Friday, August 1, 2008

I was up at 6:30, I guess just the excitement of being in Dublin and anticipation of renting a car and driving on the opposite side! So I went through brochures and pictures in the bathroom. Addie woke up but was deliriously tired and wanted to be put in her stroller. So rocked her to sleep in the stroller, but she only was quiet for about 30 minutes. Then got ready and got to breakfast. They have tons of juices, fruits, and breads out on the table and then you get to choose between 6 breakfast entrees! We were so stuffed! Oh, got the full Irish breakfast, which is similar to the full English breakfast - eggs, lots of meats, beans, tomato, black and white pudding, etc. Addie out of sorts, so finished packing up and left our luggage at the lobby counter. Headed to the DART station which is within viewing distance of our hotel. This is an example of the houses in our neighborhood...reminded me of 1900's homes near Forest Park (STL).

We took DART down to Dalkey on the coast - about a 30 minute trip. These next 5 are pictures from the train.

"Danger: Trains May Pass at Speed"

Got to Dalkey - a cute little coastal town, very slow and quiet with a happening high street. 

We walked around the old castles and towers...

...and down to two beaches which were neat. The pictures below are of the second harbor/beach with Dalkey Island. Actually there are 4 little islands, but Dalkey is the largest and actually has a heard of goats living on it. That's David with the stroller to the right, just below the island.

Addie just woke up...

This is for Bob, with the sailing ship...

Then we walked/hiked up to a high park overlooking the area,

and then back into town to grab some take away lunch and get back on DART by 12:30. Picked up our bags from the hotel and walked 5 minutes to catch the aircoach back up to the airport. It took about an hour to get up there, with the rain and all today (in Dublin, thankfully not in Dalkey when we were there!). To Avis to get our car, which the lady on the phone had booked a booster seat for Addie rather than the more expensive carseat, and also didn't offer us full insurance which was another 20 euros a day. So the price was more than we expected, but oh well, we can't do much about that now. Oh, and David was VERY VERY disappointed to learn that his drivers license expired, so he was unable to drive in Ireland! I was a little nervous, but we did well getting out of Dublin although the traffic was horrific. It took about 3 hours to get down to South Tipperary. We saw this rainbow on the way - you can barely see it, but it was pretty 'quintessential' to see a rainbow in Ireland! 

We went straight to Cahir (pronounced Cair) to see Cahir Castle before it closed, which was a really neat ruined place to see. I think it's one of the largest castles open to tourists. Nathan and Connor would have loved it!

That's me on the wall in the white sweater...

The dungeon!!!

Looking down a hole to Addie and David. They used these to pour boiling water or oil on enemies trying to attack. 

A view of the river (pretty full) and then the town from the castle.

The pulleys for the portcullis.

This was the main hall where the family entertained, etc.

Then we had dinner in the little town of Cahir as well.

Then on to the smaller town of Bansha to go to the Bansha House, our farmhouse for the two nights. http://www.tipp.ie/banshahs.htm. Mary, the lady of the house, was very nice; however there was also miscommunication when we booked it. She thought there were 3 of us, they did not have a cot available as promised on the phone, nor was there a babysitter available for Saturday night so David and I could go to Bru Boru in Cashel, but we did ensure that the cost was 50 euros. (That's important to know when Sunday rolls around!) She didn't have room for us in the house so put us in the cottage around the corner. It was ok nice but plenty spacious. I made a pallet on the floor in one of the little rooms for Addie and she went down just fine. Yet when I checked on her 30 minutes later she stirred so we just put her in bed with us. She didn't do well there, so after tossing and turning and wanting to play, she was back on the pallet and slept the entire night just fine. Yeah!