Me Irish eyes are smilin

On Friday March 5th, we flew on the opulent Ryanair from Carcasonne to Dublin. Ryanair has a weight limitation of 10kg for your one allowed carry-on. So Randi and I were removing clothing and any extra items we could think of to get under the limit. Then while onboard they don't provide you even a cup of coffee for free and the seats don't recline at all. But I'm not really complaining, it just sounds that way. I had my one pair of jeans, two t-shirts and a sweater. We were full of gladness and health, with a pocket full of gold, as the least of our wealth. That's because it only cost us around $150 dollars a piece to fly there. We also were able to rent a car (Budget) through their website, for 14 euros a day. That seems incredible. I found it funny to hear the unexpected pride in my tone when telling the Budget guy that the reservation was for "Kelley" :)

We checked in to the swanky Morgan Hotel in the Temple Bar area of Dublin. We had our priorities straight and went directly to the Guinness Storehouse tour, that closed at 5pm. It was an interesting tour, in which we learned about Arthur's Yeast, which some has been transferred from one brew on to the next since possibly the early 1800s! We also learned that Arthur Guinness, in 1758, signed a 9000 year lease on the property there at St. James Gate and access rights to the watercourse going into Dublin from the Wicklow Mountains. He apparently was very confident about the success of the beer. They made a point to explain that, contrary to popular belief, the water used in brewing Guinness is from the mountains and not from the River Liffey. Having a couple Guinness beers ended the tour nicely and seemed like the right way to kick off our Irish experience. The tour came with one free Guinness Draught that had to be the best tasting Guinness I'd ever had. Then we went to their roof-top bar, with a 360 degree view of Dublin, to buy our second pint but the bartender gave Randi it for free...because of her eyes I suppose. I thought I'd share it with her but he must have thought I was an honest looking lad and gave me one as well (A bird with one wing can't fly). That really was the start of the warmth we felt from the Irish all weekend long. That night we went to a classic Irish pub, O'Neil's for a couple more pints and a big buffet style meal there. Strangely when I went to ask about their menu, the first words out of my mouth were inadvertently with an Irish tone "We ave never bin ear baforrre"...weird, I really didn't mean to do that. We didn't last long that night but it allowed us to get some sleep and get up early for our drive through the countryside the next day.

Saturday we started the day by first making sure we saw the highly touted Book of Kells. It seemed strange while researching the trip that when reading about 'what to do in Dublin' it always came back with the Guinness tour, enjoying the pubs and the Book of Kells. We made some fun of going to see a library book. I wanted to walk into the old Trinity College Library, explain that I was researching my family heritage and with a serious look, say I was interested in 'checking out' the Book of Kells. As it turned out, it really was an amazing body of work done by Celtic monks around 800 AD. The calligraphy and drawings of the Gospel were incredibly elaborate and colorful. If you liked spending every day of your life meticulously drawing onto calfskin, this was the job for you. The museum presentations of the book explained that the pigments for the illustrations, which included red and yellow ochre, green copper, indigo and lapis lazuli, would have been imported from the Mediterranean region and, in the case of the lapis lazuli, from northeast Afghanistan. It is widely regarded as Ireland's finest national treasure...besides the pubs of course.

From there we headed south-west in our 14 euro Hyundai Getz. I was real happy I opted for an automatic transmission at the last moment because driving on the other side of the road and taking the roundabouts in the reverse direction were enough of a distraction...I didn't need to be shifting with my left hand as well. Luckily I had Randi ridin shotgun, helping me with almost every turn. At one point I told her I should have gotten her some peddles and a wheel but really, it was a big help and safer, to have the help choosing what lane to be in. May the roof over your heads be as well thatched, as those inside are well matched

We made our first stop at the Rock of Cashel. The Rock, as the locals call it, is also known as Cashel of the Kings. The Rock was reputedly the seat of the High Kings of Munster back in the 5th century AD. Who wouldda known ? Who wouldda cared ? We didn't really. But we saw a 20 minute movie there that covered the history of Ireland and the struggle it's had over the century for peace. It was great. I felt like everything we saw after that was put into context by that movie.

