Ireland 2006

So….Ireland. Well, I had a very long, busy week at work (somewhat due to the events of the previous weekends, I must admit!). So by the time June 30th rolled around, needless to say, we were ready to get our vacation started. As I have mentioned in past blogs, we went with one of my buddies from work, Robbie White. Robbie grew up in Nenagh, Ireland which, if you look at a map of Ireland, Nenagh is in the middle-south of the country (closest large city would be Limerick.) The population of Nenagh is 6,300 people, so it kind of makes Hamilton look huge.

I do have to say that, yes, it rains a lot in Ireland and the weather is either a hit or miss….well, the luck of the Irish was upon us because we had BEAUTIFUL weather (70’s and partly cloudy) most of the time we were there. It only rained 2 days out of our 10 days there.

Our flight from Frankfurt Hahn on (the once-forbidden, now just glared at with a questioning eye) Ryanair was not till 10pm. So right after work, Ag met me, Robbie and Robert McEwen (another guy from work) for a quick bite to eat at a bar near the office. We watched some of the World Cup games and then headed out around 7pm. At the airport we checked in with no problems and actually ran into our friend Eoin who was on his way to London for the weekend. (Eoin is the dude with the Irish hat on in the Kaiserslautern pics.) Of course it was chaos getting onto the plane but we managed alright and landed in Dublin around midnight. Robbie’s uncle picked us up from the airport and we were in for the 1 ½ hour drive to Nenagh.

When we got to Robbie’s home, we were greeted by his mother and 14 yr old brother, Danny. Their home was lovely and had a very welcoming feeling. We chatted a bit, had a few sandwiches and some tea and then headed to bed. The next day we didn’t wake up till close to 11:30am! When we came downstairs, we met Robbie’s father and all sat down for a huge Irish breakfast. An Irish breakfast consists of the following delicious items: bacon, sausage, black pudding (curiously similar to goetta), beans, eggs, bread and tea. A heart attack waiting to happen if you will….ah, but it was delicious. Also, please note, the bread in Ireland is really, really tasty.

So after our feast we walked into town to see the area. We ran into Robbie’s grandpa who lived down the street (like Clete, he was just kind of hanging out on the porch) and met several other relatives and friends throughout our tour. The town was very quaint and small, with little shops and bars lining all the streets. The funny thing was that Robbie knew everybody.

After our walk Robbie suggested a swim in the River Shannon. Well, okay! So we went back to the house, changed into our suits (“swimmin’ togs” to the Irish) and headed out. The “road” leading us to the River was crazy, as are most of the side streets in Ireland. Robbie was saying that most of the roads were created by horses and buggies and farmers, and then cement was basically just laid on these paths to make the ride a bit smoother. Anyways, the roads are really narrow and are supposedly two lanes, but most of the time you have to slow down when cars coming the other way were ready to pass you or you have to pull into a driveway for the other person to pass. Crazy. Needless to say, it’s not the quickest way of traveling. But what it lacks in expediency is more than made up for in the scenery and excitement.

Anywho, so we got to a town by the River (Garykennedy) and grabbed our first of many pints of Guinness, then walked out on the pier and checked out the view of the River. It was beautiful with the water glistening, boats passing by, etc. Then we went to a little swimming area where there was a diving board. So, I go first and jump in….I can honestly tell you the water was ALMOST as cold as my shower water in Prague. Almost, but not quite. That convinced Ag right away NOT to go in! We didn’t stay too long, but definitely long enough to swim around for a bit before my body froze and my…ah hem….manhood….threatened to pack up his balls and leave!

We came back home to another feast. This time Robbie’s mom made chicken, potatoes, ham, veggies, that really good bread, etc. It was so good….then we showered and got ready to go out for the night. We ended up doing a small pub crawl and hit 4 bars in total. Please note, people thought we, the Yank’s, were weird because we were drinking Guinness. Honestly, almost all Irish people were drinking Budweiser. We thought they were weird!

At one bar we ran into Robbie’s sister, Amy, and some of his close friends. At this bar, the craziest thing happened….around 11pm the waitress just started bringing these plates of heaven (aka chicken skewers, spring rolls, ribs and other goodies) out and handing them to everyone. The thing was…they didn’t stop, honestly. I was actually turning the waitresses away, and you know it’s serious if I‘m out drinking and turning food down! Apparently this place has one of those French “magic kitchens” (see the Bourgogne, France blog) and this is a normal occurrence there.

Needless to say, we enjoyed the food immensely, as one is prone to do after a few drinks, and moved onward. After a couple more pubs we decided to move on back to the homestead. On our walk home Robbie felt we needed to go all out the Irish way and stop at his favorite late night food joint that has the greasiest steak sandwiches, tastiest curry and cheddar cheese chips and delicious chicken wraps. Who were we to argue? I know it sounds like all we did was eat but really, other things happened in between…they‘re just kind of fuzzy so I don‘t want to comment too much.

