Blogs from Ireland, Europe - page 323

Got up early this morning to get a good start to Kinsale, a little fishing village in County Cork that Rick Steves highly recommends. Mark looked out the window and said, “it’s overcast and it has been raining. Not raining now.” Well, that was an improvement! After we ate, showered and packed, Mark went to get the car while I checked out. Yvonne stood and chatted with me while we waited for Mark to bring the car around so we could load up and return the parking pass to her. I told her how much we had enjoyed her hotel and how warm the Irish people are. She said, “I’m glad you’ve met the nice ones.” I also told her that Ireland reminded me of what England was like 20 years ago with the green grocers ... read more

Happy Fourth of July! On Good Morning Ireland this morning (Ireland’s equivalent to Good Morning America, we think) they had the owner of a Dublin Restaurant called Captain America cook some “traditional” American food. He made hamburgers (okay) topped with grilled pineapple and thousand island dressing (???) I guess it’s a matter of interpretation. We both slept well last night. Mark was beat and we had “a bit of a lie in” as they would say over here. We got up about 8:00. Mark looked out the window and said, “It’s raining!” Well okay then! We fixed our continental breakfast and got ready to get to it. When we opened the door to our room, Yvonne had taped a note to our door: “Mark and Beth, please don’t forget to come get the parking pass before ... read more

First thing I said this morning: I feel so much better! Ain’t drugs—and shots—grand? Thank you Dr. Fergus Brady and your sparkling eyes! Today we’re off to Kilkenny! Mark looked out the window this morning (as is his Irish habit, it seems) and said, “Oh, look, it’s raining!” like it was a surprise. What he didn't say is it wasn't just raining, it was POURING down rain. I mean POURING!!! We got packed up, went down for breakfast and checked out of the hotel. The front desk called us a taxi which took about 10 minutes to arrive. It continued to pour rain. The taxi arrived and the driver took one look at me and said, “Not to worry, missus, it’s just a little rain.” He asked us where we were from and how long we ... read more

Day1 We arrived in DC without any major delays and were able to meet up with Erin’s old roommate Steph for lunch before we headed to Erin’s Uncle and Aunts place. Thankfully theu lets us park our car at their house while we were gone. In addition, Erin’s uncle John drove us to Dulles for our departure. We started off by waiting in a massive line to get our tickets and check our baggage. We seem to pick all the quickest lines to get through security and made it to our gate with plenty of time to spare. Before leaving we stopped at a bar in the airport for a drink to start off our vacation. We both opted for a Corona thinking that it wouldn’t be the “beer of choice” in Ireland. Once we were ... read more

What is up, our first two days in Dublin have been pretty busy to say the least. After having arrived in Dublin, we quickly came to find that Dublin does not label their streets or bus stops like the rest of the civilized world making what should have been a relatively straight-forward bus ride into a logistical nightmare! Finding that we were two hours early for check in, EJ and I decided to acquaint ourselves with the city in true Dubliner fashion...needless to say, this primarily involved familiarizing ourselves with the local pubs around the Temple Bar area (a five minute walk from our hostel). Arriving at the world famous "Temple Bar", we were shockingly surprised to find that a pint of Guiness in this area would cost about six euros...undeterred, we decided that the best ... read more