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Post Info TOPIC: March 2013 from CT to Ireland!!!


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March 2013 from CT to Ireland!!!


Hello all!!!

So glad to be able to connect. Mom and I are in Adare right now. We had a wonderful tirp and it's concluding tomorrow morning at 5:00 AM.

 

Our flight out of Bradley (Windsor Locks, CT) was canceled due to weather (on March 6) and fortunatey we were able to get on an earlier flight. :) A quick overview...the weather has been horrible...cold and wet. QWe didnt' see the sun until our fourth of fifth, or maybe sixth or seventh day...(I'm comparing this to our other October visits which were beautiful). Regardless of the poor sunshine and lack of any heat..it has been an awesome trip. (I'm typing this as a women is breast feeding her toddler at the computer). They've left...

The Park House Hotel in Galway is AWESOME!!! Absolutely loved it! I'm also loving Gate Lodge Cottage in Adare. Favorite meals...The Wild Geese in Adare and The Pig's Ear in Dublin. :)

 

I'm heading off to spend more euros and make myself a poor women... LOL

 

I took some great notes and unlike 2008 or 2010 I WILL write a full write up!!!

 

Be well and thanks for all the help Michele and friends with planning this tirp.

 

 



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Maggie Cosgrove


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March 7: Landed in Dublin...cold, windy, drizzly (meaning no sun!). :) Not only was our flight from BDL canceled and we were moved to two other flights, our flight had to circle Dublin before landing due to another plane (carrying labs rats) taking nose on our runway. No animals were hurt in this incident... It would have been nice if it was a great escape. ;)

Took a bus to the Temple Bar area and a short walk to our hotel, The Eliza Lodge. We stayed in room 400. It was nice. We headed out to walk around Temple Bar area while waiting for our room. We went to Temple Bar (the bar) and it was perfectly empty which gave us nice shots of the place. Loved the bar areas and the open garden seating area.

We walked from Eliza Lodge to Foley's Pub for a pre dinner drink. Foley's Bar is up the road from Davenport Hotel and one of their sister hotel and we stayed at both during our first two visits. Foley's was the first place we ever visited on our first trip in 2008 so we always go back. The service is great, drinks are drinks and the food is nice. Affordable and clean! It's ran/owned by Chinese immigrants. After Foley's we continued our wet, cold walk to The Pig's Ear (on Nassau Street), which we both loved! Reservations are pretty much required. We requested a window seat and got it! I had a salad with goat cheese with beets and their Organic Spelt Pearl Risotto with Sweet Corn & Truffles,Crisp Fennel Salad & Toasted Pine Nuts. Both were delicious!!! I can't remember the exact cost but it wasn't as expensive as I would expect of a "higher" end city restaurant. Mixed reviews on Tripadvisor, but I will give it high ratings. We sat at 7:30 for their regular menu. I believe more complaints in Tripadvisor came from the early bird folks who are "rushed" out to make room for the 7:30 seating (but that's just IMO).

March 8: Spent our second night in Dublin at Eliza Lodge. They offer a B&B at The Italian Corner, which is just on their floor level. You order of the menu and it was ordered exactly how you want, hot, fresh and good. No complaints. We took a taxi to Connolly Station for a 9:20 Train Tour to Avoca area. Unfortunately the tour was canceled due to low numbers. We had received two calls in our room and thought they were "hang ups" and it turns out it was the Train folks trying to reach us to tell us of the cancelations... So, instead, in the rain (it didn't end :) ) We took a walk through the city. We ended at Arnotts Shopping on Henry Street. An awesome shopping experience. Plus this was the first time (during our 3 visits to Dublin) which we visited the "other" side of the Liffey. We purchased some candles and hand lotion that are made in Galway. This same company is presending First Lady Michele Obama with a candle from their line. They also make perfumes.

After Arnotts we went to have lunch at Boxty House in Temple Bar. I had dumplings in a blue cheese sauce with mushrooms and scallions. Mom had one of their boxty pancakes. Both were tasty. I would like to go back and try one of their signature Boxty potatoe pancake meals.

March 9: We spent our third night at Burlington Hotel as this was the beginning of our four night tour with CIE.

to be continued...

 



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Maggie Cosgrove


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The Boxty House is a 'Guilty Pleasure' of mine! Glad to see you didn't let the weather interfere ...

Bob



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Bob

Help Us to Help You.  The more you tell us about your plans (dates, interests, budget), the better we can tailor our advice to suit!



