Galway

We ended the week in Galway.  Galway is another place that seemed almost unrecognizable to me.  There was one street, the shopping street, that I remembered from my visit in 2001.  I recently read that with the tech boom in Ireland a few years ago, Galway was one of Ireland's fastest growing cities.  But it has been hit hard by the recession.

Here is a shot of the shopping street:

The girls posing with a statue in Eyre Square:

The Cathedral of St. Nicholas:

We must have visited it in 2001.  The Connemara marble floors were instantly recognizable.  I love Connemara marble, and came home with a new bracelet.  Beautiful!

For the rest of my Galway pictures, here is my small album:  Galway

From Galway, we headed back to Dublin to catch our flight back to Brussels.  It was a wonderful week!  Cold, but definitely a great trip!

Cliffs of Moher and The Burren

So after we finally crossed the River Shannon via ferry, we continued the long trek north to the Cliffs of Moher, stopping along the way for provisions for our next car picnic.

I visited the Cliffs of Moher in 2001 with Katie, Mary Kay and Emily.  I remember it being so much more rugged.  I remember climbing over beaten down wire fences for the best views.  I remember signs warning of Mad Cow!  I remember standing on the edge of the Cliffs.  It has definitely been built up in the last 12 years.

It seems that renovation works were completed in 2007 of the new 'viewing platform'.  Which basically prevents anyone from getting to close to the edge.

From the official website (http://www.cliffsofmoher.ie/):  Over 600 meters of pathways and viewing platforms along the cliff edge allow the visitor to enjoy a spectacular and healthy cliff walk. The amazing views of the Cliffs, the famous Aran Islands, Kerry mountains, Galway Bay, O'Briens Tower and the thousands of seabirds make the Cliffs a magical place. If you are lucky you will hear and see the Cliffs Buskers playing traditional Irish music along the Cliff pathways. Talking telescopes are dotted along the paths.

I guess that's a Cliff Blusker playing her harp??

It was cold, hence our hats, scarfs and coats!!

After leaving the Cliffs, we ended up driving through an area of Ireland known as The Burren en route to Galway.  The Burren literally translates to "the rocky place", and it was seriously one rock pile after another.  I joked that it was heaven for Grace, whose winter coat is weighed down with about 20lbs. of rocks that she has picked up along the way this winter.  I didn't really get too many good pictures, but we were amazed by the contrast in scenery.

As we kept on trucking towards Galway, the sun was setting behind some Burren hills....

For the rest of our pictures from the Cliffs, here is my album:  Cliffs of Moher and The Burren

Slea Head Loop Drive

On Thursday we started a long day with a drive around the Dingle Peninsula, otherwise known as the Slea Head Loop.  It's about 30 miles, and the views are absolutely breathtaking.  It was by far Matt and I's favorite part of the whole trip.  It helps that it started to warm up a bit and the sun was shining brightly!

 

Posing at the western most point in Europe....

Winding, narrow road....

Blasket  islands out in the distance, no longer inhabited...

Posing seagull....

Gallarus Oratory, built about 1300 years ago, is one of Ireland's best preserved early Christian churches.

We stopped here for our first picnic (and at the time the only picnic we thought we'd be doing) of the day.  And had sliced Dubliner cheese.  You can buy blocks of Dubliner in the US, but we had never seen slices before.  YUM!

After our picnic lunch, we headed for the Cliffs of Moher.  We had two choices.  Drive around the River Shannon, or save 80+ miles and take a ferry.  We opted for the ferry....  which in the end took us a lot longer, because we got stuck in some miserable traffic through a small town, and then behind a wedding party also taking the ferry.  We ended up being the first car they wouldn't let board the 3:30pm ferry.  So we had to wait an hour for the next one.  And subsequently why we ended up doing two car picnics in one day.

Here are all the rest of my pictures from the amazing Slea Head Loop Drive:  Slea Head Drive

Dingle

On Wednesday, we spent the day in Dingle.  It's a small town on the Dingle Peninsula, and they have an aquarium, which we thought would be fun for the girls.  I think we were right.  Both girls mention the aquarium as their favorite thing from the whole trip.  Grace gives a fairly elaborate description, and Audrey just says 'shark!'.

