OVERALL VIEW OF DUBLIN TOUR

November 12, 2018

We got back from our trip one month ago today.  I had planned to write my blog during the tour, but I was just too tired in the evening.  There was wifi on the bus, but I was too busy sightseeing to think about looking at my computer.  We had a great time. Ireland is a beautiful, green and very clean country.  The people are so friendly and helpful.  The weather is just like it is in Washington. We never saw any graffiti. Everyone on our tour was really nice and friendly.   They were from several  States, Canada and New Zealand. We became friends with several couples, I wish we didn't live so far apart. There is one couple that we will probably see again. They live in Prescott, AZ, close to where we stay during the winter months.  We met another nice couple from New Jersey, but, you never know, we might meet on another tour.  That would be great.

I hope I didn't bore anyone with all the  commentary (sometimes pretty detailed) and posting so  many pictures. It was so hard to chose. 

I would recommend a trip to Ireland to anyone. It was  so fun and fabulous!

3RD DAY-KINSALE

September 30, 2018

After leaving Blarney Castle, we traveled to Kinsale to stay the night. Kinsale is a tiny town, but considered the gourmet capital of Ireland. One of the top ten restaurants in the WORLD is there, Fishy, Fishy.  We took a walking tour of the town before dinner

 This was our view in front of the hotel

The  small towns in Ireland are so well kept and tidy.  Ireland has a tiny town contest to find the best town every year. The towns go all out to win.  Th buildings are all so colorful

The  hotel floors in Ireland are a little deceiving. Our  first floor is actually the 2nd. The first floor is 0. If you think you are up two floors, you are actually on the 3rd floor. Luckily, all our hotels had elevators. 

Very few people speak English in this area. All of the signs are in Gaelic.

MNA is the woman's restroom. We were told the easy way to remember it is NO MEN ALLOWED

FIR is the men's restroom, but I can't remember the saying how to remember it. 

There is actually  someone staying in this little truck/RV.  It has power and water hooked up. It was on the  front lawn of our hotel. A tad small for us!!!

3RD DAY-BLARNEY CASTLE

September 30, 2018

After staying in Dublin for 2 nights, we were finally off to see Ireland. Going south, we stopped to view the Rock Of Cashell off in the distance.

Our first destination was Blarney Castle.  It is the best  known  and  most photographed attraction in Ireland.  The legend is that if you kiss the famous Blarney stone, you will get the gift of gab.  The first tower was originally built in 1446. The 2nd tower 100 years later. It has 18' thick walls.  

Notice the seam in the middle of the tower. That shows the 2 different towers, the one on the right being the oldest.  The skinny windows were built for security, you could shoot out of it, but little area for your enemies to hit you. It was very unusual for it's day because of the built out window at the lower right. It was the Kings bedchamber, almost like a garden window of today

Interior

Notice the hole at the top.  After walking up  this is where you lean  BACK over the empty space to kiss the Blarney Stone. There is a man there the holds you while you lean back. I didn't want to kiss a stone that had been kissed by millions of people. UCK!  We didn't walk up, but many people did.  Guess that's why we don't have the gift of gab!

They had a garden to mix up potions to give to their enemies that they  didn't like and wanted to die. It was quite extensive.

This is the house where the people actually lived that bought the Castle.No one live there now.  Beautiful

2ND DAY-GUINNESS & TAYLORS THREE ROCK

September 29, 2018

After leaving Rossbough House, we had several choices to do. We decided to go to the Guinness Storehouse, another must see in Dublin. We picked the wrong day to do it because it was Saturday. It was so crowded, but still fun and interesting. You start at the bottom and go up 4 floors. Along the way, it shows you the history of how they make Guinness. 

As with all beers, water is an important part of Guinness. This was taken in front of a sheet of water coming down.

Fun photo, good looking couple!

Interesting fact I never new. Seems amazing, 30 million bubbles in one pint

The bar at the top has the best views of all Dublin.  Included in your ticket is a free pint. We had to share because Denny lost his ticket.

We then went back to the hotel for a welcome drink with our tour. Nice to start get to know everyone. We were very lucky, everyone on the tour was very nice and friendly.  We talked to some that had been on other tours that hadn't been so lucky. There were several single ladies  and 2 Mother/daughters traveling.  We were one of the few that hadn't been to Europe before. One  of the single ladies  had been to 31 countries

Then off to Taylors Three Rock for a typical Irish dinner and dancing. It was very touristy, but fun. 

All of the sudden, several men jumped on the tables and started doing the Irish dancing. We were up close and personal because ours was one the the tables. He was moving so fast

2ND DAY-ROSSBOROUGH HOUSE

September 29, 201

First we went to Russborough House in Wicklow, about 30 miles south of Dublin. This was the largest private home in Ireland.  It is 700' long.  It  was built in 1740 by the architect, Richard Castle. I'll aways remember that because of the TV show, Castle (one of my favorites).  It has been lived in by only 3 families, from 1740 to 2005.  That is amazing to me, only 3 families in 275 years.  It opened as a museum in 1978, with the stipulation that no one would see the family quarters as long as they lived there. 

It is amazing the architecture and workmanship back in those days. Everything was so ornate. We saw this everywhere we went. 

I enlarged this picture to point out the small table to the right of the fireplace. This could lie flat or upright like it is in the picture. It would adjust to different heights. The makeup that people wore (even men) was mainly made up of wax.  If you stood too close to the fire, the makeup would drip off your face. They would adjust the table height so that it would protect their face from the fire. 

Notice how elaborate the floor designs were.

One thing I didn't get a picture of were the beds. They were very short. The reason for this  is everyone slept in a sitting position.  They had such elaborate hairdo's that people didn't want them to get messed up.  Sounds uncomfortable to me.

We did so much that day that I couldn't put it all in one post.

On to Guinness.........