Ireland!

Taking advantage of the long weekend provided by Veteran's Day (Armistice Day in Ireland) and suprisingly cheap airfare, Elaine and I took a quick little trip to Ireland.

Getting to Dublin was a bit more adventurous than planned. For now let’s just say, never fly through O’Hare if you don’t have to, even if it would save you $400.

When we finally arrived in Dublin (10 hour late do the O’Hare debacle) we caught a bus into Dublin and tried to walk to Cassidy’s, our hotel. Unfortunately, the map I printed out telling us how to get to the hotel had the hotel in the wrong place. So we ended up walking way too far to get to where we were going. Exhausted, we collapsed for a little while on the bed before rallying and going out for a lovely dinner at Halo located in the Morrison Hotel.

The next day, we slept in, and walked through Dublin to the Guinness brewery, stopping along the way to eat lunch at Gruel, which was highly recommended by our Lonely Planet guide. The soup I had for lunch was delicious, and the Guinness brewery lived up to the hype. The story of the 9000 year lease and the cooper exhibit were highlights of the museum, but the best part was the free Guinness at the Gravity Bar with the spectacular 360 degree view of Dublin and the surrounding countryside. After the tour, we went back to hotel, grabbed our bags, and caught a Bus Eireann bus to Ennis in County Clare, where we caught a cab to Hotel Woodstock and continued catching up on our sleep.

On Saturday morning, we headed into the town of Ennis and took a Bus to the Cliffs of Moher. We lucked out on the weather, which was a bit brisk, but sunny whereas the day before the Cliffs were battered by 50 mph winds and driving rain. We had two hours to explore the Cliffs of Moher (also known as the cliffs of insanity from The Princess Bride) and really the pictures speak for themselves. After the Cliffs, we took the bus up to Galway, which was a spectacular ride through the Burren and along the coast of Galway bay. In Galway we did a little shopping, and saw a random Christmas parade. We ducked in a pub called Busker Brownes for some dinner and caught the end of a rugby match between Ireland and the legendary New Zealand All Blacks. The All Blacks won 45-7, but we did see Ireland’s only score, and even got a picture of the moment of their touchdown. After dinner we headed back to Ennis, and stumbled upon the ‘Trad Festival’ where every pub in town had live traditional Irish music. We wandered around the pubs of Ennis, and also saw the 12th century Ennis Friary.

On Sunday we traveled back east to Dublin, and stayed in the George Frederick Handel Hotel on Fishamble Street, which dates back to Viking times and is the oldest street in Dublin. While not so old itself, the Hotel’s claim to fame is that it is the building where Handel’s Messiah premiered. That evening we wandered around the pubs of Temple Bar, and enjoyed our last night in Dublin, and the next day we flew home.

(click here to see all the pictures, or here for the slideshow)