost as difficult as turning down the beautiful bowl that Katherine didn't let me buy in Rome. The store had a display of all the trophies that they make for college football, golf and racing. After not seeing Tiger make the cut at St. Andrews it was nice to see the Memorial Trophy that he has raised eight times. I did not find a decent decanter but my mom managed to find a thing or two. After spending about an hour in Waterford we hopped back in the car and drove to Cork where we stopped for lunch. It was a quick stop in Cork but I can definitely see myself returning to that city. It was alive and seemed like it had a hundred and one things to do. Our next stop was in Killarney. Apparently there is a Christmas song about Christmas in Killarney so my mother was drawn to the city (singing the whole way). The only problem is that she did not do any research and had no idea what she wanted to see. When we pulled into the city we really didn't know what to expect. It turned out to be a cute little city. The first thing we noticed was a Tim's sign! We were all so excited at the prospect of iced caps and timbits that we made an instant u-turn to check it out. It was really Tim's but not what we are accustomed to in Canada (this one only had self-serve coffee urns and a few stale donuts). Disappointed, we left empty-handed.. One more week of waiting won't kill us! Next, we dropped the girls off at the Aran Island wool store and the three fellas (me, Shel and Dev) did what any man would do in Ireland. We went to the bar and had some Guinness while we waited for them to spend five million dollars on sweaters and scarves. Finally, we made the drive to the Ring of Kerry which I had been looking forward to since Katherine's great Uncle Wim had said it was his favourite place on earth. It did not disappoint. The two hour drive around the Ring of Kerry was exciting, beautiful and scary. Not only did the Ring of Kerry have beautiful hills/cliffs, coastal roads and inland lakes but it had a certain ambiance that I feel can only be felt by experiencing the cliffs. I am pretty sure Dev passed out at one point as we drove on the winding roads on edge of the mountain. At one point we needed to pull over so that he could have a beer to calm the nerves. The Ring of Kerry is one of those places that every turn you take, you feel like you need to stop to take pictures. The reality of the situation is that you end up with twenty pictures of the exact same thing but you feel as though every turn gets better and better. After our three hour tour of the Ring of Kerry we made the long trip to Galway where we would be spending the next three nights.
On Friday we tried to sleep in as long as possible but we were sleeping in a hostel which has beds made out of concrete (mom and dad stayed in a luxurious hotel room). We ended up waking up around 9am and made our way to the tourist office where we planned our day and also our trip to the Aran Islands for Saturday. Around 12:00pm we left Galway for one of the highlights of our trip- the Cliffs of Moher. Our drive there was absolutely magnificent for anyone that was not in the drivers seat. Of course my father was on edge as we drove around the very narrow yet curvaceous coastal roads. We eventually made it to the cliffs and I was absolutely overwhelmed. Have you ever been somewhere that was jaw dropping? The cliffs were insane! I am not a good enough writer to explain the beauty of the cliffs but I will try best. The steep falloff of the cliffs made my mother and brother queazy. The 8 miles of seemingly endless cliffs is a magnificent sight! The green grass which quickly falls off into a 702 meter drop off can be both intimidating and astonishing. A few times I was able to peak over the edge without my parents or Devin freaking out and you can just feel your stomach crawl up into you throat. What really got me is that as you enter the walking path for the cliffs of Moher they have a memorial for all of the people who have died on the cliff. That's reassuring! Luckily we did all survive the cliffs and made it back as the sun was setting.
The next day we woke up early and drove to the ferry that was going to take us to the Aran Islands. When we arrived at the islands we rented bikes and biked to the ruined Fort. It was about a 10 km bike but it was uphill 90% of the way and we were biking into the wind so I like to think it was about a 35 km bike. Somehow everyone got split up on our way to the Fort so Katherine and I made it before everyone else. We had a little time to shop so I bought my wonderful mother a nice little gift as seen in the photos. Once they all caught up we made our way up the cliff to the Fort. It was about 3000 years old and made of rocks but without the use of any cement. I am absolutely astonished that this structure has stood the test of time. With the amount of wind, rain and cold weather they receive I wouldn't imagine the structure lasting over 20 years. From to Fort we had a great view of the island. All of the farmer have these ancient stone fences that also do not use any cement to hold it together. After the Fort we biked a little bit longer and then did a short hike to the Worm Hole. This is a pool that I think is naturally made but I might be wrong. I wanted to jump into the pool so bad but there were so many jelly fish that I decided not to. We then continued biking along the costal path where we arrived at a seal lookout. It did not appear as though there were any seals but upon further review there were several seals out hunting. Once in a while they would pop their heads out and I was able to take a few pictures before freaking out about how cute they were. We then continued the bike ride along the coast before I stopped because of an overwhelmingly beautiful horse. I had to stop and see if I could get one of them to come over towards me. I called the first one over and he didn't seem too interested but I picked some fresh grass and called him one more time. He took one more bite of grass and then walked over to me. I fed him a little bit of grass and he seemed to enjoy it so I continued to give him some. If I didn't have his next bite ready by the time he finished what I gave him he would dip his head down as if to tell me to get him more food. My father happened to have some carrots in his bag so I fed the beautiful horse a few of those before saying a tearful goodbye. We biked back to the ferry and had a beer on the patio before heading back to Galway. This was another spectacular day at another spectacular place in Ireland. We spent the night at a great pub in downtown Galway which was a great time. I was hoping mom would wear the hat I bought her but she did not indulge.
I must apologize fore the long posts. I have not been good at keeping up to date recently.
