Good afternoon,
This hotel is called The Merrion...near Merrion Square in the Georgian section of old Dublin, close to many things. The hotel itself is a series of 4 Georgian houses renovated to a most glorious state. It is a fine 5 star hotel, perhaps the finest in all of Dublin...at least that is what the hop on hop off driver said. The people here have been incredibly friendly and helpful. Sinaid O'Connor has been here for the past three nights, but we never saw her...just as well, never been a fan.
Around the corner is a very nice pub...Ron says...with a friendly bartender. He had a beer there as I did a long blog. He didn't get lost retuning this time...or get hit by a car.
There are convenience markets with yogurt...candy bars...fruit juice...Coke...and other necessary life sustaining foods. Starbucks and local coffee shops which we prefer are near within a couple of blocks.
Matt the Thresher, that wonderful restaurant, is 3 short walking blocks away....the one with the crab arms and crab toes.
Hop on hop off is right outside the door about 200 feet.
The Irish Parliament is across the street.
So it was a great introduction to a wonderful county, and now, after a light breakfast at the local coffee shop, we are off to other parts...and this is where we veer off course a bit for part of the day...because we can.
The doorman told us to go to Killkenny...see the castle, walk around the town...instead of go down the coast to Waterford.
A taxi picked us up at the hotel...took us to the airport to get our car...a little tiny Renault SUV, manual transmission that uses diesel. Dd you read MANUAL? All of them are manual, which should cause no problem except that driving is also on the wrong side.
Ron kept stalling the car and an attendant walked over to give him instructions. A woman sitting on a bench and waiting for her husband made the sign of the cross. (I am not kidding.)
Finally we are off...me scared to death. He did ok once we got on the freeway...and we made it to Killkenny in the rain only 1 hour and 45 minutes away.
A quaint little medieval town with a lovely castle on a hill with very very very narrow streets with cars driving in both directions....OMG! I admit I might have screamed a couple of times, and he said a very bad word. He pulled off by a church and said he needed to potty.
The church was old old old and had a lovely cemetery with Celtic crosses, moss covered crosses, and some sections in ruins, but the gate was locked. I love churches like this. A well dressed old man, very old man, walked up to me, asked me where i was from and started telling me that the church was once Catholic, now Protestant, and to go around to the other side to see the rest of it. Amazing...I wish I could have gotten on.
Ron returned...and we headed off to the castle that we could see on the hill, but we had to go through the colorful medieval town to get there.
After running up on two sidewalks and running over several orange construction cones, I decided the castle was not that important.
WATERFORD
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Monday, September 29, 2014
AS WE LEAVE DUBLIN! IRELAND...
My observations...
So far, I am in love with Ireland.
But Europe is not in love with America. We have been to many places all over Europe, and they think we are crass, stuck up, snobby, and think we are all that...in one package.
...and observing Americans traveling, we are...well, not WE in the sense of me and Ron. We have traveled enough not to be those things. We have noted that if you talk to waiters, store clerks, drivers of hop on hop off buses, people working in museums...that the world might get a better perspective of Americans. America is a great country, but it is not THE ONLY GREAT country in the world...there are many...and every person is proud of his country. Tourists need to realize that. Ron and I consider up selves travelers...not tourists...there is a difference.
A tourist is one who sees the sights; a traveler is one who gets immersed in the culture, finds out what the people are like, experience the country. Now i can no longer be the backpacking traveler that I wish I had been on my youth..but we love traveling...well, sometimes I have to tell Ron he does. A friend said she will never regret any money spent on travel...she will never say, Oh, gee, I should have bought that couch instead of traveling to Italy.
We were hooked at age 27 when the government sent Ron to Italy for several weeks and I tagged along. OK, off my soapbox...
So far, I am in love with Ireland.
But Europe is not in love with America. We have been to many places all over Europe, and they think we are crass, stuck up, snobby, and think we are all that...in one package.
