Update

Hi All,

I will shortly be updating the blog and describing our travels in France.  I have been busy trying to learn Facebook and have placed a large number of pictures broken into albums on my Facebook page.  Please have a look there for a lot more pictures of our trip.

Killarney, Ardmore, Cobh and Meeting of the Waters Ireland Aug 25th - 29th

We left Dingle in the morning of Aug 25th to drive to Killarney.  Killarney is the start point for a scenic tour called "The Ring of Kerry", this drive takes you around the southern point of Ireland.  It is a very scenic drive but we both felt that the Cabot Trail was much better.  I believe we are not showing our Canadian bias but we truly believe the Cabot Trail maybe the nicest drive we have ever been on.

Main street of Killarney

Side road on the Ring of Kerry

View of the lakes just outside Killarney

Sam at a stop on the Ring of Kerry tour

The Ring of Kerry road around the lower peninsula

We left Killarney and travelled to Ardmore where we were staying overnight at a B&B.  On the way we stopped at the Town of Blarney .  This is the home of the famous Blarney Castle which houses the Blarney Stone, this stone once kissed is suppose to make the person who kissed the stone a grand orator.  Some of the famous people who have kissed the rock were Winston Churchill, James Joyce, Oliver Hardy (of Laurel and Hardy fame) just to name a few.  The castle was quite interesting and the stone itself was at the very top of the castle and you had to lay on your back and wiggle out over an opening to kiss the stone.

Sign for the Blarney Stone

Blarney Castle, the stone is at the very top of the high tower

Sign showing Churchill and Oliver Hardy

Stairs up to the stone

Kissing the stone, it is the grey spot just behind the ladies head.

After leaving the castle we drove on to a small town called Cobh before going onto Ardmore where we had a B&B reserved.

Cobh (yes that is how it is spelt and it is pronounced like corn on the COB) was the last stop of the Titanic on her fateful maiden voyage.  The town was originally called Cove and was renamed Queenstown in recognition of Queen Victoria visiting the town, later it was renamed Cobh which is Irish for Cove.  We visited the memorial site and museum to the Titanic.  It was a small museum but was really well done.

Poster in the Cobh Museum

The town of Cobh

In Ardmore the B&B was an actual working farm, the host and hostess were really gracious and the room was very neat and quaint.  They made a reservation for us in a small restaurant in the town of Ardmore.  The restaurant was packed and we were told it was an exceptional experience so we decided to go all out on a gourmet dinner.  Sam had Lobster Thermidor and I had Crispy Duckling, a house specialty.  The meal was so good I would move there just to eat at this restaurant.

Whitehorses restaurant in Ardmore

Bob enjoying his duck with Sam's Lobster Thermidor in the forefront.

The next day we departed for our last stop in Ireland a B&B located in a small town called Meeting of the Waters.  We, however made a stop in Waterford to see where the famous Waterford Crystal was made.  The building was very modern and the work they did was phenomenal, but very pricey.

Entrance to the Waterford Crystal plant

Waterford Crystal shaped like a football.  This piece is a commissioned piece for the US National Football League (NFL) to be presented to the coach of the year.  One a year is commissioned by the NFL.

After leaving the Town of Waterford we went to our B&B in a town called "Meeting of the Waters".  This is a town where two small rivers come together and it is very popular with Irish and foreign writers as James Joyce spent a lot of time here.

The B&B we stayed at, Ashton House was run by a charming young couple who were very welcoming.  The house had actually been her mothers house that they had bought, the mother was living in a very pretty cottage on the property.  They had four very comfortable rooms (modern with an en suite) and they also were a stopping point for horse and wagon travellers.  These were small wagons pulled by a horse that people rented for a week and toured the back roads of the area.  There were 5 wagons parked in the front of the house and six horses grazing around the outside of the B&B.  One of the families had a young daughter who was actually riding one of the horses.

One of the wagons arriving at the B&B

Young family with one daughter riding a horse (you can see her behind the horse pulling the wagon)

Horse grazing behind the B&B

Another wagon with the B&B in the background

Sam standing in the doorway of the B&B saying goodbye to our hostess

We left the next day for Dublin airport to fly to Bordeaux, France.  We will be in France until the end of September.

Dingle, Ireland 20 Aug - 25 Aug 2011

We left Doolin in the morning and started our drive to the south of Ireland, our destination was a town called Dingle.  Many friends had told us this town was a must see so we had rented an apartment for 5 days right in the centre of Dingle.  On the way we stopped at a famous castle called Bunratty and had lunch in an almost as famous pub called "Durty Nelly's".  Both the castle and the pub were interesting.  The area around the castle was set up similar to Upper Canada Village.  There were actors in the different buildings who described what daily life would have been under the Lord of the Manor.  There were outbuildings that reflected what life in the country would be like and there was also a full scale village set up with stores, pubs, doctors office and a school.

