Day 16 started early with us leaving the B&B by 6:30 AM. Getting gas, making it to the airport, and turning in the rental car was painless as well. The flights went well and we had a newer plane for the long haul so we were able to watch movies on-demand from the in-seat-screen tv’s instead of relying on the air crew to start/stop the movies at specified times. I bought a power adaptor for the netbook so it would work on the plane (the one I had already didn’t work on the flight over so I assumed it was dead) so I had my own entertainment as well (Office DVDs via my sister!). We all got home and went to bed (separately, of course).
Posts tagged ‘Malahide’
Day 15 was our last full day in Ireland. It started out with breakfast and then we headed into Malahide to catch the train to Dublin.
Once in Dublin we split up – Amber and I went to the Kilmainham Gaol (jail) and Kathy and Carol went to the National Museum. Amber and I got on the HOHO (hop on hop off) bus to get to the jail and once there quickly got to take a tour of the jail.
After that we took the bus again to the Temple Bar area where we got lunch and beer. We then started walking toward Grafton street and randomly ran into Kathy and Carol. We all then did a little more shopping before heading back to the train and taking it back to Malahide. Once back in Malahide we drove back to the B&B and started getting ready for the return trip tomorrow.
We all packed a bit, had random food we had been carrying around for days for dinner, then went to bed.
Ireland Guinness pint count: 29
Day 14 started like the rest with breakfast and us getting in the car and driving somewhere. We were headed back to the Republic of Ireland to return to the first B&B we stayed at and were very eager to get back to something familiar. Along the way all we had planned was stopping a Newgrange – a 5000 year old (older than the pyramids in Egypt and Stonehenge in Britain) burial site/passage tomb/passage grave. I wasn’t quite sure what it was or what to expect.
The drive out of Northern Ireland into the Republic of Ireland was easy and went by fairly quickly – I was eager to get back to the high speeds (as they’re kilometers per hour) in the Republic and the awesome move-left-into-the-shoulder passing mechanism that I’ve come to love so much.
Newgrange is accessible by bus only so you have to go to the visitor center and get a specific tour time to access the site. Luckily, our tour time was about 15 minutes from when we arrived so we didn’t have to wait long. The bus ride to the site is quick and once there you have a guided tour of the site with a few minutes at the end to wander by yourself before having to catch the bus back. The entire trip is about an hour.
At the site they tell you a bit of history about the structure and what they think it was used for – it’s 5000 years old so no one really knows for sure what it is or how/when it was used – and then you get to go inside. It’s quite cramped and the 25 or so of us in the tour group barely fit. The passageway into the single dome shaped tomb area is quite small forcing just about everyone to duck and/or squeeze in between the rocks when passing through. Once inside they explain that only on certain days near the winter solstice does sunlight ever make it into the tomb. It is thought that on these days the ashes of those placed inside the tomb would go to the next dimension/world/whatever. The whole thing was quite incredible and somber.
After Newgrange we got lunch and headed to Malahide where the B&B was. Once there we got the same rooms we used before and had some tea and scones – the scones were awesome! A little bit later Amber and I went into town and I had a couple of beers and then we picked up pizza and brought it back for us all to eat. After that it was bed.
Ireland Guinness pint count: 28
Day 3 started out much like day 2 with us all getting up around the same time and eating together. We wanted to get out early – right after breakfast – but we didn’t actually leave the B&B until 9:30-ish AM.
We drove to Malahide once again and caught the train to Dublin (which was a little more regular now that it was a weekday). Once in Dublin we got on the HOHO (since our tickets still worked from the day before as they’re good for 24 hours) and got off at the Guinness Storehouse.
We did a self guided tour at the Guinness Storehouse where you see how they make Guinness and ultimately end up in the Gravity Bar which is 7 stories above the place and gives you a 360 degree view of Dublin while you drink a complimentary pint of Guinness. They don’t actually make Guinness anymore in the building that you tour but they do have bits and pieces of machinery that used to be used for making Guinness that you can see and touch. There are also many movies playing on various TV’s that talk about the different brewing processes involved with making Guinness but the main attraction is the Gravity Bar and the free pint that your admission ticket grants you.
Up in the Gravity bar three of us got pints – Amber, Carol, and myself – while Kathy got a diet Coke. Amber drank hers down until just under the “Guinness” letters on the glass before calling it quits whereas Carol didn’t drink much at all. I drank mine just fine and then finished Amber’s. I also had a half-pint glass in the tasting room along the tour so that brought my Ireland Guinness pint total up to 6! I hate to say it but the pints previously consumed on the days before actually tasted better than those consumed @ Guinness(?!). Anyway, on our way out we stopped by the gift shop and spent way too much money. 
Boarding the HOHO once again we took it to the end of the route (where you’re forced to get off) and walked down to the General Post Office to mail some post cards. The General Post Office has historical significance as it’s where some fighting took place during one of the revolutions/uprisings – I don’t actually remember which/what as there have been many in Ireland’s past. After the post office we headed toward Grafton St. which is a big shopping area but on our way there we stopped in a Bank of Ireland branch to exchange some dollars for euros. Most places seem to only take cash.
We walked down Grafton St. for a bit before going down an alley and stopping at a pub for lunch. I had two more pints with lunch bringing the total up to 8.