...and observing Americans traveling, we are...well, not WE in the sense of me and Ron. We have traveled enough not to be those things. We have noted that if you talk to waiters, store clerks, drivers of hop on hop off buses, people working in museums...that the world might get a better perspective of Americans. America is a great country, but it is not THE ONLY GREAT country in the world...there are many...and every person is proud of his country. Tourists need to realize that. Ron and I consider up selves travelers...not tourists...there is a difference.
A tourist is one who sees the sights; a traveler is one who gets immersed in the culture, finds out what the people are like, experience the country. Now i can no longer be the backpacking traveler that I wish I had been on my youth..but we love traveling...well, sometimes I have to tell Ron he does. A friend said she will never regret any money spent on travel...she will never say, Oh, gee, I should have bought that couch instead of traveling to Italy.
We were hooked at age 27 when the government sent Ron to Italy for several weeks and I tagged along. OK, off my soapbox...
Fuzzy brain...
...and another thing...
ST PATRICK'S CATHEDRAL...
How many European cathedrals have we visited? And they never get old...well, they are old, but you get the point.
Highly intricate floors, this one with irish symbols all over them...Tiled floors...massive granite...columns...Jonathan Swift is buried here..and his wife...stained glass everywhere of course...
E
Jonathan who wrote Gulliver's Travels but not for children...apparently did not like children. He said, We could solve Ireland's problems of the poor if the children would be boiled alive.
Well, not exactly his words, but similar point. I have felt like that myself sometimes...
Pictures....my camera does not have the correct fitting for my little cord that connects to the I Pad. I have tons of pictures, but for now, you will need to use your imagination until I return home....or find a camera shop.
Pray for us...today Ron drives on Irish roads...the wrong side...he has done it twice before...but we worry. He can't even cross a street properly.
One more thing...
At the restaurant on the menu, there were crab arms and toes...a new way to say claws and legs, huh? I had fried shrimp and they were delicious.
SUNDAY AND MONDAY...
The last two days have been fantastic...
First of all we are glad Ron is still alive. He almost got hit, not once, but twice by cars etc...everything is backwards here.
There are signs on the pavement that say LOOK TO YOUR RIGHT etc. and he stepped out into oncoming cars...first a minivan and then a truck! Because he looked the other way!
1. No Starbucks...a local coffee shop
2. Killmainham Gaol...jail...mid 1770s
Amazingly eerie...there were many prisoners housed and executed from the 1916-1919 uprising to make Ireland free from Britain. Also men, women, and children were housed in the same cell. I can't even imagine the abuse of all kinds.
During the potato famine people were trying to get themselves arrested because prisoners got two meals a day.
3. Guinness beer tour...first of all Guinness is a black yucky beer. After the self guided tour, we wandered in the "learn to pour your own Guinness" class. Ron poured his perfectly, and received a certificate. Then time for the group picture. Everyone is holding beer and certificate and looking straight ahead...except Ron who is looking right to the wall.
I asked him why he wasn't looking straight...he said, "I thought she said the camera was to the right."
Oscar Wilde said, "If we could teach the English to talk and the Irish to listen...
Did you know Ron is part Irish?
4.. Trinity college...and the Book of Kells...toured the college with a student...and then went into the Book of Kells. They are illuminated/illustrated pages that the monks painted...amazingly intricate! Stunning! But what else do they have to do?
We also went into the old library...wooden craftsmanship all around...beautiful old library.
I might have also bought Kristen something in the library book shop that she will love.
5. We went to a restaurant recommended by the hotel called Matt the Thresher...excellent choice. Ron had a fish called turbot...and I mad fried shrimp, chips, and a salad.
6. We have made 4 trips around the city on the hop on hop off bus...using it for transportation. Good guides, good history.
Tomorrow we leave for two nights in Waterford...Ron wants wine glasses.
It rained today...and the tour guide said, "It only rains twice a week in Ireland...once for three days, and the other for four. (But this is the first time it rained and only for maybe 20 minutes. I had not seen rain in a long time and I didn't care.)