Typical thatched roof farm cottage

Interior of a farm house showing the one fireplace that was used for heating and cooking

One of the shops in the village

Entrance to Bunratty Castle

Bunratty Castle

Great hall in the castle

After our tour of the castle and outbuildings we went to Durty Nelly's for lunch.  Whenever we mentioned to people that we were going to Ireland they all said that we must stop at Durty Nelly's.  It was an interesting pub but you will see later that we found a few more pubs that were more authentic and had a large cast of characters that even Hollywood would not have been able to cast in a movie.

Durty Nelly's look at the sign in says the Village Inn since 1620

The pub was close to the Bunratty Castle, pictured behind was one of the towers that were part of the castle.

Inside Durty Nelly's

After our stop we continued on to Dingle.  We had rented an apartment right downtown across from a pub called "Foxy John's" and around the corner from one of Ireland's most famous pubs "Dick Mack's".  These two pubs are some of the few pubs still remaining that incorporate full service, for example you could rent a bike, purchase hardware or plumbing fixtures at Foxy John's.  The bar was on one side of the room and a full service hardware store was on the other side.  Once the hardware store closed at 17:00hrs the patrons actually sat on the hardware counter if all the seats at the bar were full.  This was the case every night we were there.

We also went to the pub Dick Mack's, this pub has been in the same family for three generations and is also a haberdashery store.  But I don't think a pair of shoes or a shirt had been sold there since the early 50's.  We had the fortunate honour of meeting the present owner, Oliver Mack and he could have been right out of a movie.  Once we had ordered our drinks (Guinness for me and Heineken for Sam) he had a look around and said he was going for a smoke and I was to look after the bar.  One of the regulars told me that if you disturbed Oliver while he was having a smoke you would get thrown out.  So we patiently drank our beer and enjoyed the ambiance and the characters that came and went.  We spent a great afternoon speaking with Mr. MAck and some of the patrons.  Each had a story about the pub.

Oliver Mack behind his bar.  They say he never takes his hat off.

On the opposite side of the bar is the shoe and clothing display with a picture of Oliver Mack's grandfather Dick Mack

The outside of Dick Mack's

Foxy John's pub that was right across the street from our apartment.  Notice the hardware and bicycles in the sign.  The front window of the pub had a small pink girls bike suspended in the window and one day as we were walking by we heard a small British girl say "oh look, Mommy you can ride a bike in the pub"

The side of Dick Mack's leading to the smoking area where there appeared to be more people there than inside the pub.

At either end of the bar in Dick Mack's there were two small little rooms called "snugs" these were meant for privacy.  In the old days business would be discussed in them or if you happened to slipping out with a lady that wasn't your wife and you didn't want anyone to happen to see you, the snug was the place to go for a drink.  You can just see a person on the left side of the window. There werre shutters that closed off the window when required.

Mr. Oliver Mack tending to his bar after his cigarette, you can see the snug in the left of the picture.

While in Dingle we also drove around the Sleahead Drive, this is a scenic route around the edge of the peninsula that follows the coast line.  There are small buildings along the route referred to as "Beehive Homes".  We saw similar houses in Alberobello, Italy called Trullos.  This are homes that were made out of flat stones laid one on top of another.  There was no mortar used it was just the weight of the stones that held the building together.  We also on the same day went up the mountains behind Dingle to experience the Connor Pass.  This is a treacherous road that at certain points is only wide enough for one car to get by so on coming cars were required to back up until they reached a pull out.  Very tricky driving especially when you have tourists not used to right hand drive.

Connor Pass the road is along the edge of the mountain two/thirds of the way up in the picture

Entrance to one of the Beehive Houses, they were not exactly the most comfortable things. one room in most with a fire in the middle

Connor Pass and yes the broken line is not even on the road.  It was a tight squeeze for two small cars when you met anything large like a normal size Ford one of the vehicles had to back up until they found a small pull off just big enough to allow the cars to pass.



Doolin, Ireland 16th - 20th, 2011

After leaving Dublin we headed to Doolin, this is a small village on the western coast of Ireland where the Cliffs of Moher are located.

Entrance to the village of Doolin, lots of tourist traffic in a one main street town

Connors Pub in Doolin, it had live music every night and was packed with tourists as it was one of the few places to eat in Doolin

Road to Doolin on the coast

  We went to the top of the cliffs on the first of our trips.  The Cliffs of Moher have just been made a UNESCO World Heritage Site and are very nice but we thought that the Cabot Trail in Nova Scotia was just as pretty.

