Poor Rooster...

Friday, August 5, Doolin to Galway

Where's Meagan?

Kathryn setting up the perfect shot

 We left Doolin about 10 am to explore the Burren.  The Burren is an area of Ireland in the County Clare that is made up of limestone rocks. I find it crazy that we can be on a beach one minute, in a freakishly green pasture the next, and on a limestone plateau in another 10 minutes... We first stopped off at the Tourist Information Burren Centre so that Kathryn could get a cup of life (aka coffee). We left the centre and decided that we needed to go left. As we got out of town, we realized we were going the wrong way. So we u-turned and headed BACK through town. Navigation wasn't clear, nor were ANY signs visible in the town to help. We headed the opposite direction, got out of town and realized we were definitely going the wrong way. So we did ANOTHER u-turn, drove through the town a third time, and finally was en route to the Burren! We first stopped at the Caherconnell Ring Fort. I hung out in the shop and debated buying miniature leprechaun figurines while Kathryn visited the bathroom (that dang coffee). We didn't want to pay the 6 euro to actually walk up to the fort, so we gazed at it from the parking lot, moo-ed at the baby cows in the adjacent pasture, and hopped back into Rooster. Drove up the road about 5 minutes to visit an old burial tomb called the Poulnabrone Coulmen. This thing is thousands of years old. We parked and walked up to it, reading all the informational placards on the way... it was erected in 4200-2500BC! Aka... it's really old. The huge rock formation stands on the Burren, where crevices have slowly been formed by rainwater and small, hardy plants grow up between the rock.

You see me??? Huh??? See me?!

 We wandered around a bit, took some pictures (what else?) and climbed back into Rooster. Drove up to the Aillwee Caves - because of the acid in the rainwater, years of run-off has created a large cave system underneath the Burren. Didn't go into the caves, just drove through the parking lot :) We stopped down the road at a pull-out and hiked about 1/2 mile off the road just to experience the views. What a strange place... it's amazing that just yesterday we were at cliffs and beaches, and today we're in this semi-desolate place where the only vegetation that survives has to cling to the edges of rock crevices... While we were there, we decided to have a little photo shoot -

These pictures make me so happy.

 We drove through several little Irish towns, and decided to stop in Kinvarra, a tiny little harbor town. Signs were posted advertising a farmer's market, so we thought that would be a fun thing to visit. The main street was clogged with traffic, and a large tanker truck was trying to navigate between parked and moving cars towards us. I thought I would try to quickly grab a parking spot on the road, so I crossed the oncoming traffic and tried to pull into a little space. "Tried" is the key word in that last sentence... Rooster was parked all cattywompus on the curb, and our tail end was still poking out into the road. However, that tanker truck was too close for us to try to re-adjust. So we just froze, held our breath and prayed! He cleared our rear bumper by mere inches... We let out our breaths, but were still stuck. Trafffic was bumper to bumper and I didn't know if I could reverse up the hill to get us out of the space... I tried once, stalled out and we ended up 3 inches from the delivery van parked in front of us. Ooops. Right at that time, this lady in a hippie van sputtered on by and clipped Rooster's rear bumper! How dare she... but Rooster didn't even flinch - he's so tough. Finally the traffic cleared enough for me to release the parking brake and reverse out of the spot... we went and found a legit parking space. Lesson learned!

Found the farmer's market saw all sorts of interesting stuff! A little band was playing, we bought cheese-filled bratwursts on sourdough buns for lunch. Talked with merchants selling everything from artisan cheeses to wool clothes to carrots and lavender:)

Farmer's Market - post fender bender...

