September 14-27th (Vacation Pt. 3)

Last part of the vacation blog, I promise! Thank you for reading it all- I realize the blog is supposed to be about Timmy and this strays from that.

Any way, we landed in Ireland in the morning on Tuesday. I hadn't really realized the implications of driving on the left side of the road until we got to the rental car. Driving on the left side of the road- when you've driven on the right side your whole life- is really, really hard. Aiming for the correct lane is easy- Just hug the left side of the road instead of the right. The hard part comes in staying in the lane. As a right-side-of-the-road driver, I'm used to my body being physically over the left side of the lane, with the bulk of the car to my right. I hadn't realized how much of this was instinct and not concsious thought. Driving out of the rental car parking lot, I found myself getting closer and closer to the curb over and over again. I think I did a "curb check" a half-dozen times in Dublin alone. Fortunately, this is "erring on the side of caution", as it means you're probably not going to veer into oncoming traffice. We did come rather close to some telephone poles, though.

Ireland roads are crazy. The lanes, to begin with, are much narrower than those in the states or Germany. Secondly, there are very few freeways. Only 1 major one, as a matter of fact, and it loops around Dublin. Getting to the Bed and Breakfast meant driving through Dublin (during morning traffic) and searching for road signs that weren't there all while trying to re-learn how to drive. We got lost immediatley. Instead of panicing, we found a good breakfast place and ate an Irish breakfast.

Irish breakfasts, we found, are almost exactly like English breakfasts. You get a fried egg- this is about the only normal part. The bacon is very thickly-sliced and looks like it comes from more of the ham than the back and they it "rashers". The breakfast also comes with "pudding"- some kind of meat and grain mixed thing that doesn't taste like either and vaguely resembles sausage patties. We got hash browns with our meal along with a cooked tomato and a heap of baked beans. The only part that turns my stomach is the sausage. Outwardly, they look like normal sausage links. Inside, however, they're pretty doughy and bland tasting. To someone expecting the usual spicy taste of sausage, biting into bland dough can be nauseating. Timmy loved it, though.

After breakfast, I asked the barkeep (the restaurant was attached to a pub) for directions to our bed and breakfast. They sounded something like this: "Go down this road (pointing) and turn left. Go down that road for awhile and turn right. Go down that road and turn left. Then another right at the next road. Go under a bridge and turn left. You'll see the water. Ask for directions around there." To his credit, the old guy was very nice- he just didn't have any more of a clue how to get there than we did.

We followed his directions pretty well. Our bed and breakfast was near the coast about 30 minutes south of Dublin, so once we spotted water, we just followed it down until we saw some words we recognized from the local map the B&B provided. This is where we learned how crazy the Irish pronounce their city names. For example, one town we passed was Dun Laoghaire. The Irish, though, pronounce it, "Dun Lorrie".

At any rate, we finally found our way to the B&B by around 11:00. When I had called a month previously to make arrangements, the innkeeper (a nice older lady with a moderate accent) requested we wait until 11:30 to show up, as she feed breakfast until late in the morning. I thought this would be close enough- I was incorrect. Our room wasn't ready yet, so she suggested a trip down to the shoreline.

We went down to the shore- Very rocky but really quite beautiful, looking out over the Irish Sea. Timmy enjoyed watching and listening to the waves and Savannah and I searched the coastline for sea glass. We walked up and down the shore for a bit, then got back in the car to go into town for a light lunch. Of all the european countries we've been to, Ireland is probably the closest to the U.S. in most aspects (except the driving). The stores are very simliar in what they sell and the people behave mostly the same- maybe a little friendlier. After buying some chocolate bars, we drove back to the B&B and checked in.

The B&B was called "Druid Lodge" and was gorgeous. A 2-story, 26-room house with 18 foot ceilings in the dining room and drawing room. Our bedroom came complete with a crib for Timmy and a full bathroom. The place was remarkably well kept and clean- We have no complaints whatsoever about the place. And the innkeepers were very, very nice.

Any way, the rest of the first day we spent napping after our long trip. We had intended to take a day in the middle to drive down to Blarney Castle in Cork and kiss the Blarney stone, but the innkeeper explained to us that without freeways in Ireland, that's a 5+ hour trip each way. So instead, we concentrated on the stuff around us.

Wednesday we went on a driving tour just south of where the B&B is. We started at Powerscourt Gardens. It was an estate previously used by the Viscount of that area before Ireland left the UK. The gardens themselves took us hours to walk around. Then we drove around the countryside. Ireland is without a doubt the most beautiful country we have been to yet, rivaling Germany in a lot of its scenery. Along the way you'd see sheep in the road (we didn't hit any!) and the hills and valleys look like they're out of a movie. Wednesday was a little cloudy, but it didn't slow us down one bit.

Thursday was Dublin day for us. We left the car at the B&B and took the commuter train into Dublin. This was a very stress-free day, as it meant we didn't have to drive! The train dropped us off near Trinity college and we walked up and down the streets a bit, buying souvieners. We bought a lot of stuff, mainly because it was so nice not to have to barter for anything. Before long, we found ourselves at the bus stop we were looking for- a Dublin tour bus that lets you hop on and off at differant stops on a whim with only paying one fare. The bus drivers are very, as the Irish would call them, "cheeky". We'd just call them smart asses. It was very entertaining at any rate, and we got off at our first stop, Temple Bar.

Temple Bar is supposed to be a Bohemian Mecca of Dublin, where after dark hoardes of people get drunk like crazy. Fortunatley it was near noon and pretty quiet. We found a pub that served Fish and Chips and got ourselves a seat. The food was actually quite good, but the surroundings were better. We took a lot of pictures from inside the pub, because I think this is how we're going to re-do Dad's basement. We had some hard cider with the meal (I know, I know.. no Guinness?) and Timmy loved the fries.

After Temple Bar, we walked around a bit down to St. Patrick's Cathedral. It was 5 euros a person to get in, so we opted not to enter. We then took the bus to (insert Angelic-sounding voices here) the Guinness Brewery! It's actually pretty expensive to get into the place where you can tour the Brewery- 15 euros each. But we went. And I thought it was well worth it. They show you all the usual stuff, of course- how the beer is made and where the ingrediants come from. But then.. then... they show you how they taste-test the beer and invite you to try it yourself! A bit further on the tour, they show about how the transport the beer and teach you about coopering. The final stop is at the top floor where they teach you how to pour a "perfect" pint of Guinness- and then let you drink it! I'd say for free, but we paid the entry fee. Nonetheless, it was a very cool experience and we spent upwards of an hour and a half in there. After that, we finished up the bus loop, did some more shopping and headed back to the B&B.

On Friday we decided we wanted to climb Sugarloaf Mountain, one of the tall hills near the B&B. We also took a hike up to the top of Powerscourt Waterfall and got some gorgeous views. Sugarloaf came after the waterfall, and along our ascent we passed a few cows. But wait- upon closer inspection, they weren't cows after all- they were horses! Yes, horses that looked exactly like cows. Any way, we finished climbing the mountain, took some pictures and had a snack at the top. That evening we had dinner out in town and came back to pack our stuff up for the voyage home.

The flight home was very unremarkable, so I won't remark on it. Suffice to say, we made it in one piece!

Today's Timmy update: Timmy went to bed in pretty short order last night, just needing an extra "boost" of milk before bed. He's down for a nap currently, though he was up-and-down for the first 15 minutes or so of it. I've been trying to get him back into the habit of walking, but he is showing quite a bit of resistance. I think I'll bring the area rug back downstairs (we had put it up in the bedroom because Timmy's walker couldn't roll over it) and maybe he'll have an easier time walking on it.