Cliffs of Moher

The next day we took a boat ride to the Inisheer Islands to visit a small series of Islands that are off the coast.  On the way back we cruised along the coast below the Cliffs of Moher.

On the island we took a tour in a small pony cart, here I am trying to convince the pony that I am not too heavy for the cart.  He finally agreed to let me on.

The Cliffs of Moher from the boat on our way back from the island



Dublin, Ireland, August 14th - 16th 2011

We arrived in Dublin mid afternoon and took a taxi to our Bed and Breakfast called The Areal House,

The place was an old mansion and we were lucky enough to be upgraded to a suite that had a huge four poster bed in a room bigger than our own bedroom in Ottawa.  It was immense with antique furniture and beautiful decor.



 Our room was the large bay window to the left of the door.

Sandra had booked an evening of Irish music, food and stories at Ireland's oldest pub.  So as soon as we were settled we headed out to explore.  Our first stop was to find something to eat.  We had read about a famous pub in one of Dublin's old churches so we headed downtown.  The pub was called "The Church".  Aurthur Guinness from the brewery had been married there when it was still a church.

The pub "The Church"





As Mr Guinness was so famous I thought this would be an appropriate place for me to have my first Guinness in Ireland.







That evening we went out to the Irish dinner and story telling, the pubs name was the "Brazen Head".  We were brought upstairs to a small room that had about 40 people.  We were placed at a table with 6 other couples, after introductions it turned out two of the couples were from Toronto and another were from Calgary.  We had two American couples sitting with us, they definitely felt outnumbered.

Pictures of the Brazen Head Pub

The evening was very interesting with a combination of stories and Irish music.  The gentleman telling the stories described life in Ireland before, during and after the Irish potato famine.  During this famine we in Canada saw a lot of Irish immigrate to Toronto and area.  He also talked about Irish superstitions such as Goblins and Leprechauns.  He was a phenomenal story teller we really enjoyed the evening.

The next day we were up early and out to visit.  We went to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells an ancient set of books dating back to the 9th century.  The books were interesting but we also took a tour of the college with a young student guide and really enjoyed his commentary and description of life at the college from the earlier centuries right up to present day.

Young man who gave us our tour of Trinity College

Part of the Trinity College campus

In the afternoon we went on a tour of the Guinness plant.  It was a bit disappointing as it was more of a tourist thing than an actual working beer plant so we never did see beer being made.

Entrance to the Guinness plant

One of the better known advertisements from Guinness.

That evening we had reservations just down the rode from our B&B to see an Irish House Party in a local hotel.  We were again brought to a room with large tables and were seated with other couples.  The two ladies to my left were sisters celebrating the 50th birthday of the eldest.  It turns out they were from Ottawa and lived in Westboro (small world).  The evening was centered on the idea of a house party where everyone ate and then the entertainment would start.  The group playing were strangely enough called the "Irish House Party" and they really had all of us singing and stomping our feet within minutes of their start.  We had a really good time, they had a young lady with the group that played the accordion but it turns out she was also a champion Irish jig dancer and she put on quite a show.  I don't think I have ever seen even a professional athlete move their feet as fast as she was going.

This was the band "The Irish House Party"  the young lady in the picture with the accordion was also the dancer.

The next morning we were scheduled to leave Dublin to travel around Ireland so I went off to pick up the rental car and then return to the B&B to get Sam and the luggage.  What an experience driving a right hand drive car.  The shifter (standard) was in the left, the rear view mirror was on the left and of course you drove on the left side.  Before I was allowed to leave with the car I had to take a written test to prove I knew Ireland drove on the left.  I passed that with flying colours and they set me loose.  BOY!!!if they only knew within in ten minutes I had an accident.  I brushed a car in the parking lot of the B&B, nothing too serious and the insurance companies are working it out.  It was amazing when I reported it to the management of the B&B, they acted like it was an everyday occurrence which in hindsight seems to be the case.  They anticipate tourists driving rental cars to have an accident.  I believe that is why you don't get new rental cars in Ireland.  The car I had was a Kia Rio that had 125,000kms on it and had been in a few scrapes previously.

Damage to the rental car.

After everything was settled we started on our trip to Doolin on the west coast of Ireland.  Sandra was understandably nervous and she could not get used to everything being so close to her.  Most of the roads in Ireland have no shoulders and stone walls right on the edge of the road.  I often heard her taken in her breath and let out a few squeaks as it appeared we were going to hit something.  In many cases the bushes on the side of the car rubbed against her side.