Adventure in Ireland | FindPenguins

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Traveler Adventure in Ireland
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- Sep 9, 2016, 11:59pm
- 🌧 25 °C
- Altitude: 10 ft
- United States New Jersey Essex County Oak Island Junction 40.71294, -74.166240°42’47” N 74°9’58” W
Not Ireland
September 9, 2016 in the United States ⋅ 🌧 25 °C
Should be halfway to ireland by now. Instead, stuck in Newark (yes, NJ) until 730pm tomorrow night. Just a ridiculous coming together of events. But tomorrow is one day of vacation I won't get back!
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- Sep 22, 2016, 4:31pm
- ⛅ 16 °C
- Altitude: 16 ft
- Ireland Leinster Dún Laoghaire Dun Laoghaire Ferry Port 53.294772, -6.13328953°17’41” N 6°7’60” W
Day 13
Dún Laoghaire
September 22, 2016 in Ireland ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C
9/11 Finally in Ireland! Took forever and a day ("and a day" literally!) We were met by a gentleman from the tour company we called Happy John. He put us on a bus with a driver named Brian who had a raunchy sense of humor. The longer we had to wait for hundreds of bike racers to pass, the more raunchy he got! We were happy to arrive in time for breakfast with the family at our hotel. I was a zombie that day but managed a beautiful walk along the pier with Christy and Claudia. It was windy and rained a bit but heck, it was Ireland. There were sailing and rowing classes going on, boats named "gringo" and "jalapeno", and we got some fun pictures! I barely stayed awake for the trinity college/ book of Kells adventure that afternoon. In fact, I slept for most of the bus ride! When we got back we had an intro to the official tour guide and part of our group. We would be met by 30+ more joining from a Scotland adventure in the morning. We had dinner in a pub that had music, but not Irish music. It was all pretty modern. And noisy, we were right next to the stage. But the guys were nice, and we ducked out pretty quick. Then, finally some sleep.Read more
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- Sep 22, 2016, 5:10pm
- ☀️ 11 °C
- Altitude: 10 ft
- Ireland Connaught Galway Galway Ceannt 53.273748, -9.04975253°16’25” N 9°2’59” W
Day 13
Galway, Ireland
September 22, 2016 in Ireland ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C
9/12 Today I became familiar with Irish "T&T". It's tea and toilet. On our way to Galway we stopped at a whiskey distillery that was not yet open for the day 😯 It was once owned by Mr. Jameson himself. I also learned one could actually get decaf tea in Ireland! We got to know some of our tour mates that joined us that morning and most were quite nice.
Our next stop was an old monastery called Clonmacnoise. It was started in 545 AD by St. Ciaran. There were a lot of fabulously carved crosses to look at. There were also ruined that had "whispering arches" in the doorway. If one person faced the arch and whispered, the person on the opposite side could hear loud and clear! We also saw the supposed graveside of St. Ciaran, where people left coins. Not sure why, it wasnt supposed to bring good luck. The rain made the whole experience a bit mystical, but you exprct that of Ireland!
We stopped for lunch at a village on the river Shannon. Here I learned you don't get charged for gluten free food in Ireland! I had my first real sandwich in years! Next door there was a super old pub that had just reopened. The owner practically dragged us in and let us take pictures being the bar.
I've been to Galway before but took a bunch of day tours so I didn't really explore the city much. It's just as nice as I remember though, with even more character! There was a walking tour but the guide was very grumpy and walked too fast for many on the tour. Christy and I cut out and went to buy claddagh rings 😉Read more
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- Sep 22, 2016, 5:34pm
- ☀️ 12 °C
- Altitude: 171 ft
- Ireland Connaught Galway Ballymurry 53.259488, -8.56550653°15’34” N 8°33’56” W
Day 13
Connemara, Ireland
September 22, 2016 in Ireland ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C
9/13 I love looking at peat bogs. I'm not sure why. Maybe because they seem to be part of so many mysteries set in Ireland. We drove past quite a few today on our way to Killarney Harbor where we took a little cruise on the water. There were a lot of well organized buoys we found out were for mussel farming. The sun even made an appearance!
Then we went on to one of my top 2 must see destinations, Kylemore Abbey. It's in the hills beside a pretty lake. I had a poster of it a long time ago, then got to take my own picture from the same point of view years later. It's changed some since then, and was very different seeing it in the sun! I had fun walking through the gardens with Lara and Kelly. I don't recall going through the castle last time I was there, so it was pretty cool. Lunch was good too!
Our afternoon T&T stop was at the Connemara Marble factory. I had no idea there were so many different kinds with so many different patterns! Can you spot the dog?
It was wierd seeing the sun that day. It made the countryside pretty instead of mysterious. I'm a fan of both!
It wasn't part of the tour but we went to a show that night. The guide hyped it so much we couldnt miss it. It was put on by several people who weread a big part of the Riverdance show. They didn't let us take pictures 😐 They had music and dancers, including the male and female national champions! The guide wasn't kidding, the show was amazing! Afterwards we met the guitar player and producer. His name was Chris Kelly so it was an instant "thing". He seemed to get a kick out of it and wanted to take pictures with us, so we obliged.
