Date With Color - Fall Trip 2018 - Dublin

And the color was GREEN!!!!

Ted and I had a week off, so we wanted to go somewhere international.  We sat and planned for London for weeks and neither of us could get really into it.  So - then he suggested Dublin - we looked at the possibilities and they looked good - so we changed to Dublin.  We both finally got excited!!

We flew to JFK Airport in New York on Tuesday morning.  We arrived around 3:00.  Our flight to Dublin did not leave until 10:00 - so we had some waiting to do.  We looked at getting food - JFK is expensive - and found a restaurant with burgers for $22.  That is without beverage.  A day pass to the Sky Club was $29 - we chose to hang out there.  We had unlimited food and beverage and a place to sit.  But, it was CROWDED!!!

We got first class on our flight to Dublin.  It was not a really long flight, only six hours, and we were there.  The time was around 9:30 Dublin time.  We arrived in the midst of Tropical Storm Ali.  There wasn't any rain, but there was wind.  The landing was horrible, we just bounced.   It was horrible wind.  They couldn't move the jetway for a while.  The wind was so strong it was moving us back and forth.  I had not taken my medication for my stomach and I was sick.  That was horrible.  One of the stories I had seen was that the winds from that storm were so strong, it had blown a motorhome off a cliff and had killed a woman.  Just sad.

We got to our hotel and happily they let us get checked into the room and we were able to take about a 60-90 minute nap and then head out.

We purchased a hop-on/hop-off bus pass with our airport transportation.  Decided to do a round and if there was something we really wanted to see, we could go see it.   We really didn't get to get out and see much, I was a bit sad about that, as I really wanted to see the cathedrals and churches.  I guess we'll need to go back.

We purchased a tour to go see The Rock of Cashel, The Blarney Castle and time in the city of Cork for our next day.  We left at 8:00 in the morning and got back at 8:00 that night.  It was an amazing journey.  It was rainy, I had to buy a new poncho (even though Ted and I both brought our beautiful yellow rain coats that we had purchased in Florida - but left at the hotel).  The Rock of Cashel has an amazing story of Saint Patrick expelling Satan from the caves there and Satan got so angry he threw the rock.  We then headed to the Blarney Castle.  It was set upon some of the most beautiful, green grounds I have ever seen.  Amazing gardens.  We decided that we were going to climb the 100 steps to kiss the stone.  Ted didn't really need help with getting the gift of gab with the kiss, but he gave it a big smacker.  I bent backwards and couldn't get close enough - so I blew it a kiss.  Ted had hoped to be able to do some research on his great-grandmother who had immigrated to the US from Cork.  We found out to go to the library and search parish records, but we were only halfway there, walking, when we realized there would never be enough time and it would probably take some research.  So we just wandered and shopped until it was time to go back to the bus.

Ted had said that he wanted to sit in a pub and wait for his relatives to join him for a Guiness.  So one of our goals was to have a pint of Guiness and a shot of Irish Whiskey.  We did the Guiness the first night.  I'm not a fan of beer, so I did a couple of swigs and then ordered a Diet Coke.  Ted drank the rest.  The next night, we ate dinner then went to a pub to have our whiskey.  I had no problem with that.  😉

We had a great time!!  Here are some photos to enjoy.

DUBLIN photos:

I apologize, most of the photos I don't have an explanation for - just found the architecture interesting, etc.

Outside our room.  We stayed in the Temple Bar area.  It's the party area.  The reviews said that it was noisy.  I said, eh we'll
take earplugs.  OH MY HELL.  Singing, drunks, traffic, sirens, street sweepers (every day!!).  But, guess what,
I wouldn't change a thing.  I didn't sleep much, but I can sleep when I'm dead.  :)  And I slept last night in my own bed.

Molly Malone statue.  Molly Malone is based entirely upon the legend of the song.  She sold "cockels and mussels, alive alive oh" during the day and was a prostitute at night and she "died of a fever and no one could save her"  

I just thought this little rat gargoyle looking thing was interesting

St. Patrick's Cathedral 

Sorry, it's sideways.  But, I thought it was a great picture

This is the site of a mass grave in Dublin.  I can't remember when it's dated from.  Sorry - for so few facts, just felt it was an important picture.