The aquarium is TINY, and if you've ever been to the Georgia Aquarium, it's hard to be impressed, but it doesn't take much with kids sometimes.  We went first thing in the morning and practically had the entire place to ourselves.  There was a penguin exhibit, a big tank with sharks and a giant turtle, an under the sea type tunnel you walk through with fish swimming over your head, and a few smaller tanks with tropical fish and sea horses.  They also had an area where you could touch the rays and Grace got to hold a starfish.  We were done in less then an hour.  So we decided that since our tickets were good all day, we'd come back at 4pm for the Penguin feeding, and then they had crafts for the kids, a puppet show, an experiment where they remove the ink quill from a squid, and face painting.  It was a lot of fun, although Grace had no interest in the experiment, and all Audrey really wanted to do was play on one of those ride-on toys you put money in to make move. 

I don't have any pictures on my camera from the Aquarium.  Grace brought hers with her, so I'll have to try to download them and see if there's anything good.

This picture is from later that night, but Grace was a pirate....

She's also showing off her new shamrock necklace.

Dingle claims to have a friendly dolphin out in the bay that comes to entertain the town.  His name is Funghi, and this statue is in his honor...

Here are some shots from around the town of Dingle...

Here is my album from Dingle.... it's not much more then what I've included in this post.....Dingle.

Kenmare and The Ring of Kerry

After the Rock of Cashel, we headed towards Kenmare for the evening.  Kenmare is a cute little town right on the edge of the Ring of Kerry.

We stayed at a cute little B&B, called Waters Edge....and guess what!  It was on the water's edge.  It had a beautiful view.

We headed out bright and early Tuesday  morning to do the infamous Ring of Kerry drive.  Rick Steve's recommends doing it clockwise to miss all the tour buses.  I don't know if he was right or if we were lucky or if it was because it was off season, but we didn't see a single one all day.  And praise the Lord, because I was still clenching my teeth and holding on for dear life while Matt navigated the narrow roads.

But the view were worth it....

And you can't drive in Ireland and not run into some sheep commandeering the road.

We stopped along the way to look at various ruins... here is a prehistoric ring fort:

The drive was beautiful.  We really enjoyed the views, even if the weather wasn't the greatest.... at least it was dry!

Here are the rest of our pictures from Kenmare and The Ring of Kerry.  Enjoy!

Rock of Cashel

On Monday we picked up our rental car and held on for dear life as Matt navigated driving on the left hand side of the road from the right side of the car.  We have driven in England in our own car, but according to Matt, this was a totally new experience.

Our final destination for the day was Kenmare, which is in the southwest of Ireland, roughly 4 hours away.  We decided to break up the drive with a stop about half way at The Rock of Cashel.

I didn't get a good picture of the whole structure, so I stole this off of the Internet:

Plus, there are renovation works, so lots of scaffolding....  anywho....The Rock of Cashel was the seat of ancient kings of Munster, and where St. Patrick baptized King Aengus in about A.D. 450.

It was really beautiful.  I believe Rick Steve's used the word 'evocative', and I think I'd have to agree.  It was also the coldest place we visited all week.  The wind whipped right through, and we were freezing icicles.  

For a few more pictures, here is my album:  Rock of Cashel

Easter in Dublin

We went to church at the Immaculate Conception (Adam & Eve) Catholic Church for Easter.  During English rule, the Franciscans secretly said Mass in the Adam and Eve Tavern, where the popular name of the present church comes from.  It was just down the street from our apartment.  It was so beautiful inside.

A picture from the Internet:

But sadly, the service was disappointing.  Surprisingly, there was barely anyone there.  The girls were not in the mood to behave.... which since it was only a 40 minute service, wasn't too much of a headache.  And according to Matt, the hymns were not appropriate for Easter.  I didn't really notice.  It was nice to hear some traditional hymns instead of the honky tonk we have at the church here.  One very nice thing, several people, including a priest sought the girls out after church to give them chocolate bunnies.  Lots of chocolate bunnies.  I think people were surprised to see little girls in church!

