pictures

The Dunguaire Castle

The Boyle Abbey

Erik was the best at the driving range...golfs a dumb sport anyways

Bangers & Mash from Brazens Head

The Brazen Head Pub (Had delicious food)

Outside the Dublin Castle

The Christ Cathedral built in 1030

Sampling the Jameson 12 year reserve

The Kilronan (second place we stayed)

The Fitzpatrick Hotel

Dublin & The Kilronan Castle

We started the day in Dublin to see a few more sights before heading on to our next castle.  We visited the Christ Church Cathedral.  It was founded in 1030 and its still standing.  Our next stop was at the Old Jameson Distillery.  They no longer bottle whiskey at this site, but we learned the history and traditions behind Jameson.  The tour ended in a bar with a free sample of Jameson.  Roy and I tried it with ginger ale and Erik took it straight.  From there we headed over to another Jameson bar and it served a variety of different Jameson whiskeys.  We tried there 12 year reserve and yes this time all 3 took it straight.  We also sampled the 12 year distillery reserve and that can only be tasted and purchased at the distillery.  No one else in the world has it, so thats pretty cool.  After our tour, we stopped at the pub Brazen Head for lunch and a pint. I had bangers & mash and it was delicious especially with a nice pint of Carlsberg to wash it down.  Our next stop was at the Dublin castle.  It was a pretty good tour unfortunately they did not give out samples of whiskey.  After the tour we took the Dart (local train) back to our hotel to get the car.  It was time we moved on to our next castle.  It took us about 2 and a half hours to reach Kilronan but we got there in one piece somehow.  All i have to say about this castle is WOW, I cant believe they actually let me in, let alone roy and erik. 

We were hungry when we arrive and were told the only plane still open was this chinese restaurant about 15min down the road.  The gps took us on the back country roads to get there.  So the road was supposedly a 2 lane road.  By that i mean one car fit perfectly in the middle of the road with a couple inches on each side before the ditch.  Im glad we didnt see any other cars otherwise i dont know what we would have done.  Well we got to the restaurant and while we were waiting for it to be ready we went across the street to a local pub to  to have a pint.  This was the best decision of the trip.  We made friends with the bar tender and 3 other locals that were there.  We ended up being at the pub a few hours past close chatting the night away.  It was a priceless evening.  Whoever said that the best place to go in ireland was the pubs in small towns was right.

For some reason I can not upload pictures at the moment will try again later, time to go eat.

We Made It

 

In the Guinness Skybar

 

The Dublin Spire

 

Our First Car They Gave Us (to small we could carry it around with us)

 Irish Bagel

well we made it, landed around 8, flight was quicker than we expected. Between me erik and roy combined we got a grand total of 1 hour of sleep sooo were a bit tired. We got the rental car okay, its not red, the first one they gave us was a little to small for people of our size so they gave us the next size up but thats still pretty small. im the driver, its so wierd driving on the otherside of the road, a bit stressing. Driving is definitely a group effort. we do have an automatic tho and a gps we just dont always do what the gps tells us to do. because we screwed up what the gps said we ended up driving through some of dublin instead of on the highway that circles the city. not fun, and we dont like round a bouts 1 bit, but we made it to the hotel in one piece and dont htink we caused any accidents. our room wasnt ready when we got there so we just kinda hung out got food and walked around. after we got our room we dropped off our stuff and headed into dublin and did the guieness tour and then came back to the hotel, roy and erik are passed out im going to prob go to bed soon. we will spend most of the day in dublin tomorrow and then head onto our next castle in the late afternoon. thats bout all that is going on here.

Ireland Here We Come

Here is our tentative itenery for our trip

Sat the 5th


-Flight leaves ohare at 7 15pm

Sun the 6th

-if the flights on time we land around 9am local time.

-we hope to clear customs, get our bags, rent the car (pray that it’s an automatic), check in, and be done with a short nap by 1:00.

-by 2 we should go to the Guinness tour, it should take about an hour and a half. (I think it takes 25 to 30 min to drive from our hotel to the Dublin city center)

-after the tour we should find food

-improvise our night, most likely in the temple bar area

Mon the 7th

-figure out what time we need to check out by

-Dublin castle

-Jameson distillery

-maybe hop on hop off bus tour for other ideas

-wander around

-Drive to next location, should prob leave Dublin by 6

-Check in and figure out night life

Tues the 8th

-Maybe golf

-Check out some small towns in the area

-Hike around enjoy the scenery

-See what the hotel recommends

Wed the 9th

-Check out and drive to next castle

-Stop in Galway, spend some time there

-Stop at the Cliffs of Moheur

-Check in to hotel

-Go to the local pubs

Thurs the 10th

-Drive to Cork

-Blarney stone & castle

-The old English market

-Do the city on foot

-Drive back to castle

-Enjoy the night

Fri the 11th

-Drive back to Dublin

-Find things to do

Sat the 12th

-Return car

-Go to the airport

-Flight leaves at 1:00pm

The Fitzpatrick Castle First and Last Place We Stay

 

The Kilronan Castle, The 2nd Place We Stay



The Bunratty Castle, The 3rd Place That We Stay