Sunday we had a “simple” breakfast (cereal, tea and coffee) and then climbed a mini-mountain that provided an excellent view of the River Shannon and the rolling hills. The climb was rough but we made it and it was worth the view. Again, we came home to a great dinner of lamb, mint sauce, potatoes, veggies and bread waiting for us. After that good meal, we went for another swim in the River Shannon.

We got home and showered then headed to a pub along the River with Robbie’s parents and a few family friends. The patio on the lake was beautiful and it was an awesome evening. NOTE TO SELF, IF SOMEONE IN IRELAND SAYS YOU ARE GOING OUT FOR JUST ONE PINT, DO NOT BELIEVE THEM. IT’S A LIE. YOU WILL BE OUT ALL NIGHT. At one point in the night, Robbie’s mom looked over at me and said “Now this is what we call an Irish session!!“ Long story short, we hit 3 bars total with this group. We were out till 1am and at the end of the evening, all 8 of us piled into a taxi mini-van. The grease shop interested everyone so of course, Robbie, Robbie’s dad and I ran in for chips, sandwiches, etc.

Monday, we drove about 45 minutes and ended up at Bunratty Castle to tour around the grounds. After that, we went into Limerick and grabbed some sandwiches and did some shopping. We were planning on having a low key evening which was good because we were pretty worn out from the few previous days' events. However, Robbie’s girlfriend’s dad, Mr. Mitchell, rang us around 6:30pm (just as we were settling down on the couch) to see if we wanted to go to a hurling match. Of course we did!

Hurling is a sport that I could compare to a mix of soccer and field hockey. It is a native sport to Ireland (like baseball would be to us) and is played with sticks and a ball. It’s a pretty rough sport as one is hit with the stick often! The game was a Tipperary county matchup between Nenagh, representing North Tipp, and some other team representing South Tipp.

After the game, Mr. Mitchell wanted to grab a pint. Well, it was 9:30pm at this point and we were tired and hungry….sure, why not? Again, that one pint turned into several and we were out till 1a. Steak sandwiches and chips….here we come!

On Tuesday, Mr. Mitchell was going to drive us to Limerick to catch a bus to Galway. From Galway we were going to the Aran Islands. We were picked up at 8:10a and Mr. Mitchell was wearing the same exact clothes that we left him in at 1am! So that entertained us to say the least. We got to Galway (2 hr bus ride) and caught another bus that took us to the ferry (1 hr bus and ½ hr ferry ride). The bus ride from Galway to the ferry was through the countryside, and I mean the REAL countryside. Have you ever seen the movie “Snatch” and noticed Brad Pitt’s character is part of a group of traveling Irish gypsies that live in a cluster of trailer homes and speak some funny language? Well, we passed such people on the way.

The Aran Islands are comprised of three islands (Inis Mór, Inis Meáin and Inis Óirr) located at the mouth of Galway Bay. The names are Irish language (Gaelic) for 'the big island', 'the middle island', and 'the south island', respectively. We stayed on Inis Mór which has a population of roughly 900 people, and once we arrived we were “wowed” by our surroundings. The island was beautiful, stone fences lined the countryside, people were biking everywhere, horses and buggies were all around and the roads were really small and looked like alleys instead of streets. To sum up the Aran Islands, it is one of the most beautiful, unique places I have ever seen.

(If you check out the pictures, I have to admit that I may have gone a little overboard with teh camera on Inis Mor, but please understand that it was fascinating to see the walls and structures that were built with no cement, just some wildly intense rock stacking…..)

We checked into our B&B around 2:30 and the owner of the place suggested a hike for us to do before dinner (which was to be served at 7:15pm sharp). We stopped for a bite to eat at one of the few bars on the island and then started our hike. The hike put us at to top of some cliffs where the Dun Dubhchathair (Meaning: The Block Fort) was located. Along the way, there were just open fields of rock fences, cows, sheep, horses, etc. The thing you noticed was that there were no other people. Anywhere. It was almost eerie.

When we got to the top, the view was incredibly amazing. The pictures do not do the height of the cliffs justice….you could seriously walk out to the edge and the drop was like 400 feet straight down into the sea. It was nuts. Several boats were passing on the sea and we were honestly the only people around for miles. It was us, the rocks and the cows…..

Once we got back to the town area, we went to the only grocery store on the island and grabbed some snacks for our bike ride the next day. We got back to our B&B just in time for dinner - a four-course meal that was very delicious. After dinner we went to the lounge area where the only TV in the entire B&B sat with the intention of watching the World Cup game. There were only 4 teams left in the tournament and we had been so good about following it that we couldn’t pass up the chance to catch Germany and Italy battling it out. (Italy won) After the game we headed to bed, very happy and relaxed.

Wednesday was probably the best day, weather wise, in Ireland. You talk about luck, we had mostly sunny skies and the temperature was around 70 degrees. It couldn’t have happened at a better time either…while the Aran Islands are pretty, there wouldn’t be much to do in the rain. It’s really a place you can only get out and explore in good weather. We woke up to the delightful smell of an Irish breakfast, ate and headed out to our bikes….which by the way, were 10 euros for the day and they were delivered to the B&B for us earlier that morning. It was perfect. We rode around for hours just covering the island from top to bottom and stopping to eat snacks, take pictures and explore sites.

