Quick Table of Contents and Links to the Pictures - They don't have details yet. there's allot of data!
*******Note! I am still updating this - Last update - April 27, 2006 10:32 AM

General -

Our trip through the country was the best! we didn't plan ahead for places to stay, we had a book of B&Bs that was given to us by the tour company. we also had vouchers (so many places work on vouchers!) for any of the b&b's in the book. the joy was finding a payphone and calling all the b&bs that are listed in the book for the area we were in. it was a crap shoot to find one that would take us! but we lucked out every night and had a place to sleep! some of them were better than others.

People who spray perfume on an airplane should be shot and ejected from the plane through the toilet.
On the flight over, my bottle of NyQuil broke open in my backpack. funny and sad, for they don't have NyQuil in Ireland.

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Friday March 3, 2006, Day 1 - Dublin
Mission - arrive, check in to the hotel

as soon as we left the airport, it started to snow. holy freaking crap. who would have though snow in Ireland! amazing. I laughed and realized that this was gonna be an Adverntuuuuureeee! we got into the rental car, and I got to drive!!!! (made Magnus nervous as hell!) I'm driving like a maniac on the "wrong side of the road". hehe. a few bumps on the curb and we made it safe and sound to our hotel/castle.

we stayed at the Clontarf Castle - http://www.clontarfcastle.ie/ - the castle/hotel was in fact a castle. parts of it at least. It is also a very popular place for wedding receptions. heh. there were many drunks falling out of the door into the downstairs pub.

There was a tower that was really old, and addition that was pretty old, and then the least old part where the actual rooms were. there were some rooms available in the Tower, but they were really expensive. turns out that the hotel room we were in was about $200 euros a night! we got a great deal w/ the Tour Ireland package. they accepted the vouchers with a 30 euro supplement.

The lobby was awesome! a huge vaulted room that looks like it might have been the outside courtyard of the original tower. there were some of the original windows on the second tower, with fake or stuffed pheasant hanging out of the little wooden balcony. cute/kitsch. Magnus got a ton of pictures of the lobby. there was a placket w/ a bit of the castle history that the sca folks would love. it was all hand lettered and hand painted. I really enjoyed looking at the detail of the painted animals. If you look closely at some one of the pics you can read what is said.

as soon as we got into our room, we took a nap. as we were falling asleep, the new animated Batman cartoon came on the tv. it was in gaelic. "eqaozasd aetk eiorfmcvqo afeo Batman." awesome. we crashed hard. slept a little longer than we wanted. When we got up and we were starving. but apparently, nowhere serves food after 9:30 in Ireland. NOwhere.

we asked at the front desk for suggestions, as we were near feral w/ hunger. he sent us to Bischoff Bros. a "chipper", ie. a fish and chips place. now, don't be mislead, the fish served here was freaking huge! and you didn't order it by saying "I'll have the fish and chips", no. you say, "I'll have the cod" or "I'll have the Haddock" or "I'll take a box of Prawns." it was goooooood. we took the boxes back to the hotel room and had a fish feast! it was more fish (haddock) than I could eat, and I already mentioned how starving I was ;-)

afterwards, we decided that we couldn't sleep (time change) so we hopped into the rental car and drove around. we drove ~all~ around the city and scoped out the museums we would be checking out, getting a lay of the land.

I was really neat for me, as this was my first big trip out of the country. I was taking in all I could. oooh! a theatre! OOOHhh! look at that Bridge! I was such a tourist. Magnus was great too. He was full of stories about the history of the bridges and the museums.

after we drove through the city, we decided to follow the south bank of the river Liffey for a while. It didn't take long to be out of the city. Dublin is small, even though it is the largest city in Ireland! I kept seeing really old buildings, and castle remains. it got me thinking about how forgotten and invisible these things are to the locals. "oh, that? it's just the old castle". I realize it was novel to me since we don't have anything like that in America. everywhere I looked in Ireland, I saw really ancient or beautiful artifacts from ages past. and because I don't live there, I could really appreciate it, and marvel at it beauty.

that little tour was really a nice way to acclimate my self to the new country. driving all the way out past the point of the Liffey river, and around the point, we found an all night shop! holy cow! my faith in Dublin was restored! it was like a 24 hour Target. I think it was called Dunnstons (or something very close to that) they had clothes, furniture, and even groceries! we popped in and got some staples to keep in the car like apples and cheese and crackers. and tissues for my sniffely self (I brought a cold with me to Ireland). those staples turned out to be life savers! we realized early that since they didn't server food late, we needed to have our own little private stash in case of emergency.

