Driving in Ireland, OH MY!!

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The real adventure began when we picked up our rental car. Lets just say we have some rules of the "road" now, besides stay left. 

Rule 1: Do what feels wrong and terrifies you, its probably right. 

This includes driving on the left of the road in the left of the car and having little to no room on the road. Country roads in Virginia have nothing on the country roads of Ireland. Yes, you will encounter tractors, pedestrians, cars, buses and some rock hedges. But, 99 times out of 100 you won't be able to pull off the road because to the right of you is a rock wall. The rental facility gave our driver a test, which consisted of 10 questions. These questions consisted of what side of the road do you drive on and what area of the car is most likely to get damaged.  

Rule 2: Winnie is not always correct. 

We named our GPS Winnie and while we were driving from Dublin to our cottage in Liscannor she told us in British accent to turn right. Low and behold the Atlantic Ocean was to the right of us and no road. Yeah, we weren't very happy with her and turning was not happening! 

Rule 3: Corkscrew Hill is named for a reason. 

Corkscrew Hill is named for the turns that are literally 360 degree turns. One of the most terrifying when you are in the passenger seat and you brain is telling you you should be doing something and you have no control of the vehicle. Think of being a kid and going on your first roller coaster ride. You pick the most intense ride on in the theme park and get on. Those are close to the feelings of exhilaration and nerves that I felt while riding passenger. You look forward and see the road, but you see how close the car is to the rock wall and your brain is like this is wrong... this is wrong!

However, we did manage to get to our cottage and I must say its one of the best places I’ve stayed. Literally from our front door you can see, smell and taste the ocean. The town is quaint and very friendly. We can walk to the beach from our cottage and to the 3 or 4 restaurants. We went to Vaughan's Anchor Inn, which has won recent international awards and I could taste and see why!

We visited The Cliffs of Moher with our new UK friends. It was breathtaking! Not only do you feel as if you are at the end of the Earth, your at the beginning. After visiting the cliffs its very clear to me why some of our ancestors thought the world was flat. We also saw the cave that was used in the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009).  Pretty spectacular view and feeling being on the edge of the world.

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Guinness, Rainbows, Leprechauns and a bit o' luck

St. Patrick's Day was bloody brilliant! As expected, our bus was packed like a can of sardines, people were dressed in all shades of green and there was a very high level of spirits in the area. Both spiritually and the not so spiritually. It was interesting dynamic being immersed in a sea of people. I think its similar to what a Herring feels like when its traveling along. (Claustrophobic, panicked and a bit aggressive.)

I think we saw about four parade figures hovering overtop of the waves of people. Of course I think it would've been brilliant to watch the entire parade, though we wanted to learn more about the meaning behind St. Patrick's Day, so we concerned ourselves with getting to Trinity University to see the Book of Kells. But, what was quite entertaining along the way were the people who were hanging or standing on street signs, window sills and statues. Not to mention passing the police men who weren't even concerned with alcohol in the streets or the fact that people where standing on roof tops.

The Book of Kells experience was spectacular! The detail to the pages and learning how the pages were made so artistically was fascinating! And to think they didn't have pens, crayons or a typewriter. We weren't able to go to a mass because we got into Dublin late. I did however get to experience St. Brigid's Church at Liscannor near our cottage and St. Fin Barre's Cathedral in Cork.

After our adventure at Trinity, we then found some grub and headed for a place to sit and happened upon the Dublin Castle. There was this little girl under the age of 5 wearing an Irish princess tiara on head pretending with her father that they were marching in a parade. It was precious to see, especially right in front of castle of all places. We met up with several of Stephanie’s friends from the U.K. and we ventured around Dublin until we had to catch our bus back to our hotel in Ashbourne. 

Day 1, which felt like 2 days...