Made it to Galway and had to drive around the entire city twice before finding cheap parking. I dropped Kathryn off on the curb to run into a hostel to check for availabilities... we got the last 2 beds! The city was really interesting... it had a series of canals that run through the city, which is why Galway is called "the Venice of Ireland." The canals were used to power mills back in the day. The water was pretty clear and clean, so the city thankfully did not smell like Venice! We wandered a bit and saw the entire city in about 2 hours... We saw men fishing for salmon in the main canal - fly fishing! Went into a pub called Tig Coili and heard some great traditional music, then went to get some fish and chips (on Kathryn's to-do list for Ireland). Delicious, but SO greasy... We then went to the Quay's, a pub that some new friends in Dublin had told us to visit. The band started 1.5 hours later than we had anticipated, but we had a great time... this band was NOT a traditional band - we heard the Beatles, Elvis, Mumford and Sons, and even a song by the legendary Mississippi blues man Robert Johnson!

Ferries and cliffs and dolphins, oh my!

Thursday, August 4, Dingle to Doolin

Today was a fabulously random day and a day of "firsts". We made a quick grocery run in Dingle (for ham, cheese, bread, and granola bars) and headed out of town before noon. Our shoes had not had time to completely dry out from the bike ride, so ol' Rooster was smelling ripe... Due to my status as a new driver on the day we drove into Dingle, we had taken the "easy" route into town, skipping the narrow winding Connor Pass to the north. Well, when Kat asked if I wanted to take the Connor Pass out of town, I figured, "why not?" The sky was overcast and was spitting rain, we knew visibility would be low, but we thought it would be our last time to try it. We headed out of town and most of our view was obstructed by the low clouds and rain. Finally we were on a treacherous single-lane road winding along the edge of a cliff with only a small rock wall between us and death. Scary, huh? Thankfully we couldn't see much:) All of a sudden a car appeared out of the mist and it was heading straight to us! After a bit of yelling and braking, we passed that car and a few others. We were in survival mode... and made it through the mountains without a scratch! Had to do a little high five at the end of the road:)

Can you find Rooster?

We had a fairly short ride to Tarbert, where we rode the car ferry across the River Shannon... we were VERY excited to drive onto a ferry for the first time. I won't share the video, because it was very anti-climactic. But exciting, nonetheless:) I climbed up the stairs to the top deck, but stayed up there for a very short time - it was freezing and the wind had to have been blowing at least 30 mph...

Just blending in with the guests...

Once we left the river behind, Kathryn noticed a HUGE castle/hotel/building off to our left... we speculated for a good 10 minutes about what the building could be, then finally decided to try to find it. Got lucky (or was it our impeccable senses of direction?) and stumbled upon the Doonbeg Golf resort. We drove through links with men trying to hit golf balls with the wind gusting over 20 mph. Good luck, fellas. As we drove up in Rooster (and I don't think either of us had had a shower that day), we realized that this place was not for the cheap. The stone and wooden lodge was perched on the edge of a cliff that dropped to the sea. We saw a sign to the beach and decided to explore a little further. I thought the beach would be some narrow spit of sand built by the golf people for their guests. Boy, was I wrong! We walked through a gate and down a narrow sand path that opened up to beach that was 2+ miles long and at least 150 yards deep. It was AMAZING! Made me SO happy! So to express my joy, I threw off my shoes and took off running to the sea! I started off happy, and ended up with a stitch in my side... made it to the water, though:) Kathryn spent about 20 minutes taking pictures of the rocks, sand and lodge... and as we made our way back up to the resort, we realized our entrance gate had closed and locked after we went through it earlier. Oops. So much for trying to "fit in." We had to scale the fence quickly and then amble up to the golf shop like we had planned it all...

Doonbeg Golf Resort

But everyone else was doing it, Mom!