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Saturday, Day 2 - Dublin.
Mission - Archeology Museum, Trinity college (Book of Kells), and the Old Post Office (statue of Cúchulainn)

Irish breakfast! huge! sausage, fried egg, brown bread, mushrooms and tomatoes, blood sausage. I couldn't even eat a 1/3 of it. I tried my first blood sausage. it wasn't bad, but unfortunately, not quite what I was in the mood for.

we Targeted the Archeology museum. but we found another museum called the Dead Zoo (National Museum of Natural History). it was full of taxidermy, and I saw a skeleton of the BIGGEST FREAKING DEER EVER!!!!! yea, Magnus came up to it's shoulder, then tack on a neck, head and mammoth antlers. apparently, the earliest inhabitants of the island hunted these great huge Irish Deer to extinction. As cool as it was, we breezed through with the focus of madmen - we needed to get to the

Archaeology and History Museum. Where we saw a massive gold exhibit. I loved the earings and the "not a button" cool shirt closure devices. we were not allowed to take any pictures in there, sadly. Magnus bought a bunch of books though. I saw a great hat that was made out of wool, w/ a wide Inkle woven band, and then additional knitting all around it. it was a really cool shape and I am totaly regretting not buying it. but I did make note of who made it (in my notebook) and I think I might try to find the artist online....muahaha

After we left the Archeology Museum, we went to Trinity College to see the book of Kells. it was getting late. We had to pay admission, which wasn't too bad. the exhibit was mostly about how they made the books, and where the book was. at the end, there was the dark room w/ 4 different books in there.

The general post office (which is still used as a post office) was really touching to see. This was where the Easter Rising, the 1916 insurrection in Dublin that inspired Ireland's war of independence from Britain. The Easter Rising was a complete failure, which left large parts of Dublin in ruins, but it started the path twords Irish Freedom. As we walked by the outside of the building, Magnus kept pointing out possible bullet holes. I didn't see them, but that doesn't mean they weren't there ;-)

There is a staute there of Cúchulainn. The story of Cúchulainn really was very moving when seen in the contexted of that location. He was an Irish Hero. and before he died on the field, he tied himself to a rock. For 3 days, the enemy army waited, afraid to approach him, even in death. it was not untill a raven landed on his shoulder and pecked at him did the army work up enough crourage to approach.

For more info on the legend of Cúchulainn
More info on the Irish 1916 Easter Rising

found a little alley when we were walking around the shopping district. all the shops were closing at 5 freaking pm. on a saturday. amazing. we walked by the Temple Bar area.

we crossed the Ha' penny bridge, just as the sun was setting. It was really lovely over the Liffey river, on a bridge that used to cost a Ha' penny. we got some nice pics of that.

dinner at the little place Maggie's something?
Stayed at the Clontarf Castle

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Sunday, Day 3 - Drive north.
Mission - Fourknocks, Newgrange, Dowth

We got up early and packed. Then we headed down for breakfast and yet again, more food than I could possibly eat. same breakfast foods. I think I had extras of those little potato waffle things that were sooo good, and some eggs, but not much more. My cold was starting to kick my butt.

I LOVED Fourknocks! it was my first Cairn.

We saw Swans at Newgrange!

And Dowth means Darkness.....and DEVIL SHEEP!!!!

Dinner in Slain (which is funny if you have ever seen the comic book), Stayed at a B&B in Navan

More Data soon!

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Monday, Day 4 - Trim. Mission, Hill of Tara, pick up key for LoughCrew west
Stayed in Trim
spontaneously stopped at an old church and took tons of pics.
Trim was a wonderful town, that didn't want to let us go.
The B&B had puppies! the second one, Caesar, was lucky to even be alive! he was born via Caesarian!

More Data soon!

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Tuesday, Day 5 - Lochcrew. Mission - Cairn East and West

Visited the Gilding studio - The key to Cairn T was kept at Loughcrew Gardens/Loughcrew House. as we pull up the long freaking driveway and turn left at the tree, we see this really old roman revival architecture and a few standing columns. it was all one story, but very spread out, w/ multiple courtyards. we drove around back and explored the outside (trying to find our way in) and snapped some pics of the very, ummmm, atmospheric outside. we finally find our way into the one room with people (the house seemed deserted when we were exploring, even though there were many cars on the outside)

Massive hiking.
as we were wrapping up our explorations of the Cairn T, I turned to leave the tomb. I see this little Pixie face looking at me down the entrance passage. we were in the middle of nowhere, hiked up a very large hill/small mountain in the rain, looking at one of the less famous tombs in ireland, and I see someone looking back at me. it was very surreal. "um, hello". met great people on the mountain. A swiss couple, and Don and Shell from California. She was a very entertaining person. she kept asking all these questions about the Cairns, and all of the centered around the old druids and pagans. her little pagan self. cute cute cute.
Met Michael Tobin

stayed in Trim again.
Dinner at the Castle arch hotel. The waitress's(Una) sister(Ita) works at Ireland's Own on fridays and sundays in Alexandria, VA. again, odd odd world.

