Ireland!

Hello Dear Readers,

 So when Adam and Melch were here, one of Adam's goals was to be in Dublin on St. Paddy's Day.  With no plan and no idea, we booked train/ferry tickets to Ireland from Wednesday to Saturday.  The train ride was good, and we got to go past the Welsh station famous for having the longest station name in the UK.  The ferry took about two hours across some calm waters, then we arrived in Dublin to sunshine.






The first thing we did after getting a map and getting our bearings was to walk across town to the Guinness factory, or Heaven, as Adam would have it.  They don't actually brew the beer in the tour building, but they did up until the 1980's I believe, and you can see at our feet the custom narrow rail road tracks they had around the complex to move the beer around.

 I even tried my  hand at pouring the perfect pint, and had a few gulps of it.  Not bad, but still not the thing I would reach for refreshment on a hot day, I prefer a lemonade or best of all, a glass of water.  But it was a fun tour and the best part of all was being up on the top floor in a suspended glass bar with windows all around, able to see the entire skyline of Dublin at sunset.  After Dublin we got a car and drove towards Kilkenny, stopping along the way to see Ireland's tallest waterfall.  We got to Kilkenny in the evening where we ate at what can only be described as a Dadaist Chinese place, I highly recommend it, though I don't remember the name!!  We spent the  night at a hostel in Cork, but slept only until about 6!


The next day we went towards the Ring of Kerry which is a touristy route known for it's arts and crafts stops.  We hit up the highlight of the tour for me, the Kerry Woolen Mills, and I scored 2 lbs of fiber and some lovely yarn which they spin at the factory there.  It was heavenly, I made Chris take the bag away so I didn't keep filling it.

We drove around the country side, eventually making our way towards Galway to see the cliffs of Moher (featured as the Cliffs of Insanity in The Princess Bride).  Lots of sheep and green country side and rain in Ireland.

We did end up being back in Dublin for St' Paddy's Day, and Adam got his Guinness and Jameson's in to boot, but then we had to hurry to make our ferry back home to the UK.  I was pretty pooped at this point, from the "You can sleep when you're dead" school of traveling that we practiced the whole time, but thankfully I had my trusty wool with me to lay down and take a nap.

I'm so glad Adam and Melch were here to make us go, otherwise I fear Ireland would have been another one of those places that we always talk about going but never really do because it's so close.  However, I would definitely go back, the people were amazingly friendly and open, and there is so much to see there that we didn't get a chance to do at all.

More news to come about a surprising and welcome visit from an old school friend, a visit from Molly and baby this week, and updates on all my crafty activities, since I'm sure you are curious.....


Cheers!