6-7-14 Dublin - Dinner in Church

We had dinner at The Church Restaurant,  a church that was converted into a restaurant/pub.  It was so busy at 8 pm that we were only able to get a small table because someone didn't show up for their reservation.

6-5-14 Antrim coast sites

We are staying 2 nights in the seaside town of Portrush. The town is on the north coast of Ireland,  at the same latitude as Ketchican,  Alaska, so there is a lot of daylight during the summer.  It was nice to walk along the beachside promenade after dinner, especially since the sun doesn't set until 10 pm.

Today we saw several sites near the town.
First was the Giants Causeway.  It features basalt rocks that look like hexagonal cigarettes of varying heights.  We hiked there over the ridge that overlooks the Causeway.  It was scenic and very windy.

We then took a tour of the Bushmills distillery to see the whiskey distillery process and taste their product.  They claim to be the oldest distillery in the world. I'm not a whisky fan, so Ionly had a few sips. 

Next, we hiked to and crossed the Carrick-a-Rede 65 foot long rope bridge to a small island.

Finally we toured the local Dunluce Castle, which is located on a seaside cliff. 

 On the hike to Giants causeway

 Rope bridge

 Marge on rope bridge

 View from island

 Dunluce castle ruins

 Giants Causeway

6-3-24 Scenic Connemura

Today was mostly driving but it was in the very scenic Connemara region in western Ireland. The prettiest parts were the emerald green valleys that we drove through on roads that looked too narrow for our bus, . We visited the Kylemore Abbey, which is one of my favorite buildings in Ireland.

We visited a falconry school on the grounds of Ashford Castle.  We were able to let a hawk land on our gloved hand, let it eat from our hand and then let it fly away to a nearby branch.

 

Marge & hawk

 An owl & trainer

 Cyclists Riding up Doo Lough Valley 

 Kylemore Abbey

6-2-24 Inishmore

Our Rick Steves tour has been very good. The itinerary is interesting and sometimes involves a short hike. 

We like that only about half of the lunches & dinners are included so when we eat on our own, we eat smaller meals.  When we have been on tours that include more meals as part of the tour, we eat more than we normally do. 

We are very fortunate to have as our guide, Pat O'Connor, who wrote the Rick Steves Ireland book.   He is always telling us interesting tidbits and stories about wherever we happen to be,  or are going. He has a great memory because he has had the answer to every question anyone has asked. 

Our tour group is also very good.  Nobody is late and there are no divas. The average age is lower than any other tour or cruise we have been on - my guess is the average age is about our age.  On many previous tours, we were some of the younger travelers.  About a third of our group are retired educators, 2 doctors, 2 phds, 2 nurses, executives, and 2 retired military.

Today we took a 45 min ferry ride to the island of Inishmore. It is starkly scenic - there is only about 6" of topsoil and plenty of stones,  some of which have been used to make the many stone fences on the island. 

Pat O'Conner

Inishmore soil

Inishmore potato patch

Horse carts for tours

5-30-14 Dingle Peninsula drive

Today, under perfect conditions, we drove the Dingle penninsula.  I think it is one of the most scenic parts of Ireland because the road follows the rugged coastline so we saw the blue ocean on the left side while emerald green hills cascaded down the hillsides on the right side. The hills are irregularly divided by stone fences and are dotted with white sheep.
The few small homes along the road are almost all built with local stone, to go along with the stone fence.

Photos: the 1st 3 photos are scenes along our drive. The 4th photo is a church built 1200 years ago and is still in good condition, without the need for restoration.  The last photo was taken at Dingle Harbor where school kids were rowing Dingle fishing boats. 

Day 4 Ireland - Kinsale

We are now in Kinsale, on the southwestern coast of Ireland.  Kinsale is a scenic village which is known as the gourmet capital of Ireland. This morning we took a walking tour of the town conducted by the best local tour guide we have ever heard.  Later in the morning we took a tour of the fort that overlooked the town,  then had a very pleasant walk back into town.  For lunch, Marge and I shared a very good Lobster Thermidor.

Narrow shop & 

Ivy Covered House

Kinsale harbor

Day 1 Ireland

We arrived in Dublin in the early afternoon.  We had an orientation meeting with our tour group. The 22 members of the tour group are from all over the United States, seem very friendly and are mostly retired. Since this is a Rick Steves tour,  the group members should be in decent shape enough for a lot of walking.

