Hi Everybody,

Heres part 1 of my trip report (long). It was me and my mom going for our third trip to Ireland. We had been before in 2003 and 2004. After our time in Dublin, we traveled by rental car with me being the driver and my mom the navigator. We are budget minded travelers, mostly taking the picnic approach to eating, so I dont have many restaurant reviews. Ive decided that I will do my b&b reviews in separate posting. As I can be a greedy traveler, trying to cover a lot of territory in a small amount of time, my style of staying in a different place each night may not be the best, but I cant help myself.

May 30- The day had finally arrived! We flew from Houston to Newark to Dublin on Continental. The flights in and out of Newark were delayed thanks to Air Force One arriving and leaving at the same time. We had to circle over Philadelphia and Trenton for an hour before we could land at Newark. We were also delayed departing because the President was leaving at the same time. Nothing like adding more time to an already long journey. Nonetheless, we made it to Dublin not too late.

May 31. Upon arrival, we headed straight for our hotel, the Dublin Airport Bewleys. We never could find anything in City Centre that was affordable and in a good area, so we chose to stay at the airport, which was actually very convenient when we were ready to pick up our car. The hotel was kind enough to give us our room immediately. My mom wanted to rest for a while, so I just dropped my bags and headed into the city on my own.

This was my second time in Dublin, so I had a very leisurely approach to siteseeing. I first went to my favorite place, Marks and Spencer, to get a snack. Then I just wandered around, taking in the bustling atmosphere. I cant believe how much busier Dublin has become! I went to Merrion Square to see the Oscar Wilde statue, popped into St. Teresas for a moment to express appreciation for the safe travel, wandered around in general, and then went to relax at St. Stephens Green, parking myself on a park bench to enjoy a cookie and soft drink. The weather in Dublin was beautiful and the park was filled with Dubliners and tourists enjoying themselves. I was entertained by some rather rowdy ducks splashing around in the water.

It was eventually time to go meet my mom at our designated meeting spot. We wanted to get a late lunch, so we went to Stags Head. I enjoyed a toastie with chips and my mom had bangers and mash. I had never been in this pub before. It is neat and the food was pretty good. My meal was 4.95 euro and my moms 10.95 (rather pricey we thought for hers).

After polishing off our meal, we decided to go on the hop on, hop off bus. We stayed on for the entire loop before getting off at Christ Church. We wandered around a bit and then decided to call it a day since neither of us had been able to sleep on the plane.

June 1- We actually slept for a long time, so we didnt get into the city until close to noon. We headed straight for Trinity College to see the Book of Kells. This was very cool and interesting, but I have to say I loved the library even more. What a fabulous place! I dont know if any of you are Harry Potter fans, but I think the long library would make for a great location shoot for a movie. I wonder if the library has ever been used in a movie.

After touring the exhibit and the campus, we hopped on the bus again. We got off on the north side of the river to go find St. Michans Church. Found it and toured the church and then took the crypt tour. There are two crypts featured on the tour and the first one we saw was the one without the exposed mummies. I was a bit creeped out by the small space and musty smell. The guide was a bit quirky and seemed to try to enhance the strangeness of the place. The entrances to both of the crypts are small and are down old, uneven steps. Despite being told to mind my head, I managed to whack my head, but no worries, I have a thick skull. We went into the other crypt to see the mummies. While fascinating, it didnt feel right to be viewing these bodies. The guide even allowed people to go into the vault and touch one mummys hand (the incorrectly named crusader, since he lived over 600 years after the crusades). Only one person chose to touch the body. The group consisted of me and my mom, another mom-daughter duo from California, and a couple of people from Germany.

It was a delight to return to the land of the living and the sunshine. We walked from St. Michans over to Mary Street and Henry Street, the shopping territory. The number of people was incredible! It seemed more crowded than Times Square in NYC or Picadilly Circus in London. We grabbed something to eat at a food court and then walked up OConnell Street to go to the Garden of Remembrance. This was a lovely respite from the crowds. There were just a few people relaxing there and it was very peaceful.

By now it was time to head over to St. Patricks Cathedral for evensong. We had missed the last hop on hop off bus, so we hoofed it over there and made it in time for the 6 pm service. It was a pleasant experience. I had planned on going to the service at Christ Church the evening before, but we were too tired. After the service, we wandered around the city some more before calling it a night.

General impressions of Dublin: Since I was last in Dublin in 2003, the City has become more crowded and more full of foreigners. I know many of the foreigners are tourists such as myself, but many seem to be new residents. I honestly heard more foreign languages than English in the city. There also seemed to be a lot more beggars and gypsies in action. I felt I had to be more on guard than any other European city Ive visited. I didnt feel this way in 2003.
 
Dublin has fascinating sites and I had fun, but the true Ireland I love is in the countryside and I was ready to get out of the city and hit the heartland.

June 2 - Picked up car from Hertz, arranged by OScannlain. I used this firm the last time I went to Ireland and this time as well because they had the best rates. There was no wait at the counter and I was given the keys to a Nissan Note. This is a hatchback, approximately the size of a Ford Focus. It was in good shape and served us well on the trip. We got the full insurance, just for peace of mind.