You were really on your own out there. There were times where we would pull up to a site and have to park our bikes and walk a bit to see whatever it was we were after seeing. Those were the times where were like, “Okay, do we try climbing over this stone wall and take the chance of running into some cows?”

We got into town (“town” meaning roughly 5 shops and 3 bars) and dropped off our bikes and jumped into a buggy. Time to relax and ride around a bit! I found the most authentic-looking buggy driver (he is the dude on the picture above) I could, and on we went. Of course, we think he may have been a bit drunk because as we walked up, he was downing a pint-can of Bulmers cider. Then once we got into the buggy, Ag noticed a few opened and empty Guinness cans.

The trip was entertaining to say the least. After touring us around, our driver dropped us off at the pub by our place because at this point it was close to 6pm and we were thirsty! Well, you want to talk about door to door service….he pulled the horse and buggy right up to the door, parked it, and came in to have a drink with us. Of course I bought him a cider as a tip! It was so funny to see this guy meander out of the bar, hop up into his cart and yell "Yup Charlie!" to his horse and clip-clop off.

We got back to our B&B, showered and headed to our dinner which was at 7:15pm again. Being that there are seriously maybe 10 places to eat on this whole island and the fact that none of these places are super close, this was a fantastic setup. The price was very reasonable and the food and service was excellent. Of course we watched another World Cup game that evening, Portugal verses France. (France won and moved on to face Italy in the final)

On Thursday we had our yummy Irish breakfast and then I headed out for a jog. There‘s not a better place in the world to go out for a run. You are completely alone. One mile you are along a beach, the next in some of the greenest fields you‘ll ever see, and the next overlooking some cliffs. Amazing. On the way back in from my loop, the cows even lined up on both sides of the street to cheer (okay, moo) me down the homestretch. Anyways, we then caught the noon ferry back to Galway. Robbie and his girlfriend, Laura, met us in Galway where they both went to college….or as they say here, university.

We walked around the main center area which was very quaint. There were many pubs, shops, restaurants, etc., lining the pedestrian streets. Again, we were going to have a low-key evening because Laura’s dad, Mr. Mitchell had wanted to take us out the next night. So we went for ONE pint at a really cool swank, Arabian style bar. From there, we went to a pub called the Kings Head to meet up with a few of Laura and Robbie’s friends. There was a really good live band playing, a good college-type vibe in the bar, and the funniest thing happened…we ended up dancing and staying out till 1a!

Friday we walked around the town a bit, saw National University of Ireland and went to see the movie “Pirates of the Caribbean II.” Afterwards we headed back to Neangh. We had some Indian food (which was very tasty), showered and went out to meet Mr. Mitchell and crew. My good friend, Brendan, came over from Dublin that day and went out with us too.

The place we went to was called Rohan’s and I am not going to lie….it’s pretty unique. You walk in and you are in a room about the size of a small bedroom. You can see part of the bar that was cut into the side wall and there is a mini-market in the front of the place (just in case you need band-aids or Tide on your way home….)! The second room is the main bar area and the walls have original posters from 30+ years ago advertising different events. They were pretty cool. There is another small back room and that completes the bar. Ag said the ladies bathroom is upstairs in their house! Bathtub and all.

The owner is the bartender and knows everyone. If you are new to the pub, he personally comes up to you, welcomingly shakes your hand and asks who you are and why you are here! The evening was a great time. Mr. Mitchell and many of his friends did a “sing-song.” This is where they all get together and basically sing these awesome old Irish songs. Robbie said that this doesn’t happen that much anymore and it’s only a few times a year that they (Mr. Mitchell and crew) do this, so we really lucked out.

As 2am rolled around, the lights suddenly went out. I thought it was closing time but then I got the weird feeling that everyone was looking at me. All of the sudden the owner of the bar came though the back room with a cheese cake and candles lit up. Someone let it slip that my birthday was coming up. And I am serious when I say “cheese cake”. It was, honest to God, slices of Velveeta-like cheese cut up into squares with candles stuck in them!

Everyone started singing “Happy Birthday” to me, which somehow morphed into “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow.” It was hilarious and I am not going to lie, I was embarrassed…good thing it was still kind of dark in the pub!

Saturday and Sunday were actually very relaxed days. It rained both days and we just shopped a bit in Nenagh, watched movies, etc. Sunday morning we caught a bus at 9am that put us into Dublin around noon. Our flight wasn’t till 6:30pm so we just grabbed lunch and walked around Dublin for a few hours.

The flight home was pretty uneventful and I was a little antsy because the World Cup final was on and I wanted to watch. When we landed, the game was still going, and we listened to the rest of it (in German) on our drive home from Frankfurt Hahn.

So now we are back and hanging out in Luxembourg. Last weekend was pretty chill, and the next weekend will be as well. Then the travels start again…Amsterdam, Sardinia, and Cinque Terre are in the immediate future. More long term plans include Big Fred and Andre touring France, Switzerland and Germany with us in September, and then Pete and Steph joining us in Bellagio (Italy) and Venice during October.

Stay tuned!