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I tweeted the story about the rats on the plane at Dublin Airport. Sorry it impacted your trip. I'm sure the weather did too. Not the best this year. Looking forward to more. (The food sounds delish! You are making me hungry.) w



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"Ireland Expert"  Michele Erdvig

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Continued:

Saturday, March 9: We moved to The Burlington Hotel for our first of four nights with CIE. We arrived and the hotel was quite busy with tons of Italians who were in town for the Irish v Italian rugby game that night. The Burlington was busy, busy and the check in employees were rude and not very customer service oriented. My mom and I got our own rooms with CIE and they kept telling me we had one. I never said we had one and continued to reiterate we had paid for our own rooms. Finally this guy said "well you told me you were sharing a room". Seriously? I didn't say that. I got peeved at him for putting words in my mouth. Finally we were assigned our rooms (two of them). :)

We had some time to spare our tour began so we took a walk down the road and had lunch at Canal Bank Cafe. It was nice. I would recommend it. I had tomato and basil soup. Very fresh and tasty.

Our tour with CIE began at 2:00 and we took a brief tour of Dublin and then visited Christ Church Catherdral. When we toured Dublin we stopped at Shelbourn Hotel because the Irish Rugby bus was there and they were either coming or going (we didn't see them) because there were LOTS of fans in the road and "officials" lining the street waving flags. It was exciting.

Christ Church Catherdral is extremely beautiful and we enjoyed it. They medival crypt was impressive.

For dinner we went to Merry Ploughboy Pub Traditional Dinner/Show. The show was awesome! Four men played instruments and sang beautiful Irish songs. They sang songs which the audience was asked to stand and participate in (swaying back and forth). The show also include Irish dances. Two men and three women. They all did a fabulous job! I would recommend this show to a person visiting Ireland. The only downfall is it was a 40 minute or so ride from Dublin, and I was ready for an early bed.



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Maggie Cosgrove


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Sunday, March 10: We drove from Burlington Hotel in Dublin to Killarney. We spent the next two nights at Killarney Towers Hotel and Leisure Hotel. 

* On our way we went to a sheep farm and were entertained with tea and scones as well as a sheepdog demonstration. The regular farmer (Brendan Ferris) on the ROK was out of town due to a death in the family. The replacement farm had never been used by CIE. The family was nice and the tea and scones were fine. The sheepdog demonstration was fun to watch. We got to meet a one day old sheep. Very cute! It was in or near Dualla. After the demonstration we drove on to pass Rock of Cashel and stopped for a photo op. I'm very happy I'd been there before (and stayed at the wonderful Joy's Rockside House). It was my understanding that it's closed due to renovations.

* Next we drove on to Blarney (I think this was the order).  I "kissed" the Blarney Stone. I eskimo kissed it. I just couldn't muster up the courage to place my lips on the stone. I think I already have the gift of gab so I don't think I missed out on anything! I did get the photos they take and think they're a great memory of my "kiss". The walk up to the Stone is horrendous. It was rainy and windy and sort of a challenge. I can't believe my grandparents did it when they were in their 70s. Unless I'm just a whimp??? :) We ate at Blarney Woolen Mills restaurant and I didn't like it. Too busy, and the food wasn't anything special.

* Hotel was clean and nice. I liked it. Food at hotel was okay. The dinners were buffet style and I prefer a sit down dinner. A lot of the options were high fat and unhealthy. I'm not a super health nut but I do like options. Breakfasts were nice. Good buffet choices. 

Monday, March 11: Spent the night at Killarney Towers Hotel and Leisure Hotel

* Today we did the Ring of Kerry. It was as beautiful as I remember the first time. It was nice to not be driving it and was crazy to watch how narrow the roads really are! We did the Skellig Experience. We didn't boat out but saw a movie about it. It was amazing to learn about. For the life of me I cannot remember where we stopped for lunch...

Tuesday, March 12: Spent the night at Bunratty Hotel, I really liked this hotel. Clean, centrally located and great customer service. We went to Bunratty Castle and Folk Park for Dinner. The Dinner was entertaining and fun. I would recommend this dinner. I went to Durty Nelly's with folks on the tour. I'm so glad I went there as I missed it in 2008. In 2008 we also missed the Castle Dinner because we were at the end of our trip and simply exhausted.

CIE tour ended March 13 (Mom's Birthday) and we headed to Galway for three nights. To be continued...



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Maggie Cosgrove


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Was the sheepdog demo at Dualla House?

 

 

 



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"Ireland Expert"  Michele Erdvig

Click links for Michele's Book or Custom Ireland Itinerary

Visit Michele's Irish Shop for unique Irish gifts and beautiful photos of Ireland.



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wow sounds like a great trip. Did you have the time to walk Muckross Park while you were in Killarney? Did you walk around Killarney Town Centre. Our shop Quills Woollen Market is in the centre of town.

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Yes it was at the Dualla House! Trip was great...Didn't walk Muckross Park. We did walk around the Town Center...It was nice!

A college friend is in Ireland right now and posting pics daily...it's making us wanting to go back again... :)



-- Edited by Maggie117 on Sunday 9th of June 2013 12:05:40 PM

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Maggie Cosgrove


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Now we want to hear about your week in Adare!

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"Ireland Expert"  Michele Erdvig

Click links for Michele's Book or Custom Ireland Itinerary

Visit Michele's Irish Shop for unique Irish gifts and beautiful photos of Ireland.

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