After leaving Doonbeg, we kept on our route to the Cliffs of Moher. This is the place where my suspicions were confirmed. Kathryn is afraid of heights (well, she's afraid of tremendous heights!)! The things you learn about your friends when you travel... We walked along a nice paved pathway and quickly reached the end of the path. This was the point where everyone hops over a stone wall and continues along the top of the cliffs on a worn, slippery dirt/mud path. We scaled the wall, passed the sign that said "Do Not Pass" and kept moving! With the wind gusting like it was, the path was a little treacherous at times. However, the cliffs were absolutely stunning. There was an enormous drop to the ocean - I think Kathryn said it's over 600 feet to the water. A truly majestic sight. The temperatures were low 50s and the wind was blowing over 20mph. A little different weather than Memphis, TN! We walked and took pictures (of course) and experienced the visitors' center for a couple hours before reuniting with Rooster in the parking lot. As we were gathering our stuff and organizing the car's interior, Kathryn exclaimed, "I think that guy is laughing at Rooster!" Sure enough, some jerk was in the parking lot taking pictures and laughing at our dear Rooster. I could have kicked him... we decided he was just jealous. He probably couldn't find his vehicle in the parking lot. We NEVER had that problem in Ireland. Rooster was like a homing beacon - I really think he glowed in the dark.

Looking over the edge... and hanging on!

We drove the 10 miles from the Cliffs to Doolin, another small town on the western part of Ireland that is known for its traditional music. We found our hostel immediately (Doolin is VERY small), where our reservations had not been received. Thankfully the guy found us a 6 girl room that was empty! We really thought we were going to have all that room to ourselves. Of course, by bedtime we were sharing the room with 2 Canadians, a girl from Alaska, and a girl from Limerick. So much for that private room...

I spent a lot of time watching stuff like this during the trip.

We left the hostel and followed the lane down to the pier. The sun had come out from behind the clouds and the harbor was gorgeous! We climbed over huge rocks with waves crashing nearby, always with that crazy bright green grass in the background... Kathryn took pictures for about an hour while I explored. Then we walked over to the boat ramp where a dolphin was swimming with a group of kids! How much more random could the day get?!  We ended the day at the pub (where else?) where we listened to a group playing some traditional music. A girl played the fiddle, an older gentleman played a wooden flute, and a young guy in a t-shirt played a bazouki (we referred to that funny looking guitar as a "bazooka" throughout the trip).  We REALLY enjoyed these small towns where there was nothing to do but wander around and see what you could find...

Kathryn found a new friend...

Practicing for 'America's Next Top Model'

Tour de Dingle

Wednesday, 8/3/11, Dingle

Early in the ride... more self-timer expertise at work here:)

For some reason, while we were planning this trip, one of the activities we REALLY wanted to do was the 47 kilometer (30 mile) bike ride around the Dingle peninsula. The scenery was supposed to be phenomenal, and the ride was reported to be fun... So we woke up early our first morning in Dingle and found a bike shop. Thankfully my left buttock was 100% that morning (remember that stinging plant?!), and we were excited and ready to go! We left Dingle in high spirits... took our first break less than 10 km into the ride:) We quickly made it to Ventry where we walked out onto a long empty beach, put our toes in the water, and took a few pics...

Kat, jumping for joy on the beach!

as we were leaving, a group of horsemen came riding up and rode their horses into the surf and down the beach! I've always wanted to do that... What was hysterically funny to me, though, was the high class trailer park next to the beach. We rode through the park and saw BMWs and Land Cruisers parked out in front of the trailers - along with the giant tractor tires and tents! So funny... we felt right at home in that Irish trailer park!

We were soon riding along the narrow road that hugged the cliffs of the southwest/western part of the peninsula near the Blanket Islands. Tremendous views... I can't even describe. Everything on the coastline was so beautiful and serene yet had we veered off the road just a few feet, we wouldn't have stopped until we hit the water 100+ feet below. And surprisingly, Kathryn was the mama when on top of those cliffs! If I had a dollar for each time I heard, "Meagan, don't get so close to the edge..." Then, hard to believe, but we had to stop so that Kathryn could take some pictures of an American flag-wearing goat.... Thankfully we stopped, because a dream came true during the next 10 minutes. We hopped back on the bikes and had to wait in the middle of the road for a herd of cows to pass!!! Moments like that were EXACTLY what we had imagined back months ago... (it's the little things!).

