Day 14: Dublin

Today we did a little touring and a little shopping. We started out at Avoca, Ireland's own Anthropologie. And then we visited Carroll's, which had lots of little Irish tchotchkes. Then we crossed O'Connell bridge to the Daniel O'Connell statue (my mother was an O'Connell before she became a Gallagher), walked along the River Liffey, through Temple Bar, and then over to the Guinness warehouse where we learned more than you would ever want to know about making beer and Guinness in particular. After the tour, we ended up in the bar on the top floor for a pint and a great view of Dublin. From there, the kids and Kevin hit the playground again while I perused Kilkenny, an store that promotes Irish artists and designers. For dinner, we ate random stuff out of the fridge since we are heading home tomorrow.

Day 13: Dublin and Wicklow

Today we ventured out of Dublin on a bus to see Glendalough, a national park about an hour outside of Dublin that surrounds a monastic site where St. Kevin lived in solitude and eventually established a relatively large monastery in the 10th century. The natural surroundings were beautiful and the stone structures were impressive. It was snowing and hailing while we were there so the kids had a blast throwing snow balls and playing in the slush and snow. We got back to the city around dinner time and made dinner at home. Then Ian literally climbed the walls! Tomorrow is our last full day in Ireland and we plan to hand out in Dublin and see a few more things.

Day 12: Dublin

We took forever to get out of the apartment this morning and weren't exactly on the same page in terms of what we'd wanted to do when we finally left. So after the kids had a good run on a nearby playground, we ate lunch at a burrito joint and then visited the Book of Kells. The exhibit had a lot of information about the introduction of Christianity and writing, the role of the Vikings, and the craftsmanship that went into making books that that time, around 800 AD. After that, we went through the beautiful old Trinity College library, ventured up past Dublin Castle, and then visited the Viking exhibit called Dublinia. Exhausted and hungry, we met up with Laura from DC who was in town for work. We ate a carvery meal at O'Neills pub with a Murphy's Irish Stout to go with it.

Day 11: Derry to Dublin

Although I never wanted to get out from under the duvet, Ian eventually peeled it off of me and I froze instantly. When the kids and I came downstairs, the property owner had put together a nice little breakfast in the kitchen. We ate, packed, played in the yard a little and left Derry almost as quickly as we'd arrived. Although our route was not direct (read: we got lost), we made our way to Newgrange around 2pm. We ate at the cafe and took a bus to the ancient site around 3. It's an ancient burial mound that that has stones and carvings that date back 5000 years. Amazing. From there, we were about a half hour from the airport where we dropped the car off (whew!) and took a taxi into Dublin. We were very happily surprised by the comfort and location of the one-bedroom apartment that we are renting. Most importantly, it's WARM.

Day 10: Donegal to Derry, Northern Ireland

Although we intended to leave early from Creeslough, we didn't really get on the road until around noon. On the way, we stopped at two really interesting old sites- Burt Castle (16th century) and Grianan of Aileach (6th or 7th century). Both were completely unattended- like there were no staff or volunteers to protect them. In fact, the castle was sitting in the middle of a barley field- we had to ask the farmers to walk through their property to see it. Our next accommodation was outside the city of Derry, in the freezing cold coach house of the Prehen estate. There was a horse and some chickens on the grounds, and beautiful paintings and interesting books in the place. But we were frozen! We decided to get back in the car and drive up to the Giant's Causeway, which was an amazing rock formation on the coast of Northern Island. We were lucky enough to get a beautiful sunny afternoon up there. But the driving may have been a wee bit too much, and the kids and we struggled to behave on the way back. Once they were in bed, Kevin and I made a lovely fire and listened to the radio.

Day 9: Creeslough and Letterkenney

When we woke up at Paul and Annie's, the hot water bottle that had been placed in our bed the night before (by Annie) was still warm! That morning, we met Michael McFadden, Paul and Annie's son and father to Michelle and Yvonne pictured with Eleanor and Ian below. He is a cabinet maker who had done all of the woodwork in Paul and Annie's beautiful home. Annie and Sadie put together a breakfast of ham, sausage, fried egg, beans, half of a roasted tomato, and toast. It was delicious and very filling. Then off we went to Glennveagh (Glenn-vay), a beautiful national park with mountains, lakes, and a beautiful, well-preserved castle. Paul drove us, which was quite a wild ride! In the late afternoon, we went over to Samuel McFadden's house in Letterkenny for tea and a visit. He showed us around the house he built next door and we all went out to dinner at the Silver Tassie. Then back to his house to meet his daughter Theresa and granddaughter Hannah. Around 9, we headed back to Paul and Annie's to put the kids to bed. They were exhausted and so were we. But someone asked us whether we wanted to go dancing around 10:30- Kevin and I jokingly answered that we'd be up for it and next thing we knew, we were off to the Log Cabin Inn (which had pictures of John Wayne on the wall) to dance to an accordion/guitar combo and participate in a raffle for 280 euro. We were back at their house at 1:30am, when Paul and Annie had a little tea and crackers before bed. It was a long and exciting day!