Yes, Lisa was very surprised when we showed up at the Bungalow Farmhouse B&B yesterday afternoon. I'll write more about it later, but for now, here are photos from the day:
https://picasaweb.google.com/115996157298123378187/Kilkenny?authkey=Gv1sRgCMazwaTxwqiE7QE
Wednesday, 30 May 2012
Tuesday, 29 May 2012
Goodbye Dublin, Hello Kilkenny
This morning we said good-bye to Dublin. What a great city, so much to do and see - it would take weeks to take it all in. But alas, we have to move on. But first, I must tell you about our Pub Crawl last night....
All in all I think we hit about 7 pubs total yesterday -- two midday, and then 5 more last night. In the evening we started out at the Long Haul - nice pub, probably typical fairly quiet Dublin locals place. Next was the No Name Bar -- you don't get to this place unless someone takes you there or tells you about it because it has really no name sign outside, just a large seashell looking wooden sign hanging over a dark stairwell. We weren't quite sure if it was what we were looking for but braved our way up the stairs to find a very modern, cosmopolitan pub/bar frequented by Dublin's collegiate and professional 20-30s crowd. Next was the Castle Bar/Grogan's, named for its proximity to Dublin Castle. There we met Neil, whom we had seen earlier at the Long Haul and he asked if we were following him!! Very nice man and helpful especially around 9:30 pm when I became quite hungry after not eating for 7+ hours and nothing but brew in my belly. He steered us to Sheehans, just few doors down where we had a "lovely" meal of Smoked Salmon & Caper Salad and Chips, served up by Stephano from Milan, Italy. (This was the first pub we had encountered that had non-Irish bartenders.) We thought we were about done after this, but wandered by Duxelles where we were enticed by the live music emanating from this fairly traditional appearing pub. We had to go in, especially when we heard them playing Beatles music. This pub was packed with mostly all local Irish, hardly any tourists, and the music that they were going crazy for included songs by Billy Joel, Huey Lewis and the News, Eagles, Don Henley, and Stevie Wonder. We would've stayed longer than two beers, but ran out of cash and they were cash only, so reluctantly made our way back to the hotel well after midnight. Good thing too, because we had to be up early the next day to get packed and on our way to Kilkenny.
BUT, before we left Dublin, we toured the Guiness Storehouse - great tour and you get a pint of Guiness for your troubles.
Then we took a taxi to Hertz and picked up our car, a bright red Mini Cooper. Rick is having too much fun driving that manual transmission car on the opposite side of the road, and the roads out to the Irish countryside are quite narrow.
Arrived at the Bungalow Farmhouse Bed & Breakfast just about 15 minutes after my friends from Susanville, Joe and Lisa, had gotten there. This was a major surprise for Lisa -- she didn't know we were coming. Joe had kept his secret well.
Dinner out tonight in the small town of Urlingsford, just a few clicks away from the Farmhouse.
Tomorrow -- Kilkenny and who knows?
All in all I think we hit about 7 pubs total yesterday -- two midday, and then 5 more last night. In the evening we started out at the Long Haul - nice pub, probably typical fairly quiet Dublin locals place. Next was the No Name Bar -- you don't get to this place unless someone takes you there or tells you about it because it has really no name sign outside, just a large seashell looking wooden sign hanging over a dark stairwell. We weren't quite sure if it was what we were looking for but braved our way up the stairs to find a very modern, cosmopolitan pub/bar frequented by Dublin's collegiate and professional 20-30s crowd. Next was the Castle Bar/Grogan's, named for its proximity to Dublin Castle. There we met Neil, whom we had seen earlier at the Long Haul and he asked if we were following him!! Very nice man and helpful especially around 9:30 pm when I became quite hungry after not eating for 7+ hours and nothing but brew in my belly. He steered us to Sheehans, just few doors down where we had a "lovely" meal of Smoked Salmon & Caper Salad and Chips, served up by Stephano from Milan, Italy. (This was the first pub we had encountered that had non-Irish bartenders.) We thought we were about done after this, but wandered by Duxelles where we were enticed by the live music emanating from this fairly traditional appearing pub. We had to go in, especially when we heard them playing Beatles music. This pub was packed with mostly all local Irish, hardly any tourists, and the music that they were going crazy for included songs by Billy Joel, Huey Lewis and the News, Eagles, Don Henley, and Stevie Wonder. We would've stayed longer than two beers, but ran out of cash and they were cash only, so reluctantly made our way back to the hotel well after midnight. Good thing too, because we had to be up early the next day to get packed and on our way to Kilkenny.
BUT, before we left Dublin, we toured the Guiness Storehouse - great tour and you get a pint of Guiness for your troubles.
Then we took a taxi to Hertz and picked up our car, a bright red Mini Cooper. Rick is having too much fun driving that manual transmission car on the opposite side of the road, and the roads out to the Irish countryside are quite narrow.
Arrived at the Bungalow Farmhouse Bed & Breakfast just about 15 minutes after my friends from Susanville, Joe and Lisa, had gotten there. This was a major surprise for Lisa -- she didn't know we were coming. Joe had kept his secret well.
Dinner out tonight in the small town of Urlingsford, just a few clicks away from the Farmhouse.
Tomorrow -- Kilkenny and who knows?