COWS! You can imagine the moo-ing we were doing:)

Cheating death, one pedal revolution at a time

We made it to the halfway point and were starting to get a little tired and sore. We had already seen the best part of the loop, and the weather was starting to get uncomfortable (aka raining). The morning started out with mid-60 degree temperatures and some cloud cover, at lunch (which was in a field overlooking the sea) they dipped into the mid-low 50s and raining. The last 15 km of the ride was horrible almost not fun. We stopped at an old church (I'm talking, built in the 1300s) because we were barely moving on the road. Kathryn blamed the headwind; I blamed our legs (or lack of feeling in our legs)! And of course, we got to the point where we could barely move, and we had a 5-6 km climb to end the trip. Ugh. By that time, conversation was sparse. We weren't taking any more pictures or video, our eyes were forward, our breathing was labored, and we were grunting from time to time to communicate... aka - we thought we were going to die. The hill got so steep at one point, we got off our bikes and walked a little (don't tell Kathryn I told you that). We finally reached the crest of the hill and stopped, whooping with joy. I got off my bike to take a picture, and Kathryn promptly fell over onto both bikes (in the rain), which garnered our only honk from a passing motorist of the entire trip... I want to point out that she fell off her bike not once, but TWICE that day. Both times while sitting still on the side of the road. You can't take that girl anywhere...

Lunch... with Rick Steves, our BFF.

After the climb (and fall)!

No idea...

Finally we had a downhill coast for the last 5 km of the ride... which was amazing. Took a little chill time at the hostel then went for shepherd's pie at a pub in town. Before finding the music for the night, we spent a little quality time with the statues in town and did a little shopping.  Our last stop of the night was a pub called Murphy's where we had a blast with people from all over the world. We heard folks sing who were from Denmark, Vermont, other parts of Ireland, Australia, England, and Italy! One little girl even got up and danced an Irish jig to one of the songs (I was going to participate, but I didn't want to steal her thunder with my mad Irish dancing skillz)... Last song of the night - "Leavin' on a Jet Plane."

For some reason, Kat thought she should ride the dolphin like a racehorse.

In love with a Rooster...

Tuesday, August 3, Dublin to Dingle

Just before my run-in with the stinging bush.

Today I met the love of my life... 
Kathryn and I crammed everything into our bags, threw our backpacks on, and headed off across town to pick up the car in which we'd travel for the next 11 days. We got lost on the way to the car rental place (imagine that), but finally made it to the right spot.  The agent told us he had given us a brand new car that had a little more room than we had asked. To back up a little, when we decided to rent a car, I kept seeing pictures in my mind of the little ugly yellow car in that movie with Ashton Kutcher... I wanted a horribly ugly, weird-looking European car to drive! So when the agent mentioned a new, roomy car, I was afraid he was going to pull around in a black Ford Focus. Then he told us we would be driving a new "Rooster". Or so we thought. He pointed outside the front window to our car... It was a new, electric blue Skoda Roomster (oops... I told you we had problems with those accents). It was a beauty of a car!

Give me sexy!

The first 5 minutes in Rooster were a nightmare. I had not driven a stick shift in over 2 years, and I had NEVER driven on the wrong side of the road! We jumped in the car, orientated ourselves, typed in our final destination on the GPS, and cranked him up. The car lurched forwards and ground to a halt - our front bumper 8 inches from the rear bumper  of the car parked in front of us (and the car rental employee)... wow, was the adrenaline flowing! I had forgotten that people park the car in gear so that it won't roll. Oops... Stalled out in the first 3 seconds of driving the car. Not a good sign. Well, at that point, I was afraid to try to reverse and get away from the car in front us so that we could leave. So we sat and waited... and waited... and waited... FINALLY the other car pulled out into traffic.

The first 15 minutes of driving were intense. You forget which way to look at intersections, you forget to clutch when slowing to a crawl, you panic when you see a pedestrian just thinking of crossing the street in front of you! Needless to say, there was a lot of yelling and laughing going on in ol' Rooster... and Kat found a classical music station so that I would be "soothed by the music." Until the big climax came and cymbals were clashing, drums were booming, horns were blaring... It's a miracle we're still alive.