We had our first dinner together at a nearby restaurant called the Farm, which uses fresh local products.  Here are some of our dishes:

My appetizer - seafood custard in a phyllo cup

Marge's appetizer - asian salad

My entree - beef pie with mash potato

 top

My yummy dessert - Baileys Cheesecake

Day 4 London

We have enjoyed our stay in the Chelsea neighborhood. Not only does it have a very convenient subway station, South Kensington, which has direct service to Heathrow Airport,  but it is also populated with many restaurants, swanky shops,  nice homes and seemingly every imaginable expensive car, like Ferraris, Maserati's, Porsches, Mercedes Jaguars, BMWs, Audi A8, etc. 

The public transit system here in London is very impressive. You can get almost anywhere in the city using inexpensive public transit. There is also a significant amount of traffic, with cars speeding down very narrow streets at high speeds.

Besides iconic old buildings, London has some unique new buildings near London Bridge,  like the Shard,  which looks like a shard from Supermans Ice castle, the Gherkin which Marge says looks like a bullet and I say looks like a fancy vase, and another building that looks like a giant anvil.

Today we toured the Tower of London, the historic Castle along the banks of the Thames River,  adjacent to the London Bridge. Some of the things we saw were the crown jewels, kings' armor, ancient weapons, torture chamber, and lots of history.

Home Away From Home

Narrow Chelsea residences

So Kensington station

Tower of London actors

Day 3 London

This am we went to Greenwich, a district in south east London. We visited  the Old Royal Naval College, the National Maritime Museum, the Queen's House, the the Royal Observatory, all of which are in stately white buildings set in a large park with acres of grass. The Royal Observatory is the home of longitude 0 and Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), the start of all world time zones.

We also visited the Greenwich market which had a mix of food, clothing and assorted goods. We had lunch at a pie and mash restaurant where we had traditional English savory pies and mashed potatoes with gravy.

Grenwich Clock

Park Around 

Royal Observatory

Day 2 London

Interesting fact: London is at the same latitude as Vancouver, BC.  The sun sets at 9 pm and rises at 5 am.  This means we spend more time doing tourist stuff and eat dinner later.   Dinner tonight was at a creperie at 9 pm, which is well past or normal 6 pm dinner time. 

This am we saw St Pauls cathedral,  then crossed the Millennium Bridge (photo below) and had lunch at the Tate Modern museum.  Our lunch table was next to a floor to ceiling window looking out over the Thames River providing a view of St Pauls,  among other sites. See photo below.  Marge had rabbit, I had an appetizer of asparagus and poached duck egg with hollandaise sauce,  and a fish & chips entrée.

After lunch we rode the London Eye, a giant Ferris wheel along the Thames..  Luckily,  the passenger compartment was enclosed,  so we didn't get soaked when it started rainning.  I heard thunder as we got near the top. We later heard that lightning hit the Shard,  a tall building not far from the Eye. 

After riding the Eye,  we walked by the Parliament building and Westminster, both of which were closed.  We did get into Churchills War Rooms museum,  although that was way too much history for a jet lagged traveler. Our afternoon rest stop was scones and hot drinks at Fortnums & Masons,  a high end food store.  

We walked 27000 steps today and are bushed as well as jet lagged. 

Millennium Bridge

ST  Pauls 

Lunch View 

 Lunch Appetizer  

Day 1 London

We arrived in the early afternoon at our Air B&B studio apartment, a short walk from the South Kensington underground station.   We were really jetlagged, so we needed some exercise in the daylight.  After dropping off our stuff at the apartment,  we walked to Harrods department store, Hyde Park and Buckingham Palace.  At Harrods we gawked at the food dept, which was like an art of food exhibit.  My favorite was the desert case shown below.  In our way Buckingham Palace,  we kept seeing formally dressed women,  all with frilly hats. We found out that they were all coming from the Queens garden reception. See photo of the crowd in front of the palace below. 

On the way back from the palace, we walked through Green Park where I took a photo of Marge in front of a tree lined path.  See photo below. 

During rush hour we noticed hordes of bike commuters who somehow managed to avoid running into each other or over any pedestrians.

Harrods Pastries

Hyde Park

Buckingham Palace

Greens Park

Off into the wild blue

We left Hayward at 1:40 pm, breezed to SFO, breezed through security and were in the British Airways lounge by 2:25 pm.  Getting to the airport ends worries about packing & work.   I really like the BA lounge @ SFO - not too crowded,  decent food & drink & we board the plane directly from the lounge.  Had a very good wild mushroom bisque, and a creamy mocha. 

London & Ireland 2014

We depart for London on Tues, May 20, on to a Rick Steves tour of Ireland on May 25, and return on June 10.   I will post here every few days during the trip.