Our first stop was Powerscourt. The fine Dublin weather was gone and the day was to be misty, drizzly, and foggy for the whole day. None of my pictures at Powerscourt reflect the mountains, since they were obscured by the fog. Nevertheless, Powerscourt was beautiful. I really enjoyed walking the estate paths, taking in the lovely gardens and atmosphere. The Japanese garden is wonderful. What a great job was done in designing and maintaining it. The pet cemetery was interesting, with beloved pets ranging from dogs to horses and jersey cows! It was hard to leave this pretty place, but we needed to eventually move on to Glendalough.

The mist and drizzle was here too, but didnt bother us at all. I am fascinated by round towers, so I enjoyed viewing this one. We took the walk to the upper lake and it was so beautiful. I can totally imagine how glorious a spot this place must be on a clear, sunny day. There were kids frolicking in the shallow edges of the lake. I would imagine the waters were quite chilly!

After Glendalough, we drove to Wicklow town, but didnt feel the need to stop. We took the "coast" road to Castlebridge, but only saw the shortest glimpse of the coast. We were staying the night in Castlebridge at Birchwood B&B, a convenient overnight location when in the Wexford area. After checking in, we headed in to Wexford town. I checked email at an internet café there and had an interesting chat with the storekeeper. While I was there, a big sport utility vehicle was trying to park outside, having a difficult time on the narrow street and the storekeeper told us how nutty the Irish are becoming about SUVs. We saw so many on this trip, which is incredible given the narrow roads and the high price of gasoline. After finishing with email (I made it quick since rates are so pricey over there), we thought wed see if we could find an evening mass service. The service was just ending at one church, and a couple of nice folks referred us to Bride Street Church just a couple of blocks down that offered a 7 pm service. I must say that the Irish do a speedy mass service! We noticed this on our previous trips. The priest spoke so fast and the service was complete in under 30 minutes. Wow, my kind of service! Here, my local church goes over an hour.

June 3- Awoke to pouring rain. Ugh. Had a nice breakfast at a big table with a man from Dublin and a vacationing couple from Cork. The Dubliner is a chauffeur and he was in Wexford to work the Opera festival that had been going on that weekend. He has a daughter who dances in the Riverdance production touring Ireland right now. He was a very nice and interesting fellow and the Cork couple were very enjoyable breakfast companions as well. We met so many nice people on this trip, both native Irish and fellow tourists. I like it when b&bs seat people at a big table because thats when conversation is most likely to develop amongst the guests.

The first item on the agenda was to visit Johnstown castle. We got very off track and ended up in Enniscorthy! I kept telling my mom that we were not headed the right way, and I was right. I didnt mind though, and ended up getting to photograph the castle there. Seems like a nice town. I also got to pull over for some old tower house on the waterfront in Wexford near the Ferry Carrig Hotel and saw some type of round tower or lookout, will have to look it up as I wasnt aware of its existence. We eventually found the Johnstown castle, but this place needs some signposting! There was only one little sign down the road from the castle. I was especially surprised that there werent signs up since the opera festival had been going on that weekend. We seemed to get more off track this time, dont know why. The signs, when present, can be difficult at times to figure out which way they are pointing.

The grounds of Johnstown castle are beautiful. The castle itself is not open to the public. I didnt get good pictures of the building though because tents were up around the outside for the festival. The estate has pea****s roaming around, always a nice sight. The rain was coming down steady, so I didnt do more than walk around the perimeter of the lake by the house. I would like to go back and explore the grounds further another time. My mom had stayed in the car and I was the only one out there, well, not totally alone since I had my pea**** friends. Nobody else wanted to get wet that morning I guess!

Next stop, Waterford. There was a vintage car parade going on in the pouring rain and a group of bagpipers were playing under the awning of a hotel. I felt bad that the rain didnt stop for them. Parking was easy and free on Sunday. We first visited Reginalds Tower, which was fun. The attendant there was very nice. Afterwards, we headed to the Holy Trinity Church only to find it locked up. I could have sworn I had looked online beforehand for hours and was surprised and disappointed it wasnt open. We tried a little while later, but it was still locked. We were able to go into the French Church (I think thats what it was called). We walked a bit along the harbor and were pretty wet, even with raincoats and umbrellas.
 

Next destination: Lismore castle. This castle is very scenic, resting along the river. As it was late in the day and the grounds were only going to be open for another 35 minutes later, the attendant agreed to give us a discount. 35 minutes was actually enough time to get a feel for the grounds. By this time, the weather had improved greatly and we were blessed with some sun. After touring the gardens, we walked across the street to visit the church, St. Carthage. Luckily, it was still open. We spent a short while in the church and headed back to the car. Theres a playground next to the parking lot and the locals were taking advantage of the cleared skies. Ireland really has some nice play areas for the little ones.

Even though it was getting late in the afternoon, we headed to Mt. Melleray Abbey. My great, great, great uncle was a priest there from 1899-1901 (before heading to the USA). This place is in such a beautiful and peaceful location. The church was open and we were able to go inside. It felt special to visit a location that has family ties.

Our overnight was to be in Dungarvan, Seaview Guesthouse. We had a great view overlooking Dungarvan Bay. After checking in, we headed to Ardmore. I think this may have been my favorite place for this trip. We first went to see the round tower and ruins. I could have sat there all day! It was so beautiful!! We did a small portion of the cliff walk. I also took a walk in a different direction and saw in the distance what appeared to be ruins of a castle or church, but once in the car, I could not find it. It was not in the cliff area. Has that happened to you? I was wondering if I had castle mirage syndrome. This happened to me before in County Mayo where I saw this great castle ruin, but I could never find how to get to it.

Part 2 to be continued.