Kilkenny Castle and the Peter Pan pose

We left Dublin and made it down to Kilkenny, a medieval town about 1.5 hours southwest of Dublin, where stopped for lunch. We found a parking lot and tried to maneuver Rooster into a tiny space between cars... I got stuck and needed to reverse... But I couldn't get the dang car into reverse! We worked at it, talked about it, thought about it, all the while sitting cattywompus in the middle of the parking lot! Finally, a full 2-3 minutes go by and we couldn't move. I was thinking of making Kathryn get out of the car and push us backwards so that I could just pull forwards again and try to get into the space. Then Kat had a brilliant plan... the owner's manual! So here we were, sitting motionless in the middle of the lot, cars blocked each way, and Kat was reading aloud from the manual. Aha! Figured out the trick a few eternal minutes later (thanks, Skoda) and maneuvered into the tiny spot... Mission accomplished!

Where's Meagan?

Took off through Kilkenny and stumbled upon Kilkenny Castle and the park/grounds that surrounded the castle. What an amazing place! One of my favorite surprises of the trip. We saw fathers and sons practicing their hurling, families picnicking, kids rolling down long hills of bright green grass... We found one of the little paths through the woods and followed it to the river, then went to an old pub for a pint. This place was built in the 1500s, and the old owner back in the early days was a witch. Supposedly she still lives there...

Self timer brilliance!

 Kilkenny is the home of MY favorite Irish beer, Smithwicks (pronounced SMITTICKS - I found out that Irish people always substitute the hard "t" sounds for the "th" in words). So we had a pint, then headed on west to Dingle!  I would tell embarrassing stories about stopping on the side of the road for bathroom breaks, photo shoots on the side of a mountain, and stinging nettle bushes, but I don't think anyone wants to hear those redneck stories... Let's just say that my right buttock burned for a full DAY. I learned my lesson... Made it to Dingle unscathed, found our hostel, parked sweet Rooster by the harbor (where we took more pics of him), and found one of the great music spots in Dingle. Dingle is known as the home of traditional Irish music in Ireland. Folks just show up at the pubs, bring their instruments, and play together. It's amazing. Such great talent! We met a girl from Seattle who was in her last week of her 3 month trip and swapped stories with her all night long. All in all, we had a marvelous day... I feel like every day just gets better and better:)

Old Kyteler's Inn, home of the witch

The Mayor of Dingle... precious.

The Perfect Pint

Monday, 8/1/11, Dublin

Can you find me in the picture?

Kat and I were up and at 'em this morning - at Trinity College by 9:45am to see the famous Book of Kells. It's some old illustrated manuscript of the Gospels... it was really neat, but again, Kat had that dang camera out... Signs were posted EVERYWHERE with pictures of a camera with a thick black line drawn through it. No one questions what those signs mean. But Kathryn couldn't stand it... after taking numerous shots throughout the exhibit (and I just pretended I didn't know her), an usher/security guard approached her and said, "No photographs; you need to erase those photos." Kathryn tried to act like she didn't know that pictures were prohibited... didn't work. I giggled over in the corner as he stood over her shoulder and made her erase every picture she had taken. I didn't say it, but... I told her so.  The Book of Kells was interesting, but even better was the Long Room of the library at the college. Home to some 200,000 old books, it was a long room (hence the name) with dark arched ceilings, thick wooden beam supports, and display cases filled with old medical textbooks and musical compositions. We even saw a skeleton from a 7ft tall man, a Siegfried bust, and lots of funny tourists...

So excited about Guinness!

Taking the pour VERY seriously...

Next on our agenda was to visit the Guinness storehouse. We set off for it, and 30 minutes later realized that it was FAR AWAY... made a few stops and finally found the place! The Guinness storehouse sits on several city blocks on the edge of the city, and they have converted areas of the old brewery into this visitor exhibit that is incredible... We spent about 4 hours there taking pictures, watching videos,and learning to pour the perfect pint. That's right, folks, we learned how to pour a perfect Guinness. Apparently it's an art... (I can teach you if you want to know) Of course, after learning how to pour a pint appropriately, we judged each bartender's performance at every pub stop for the rest of the trip:) You would be surprised at the number of disappointing pours we witnessed!

