2013 Ireland
Ella-
This trip started out as all good trips to Ireland do…in an authentic Irish pub straight from the airport in Dublin. This was the beginning of Grandma’s insatiable desire to find authentic Irish music playing in an authentic Irish pub. I (Ella), however, still operating under the childish premonition that alcohol was a disgusting drink that desired little attention was unimpressed with this desire and had little intention to help fulfill it.
Anyhoo, this trip was filled with visits to castles, castle remains, and many towering cliffs. As Steve drove us around the perimeter of the great country of Ireland we stopped at whatever attraction seemed to fit the mood of the group, which for me was often sleepy as I slept through most of the car rides, this may have also been a result of Steve’s race-car like driving on the high, windy roads of Ireland. During these drives, we would pass through many small farming villages where there would be sheep roaming about. Once we decided to stop to see these sheep and as I approached it, the sheep in full-on defense mode charged at me with the speed of God. An extremely funny picture came from this event. One of these stops led us to a beautiful hidden castle, with a magnificent botanical garden where we had tea and sandwiches and I found the perfect venue for my future wedding. Another one of these stops resulted in lessons in an authentic Irish sport, hurling. I was clearly a natural and Steve really struggled to pick it up, but that’s okay.
The best part of the trip, by far, had to be our trip to Belfast. This trip included a fascinating cab ride around the walled city where the cabbie began speaking in such quick and angry Gallic that I thought he might’ve had a seizure. But probably the best part of this section of the trip is when I was navigating Steve perfectly to our hotel and he completely ignored my directions and missed the turn to the hotel a total of four times and had to keep circling the block while we screamed at each other and grandma howled with laughter in the back seat. If you know grandma I’d be surprised if you hadn’t heard this story.
Steve-
After somehow despite inferior directions and Grandma’s cackling….I did find the hotel in Belfast. Our cabbie wasn’t angry but after he did get done with his mate he did turn and say…”you probably didn’t understand anything I just said”. Ireland was awesome. From the Guinness factory in Dublin and Jamison plant about an hour south out of Dublin there was always a pub around the corner…I did get a little tired of “Whiskey in a Jar” song by the end of the trip. Also I was super awesome at Hurling…we met the Lebron James (or MIchael Jordan) of Hurling during our practice and the kid teaching us thought I was a natural (which I was). Circling the Island was great. Since its pretty small, there never was a day that involved a huge amount of driving…was always “fun” having Grandma ask “whats the plan….what’s the plan” (Boom!). Dublin was great once I got my bearings, good area of nightlife semi-near the hotel. Belfast history was certainly interesting…hard to imagine it wasn’t that long ago when all the unrest was happening in Ireland. The Cliffs of Mohr (spelling?) was one of the boat rides we took and was a particularly rainy/windy day. Galway was an awesome city (town?) and we did a ferry trip out to a small island (yes I forgot the name) where it had about maybe 1000 residents that lived there year round — certainly get to know your neighbors that way. Kilkenny was where I heard the best music…granted it was still the same songs I heard everywhere and saw quite a few Americans. Of course, we had to stop in Waterford and buy some stuff…I asked for the cheapest crystal thing they had…think I still have it somewhere. After spending two weeks shifting with my left hand (the driving on the opposite side isn’t that bad but shifting with my left hand was odd) we did complete the circle of Ireland and celebrated with a pint of Guinness!