Monday, 28 May 2012
Doing Dublin
Dia duit! (That's Gaelic for "hello")
We arrived in Dublin yesterday morning after an unrestful night on a 757 over the Atlantic. Managed to walk around for a few hours before collapsing for a 2 hour nap in our hotel, Jury's Inn ChristChurch. Then went out to explore more of the town and do some "pub crawling". First took in the Temple Bar area, wow!! What a jumping place, jumping with lots and lots of tourists of every kind, many bars, restaurants, and shops. Totally overwhelmed due to lack of sleep, we opted to check out Dublin's oldest pub, The Brazen Head. A lovely old pub. However, the beer here leaves something to be desired. We are wishing we had brought a supply of New Belgium beer coasters and passed them out to give them an idea of what really good beer should taste like...but I am getting a taste for Guiness....
After the BH we strolled into an area known as "The Liberties". This is a section of Dublin that was outside the British occupied city wall section and definitely a less touristy part of the city. We were accosted (nicely) by an enthusiastic Irishman outside a local pub, The Hill Top, who informed us there was Karaoke going on that night, so of course, we had to check it out!! We were the only Americans in the place, surrounded by jovial drunken Irish people. They were a very enthusiastic audience for Rick's rendition of "People Are Strange" and my "Dream A Little Dream". I decided to do one more song for them, "Oh Danny Boy" (oh, yes, I really did this but only after reassurance from our bar mates Maurice O'Shea and Patrick that it would be totally appreciated.) The audience sang along with me, some even with a tear in their eye!! When we left that night we were hugged and kissed and well wished on our travels.
What lovely people the Irish are!!
Today we hit the town early, visiting St. Patrick's Cathedral, St. Stephen's Green, Trinity College, the National Gallery, and the Chester Beatty Library. We saw Ireland's favorite painting (Helleigh and Hilldebrandt) at the National Gallery, a watercolor painting that they only open for an hour a day in order to preserve its colour. It was really beautiful, hard to belief a watercolor could look that good after 150+ years. The Chester Beatty Library isn't like any library I've ever imagined. It actually is a very comprehensive world reknown collection of books, scrolls, and written artifacts dating back to 150-200 A.D. from Asia, China, Japan, and Europe. The section of the Library called "The Traditions" is a quite amazing study of comparative world religions from the aspect of each's sacred writings.
Food eaten today: Irish breakfast at the Jury's Inn (porridge, toast, pastries, and cheese for us vegetarians)
Leo Burdock's Famous Fish and Chips, right around the corner from the hotel; traditional fish and chips wrapped in unprinted newspaper - very tasty and huge portions.
Photos to see: https://picasaweb.google.com/115996157298123378187/IrelandScotland2012?authkey=Gv1sRgCLf8tquv4ZO-3gE
Off to pub crawl some more tonight....stay tuned....
We arrived in Dublin yesterday morning after an unrestful night on a 757 over the Atlantic. Managed to walk around for a few hours before collapsing for a 2 hour nap in our hotel, Jury's Inn ChristChurch. Then went out to explore more of the town and do some "pub crawling". First took in the Temple Bar area, wow!! What a jumping place, jumping with lots and lots of tourists of every kind, many bars, restaurants, and shops. Totally overwhelmed due to lack of sleep, we opted to check out Dublin's oldest pub, The Brazen Head. A lovely old pub. However, the beer here leaves something to be desired. We are wishing we had brought a supply of New Belgium beer coasters and passed them out to give them an idea of what really good beer should taste like...but I am getting a taste for Guiness....
After the BH we strolled into an area known as "The Liberties". This is a section of Dublin that was outside the British occupied city wall section and definitely a less touristy part of the city. We were accosted (nicely) by an enthusiastic Irishman outside a local pub, The Hill Top, who informed us there was Karaoke going on that night, so of course, we had to check it out!! We were the only Americans in the place, surrounded by jovial drunken Irish people. They were a very enthusiastic audience for Rick's rendition of "People Are Strange" and my "Dream A Little Dream". I decided to do one more song for them, "Oh Danny Boy" (oh, yes, I really did this but only after reassurance from our bar mates Maurice O'Shea and Patrick that it would be totally appreciated.) The audience sang along with me, some even with a tear in their eye!! When we left that night we were hugged and kissed and well wished on our travels.
What lovely people the Irish are!!
Today we hit the town early, visiting St. Patrick's Cathedral, St. Stephen's Green, Trinity College, the National Gallery, and the Chester Beatty Library. We saw Ireland's favorite painting (Helleigh and Hilldebrandt) at the National Gallery, a watercolor painting that they only open for an hour a day in order to preserve its colour. It was really beautiful, hard to belief a watercolor could look that good after 150+ years. The Chester Beatty Library isn't like any library I've ever imagined. It actually is a very comprehensive world reknown collection of books, scrolls, and written artifacts dating back to 150-200 A.D. from Asia, China, Japan, and Europe. The section of the Library called "The Traditions" is a quite amazing study of comparative world religions from the aspect of each's sacred writings.
Food eaten today: Irish breakfast at the Jury's Inn (porridge, toast, pastries, and cheese for us vegetarians)
Leo Burdock's Famous Fish and Chips, right around the corner from the hotel; traditional fish and chips wrapped in unprinted newspaper - very tasty and huge portions.
Photos to see: https://picasaweb.google.com/115996157298123378187/IrelandScotland2012?authkey=Gv1sRgCLf8tquv4ZO-3gE
Off to pub crawl some more tonight....stay tuned....
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