Trying to be inconspicuous as Kat takes pictures at the pub

After wandering around Dublin for a couple more hours, we stopped and ate a lovely dinner at the Porter House Brewery, where Kathryn spent 30 minutes trying to take a picture of the hanging lights over the bar. I just pretended like I didn't know her (are you seeing a theme here?). 

A few Dublin loves:
black opaque tights with denim cut off shorts, cobblestone streets, the Viking tour group that yells "ARGH!!" as they ride down the streets, our Argentinian roommates who spoke French (or so I thought - I'm not good at languages:), old architecture mixed with new, the "Star Wars" beeping of the crossing guards, flower boxes spilling over with flowers

Can't take her anywhere... the pic doesn't show the guy on the other side of the bar who was laughing hysterically at Kathryn!

Tomorrow we pick up the car.

Welcome to Ireland!

Sunday, 7/31/11, Dublin


We made it! As Kathryn and I arrived at our gate in the Chicago airport, the American Airlines rep came over the loudspeaker and said, "The 6:45 time to Dublin is no longer the boarding time, it's decision time." Apparently the plane had some issues and the mechanics needed some extra time to fix them... not a good feeling knowing that and knowing that we would soon be in that plane OVER THE OCEAN!  We finally got on the plane a couple of hours later, slept a little, read a bit, watched a couple movies,

Kat's "workstation" during the flight

and arrived in Dublin at 11 am Sunday morning... We had problems already - Kat couldn't get money out of the ATM - "Why?" You ask - Well, she didn't tell the bank she would be in Ireland... Oh, well... details:)

We caught a double decker bus into the city center, missed our stop, missed the next stop, and finally got off the dang bus. Wandered around for about 30-45 minutes before we FINALLY found our hostel (it was on the one street we didn't walk down).

Our "budget accommodations" in Dublin:) 

We left the hostel after we dropped off our bags and headed to see the exciting city of Dublin! Following our trusty travel BFF's (Rick Steves) book, we wandered over to the Dublin Castle - and saw a sand sculpture exhibit, then saw the Christchurch Cathedral (where we almost were beheaded by pigeons), then lastly was over at St. Patrick's Cathedral...

St. Patrick's... quite grand, huh?

 We were too cheap to pay the 4 euro to go into any of the churches, so we decided to attend an evensong service at St. Patrick's. We weren't too sure about what an evensong service was, but we were in for a great surprise. It was beautiful! Lovely acoustics, an amazingly beautiful cathedral interior, and a choir that sang like angels (slight exaggeration there) all added up to an experience we will not soon forget... Also, Miss Kathryn kept trying to record the songs on her iPhone (video and photo recordings were strictly prohibited - and we were in CHURCH) while I kept giving her the stank eye so that she would put her phone back in her purse. The phone kept making little noises as it would stop and start... whatever. We didn't get kicked out... That time.

Me at St. Patrick's... note the "Peter Pan" pose. You'll see it again.

 Walked down the big pedestrian shopping street, Grafton Street, where the latest production of Riverdance is currently being performed... I couldn't make myself (and Kat wouldn't let me) spend the ridiculous amount of money to go see it, so I did my own little Riverdance performance on the street...

Where's Michael Flatly?!

 For some reason, no one left coins in my hat...

We then made the trek to the famous Temple Bar. Had heard about it from too many people to not take a look. There we each had our first Guinness and listened to some fabulous Irish folk music. It was then and there Kathryn and I knew we were in for a great trip! Our last stop of the night was a pub right next to our hostel (it was only 9:30pm!) called Doyle's. A great little low key place filled with Dubliners, we soon found some friends who told us where we needed to visit and what we needed do while in Ireland... All in all, the first full day in Ireland was a successful one! Tomorrow, I'll tell you about pouring the perfect pint:)