Ireland and Northern Ireland

With Spring Break falling over St. Patrick's Day, we couldn't resist heading to Ireland again. This time, however, we would skip Dublin and spend more time in the West, which is a lot less touristy and more nature-driven. Plus, the music of the West is world famous. To cap it off, we'd end the trip in Northern Ireland, which we had not been to as of yet.

Upon arriving in Dublin, we rented a car and cruised across the island, arriving in Galway by mid-day and staying at the Connacht Hotel. There were various events happening all weekend and we watched a concert on Eyre Square and visited O'Connells pub where Ed Sheeran filmed his video for "Galway Girl". The next morning was St. Patrick's Day so we started it like I have for the past 20 years by watching the U2 video of "Where the Streets Have No Name"from the Rattle and Hum tour. A full Irish breakfast, complete with Guinness fueled us up and we hit the streets to watch the parade. The weather cooperated and while a bit windy, we had some sun. After the parade, we popped into a pub and the girls did some coloring and reading on the floor while we enjoyed a pint. Sarah and I headed to the Salthill Prom to visit a pub in the evening without the kids. We listened to some great music and enjoyed some Guinness. 

Not wanting to linger, we drove north on the 18th up to Connemara National Park. It rained the whole day so when we came to Kylemore Abbey, we just took a picture and got back in the car. We glimpsed the bridge used in the John Wayne film, The Quiet Man, and hooked around to see Dunguaire Castle
Our base for two days was Doolin, the home of traditional Irish music, and we took full advantage, spending each night in the pubs listening to people jam. During the day we visited the Aillwee Caves, hiking beneath the ground, and visiting the birds of prey show outside, where we saw demonstrations and the girls readily volunteered to hold some of the bigger animals. We also hiked the Burren - the rocky land outside of Doolin - and braved the hills. 

After two days, we headed north to the other part of the island - Northern Ireland. Based in beautiful Belfast, we took side trips. Since Sarah is an English teacher and was teaching the author, we visited the Seamus Heaney Home Place where much of his work was on display. While the kids weren't thrilled with this stop, we made up for it by putting in an afternoon at the Titanic Belfast museum. The building site of the ship was outside, still mapped and sitting there in drydock. Inside, numerous exhibits showcase the construction as well as the stories aboard before its downfall. It really is a must-see in the world. We finished the day with a stop in CS Lewis Square where the author has several statues in tribute to his work. 

Outside of the city, we took a hike along the famous Giant's Causeway. The unique rock formations are something that just don't seem to exist elsewhere. Many of the rock formations are open to climb on and the pictures just don't do it justice. Just down the road is the Dark Hedges, the unique road with very old trees arching across. While at this time of year, the trees are bare of leaves, it was a cool sight. Others might remember this as "The King's Road" from "Game of Thrones." And no trip to the north of the island would be complete without a stop at the Bushmill's distillery, a staple of the region for more than 400 years. While it is not my favorite spirit, we had a small taster just to try it out. 

The rest of our time in Belfast was simple. We enjoyed seeing some of the artwork that is on the sides of buildings, ranging from patriotic to violent, showing elements of the city's storied past. Belfast now is one of the more safe cities around, but the tensions still exist. Upon leaving the city, we took a stop in the town of Downpatrick, where outside of Down Cathedral, sits the grave of St. Patrick. Our drive was lovely, lots of sun, and we cut through the Morne Mountains before getting Dublin for our flight. 

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Ireland 2014

Given my passion for celebrating St. Patrick’s Day like it is Christmas, it was only fitting we flew to Ireland in March to see how it is properly done in Dublin. With the family in tow and joined by our friends David and Helen, we made our way to the Emerald Isle for a week of Irish culture, and of course, Irish beer. Ticking the bucket list item of St. Patrick’s Day in Dublin, Ireland was the bonus.

Landing in Dublin and being chatted up the whole ride by our cabbie, we arrived on one of the best weather days of the week. Partly sunny and chilly, it would only get worse from there. Desperate for food, the Killkenny offered up our best Irish breakfast of the week, and we had good basis for judgment considering we ate it every day. Full and ready to hit the streets, we stopped at the famous Book of Kells in the Old Library of Trinity College.

Moving on, we entered St. Patrick’s Cathedral, full of its splendid stained glass and many centuries of history. It was a clash of boisterous tourism and solemn reverence. Like most cities with a grand religious landmark, the visit is well worth the time due to the sheer size and storied past. To cap off a trip around the city, we attended the Guinness Storehouse at St. James’ Gate. Grandiose on a regular weekday, the extravaganza was in full swing on the Saturday of St. Paddy’s weekend. What is normally a bright, vibrant display of one of the oldest breweries in the world was transformed into a wild, jam-packed sea of movement from display to beer stand. Thankfully, our pre-purchased online tickets saved us waiting in the 1-hour entry line. Free food and the occasional beer made for a good time, although many of the things we wanted to do, such as the Connoisseur Experience, were closed due to the festivities. We finished up the evening watching MSU in the Big 10 tournament.

