My Irish Birthday...

On Sunday night we transferred hotels one last time so the four of us could be together in Dublin for one night. The next day was our final in Ireland as well as my birthday. We had breakfast at the hotel and then headed towards Trinity College. Along the way, we popped into this very cool shopping mall.

I had pre-booked a visit to Trinity College Library, Ireland’s largest library holding six million volumes. Founded in 1592, the Old Library was built in the 18th century. First we visited the exhibition of the Book of Kells, an illuminated manuscript from 800 AD of the first four books of the gospels of the New Testament. Ashlynn preferred to sit and read rather than walk around the Old Library.

The rest of us loved seeing the beautiful Long Room, built in 1732. The 213-foot long room houses 200,000 of the library’s oldest books and the Trinity College Harp dating back to the 15th century.

I loved this sculpture called Sphere Within Sphere by Italian sculptor Arnaldo Pomodoro in front of the Berkeley Library. If you look closely, you can see me and Jimmy. Hopefully we’ll  pose in front of another version someday as there are other similar sculptures in many cities worldwide. We found a great salad bar for lunch and then it was time to head to the airport. All-in-all, a fun family vacation.

When in Ireland...

As you might already know, Dublin is famous for Jameson Irish Whiskey and Guinness Beer. After checking out the reviews of the two tours, we opted to visit the Old Jameson Distillery even though their whiskey production moved to Cork in 1971 after operating in Dublin since 1780.

Ironically, our tour guide was an American who decided to stay in Ireland after graduating from Trinity College.

The tour ended with a taste of three varieties of Jameson and then a whiskey cocktail in the bar.

On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at The Brazen Head, Ireland’s oldest bar dating back to 1198. In this particular room there were a crazy amount of patches and stickers on the walls from police forces, fire departments and military troops from around the world.

Here Jimmy is posing with the statue of Molly Malone, a fictional fishmonger from the 17th century, after another evening of listening to Irish music in the pubs. Molly’s breasts have been rubbed so much for good luck that they now shine quite brightly.

Colorful Dublin...

Jimmy and I spent two evenings at the Merchants Arch, where we enjoyed listening to live music. What we didn’t enjoy was Jimmy’s coat being stolen. After finding seats, I stupidly didn’t move our coats with us, but left them hanging on a hook; after discovering that his new Goretex jacket was missing, he had a chat with the security guard who said he suspected he knew who walked off with it. We were surprised and relieved when the guard came back inside with the jacket about 20 minutes later.

Jimmy and I took a walking tour with a very entertaining guide. This tower, which is part of Dublin Castle, dates back to 1288, while most of the rest of the buildings are from the 18th century.

This mural was very colorful...

...and so was this building...

...and this leprechaun and fairy. While we were on our walking tour, Ashlynn went alone to the Leprechaun Museum and really enjoyed it.

Dublin...

Eventually we made our way into Dublin, where Jimmy dropped off the rental car as we wouldn’t need it in the city. Here the girls show that they approved of Temple Bar Inn, which was well located and funky. Unfortunately, Veronica wasn’t actually staying with us; she stayed at a hostel with the rest of her Ultimate Frisbee team. We had dinner with her and then dropped her off for the two-day tournament.

We enjoyed exploring Dublin; the city of 500,000 people is divided by the River Liffey.

The Temple Bar area lived up to its name: a lively area full of bars. Jimmy and I went out both nights to listen to live music while Ashlynn hung at the hotel or went to the gym.

We had some nice vegan food in Dublin, including from this vegan sushi vendor at a street fair.

The sushi wasn’t just beautiful, it was delicious.

The Aye-Ayes didn’t win, but Veronica had a great time.

Taking the Scenic Route...

Rather than taking the shortest route back to Dublin, we took the scenic route south towards Cork. We made a few stops along the way, including along this lake. 

This stop is called the Ladies View, supposedly stemming from the admiration of the spot by Queen Victoria’s Ladies in Waiting on their visit in 1861.

Our ladies also appreciated the view.

Killarney...

The following day, Jimmy and Ashlynn headed back to Dingle for their full-day dive (which was awesome). Veronica and I opted not to join them and instead took a walk into the city of Killarney. Along the way, we stopped at Muckross Abbey; built in the 15th century, the monks were driven out around 1650.

The ruins were in surprisingly good shape considering it’s now 350 years later.

Frankly, we were not impressed with Killarney and were relieved that we weren’t staying in the city center. Unlike Dingle, which is touristy but charming, Killarney was merely touristy. It clearly caters to American as it wasn’t uncommon to see Budweiser and Coors Light in the pub windows.

Diving off the Dingle Penisula...

Veronica and I went to the dive shop with Jimmy and Ashlynn so we could take photos of them in their crazy thick wetsuits.

Ironically, the woman organizing their dive knew some of the same folks as Ashlynn as she used to work at Frontier Tanzania—small world!

There were only two others on the Zodiac boat: the captain, who stayed on the boat, and a divemaster who led them on the dive. Surprisingly, Ashlynn found the cold water diving sites just as beautiful as the tropical locations off Tanzania. It was her first shipwreck dive and she was especially excited to spot some really cool nudibranchs. They both enjoyed getting to dive near seals for the first time. They were also excited about their close encounter with Fungie, the Dingle Dolphin who has lived in the cove for over 30 years and enjoyed chasing their boat more than getting close to the sightseeing boats.

Veronica and I wondered around town while they were gone and then sat in a park reading while we waited for their return.

Afterwards we went to a cute tearoom for lunch which served tea in adorable and very unique teapots.

Curvy Roads to Cloghane...

Unlike our usual vacations, I hadn’t pre-booked accommodations for our five nights in County Kerry. Right before we arrived, Jimmy booked our first two nights at Muckross Park Hotel; once there, he tried to book the remaining three nights but they were fully booked for one of those nights. Since Jimmy and Ashlynn had to do a check-out dive in the cold waters off of Dingle before they could do a full-day dive, he searched for a place to stay in the local vicinity. There weren’t a lot of options available, but he managed to find a lovely bed and breakfast in Cloghane, on the northern side of the Dingle Peninsula. This was the view from our room...

at Ridgeview B&B.

The owners were a very sweet couple with whom we enjoyed long chats and a walk to their hen house.

It was a short walk to the coast and the village which consisted of a small bakery and a pub.

We enjoyed our dinner at O’Connor’s Pub and our chat with the owner. There’s no doubt that the Irish are truly friendly.

Our drive the next morning back to Dingle wasn’t nearly as scary as the journey to Cloghane the day before, when we were shocked to discover that the curvy mountain road went from two lanes to one lane without any warning. Luckily we never had to back up the hill to let another car through and only had to stop once to let sheep cross.

Apparently, truck drivers occasionally ignore the warnings about size restrictions and get stuck on the tight curves and need to be pulled off the mountain via a crane.

Off to Dingle...

Ashlynn was quite excited when she discovered that there was diving off of the coast of Ireland regardless of how cold the water would be. Veronica and I said we’d pass, but Jimmy didn’t hesitate to agree to join her. 

The dive shop was in Dingle, a colorful tourist town with a name that made the girls rhyme: Single Pringles in Dingle ready to mingle.

After a nice lunch, we wandered around the town and harbor.