After Church, we had brunch at the Queen of Tarts.  It was excellent!  One of the things we miss most in Brussels is a good breakfast/brunch restaurant.  It reminded me of Flying Biscuit, J. Christopers and a handful of other places we've gone to in Roswell minus grits, of course.

After brunch we headed out to see The Book of Kells.  It's not something you can photograph, so follow the wikipedia link above for some pictures.  It is an illustrated book created by Irish Monks ca. 800.

Afterwards, we headed to St. Stephens Green, where I was able to do an impromptu photo shoot with the girls.  It was about 38F outside.  So I had to work quick to get some pictures of the girls in their Easter dresses with the added bonus of some tulips as a backdrop!!

 Very Olan Mills-ish, if I do say so myself!

Afterwards, we found a park for some more swinging.....

See how bundled up the girls really were!!  Brrrrrrr!!

After the park, we headed to the National Museum of Archaeology.  Odd choice, you say? It actually rates 3 stars in Rick Steve's book.  And free and inside!!  And it is pretty small, so we were able to do a quick walk thru, escape the cold, warm up for a bit and see some interesting artifacts from Irish history.

We finished off our Easter day at the Brazen Head Pub, the oldest pub in Ireland, also right around the corner from our apartment.  There was some traditional  music playing in one of the rooms.  We couldn't really get a good view of the musicians as it was packed in that particular room, but we were able to hear the music from the room our table was in, and we enjoyed a nice pub dinner.  Not exactly a traditional Easter dinner, but it hit the spot.  And the girls entertained others dancing around, too.

For the rest of my pictures from Easter (mostly photo shoot outtakes), here is my album:  Easter in Dublin

Dublin

We spent 3 days in Dublin, which was the right amount of time...  we arrived pretty early Friday morning, and departed Monday morning.

A good chunk of the first half of Friday was spent getting 3 suitcases, 3 carry-on's, 2 car seats, one stroller, and 2 toddlers to our hotel.  We took a shuttle bus from the airport, and it dropped us near our apartment.  We are hooked on staying in apartments when and where we can.  It gives us more room.  We can put the girls down to bed, and still be able to do something ourselves.  We have a kitchen to keep food cold/hot, and sometimes a much needed washing machine in emergency situations.

After we got settled, we set out on a walk around town.  It was pretty quiet since it was a bank holiday AND the only day you can not buy and/or sell alcohol in all of Ireland.  Me thinks the grocery stores looked like a blizzard/hurricane was coming on Thursday as everyone stocked up to hunker down on Friday.  :)

Our apartment was very close to Christ Church Cathedral.  Unfortunately, due to the holiday, it was not open to the public for viewing inside.

Afterwards, we walked around Temple Bar area a little bit.....it was almost a ghost town!

Since almost all restaurants/pubs were closed due to the alcohol ordinance, we ended up eating fish-n-chips at a little place near our apartment before calling it a night.

We kicked off Saturday at Guinness.  Touring Guinness is much more like a museum then a brewery.  You don't actually see the magic happening.  But it is still very well done.  And it kept the girls fairly entertained.  It's 7 floors, so their enthusiasm wore off around the 5th floor or so.

Playing with the Barley....

Please note Audrey's busted lip in the above picture.  Little Miss Independent decided to march herself through the security scanner at the Charleroi airport with her hands in her pockets (she is OBSESSED with walking around with her hands in her pockets), no less, and tripped on the other side, and busted her lip.  I was still on the other side of the scanner myself, and couldn't go get her....  she was hysterical.  And airport security person picked her up and she was bleeding.  What a scene.  Luckily, just her lip and we soon got her calmed down.  But if going through security isn't already so stressful.....

Anyway, back to Guinness....

Audrey learning she wouldn't be receiving a free sample

Grace posing at the Gravity Bar, as Mommy and Daddy enjoyed their free sample.  Really wished Daddy had hiked up her pants pre-picture.  Oh well.

There are several restaurants on site, so we just opted to have lunch there before heading back to the apartment for everyone's nap.

 After nap, we headed back out exploring and some much needed swinging....

We opted to eat in Saturday night, another advantage of an apartment.... Matt and I were still pretty full from our lunch, it was easy to just run to the store and get something to make for the girls.


Here are our pictures from the first two days in Dublin:  Dublin