Oh, we told the waiter that Mary Flynn had red hair...and he said, She doesn't even need a passport...she is one of us.
First of all we are glad Ron is still alive. He almost got hit, not once, but twice by cars etc...everything is backwards here.
There are signs on the pavement that say LOOK TO YOUR RIGHT etc. and he stepped out into oncoming cars...first a minivan and then a truck! Because he looked the other way!
1. No Starbucks...a local coffee shop
2. Killmainham Gaol...jail...mid 1770s
Amazingly eerie...there were many prisoners housed and executed from the 1916-1919 uprising to make Ireland free from Britain. Also men, women, and children were housed in the same cell. I can't even imagine the abuse of all kinds.
During the potato famine people were trying to get themselves arrested because prisoners got two meals a day.
3. Guinness beer tour...first of all Guinness is a black yucky beer. After the self guided tour, we wandered in the "learn to pour your own Guinness" class. Ron poured his perfectly, and received a certificate. Then time for the group picture. Everyone is holding beer and certificate and looking straight ahead...except Ron who is looking right to the wall.
I asked him why he wasn't looking straight...he said, "I thought she said the camera was to the right."
Oscar Wilde said, "If we could teach the English to talk and the Irish to listen...
Did you know Ron is part Irish?
4.. Trinity college...and the Book of Kells...toured the college with a student...and then went into the Book of Kells. They are illuminated/illustrated pages that the monks painted...amazingly intricate! Stunning! But what else do they have to do?
We also went into the old library...wooden craftsmanship all around...beautiful old library.
I might have also bought Kristen something in the library book shop that she will love.
5. We went to a restaurant recommended by the hotel called Matt the Thresher...excellent choice. Ron had a fish called turbot...and I mad fried shrimp, chips, and a salad.
6. We have made 4 trips around the city on the hop on hop off bus...using it for transportation. Good guides, good history.
Tomorrow we leave for two nights in Waterford...Ron wants wine glasses.
It rained today...and the tour guide said, "It only rains twice a week in Ireland...once for three days, and the other for four. (But this is the first time it rained and only for maybe 20 minutes. I had not seen rain in a long time and I didn't care.)
Oh, we told the waiter that Mary Flynn had red hair...and he said, She doesn't even need a passport...she is one of us.
Friday, September 26, 2014
The little annoyances in life...
Well, well, well, the fun has started. Pick up by the driver was smooth...traffic to the airport was smooth...check in was smooth...THEN...
When he had to exit the secure area to go to the Delta desk, he took nothing but his boarding passes...and since they put us on another airline, they took the passes from him. All he had was his charisma to get him back through security again and that didn't work. They said, Nope...gotta do better than that.
The security guard suggested he call me...and I came running like the dutiful little wife. We then went to baggage claim to pick up our luggage from Delta to begin our TEN hour wait for aerLingus flight to Dublin, Ireland. The day was boring...they say started by AirFrance strike...
Then we get to the aerLingus ticket counter only to find we are STANDBY and the panic starts. We go through all kinds of scenarios in our mind. We don't even have our car! We took a limo there because parking at Park and Fly and the limo were essentially the same price.
At 4:30 they started calling the standbys ... #1, not us. #2, not us. BUT the last couple allowed on the plane was indeed US!
Then I start worrying, Is this plane going to crash? and we shouldn't be on it...because that is how my mind works.
But we are in Dublin, Ireland now and things are good. We are staying at an incredible hotel, the Merrion, in central Dublin. Life is good.
asses back to Delta ticketing to solve the problem. They take away his boarding passes since he is no longer on their flights and gave him an itinerary of the new flight on Air Lingus ... AND he can't get back through security! He begged and said my wife is down there...but they said, NOPE NOPE ... A THOUSAND TIMES, NOPE.
We sat and waited... and Delta calls...never a good sign.
Our flight from SFO to LAX is cancelled...the next one is later... means we miss our connection to JFK...which means we miss our connections to Dublin.