What a jam packed day!Read more
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- Sep 22, 2016, 5:37pm
- ⛅ 13 °C
- Altitude: 492 ft
- Ireland Munster Co Clare Derren Cliffs of Moher 52.97188, -9.4265152°58’19” N 9°25’35” W
Day 13
Cliffs of Moher, Ireland
September 22, 2016 in Ireland ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C
9/14 Sheepdogs. I was really looking forward to this, but it was really short. Still fascinating and even entertaining. The gift shop gave us shot glasses of hot toddies. It was windy and cold outside so that was a welcome treat!
Next up was my 2nd must see destination, the Cliffs of Moher. I really wanted my family to see this! Walking to the viewpoints were hard for some but I'm glad they gave it a go. The Cliffs are so amazing and I'm glad I got to share the experience, especially the time with my mom 😊 my pictures didn't turn out very colorful and don't do any justice for the real thing, but I'm glad they turned out at all!
We drove to Killarney after that. Our hotel was very old but you could tell it was quite the place for a long time. It was called the Malton Hotel. It was close to the Killarney National Park. We took a jaunt in car ride through the park before dinner. It was basically a covered horse driven wagon and was a lot of fun! Our driver was very entertaining.
Dinner was at Jarvey's, where the old time jaunt in car drivers used to hang out. There was Irish music and some jig dancing. Christy and I even gave it a try! They didn't teach us any ankle wiggling moves but everyone else was entertained by our attempt!Read more
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- Sep 22, 2016, 6:05pm
- ⛅ 14 °C
- Altitude: 33 ft
- Ireland Munster Co Kerry Sneem Owreagh River 51.833097, -9.92402351°49’59” N 9°55’26” W
Day 13
Ring of Kerry, Ireland
September 22, 2016 in Ireland ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C
9/15 A lot of us didn't know what to expect this day. We knew it would be a lot of driving, but didn't know much else. It turned out to be one of my favorite days. The scenery was amazing! We took a lot of photo stops and I got some wonderful pictures. I didn't know there were so many lakes! They described an old Norman farming practice called something I don't remember, but basically it was a fortified stone ring they would drive all their livestock into at night so they couldn't be stolen. Pretty cool!
We went to Valentia Island, which had the Skellig Experience (real name!). It was the jumping off point for touring these remote and seriously rough islands where there was once a monestary. It was a 6 hour tour so we didn't get to go. But the other draw was that one of those islands was used filming some scenes from the current star wars series! They were really playing it up too, lots of merchsndising.
I got some pictures of colored buildngs on the water across the bay. They weren't the buildings I was looking for but they were colorful none the less. We stopped at a little village for ice cream where I got some cool pics of pubs and stuff. The ice cream shop was called Annie's, so I got a picture of that and put it on a postcard for my niece.
We went to Muck Ross house in Killarney that evening. I don't remember much about it but do know it had beautiful grounds and gardens where we had fun playing gnomes. They also have a fab weaving company and their hats are very popular. I bought one!
After a long day in the bus we really enjoyed the hot tub!Read more
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- Sep 22, 2016, 6:57pm
- ⛅ 12 °C
- Altitude: 108 ft
- Ireland Munster Cork Blarney Blarney Castle 51.929092, -8.57088551°55’45” N 8°34’15” W
Day 13
Blarney Castle, Ireland
September 22, 2016 in Ireland ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C
9/16 Christy and I were going to kiss the Blarney stone no matter what! A bunch of us got in a fast moving line going through the broken down drafty castle. When we finally got to the top it was a death defying assembly line! You had to lay down on your back while some burly old man threw you backwards and gave you .5 seconds to give the wall a kiss. Then he practically threw you out to get onto the next person! There was hardly time for pics, but you could certainly buy the ones they provided. We didnt. There was a bottle of supposed disinfectant next to the burly old man that I never saw him use. Thank goodness I had sanitizing wipes, and just enough for everyone in our little group! Since christy wasn't going to get dinner we went in search of food. It was hopeless. There was a cruise ship in town adding 4000 peoplet to the normal total for that time of day! Lines wereally so long everywhere we went. We got chased off line when a member of our tour let is in with them. The food stand only sold hot dogs. Shopping was disappointing and expensive. Finally Claudia suggested buying food at the Super Value market across the park. Not satis-fYing for my poor sister but was the best we could do. The food search took up the rest of our time at the castle. We weren't very happy by that point. Simply not enough time, so was a disappointing visit. Pretty much the most disappointing of the whole trip. I still have a sour feeling about it.
On to Waterford. We stopped at the smugglers pub on the way. They gave us irish coffee and we got serenaded by an older gentleman who sang and told stories. When we got to Waterford we toured the Waterford Crystal factory. It's not the "real" thing anymore as the company had to sell out in 2009. Now it's the House of Waterford Crystal, not the original. However, the process to make the stuff was no less fascinating! I didn't realize how many sports trophies they made, including the NBA champs basketball!
After dinner that night a local guide came in for some history. He was so funny! He also made it interesting with a bit of audience oarticipation, which included me! I hope to get some pictures from others since I couldnt take any myself. We went on a walking tour after that. Being at night made it pretty cool! There was some sort of community band concert on the way and it seemed so out of place with the history!Read more
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