We stayed at the Ashcroft B&B in Blarney. We got a great recommendation that night to go to The Muskerry Arms pub. I had my first authentic Irish coffee there and it was really outstanding. Everyone in the place seemed super friendly, starting with the bartender, then the waiter and then a couple we met there. They were Jessica and Ed and their little 5 year old grand-daughter, Emma O'Sullivan. Ed told us we could share the corner table with them, in the crowded pub. We found out that they grew up just 5 km from the pub and we could tell. Because as the night went on, it seemed like they knew every other person walkin through the bar. Little Emma was a fireplug and as cute as could be. I ended up getting her a little wound-up and in trouble by the time we left...had her running around the bar, getting away from me and my camera, not listening to Grandma. Sorry bout that :) If you’re enough lucky to be Irish...You’re lucky enough!

On Sunday morning we needed to head back to Dublin, for our flight the next morning but we had a few stops planned along the way. The first one being Blarney Castle. It was a located just a few minutes from our B&B and we were first people there. I was hoping maybe this would mean a nice clean, germ-free Blarney stone to start the day. The Blarney Castle is another one of these tourist sites that I can't see it existing in the US because of all the possible injury hazards throughout the tour. The five story climb up the really dark, narrow, ancient, spiral staircase, with it's uneven and non-uniform stairs along the way, is fairly unnerving. When you get to the top you get a beautiful view of the countryside in every direction...but be on the lookout for the bastard "Old Ironsides", Oliver Cromwell. With the wind blowing strong and every stone of the floor being at a different height, by the time you get to the top, you have to wonder what their safety record is for hanging over the edge to do the stone kissing ritual. But don't worry, you can feel comfort in knowing that the 80 year old man who works there is hanging on tight to you. Now with the 'gift of gab' my blog entries will be even longer! May you get all your wishes but one, so that you will always have something to strive for!

After walking the beautiful grounds around the Blarney Castle we got back in the car and drove along the coast to Dungervan. We went there to see the ruins of King John's Castle but no one seemed to know what or where King John's Castle was...even when we were just a few blocks away from it!! When we did finally find it, we found that it was closed. So all we can say about Dungervan is that we had fun trying to say the name of the town like the Irish and we had a good lunch at 'Merrys' there.

Half way to Dublin we unknowingly came upon the Jerpoint Abbey, in the county of Kilkenny and we stopped to tour the ruins there. Jerpoint was built around 1160 and inhabited by Cistercian monks. We had heard about this same order of monks living at The Rock as well. This Abbey is known for the unique carving and sculptures found in the cloisters.

Back in Dublin, we checked into the cheap but strategically located, Days Hotel Dublin Airport. After a quick rest, we drove into Dublin and ended up having an outstanding night there. We started the night off at one of the oldest pubs in Dublin, The Palace Bar on Fleet street. It is known as a favorite hangout of the staff of The Irish Times newspaper and is also well-known as being very poular with Irish writers and poets living in Dublin in the early 1900. We sat in the backroom with our Irish coffee and also found it to be a great place to write postcards. We looked like two literary giants of the early 21st century there. We left there looking for food but found entertainment instead at The Dame Tavern. They had a guitarist playing Pink Floyd, Neil Young, Metallica and the Eagles. Not exactly traditional Irish music to tug at your Celtic soul but damn good drinkin music all the same. There we met two locals Peter and John, as well as a guy from Scotland named Paul. Peter told me my name in Gaelic was "Eion". We bought each other beer and talked about the Irish, the English, The French and Americans. John of Dublin had a few too many Guinness and was slapping people on the back, telling Paul from Scotland that the English still own him and shaking hands with the guitarist, while he was still doing his set. He was also captivated with Randi's smile (I've seen this happen many times before) and had her dancing with him. She enjoyed this until he wanted to pick her up, bear-hug style, after every dance. She started to hide behind me after a while. But he really did all this in good-nature and seemed well-liked by everyone there. Peter (Peuder in Gaelic) was teaching us about his culture on many different issues. He said the Irish like Americans, they think the French need to lighten up, they like the English but not from northern England so much and he liked to say "it's not how old you look, it's the woman you feel" :) He gave me his email and said he would look for my Coat of Arms...I can't find it anywhere. Randi met a group of girls briefly in the bathroom. By the time we left they were adjusting her makeup and kissing her goodbye. One thing we will remember about our trip to Ireland is that the people were really exceptionally good-hearted and kind. There are good ships, and there are wood ships, the ships that sail the sea. But the best ships, are friendships...and may they always be.