Enjoyed a lovely breakfast cooked by Mary at the Marless Country House this morning.  Emma had the French Toast, Jessica had the Poached Egg on Toast with Cheese on top, and I had the Full Irish Breakfast.   

Here’s some photos from the Market in Galway.

Enjoyed a good breakfast at Harrington Hall in Dublin before heading back to the airport to pick up our rental car.

Emma’s pancakes

Full Irish Breakfast: egg, sausage, bacon, black & white pudding, tomato, mushrooms

poached egg, tomato, hashbrown

We were pleasantly surprised that the rental car was a new Nissan small SUV since we were expecing a compact.  Driving out of Dublin on the M50 went fairly smooth except for killing the engine once and going up on the curb and almost pulling out in front of a car.  The challenge was driving a manual car with everything opposite – driving on the left side of the road, sitting on the right side of the car, passing on the right.  Had rain showers and sunshine on and off for the entire drive.  Made a wrong turn in Galway and had to turn around, this was not good.  All three of us could not figure out how to put the car in reverse.  Emma and Jessica had to get out and push the car to back up.  This was embarrassing!!!

Staying at the Marless Country House Bed & Breakfast in Salthill, a cute little town right next to Galway for two nights.  Our room is lovely!  Mary, our host has drawn us a map of how to get around and where to eat.  And Tom, Mary’s family friend has shown us the trick on how to get the car in reverse and so kindly moved the car and backed it to the little parking area in front of the house.  All is good now,

Our house is less than a block from the coast.  There is a wide promenade walkway all along the water from Salthill to Galway.  It’s about a 40 minute walk.

 Ate dinner at Guay’s Bar, Jessica and I had fish and Emma had to try their Irish Stew to see if it compared to one she had in Dublin.  After dinner we enjoyed checking out all the little shops in town.

Irish Stew served with cabbage, potatoes and vegetables

Haddock fillets, chips, cole slaw, and pasta salad

On our walk home we saw a raindow. 

Flew on Aer Lingus out of O’Hare to Dublin.  It was a 6 – 1/2 hour flight and it was 5:00am when we landed, a little ahead of schedule.  Still dark outside and rain pouring down and windy.  The plan to take the city bus failed when the 6:20am bus did not show up.  Ended up taking a taxi to our hotel and it was best thing we did, having a driver who gave us a full history lesson on Ireland, helped us pronounce some Irish words and shared all kinds of great pointers on traveling around Ireland.

When we got to our hotel, Emma was tired and choose to stay and take a nap while Jessica and I headed out taking a walk through St. Stephen’s Green. 

On our ‘must see’ list was to take a tour of Kilmainham Gaol built in 1796.  We had an execellent tour guide and after hearing the taxi driver talk about the history of Ireland and now walking around the Gaol and seeing where some of the tragic events occured it meant alot.

Jessica and I learned that the Dublin city buses run on a different time clock – what is 5 minutes for the next bus converts to maybe 10 to 15 minutes our time.  We became very experienced standing and waiting for the bus.  The three of us had a wonderful lunch at Vat House Pub in the Temple Bar area.  Emma had the Irish Stew and Jessica and I had the Fish & Chips.

 
Chatted with our server in the Pub and this is where we heard the phrase, “It’s a wet day.”  We observed that we were the only ones wearing raincoats and all the local Irish people are walking around in the rain with no raincoats.  She explained this to us….  it’s about fashion was her first response.   It rains 3/4 of the time and you are going to get wet and you pick clothes that work well when wet and wearing a raincoat every day hides your style.

Bags are packed. Just have to get through one more day at work, farm out the dogs, and get a good night’s sleep before heading over to Indy. The weather forecast for Ireland is, ‘have a great time regardless of the weather.’ We all have our raincoats packed and ready for anything that comes our way.

The plan is to try and post a few photos and updates every day to share with family and friends back home.

A hundred days away from setting foot on Irish soil. Seriously, I’ve been waiting months to be able to say we leave in 100 days.

Everything needed for the trip has been arranged:
• Plane tickets purchased – check
• B&B reservations made and confirmed – check
• Rental car reserved and prepaid – check
• Driving directions printed – check

Now it is wait for Wednesday, October 2nd to roll around. Counting down the days until we go on holiday in Ireland.

waiting for October 2

Here’s the itinerary for the trip:

Day 1 – Flight leaves Indy at 1:25pm and a short connection in O’Hare and then off to Dublin arriving next morning at 5:15am.

Day 2 – Dublin!  This list of must see places includes:  Kilmainham Gaol, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and Trinity College – the Long Room of the old Library and the Book of Kells.

Day 3 – Pick up rental car and head to Galway (2 hours 25 minute drive) and stay 2 nights in Salthill just outside of Galway.

Day 4 – Explore the Connemara region; visit Kylemore Abbey, Claddagh Museum, Quay Street.

Day 5 – Drive to Adare (1 hour 35 minute drive) and stay one night.  Visit the Adare Manor/Castle, Holy Trinity Abbey, Black Abbey, Old Franciscan Friary.

Day 6 – Drive to Dingle (2 hours) and stay 3 nights.  Stop at the Cliffs of Mohr on the way.

Day 7 and Day 8 – DINGLE!  Take the ultimate drive around ‘Slea Head Drive’ includes stops to see the Blasket Islands.

Day 9 – Drive to Killarney (1 hour 24 minute drive) and stay for one night. Visit Ross Castle, Muckross Abbey and the Gardens, St. Mary’s Cathedral.

Day 10 – Drive to Kinsale (1 hour and 26 minute drive) and stay for one night.  Visit Charles Fort, Desmond Castle, and walk through Market Square.

Day 11 – Drive to Kilkenny (2 hours 26 minute drive) and stay one night.  Visit Kilkenny Castle, the St. Canice’s Cathedral and Round Tower, the Black Abbey and Rothe House.

Day 12 – Drive back to Dublin (1 hour 30 minute drive) and return rental car.  Enjoy the afternoon touring the old Jameson Distillery, shopping on Grafton Street, and walking around St. Stephen’s Green.

Day 13 – Fly home; flight leaves Dublin at 3:45pm.

Yes, it is a full agenda visiting the County of Galway, Clare, Limerick, Kerry, and Cork.   All the best of Ireland.

Plans for this trip started back in December of last year.  It was Christmas Eve and the whole family was at the house opening up Christmas presents.  Jayde kept coming over to me and saying that there were no presents under the tree for mommy.  I brushed her off each time with a simple, don’t worry about it.  Finally, after all the presents were opened and now Jayde and Riley are both saying that mommy didn’t get any presents, I got up and passed out the big envelopes marked, “Jessica” and “Emma”.  Both of them looked at me with puzzled expressions on their faces.  Opening up their envelopes and reading the Invitation Jessica burst into a scream of joy and Emma had a big smile on her face.  That’s how it all started…

2012 Christmas present for Jessica and Emma