They put us on an AirLingus (Irish airline) direct from SFO to Dublin. HOWEVER, it is 9:30 AM and the flight leaves at 5:20 PM...
So what to do? We had to go back to Delta, get our bags, go to the international terminal which was no easy feat, and we are sitting in little sidewalk cafe watching the people from all over the world.
BUT don't get excited yet. I promised you drama from Ronald...he delivered.
When he had to exit the secure area to go to the Delta desk, he took nothing but his boarding passes...and since they put us on another airline, they took the passes from him. All he had was his charisma to get him back through security again and that didn't work. They said, Nope...gotta do better than that.
The security guard suggested he call me...and I came running like the dutiful little wife. We then went to baggage claim to pick up our luggage from Delta to begin our TEN hour wait for aerLingus flight to Dublin, Ireland. The day was boring...they say started by AirFrance strike...
Then we get to the aerLingus ticket counter only to find we are STANDBY and the panic starts. We go through all kinds of scenarios in our mind. We don't even have our car! We took a limo there because parking at Park and Fly and the limo were essentially the same price.
At 4:30 they started calling the standbys ... #1, not us. #2, not us. BUT the last couple allowed on the plane was indeed US!
Then I start worrying, Is this plane going to crash? and we shouldn't be on it...because that is how my mind works.
But we are in Dublin, Ireland now and things are good. We are staying at an incredible hotel, the Merrion, in central Dublin. Life is good.
asses back to Delta ticketing to solve the problem. They take away his boarding passes since he is no longer on their flights and gave him an itinerary of the new flight on Air Lingus ... AND he can't get back through security! He begged and said my wife is down there...but they said, NOPE NOPE ... A THOUSAND TIMES, NOPE.
Stay tuned for our next adventure. But I did ask Ron if Ireland was bombing Syria (you know, like ISIS would retaliate) and he said, No, but I do feel better not flying out of NYC. Good point.
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
We are going to start in Dublin...then willy nilly down to Waterford...then willy nilly down and around the coast and end in Killarney...then to the west as far as we can go (which incidentally is the farthest western edge of Europe,) Ballybunion, Dingle...then up to the Aran Islands and Galway...and back to Dublin...stopping in the most interesting places on the way...15 days...and look at the mileage scale. Ireland is a small country...
I am new at this...
Bear with me, friends...I am new at this. My good friend Glen is laughing his head off at the moment as I struggle with this new place called blogspot.com. His blog is gorgeous as they travel around the US for 3 months in their long travel trailer...and mine might compete with his soon. Who am I kidding?
But I did find the "pencil" by myself!
But I did find the "pencil" by myself!
THE BEGINNING
Since we were in our middle 20s, we have loved to travel...and with Ron's FF Delta points and his Marriott points from his years with the government and then Ernst and Young, luckily, travel to Europe has been possible many times.
I plan the trips...and make reservations...consult Tripadvisor and Rick Steves many many times...and drag Ron along.
So this year it is IRELAND...the birthplace of Ron's ancestry.
Follow along with us as we brave the country. We love to sample the food, sit in wayside outdoor restaurants and watch the locals, walk through the towns and talk to the people and other travelers (that is me, not Ron,) drive through the countryside as we meander through an unknown country, and come home immersed in a culture and customs found only in books prior to our travels.
...all journeys have secret destinations of which we are unaware...follow us to see where we go. We have a rough sketch and direction, but the final destination might be a secret, even to us.
I plan the trips...and make reservations...consult Tripadvisor and Rick Steves many many times...and drag Ron along.
So this year it is IRELAND...the birthplace of Ron's ancestry.
Follow along with us as we brave the country. We love to sample the food, sit in wayside outdoor restaurants and watch the locals, walk through the towns and talk to the people and other travelers (that is me, not Ron,) drive through the countryside as we meander through an unknown country, and come home immersed in a culture and customs found only in books prior to our travels.
...all journeys have secret destinations of which we are unaware...follow us to see where we go. We have a rough sketch and direction, but the final destination might be a secret, even to us.
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