After lunch we walked around a bit more near St. Stevens Green going in and out of random shops until finding an Irish Whiskey shop where I bought a bottle for myself. After that was more shopping and looking at things like crystal, sweaters, and jewelry. After we were all shopped out we checked the time and noticed that a train would be heading back to Malahide quite soon so we walked briskly to the train station and only had to wait a few minutes before it showed up.
Back in Malahide we went to a different grocery store and got more bread and items for dinner back at the B&B. We then ate and caught up on paying each other back for any money owed and then slowly headed to bed.
Back in the room I edited and posted the day 2 blog and then wrote some notes for day 3’s blog before calling it a night.S
It’s now 4:37 AM on day 4 as I finish writing day 3’s entry – I woke up at 3:30-ish AM and was wide awake so since I was awake I decided to be pro-active and productive. Lets see if I can go back to sleep now… we’re starting our clockwise driving adventure around Ireland today.
I woke up at 5:30 AM Sunday morning – day 2 – and was wide awake. Day 1 was technically two days due to arriving ‘next day’ from the flights and time change. (FYI: Ireland and the UK are GMT.) Anyway, in the process of getting the netbook situated on my lap in bed Amber woke up and said I was crazy and then went back to bed. I then wrote the contents of the day 1 blog post and then laid back in bed until about 8-ish AM.
Once Amber and I were showered, and since it was now the time range for breakfast, we went to the dining room area for breakfast. On the way we knocked on Carol & Kathy’s door and told them we were headed for breakfast and saw that they weren’t quite ready to join us. They were both up but still showering (- not together, of course).
There were already two other guys eating at a smaller table so Amber and I sat at the bigger four person table and dove into the juice/water/milk and cut up fruit that was already available. I also had some tea and Olive took our hot breakfast requests. For our days at this B&B we had a choice of: 1) traditional Irish breakfast (eggs, bacon, sausage, tomato, etc); 2) eggs and bacon; 3) smoked salmon and eggs; & 4) oatmeal porridge with brown sugar or maple syrup. I got the smoked salmon and eggs and Amber got the oatmeal porridge. We also got lots of toast and a few slices of Olive’s special Brown Bread (it’s pretty good). About the time our food arrived Kathy and Carol showed up but only Kathy wanted one of the hot breakfast items and that was eggs and bacon (I got her bacon).
After breakfast we drove into Malahide and parked along the street as it was free to park where we parked due to it being Sunday. We walked around the town a bit and went in a few shops basically killing time until the train to Dublin was supposed to leave. It wasn’t too early in the morning but not many places were open. When the time came (11-ish AM) we boarded the train – called DART – and took it to Tara St. in Dublin.
Once in Dublin it was our quest to first find a certain brand of HOHO (hop on hop off) bus and then ride it once around its full loop taking in all the sites and figuring out just what we wanted to actually hop off for and see in more detail. We did a full loop (minus jumping off to potentially find a place for lunch but eventually jumped back on to finish the loop). Then we got lunch.
We ate at some Eddie Rockets place which kind of felt like a similar named place in the states. It wasn’t anything special. We then went to a pub and I got my third pint of Guinness in Ireland. It was equally as good as the previous two and even Amber joined in on sipping it! She even said it tasted kind of good until it got down to just the liquid black goodness (meaing there was no more head). Feeling VERY refreshed we jumped back on the HOHO bus to one of the first stops: Trinity College and the Book of Kells.
It’s nine euro to see the book and only one more euro for a small guided tour of the college so we opted for the tour and walked around the college a bit. The tour dumps you off at the entrance to the Book of Kells. The Book of Kells contains the four gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John – illustrated and in some form of Latin. Only two of the gospels are at the college and the other two are somewhere else. The DVDs and TV shows we watched prior to coming to Ireland made the Book of Kells into this awesome must-see tourist attraction but when we got there we weren’t really that impressed. Or, at least I wasn’t. The best part of was the library that came after the Book of Kells where two hundred thousand of the colleges books are kept. It’s an awesome site to behold. The college also contains a copy of every book every written in the British Isles from around 1861 and on. Not all the books are physically kept at the college, but still, that’s quite an awesome concept to think about. The tour guide said they have to add an extra half mile of shelving each year for all the new books.
After Trinity College and the Book of Kells we meant to head off toward Grafton street but were disoriented and ended up going into the Temple Bar area where I made everyone stop once again for another pint of Guinness! This fourth pint of Guinness was just as good as the three before it and Amber drank some more of it making me very happy.
After that we walked down the road next to the river Liffey – the river that divides the north part of Dublin from the South part of Dublin – and crossed the Ha’penny Bridge. Apparently way back in the day it used to cost half of a penny to cross per each pair of feet that walked across so ‘gentlemen’ would carry their ladies across to save money. Whatever.
On our way back to the train station we saw a tourist gift shop chain called Carroll’s and stopped in then it was back on the train to Malahide where we stopped at a grocery store and bought some cheese, bread, chips, and chocolate and then we drove back to the B&B.
We ate ‘dinner’ in the dining room and discovered the wireless’s WEP key so we could now get the netbook online and not have to use that weird UK/Ireland keyboard on the public computer. Shortly after that we all went to bed (separately, of course).
NOTE: We did some other various things throughout the day; this post (and future posts!) isn’t completely thorough.