To celebrate Keith and John turning 40, we decided to celebrate in the beer capital of the world, Ireland, with John, JoAnna, Kara, and Ansley. Since we only had a week to spend in Ireland, we concentrated our trip in the Southern part of the country. On our way there, we stopped in London to do a little touring but mainly to attend Charlie and Melissa's 10th anniversary party which we had discussed with them early in the year while we were at Jazz Fest together.
Accommodations: The Fairview Guest House, Killarney
A really nice, small hotel with modern decorations. The rooms were larger than what you would expect from a European hotel. They serve a good continental breakfast. Highly recommend this place.
Garnish House, Cork
We stayed in a house across from the main building. The rooms were large and clean. While this hotel was quite comfortable, it is renowned for the afternoon tea upon arrival (amazing scones!) and the massive breakfast buffet. We highly recommend it!
Westbury Hotel, Dublin
A large hotel in the center of town, convenient to the pedestrian mall. The rooms were quite nice with modern decorations.
Activities:
London
Pub Crawl with Ewan
John/JoAnna/Keith/Shawna flew directly from Raleigh to Heathrow on Thursday, July 2nd - that way we would have a day to get over the jet lag before the anniversary party. The direct flight was great - arriving at about 7am London time. We first went to Charlie & Melissa's flat to refresh, dropped most of our luggage at the Hyatt Churchill, then headed out to meet Dawn and Rachel for lunch in Covent Garden. It was fun to catch up with the two of them for a couple of hours as we had not seen them for a few years. After lunch, we headed out via a train to Ewan and Sharon's house who live in the outskirts of London. Ewan had told us that once we arrive we could either walk "up the hill" to his house (no directions given) or get a cab. Being tired and lazy that day we opted for the cab, which was for the best because there was absolutely no way we would have ever found the house. We had some drinks in their back yard before heading out for the evening: Ewan took us on a power tour of pubs in his neighborhood before we met up with Sharon later in the evening for a late dinner. The beers flowed quickly, the pubs were quaint, and we ended up in a loud discussion with Ewan on what the hell a Coot is ("that's a coot!). Following multiple beers, we went to an awesome Indian restaurant where Sharon met us.
Big Ben / Parliament
The following morning, we had a quick breakfast then headed back to London. This ride was more eventful than the way out - a naked woman was sitting on the tracks preventing it from moving. The police came and she ran down the side the the train - definitely more of a "naked is a privilege, not a right" kind of experience. Once we arrived back in London, we went on a power-tour of the city as John and JoAnna had never been there, seeing the Palace, Big Ben, Parliament, the Thames via a boat tour, London Bridge, and then the Tower of London. John and JoAnna actually toured the Tower while Keith and Shawna went back to the Hyatt to get changed for Charlie and Melissa's party. The party itself was a riot - it was great to meet all the friends and family we had heard of. Many drinks were had, huge numbers of pictures were taken, and Shawna did some serious sucking up to Melissa's parents! We returned to Charlie/Melissa's place for a couple of glasses of champagne before heading back to the hotel.
Ireland - Killarney
Sunday morning was a bit rough as Keith and Shawna had a long night - we were less than enthusiastic about heading to the airport for the flight to Ireland. We arrived in Dublin at 11am, quickly met Kara and Ansley, picked up the 7 person van, then immediately headed west. The first stop was Limerick, where was walked around and grabbed lunch at a pub that actually has beer keg taps at each table - excellent! We then drove to our hotel in Killarney, where we stayed for a few nights.
Dingle Peninsula
Monday was spent driving and walking the Dingle peninsula. Working our way clockwise, the first stop after leaving Killarney was Inch, where part of Ryan's Daughter was filmed. We then headed over to the town of Dingle, where the four of us walked in the drizzle to the local lighthouse. Of course, Keith and John had only one obsession while in Dingle - to purchase and eat some berries, so we could talk about eating dingle berries. Yes, at 40 years old - why grow up? After leaving Dingle, we continued west, where along the road we saw numerous occasions where old rocks were piled in circles. Sometimes the rocks were piled REALLY high (wow!) such as at the beehive huts. It was hard for any of us to get excited, though we did take some photos. We also stopped by Kilmalkedar Church so we could get some type of culture.
Tuesday was spent around the Ring of Kerry, on the peninsula immediately south of the Dingle. From Killarney, we drove south through Killarney National Park to Kenmare where we had a bit of a walk around. We then headed to the west side of the Peninsula where we experienced one of the highlights of the trip: visiting Skellig Michael. This is a bit of an extension to the Ring of Kerry drive, but well worth it. Skellig Michael is located about 9 miles off shore from Portmagee - it was first founded in the 7th century and for 600 years was a monastic center. It is the larger of the two Skellig islands, with the smaller now a bird sanctuary. You take a boat to the island. Arriving at the island, you first have to hike up many stairs to the top, all the while being bombed by birds (mostly puffins). Keith brought home some of the puffin poop on his jacket to prove it. The top of the island is covered with ruins - it is hard to fathom anyone living in such conditions today, never mind 1400 years ago. Once back in Portmagee, we continued clockwise around the Ring of Kerry. Our next stop was Ballycarbery Castle, just to the west of Cahersiveen. We continued to see more rocks piled in circles as we drove back to Killarney for dinner.
Skellig Michael
Ireland - Cork
Ross Castle
On Wednesday, we packed up the car as we were moving east to Cork. We first stopped in Killarney National Park to do some walking, as well as seeing Ross Castle, St Mary's Cathedral, and the Muckross Estate. We then headed directly to Cork where we checked in to the hotel and spent some time walking around the area including Saint Finbarre's Cathedral and Shandon, the Latin Quarter.
Thursday was spent in the cute town of Kinsale, roughly 30 minutes away. We first took a 90 minute walking tour of the town (that you can get by going to the Tourist Information Office), followed by a harbor cruise. The town is very picturesque and well worth the side trip.
Kinsale
Ireland - Dublin
Rock of Cashel
On Friday, we headed back to Dublin via Rock of Cashel. It is a really cool castle; however, it was pouring rain (imagine rain in Ireland - shocking, I know) the day we went so we could not get many good pictures. Arriving in Dublin later, we checked into the hotel and walked around the pedestrian mall.
Sunday was the beginning of our trip home: Kara and Ansley flew directly to the States while John/JoAnna/Shawna/Keith flew to Heathrow for an overnight (staying with Charlie/Melissa) followed by a flight from Heathrow to Raleigh the following day.
Restaurants / Pubs:
The following is a list of restaurants and pubs we went to - we honestly enjoyed them all:
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