I was so going to get one of these fecking doughnuts before I left Dublin - - - and I never did!!!

Ha'penny Bridge.  The gentleman who erected it, was allowed to charge a ha'penny to anyone who crossed for many years

CASHEL:

Cashel has a cemetery there.  If you know me at all, you know that I love old cemeteries.  I love seeing the stories - etc.  I was surprised to see how recent some of the headstones are - and that some of the newer ones looked really old.  The moisture made some of the recent ones look old and mossy.  Ted said, though, that he noticed that some had several different dates on them. 

BLARNEY:

The stream outside the castle

I found the stone here at the bottom amazing looking  

The view out the barred window

This is a view of the stairs we had to climb.  Looking down on them.  There are 100 stairs.  They are all stone spiral with an opening about 18 inches wide to climb.  I wondered aloud how many people had died falling down those stairs.  Going down the stairs was more frightening than going up, I have to say.  Going up, we were one after the other.

Ted kissing the stone.  This is the one I took.  I'll post the ones that the photographers took in a bit.  Really glad we bought them, as Ted didn't actually get a picture of me. 

Part of the grounds.  So beautiful.  So green.

Me "kissing" the Blarney Stone.  I really couldn't get close enough - - - so no gift of gab for me.

Ted kissing the Blarney Stone.  Yes. you can see through the bars, you are four stories up.  And luckily the bars are there to catch you if you were to fall all the way down.  

FUN PHOTOS:

On the top of the double decker Hop On Hop Off bus.  

Ted found the kegs.

Getting ready to kiss the Blarney.  Needed to get a poncho and some hot chocolate before we went.

I look like I'm a ghost.  :) 

I think this will be my favorite picture of me ever!! 

First flight - SLC to JFK

Second flight - JFK to DUB.  This is our champagne sippin' first class sittin international flyin picture

Dublin - shuttle from the airport to the hotel.  The wind was so bad, and there was an accident, so they couldn't drive us to the actual stop.  We had to walk a ways.  People in Dublin are amazingly kind and nice.  We asked a young man when we got close to where we thought we needed to go - - he pointed us in the right direction.  Not many other experiences than people just being genuine and kind.

Ted and his Guiness

Me and my Guiness.  That sip there and maybe two more and I was done

Climbing the stairs to the Blarney

I just thought my hot chocolate was adorable with the heart.  This was
at the restaurant at the hotel right before we headed back to the airport

Sky Clubbin' for $7 more than a meal at a restaurant - - good choice

After a day of rain, walking, climbing, riding - we had dinner at BoBo's Irish Burgers and had a fecking burger and then found a pub so we could have a shot of Irish Whiskey.  Boy - - baby - - - smooth.   P.S.  We took two pictures, neither of Ted was very good, so I chose the best picture of me.  And it ain't purty, cuz, of the first sentence on this caption.

So - some fun facts about Dublin and Ireland:

• The Guiness Brewery makes 3,000,000 pints of Guiness every day.  
• The street signs are all in English and Gaelic.  On the eastern side of the country, they are only in Gaelic
• The people of Ireland do not have to pay for their water.  Water is plentiful in Ireland, as it rains a lot there.  The government tried to change that and make them pay and there were violent protests.  
• Speaking of water.  Ireland went for three weeks without rain and the government declared a drought.  People had to watch their usage and were not allowed to wash their cars and such.
• The word feck is used a lot in Ireland.  It's like frick, flip, fetch, etc that we use here.  Just a way to say that other "F" word without saying that "F" word.  
• At the Blarney Castle, they have a room that is actually called the "Murder Room"
• And finally, the girl at the hotel said, "I wish I would have known you were going to Blarney, I would have told you not to kiss that stone.  The locals piss on it, because they think it's funny that the tourists kiss it".  Eh - What's a little urine, cross contaminated germs from the millions of other that have kissed it, between friends??  It's a once in a lifetime thing - ya gotta do it.
• In Ireland, they say the time differently than here in the US.  For 7:30, they say 30-7.  For a time frame, they say 30-7 to 30-11, so on.