The following morning we all wandered over to the nearby Windmill Lane, home of the studios responsible for producing some of the best rock music of all time, including several albums by U2. Though no longer in operation, the graffiti-covered walls are home to many statements of gratitude penned by loyal fans and tourists. Sarah and Justin left the kids with David and Helen and headed to St. Stephen’s Green and the annual Dublin St. Patrick’s Day 5K run. With no particular intentions other than to tour the city by foot with several thousand others, we ran a calm and collected 20:17, a great time for Sarah with little training. Most importantly, we had a great time, seeing the childhood homes of Oscar Wilde and his statue in the park. Our evening was supposed to conclude with a trip to the horribly crowded and rancorous Temple Bar area for a traditional Irish music pub crawl. Despite my best efforts to ensure the event would happen, it was not on for that night at this time of year, and rather than continue to rub elbows with thousands of beer-covered tourists in the loudest bars in town, we headed back to the hotel, buying beers from the store, and thoroughly enjoying watching Michigan State kick the hell out of Michigan for the Big Ten title.

St. Paddy’s Day dawned as it always does, with the playing of U2’s “Where the Streets Have No Names” live video from the 1980s. From that it was a departure from the norm. Justin went for a run and photographed many of the local sites, including the General Post Office, a significant building in the modern history of Dublin. The city was up early preparing for the parade. Unbeknownst to us, beer is not served before noon in Ireland on a holiday. Missing out on the Guinness with our Irish breakfast was disappointing. We made our way to the main part of town and grabbed a spot to watch the parade. Two hours early left us still stretching for a view of the street. The wind blew hard and the children quickly grew bored of sitting on the pavement. The noon start still meant we waited until almost 1pm for the parade to reach us and even then could only see bits of the floats. Freezing and fed up we headed to the nearest pub, JW Sweetmans, where we had local beer and watched much of the parade on TV. However, all of the Dublin bars had removed all seating to accommodate the masses that day and with the kids on the floor again, we gave up and headed toward the hotel. Luckily we happened into a very low key, traditional pub and were greeted well by the locals and had several beers in a more authentic experience. After dropping the kids at the hotel with a babysitter, we headed out again, this time to O’Donoghue’s to catch some Irish music. The place was packed out, over capacity by at least 50% and we ended up finding the music – two guys sitting on a bench in a small room with at least 40 people packed in. Although the music was amazing and great craic, we had to bail as it was just too much. We went into a bar across the street and ultimately ended at one down the road where we finally got to talk personally and enjoy ourselves, though we were shhhhhh’ed by the barman many times (apparently this pub was the only pub in Dublin on March 17th that wanted it quiet).

Bright and early Justin ran to the rental place and picked up the van. The whole lot of us piled into the vehicle for the ride to Cashel, where we visited the famous Rock of Cashel, a large cathedral-type ruin over a quaint town. Said to be the seat of kings for centuries, it was a great site though the wind blew at horrendous speeds outside the castle walls. Onward we drove to Cork and out to the Jameson Distillery for the Jameson Experience – a tour of the grounds and a whiskey tasting, complete with certificate. Exhausted, dinner was in the hotel pub.

Moving on from Cork in the morning we proceeded to the small town of Blarney and walked the grounds of Blarney Castle. Beautiful gardens and rock caves line the perimeter of an iconic Irish castle. This site, of course, is home to the Blarney Stone. High atop the castle rests a slate of rock that, if kissed, bestows the Gift of Gab or eloquence. This is in itself a very Irish quality and many, many people take the time to climb the winding stairs and wait for their opportunity to kiss the stone. Even Taelyn did it, which is very fitting given her talkativeness. Our next stop was the town of Bunratty. We posted up in a guesthouse and left the children with the owner to have an adults only dinner at Bunratty Castle. This show is a medieval dinner complete with harps, singing, jokes, costumes, and mead (honey wine). The all-you-can-eat/drink evening was a great show with good friends.

Blasted with pouring rain the next morning, we headed north from Bunratty to Doolin, stopping on the way to see the Cliffs of Moher. Towering over the Irish Sea, these rock walls are amazing examples of the beauty of the Irish landscape. Filmgoers would know them from the Princess Bride as the “Cliffs of Insanity.” Despite their beauty, our trip was difficult as the winds were nearing 40 mile per hour. When walking along precarious cliff edges 300 feet above the seas with small children, harsh winds add an element of danger to the already risky outing. Frozen and hungry, we warmed in a pub in Doolin with the locals before driving on to Galway.

Galway offered a place to stop and relax. With more basketball on and the rains pounding, warm, dry seats and cold beer proved a nice alternative to walking the promenade in Salthill in the rain. Our attempt to head outside of the city to a medieval town ended with the main attraction being closed, though we did get to meander small back roads lined with rock walls and spotted with sheep. The green, rolling hills of the West of Ireland are a gorgeous site.

While Ireland provided some great views and sites, the experience was somewhat disappointing. Far too many tourist flood Dublin for the holiday, thereby limiting some sites and experiences. The weather in March is terrible and our next trip to this great country will focus on the beauty of the west and north, probably in summer!

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