The next morning we woke up early and set off on what proved to be a long and exhausting day. We started the day off in Waterford which was about a 45 minute drive from the farmhouse. While in Waterford the most obvious thing to do is visit the Waterford crystal factory. Since I was still in search of a nice scotch decanter we parked nearby and checked out the Waterford crystal shop. When we walked into the store it was slightly overwhelming. We saw a crystal football helmet that was a cool 40000$ CAD. After much deliberation I decided not to buy the football helmet. It was almost as difficult as turning down the beautiful bowl that Katherine didn't let me buy in Rome. The store had a display of all the trophies that they make for college football, golf and racing. After not seeing Tiger make the cut at St. Andrews it was nice to see the Memorial Trophy that he has raised eight times. I did not find a decent decanter but my mom managed to find a thing or two. After spending about an hour in Waterford we hopped back in the car and drove to Cork where we stopped for lunch. It was a quick stop in Cork but I can definitely see myself returning to that city. It was alive and seemed like it had a hundred and one things to do. Our next stop was in Killarney. Apparently there is a Christmas song about Christmas in Killarney so my mother was drawn to the city (singing the whole way). The only problem is that she did not do any research and had no idea what she wanted to see. When we pulled into the city we really didn't know what to expect. It turned out to be a cute little city. The first thing we noticed was a Tim's sign! We were all so excited at the prospect of iced caps and timbits that we made an instant u-turn to check it out. It was really Tim's but not what we are accustomed to in Canada (this one only had self-serve coffee urns and a few stale donuts). Disappointed, we left empty-handed.. One more week of waiting won't kill us! Next, we dropped the girls off at the Aran Island wool store and the three fellas (me, Shel and Dev) did what any man would do in Ireland. We went to the bar and had some Guinness while we waited for them to spend five million dollars on sweaters and scarves. Finally, we made the drive to the Ring of Kerry which I had been looking forward to since Katherine's great Uncle Wim had said it was his favourite place on earth. It did not disappoint. The two hour drive around the Ring of Kerry was exciting, beautiful and scary. Not only did the Ring of Kerry have beautiful hills/cliffs, coastal roads and inland lakes but it had a certain ambiance that I feel can only be felt by experiencing the cliffs. I am pretty sure Dev passed out at one point as we drove on the winding roads on edge of the mountain. At one point we needed to pull over so that he could have a beer to calm the nerves. The Ring of Kerry is one of those places that every turn you take, you feel like you need to stop to take pictures. The reality of the situation is that you end up with twenty pictures of the exact same thing but you feel as though every turn gets better and better. After our three hour tour of the Ring of Kerry we made the long trip to Galway where we would be spending the next three nights.
On Friday we tried to sleep in as long as possible but we were sleeping in a hostel which has beds made out of concrete (mom and dad stayed in a luxurious hotel room). We ended up waking up around 9am and made our way to the tourist office where we planned our day and also our trip to the Aran Islands for Saturday. Around 12:00pm we left Galway for one of the highlights of our trip- the Cliffs of Moher. Our drive there was absolutely magnificent for anyone that was not in the drivers seat. Of course my father was on edge as we drove around the very narrow yet curvaceous coastal roads. We eventually made it to the cliffs and I was absolutely overwhelmed. Have you ever been somewhere that was jaw dropping? The cliffs were insane! I am not a good enough writer to explain the beauty of the cliffs but I will try best. The steep falloff of the cliffs made my mother and brother queazy. The 8 miles of seemingly endless cliffs is a magnificent sight! The green grass which quickly falls off into a 702 meter drop off can be both intimidating and astonishing. A few times I was able to peak over the edge without my parents or Devin freaking out and you can just feel your stomach crawl up into you throat. What really got me is that as you enter the walking path for the cliffs of Moher they have a memorial for all of the people who have died on the cliff. That's reassuring! Luckily we did all survive the cliffs and made it back as the sun was setting.
The next day we woke up early and drove to the ferry that was going to take us to the Aran Islands. When we arrived at the islands we rented bikes and biked to the ruined Fort. It was about a 10 km bike but it was uphill 90% of the way and we were biking into the wind so I like to think it was about a 35 km bike. Somehow everyone got split up on our way to the Fort so Katherine and I made it before everyone else. We had a little time to shop so I bought my wonderful mother a nice little gift as seen in the photos. Once they all caught up we made our way up the cliff to the Fort. It was about 3000 years old and made of rocks but without the use of any cement. I am absolutely astonished that this structure has stood the test of time. With the amount of wind, rain and cold weather they receive I wouldn't imagine the structure lasting over 20 years. From to Fort we had a great view of the island. All of the farmer have these ancient stone fences that also do not use any cement to hold it together. After the Fort we biked a little bit longer and then did a short hike to the Worm Hole. This is a pool that I think is naturally made but I might be wrong. I wanted to jump into the pool so bad but there were so many jelly fish that I decided not to. We then continued biking along the costal path where we arrived at a seal lookout. It did not appear as though there were any seals but upon further review there were several seals out hunting. Once in a while they would pop their heads out and I was able to take a few pictures before freaking out about how cute they were. We then continued the bike ride along the coast before I stopped because of an overwhelmingly beautiful horse. I had to stop and see if I could get one of them to come over towards me. I called the first one over and he didn't seem too interested but I picked some fresh grass and called him one more time. He took one more bite of grass and then walked over to me. I fed him a little bit of grass and he seemed to enjoy it so I continued to give him some. If I didn't have his next bite ready by the time he finished what I gave him he would dip his head down as if to tell me to get him more food. My father happened to have some carrots in his bag so I fed the beautiful horse a few of those before saying a tearful goodbye. We biked back to the ferry and had a beer on the patio before heading back to Galway. This was another spectacular day at another spectacular place in Ireland. We spent the night at a great pub in downtown Galway which was a great time. I was hoping mom would wear the hat I bought her but she did not indulge.
I must apologize fore the long posts. I have not been good at keeping up to date recently.