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Wednesday, Day 6 - head north. Mission - heads on Boa Island
spontaneously stopped at the Beleek factory. drove through northern Ireland.
drove past the Bonberou

We drove through northern Ireland to see the janus heads at Boa Island, in a cemetery. wow, that place was green! and oooooooooollllld. very freaking old. the heads were not good for rubbings, but I found a fallen tombstone that was ~perfect!~. This place was great. the Januns stones are a mystery. There was a cheap little awning to "protect" the stones from further erosion.

more information on the heads - http://www.megalithicireland.com/Boa%20Island.htm

stopped in a little craft shop and got an amazing picture for 30 euros. from a shop called Enchanted - Antique and Reproduction Clothing, Jeweler& Accessories. Rathcormac Craft Village, Sligo. Victoria Robinson - she used to live in the states. and ya wanna hear really funny? she used to sew costumes for the Maryland Ren Faire. ya. how odd is that? we were leaving and she pulled up besides us at the stoplight and rolled down her window. she remembered where she got the picture - Lissadell House http://www.lissadellhouse.com/ in Benbolen center, Yates country, drumclif.
spontaneously drove by the Mullaghmore, a stunning seashore little sleepy town.
Stayed in Sligo

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Thursday, Day 7 - Sligo. Mission - climb Knocknarea, see carowceel, and shop
stayed in sligo.
ate burger king for dinner
climbed - wow.
bought sweaters.
windy as hell night - stayed in.

More Data soon!

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Friday, Day 8 - Drive south. Mission - Cliffs of Moher and Doolin
Woke up in Sligo
the Burrens - wow. can I just say...wow. after all the lush green of the rest of the country, the bleak and vast stone landscape. I felt like I was on another planet. the Burrens are on something of a huge plateau. we drove the terrifying narrow windey road up the side of the plateau. don't look down. and hope a lorry doesn't come from the opposite direction. the top was flat. and there was very little grass. I kind of felt like the pointed top of the mountain was sliced off. and I was looking at the bones. I really enjoyed the Burrens

now, when I say it was rocky... i don't mean there were a lot of rocks. there were allot of rocks, but that doesn't convey the picture of what I saw. the ground was rock. solid huge massive rock. stone floor. no dirt. very little grass. there are some plants that have adapted to growing in the tiny amount of dirt in the cracks of the rock. but in general, it was amazingly barren (thus the name)

doolin - tiny town. got some swag. went into a music shop (traditional Music shop) www.irishmusicdoolin.com. met Skip McGovern. talked about music. I asked him how towns/villages handle so many pubs. he said people go from pub to pub. he also seemed really interested in some of the music I do. he told me that I had just missed a random group of Hungarian Fiddle players (sounded like Gypsies to me).

cliffs of Moher - tall and windy. very impressive. the west coast of ireland is stunning. I couldn't get over people hopping over the wall to walk right up to the edge. I mean, it was a windy day, and I could easily see a good solid breeze knocking a person over the edge. the guy in the music shop said there are a few accidents and deaths there every year.

after we visited the cliffs, we decided to see the Poulnabrone Dolmen. it was kind of on impulse, and partly because Skip from Doolin mentioned it. it is one of the more photographed Dolmens out there. we were the only people around for miles! we laughed at the meager ropes the had separating the dolmen from the rest of the rocky plain.

this pic is me in a phone booth somewhere on the n-18 on the western side of Ireland.

Stayed in Galway, Dinner at the Huntsman Inn. yummy steak.

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Saturday, Day 9 - Drive to Dublin. Mission - Guinness Factory
spontaneously stopped at the Taro stone.

guinness factory tour was awesome! The storehouse was huge, and the tour was very high tech. it was about 15 euros to get in, but worth it! free with the price of admission was a small paper weight w/ a drop of concentrated guinness in the middle, and a little tab on the back good for a complimentary pint at one of the three pubs in the building. The tour itself was kinda self guided and kindof led by a video tour guide. we got to see the safe w/ the original yeast that is still used to make the yeast they use in brewing today. (if ya know about yeast, you know how cool that is). after the first part of the tour was an area where you could get a quick little digital snapshot taken that is automatically sent to friends. of course Magnus and I did it ;-)

the bar we went into for our complimentary pint was at the very top of the building. it was called the Gravity Bar and it had a nearly 360 degree view of the city of Dublin. it was a stunning view! of course it was kinda rainy but we could still see the Wicklow mountains in the distance.
the Monkey was Brilliant! he distracted the folks who were pulling drafts long enough for me to get all the half pints on the counter....Brilliant!

stayed at the Clontarf Castle.

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Sunday, Day 10 - Fly home. evil airplane ride.

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