Our flight was on time all across the board. We had a connecting flight in Boston, MA., which included a 10 hour layover. Not as bad as the 13 hour layover in Atlanta, GA., last year. Fran, Jessica and I went exploring for a bit in Boston. Quite a pleasant city if you ask me. People were very friendly! Similar to what we found today in Ireland. No frets on getting lost, people in Boston and Ireland are looking out for you and are willing to help.

We decided we were to go to the New England Aquarium using the Commuter Train, though we would never get there. I think it may have been the distraction of the pier outstretched along the Boston Harbor looking back towards Logan International Airport that may be why or the cold weather we were battling. Not that the weather was brutally cold, it was just a drastic change from our unusual 70 and 80 degree weather. We walked around Downtown Boston passing alongside the many shops, pubs and vehicles. Being that all of us didn't get much sleep on our hop up to Boston, we were in search of some coffee. A local women with the cutest dog helped us find our way to the Flat Black Coffee Company. What a cup 'o joe! I got a Flat White, which Lucas (fellow in the white shirt) told me is popular in Australia. He most definitely sounded very Irish, though I never asked where he was from because he was just way too busy. After some good coffee and conversation we headed to the Boston Common and played in Tadpole Playground. After being overrun by little kiddies and hunger we ran into George who suggested going to The Beantown Pub, which happened to be right across the street from Cranary Burial Grounds, where Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, John Hancock and many famous other revolutionary figures who helped shape the United States are buried.

After our exploration we caught up with Stephanie and our flight to Ireland. What an interesting flight, if I may add. Within the first 2 hours the flight attendants PA-ed for a doctor, though we would never figure out what happened in the middle of the plane. We finally arrived in Dublin at 5 o'clock and after searching for buses managed to finally find the one that would take us to our hotel. Mind you the bus we found took us to Downtown Dublin and then we had to find our bus to Ashbourne and to our hotel. Lugging all of our luggage and sleep deprivation had us in bed before you knew it. After getting a pleasant nap and finally meeting up with Lucy, we ventured back out to Dublin to the Guinness Storehouse. What a place! Its about close to the size of the Newsuem in D.C., though the Guinness Storehouse doesn't have news, it has 7 floors and Guinness to entertain. We then grabbed a bite to eat and headed back to our hotel.                            Looks like we are starting out early tomorrow in order to get into Dublin and we had talked about visiting Trinity College and The Book of Kells. What I would love to do is to head to a church and observe the way of the Irish Catholics prior to going to the parade. I think that would be wonderful to experience. I guess we shall see what tomorrow brings!    
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A dream to come true....

Woo Hoo!! Oh My God!!! Thats about the gist of my emotions right now. 

Considering I'm sitting at the Dulles International Airport waiting until I can finally check my bags and roll through security, I think those emotions are pretty favorable at the moment. Interestingly enough, I'm still in disbelief that this day is finally here. I have to keep pinching myself to keep from recognizing that my dream of going to Ireland is about to come true. (I'm curious to see what kind of welt I'll have at the end of this trip). Its simular to starting your first day of Kindergarden and flash forward your then waking up to reality when you are about to cross the stage and shake your high school principal's hand for the last time. You know its coming,  you prepare for it, but some how it doesn't become believable and real until it actually happens. 

As predicted, sleep was not as favorable to me as I would've liked. You know that feeling that you think your forgetting something? Well, if I was holding the "rememberable" from Harry Potter that artifact would've been lit up like a Christmas tree on Christmas. If I did forget something, I'm out of luck. (Even though I'm going to the land of "luck"). Ironic, isn't it? 

Well, I stopped at 7 Eleven on the way to the airport this morning and both attendants were chatty. Bit more chatty than a normal person would've been used to at 2 a.m., but friendly none the less. They had asked where I was headed and being that I was the only one in the store, I told them. The one fellow said he always wanted to go to Ireland, which was to be expected. But, the other said that she hoped I would meet the man of my dreams. Not sure how she knew my relationship status, but whatever. 

And, so it starts...

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