Dude
Unregistered User
(6/1/03 6:54 pm)


Second four days

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Okay, that first installment was really four days, if you count the travel day.

Wednesday, May 21
finds us leaving Kilkea Castle after our choice of Full Irish or Continental breakfast. We head south to Waterford to tour the crystal factory, shop and shop again, and have lunch in the lunchroom. We all overbought both glass and food.
Now we head north to our new home north of Dublin between Dunshaughlin and Ratoath. Lovely home with gorgeous gardens on a working farm. Delicious dinner in Dunshaughlin and back to watch "TV's Naughtiest Bloopers" which we would never see even on cable in the States. It probably wouldn't have been nearly so funny if we hadn't been exhausted and enjoying a bottle of wine in our room!
We wrote post cards this evening, which we had purchased 'way back at Blarney Castle.

Thursday, May 22
Drove to Blanchardstown to leave our minibus in the parking lot of the very large shopping center and catch a bus into Dublin. Our driver (me) has driven in Dublin once and does NOT want to repeat. After walking up O'Connell Street (under serious construction) and checking out the General Post Office, where we mailed our post cards (and one clerk had to get out his calculator to be convinced that 10 stamps at .57 were 5.70 and not 5.90), we did the hop-on-hop-off bus tour, little pricey at 12.5 euros but we got to hit all the high spots, tourist-wise. And we could split up and rejoin at our convenience. We all did some serious shopping , stopped at Trinity College where a couple of us saw the Book of Kells, visited the National Museum. After a semi-fast-food lunch we split; everyone else went to St. Patrick's Cathedral and the Guiness Storehouse (how's that for a juxtaposition?) while I stayed on to the Kilmainham Gaol stop. It's quite a hike from the bus stop but goes through the Modern Art Museum grounds which are quite lovely. Arrived back at the stop just before the rest of the tour showed up on the next bus, none the worse for having sampled the free Guiness. We decided to skip Old Jameson Distillery and not mix our alcohols.

We were so knackered when we got back to the shopping center that we went American and ate at T.G.I.Fridays. Then back to Flemingtown House for a second night.

Friday, May 23
Went up to Newgrange where the claustrophobics decided to stay behind while three of us took the bus out to the site. This is all new since I was here 7 years ago; then we just parked out on the road by Newgrange and bought our tickets.
Then on the road to cross the border at Belturbet and drove to Belleek. Since it was Friday we missed the last tour but got to do some more serious shopping both at the factory and at a charming little gift shop down the street. The clerk at the porcelain factory assured us that we could take the tour at 9:15 tomorrow morning.
Our B&B in Ballyshannon is the first one actually in town (the Farmhouse website is much better than the Town & Country Homes one) but might as well have been in the country for all we could hear or see of town.

Lovely old house from the 1700's and very charming hostess. Oh, yes, it is called Rockville House.

Saturday, May 24
Up early and back to Belleek where the 9:15 tour was full of a busload of tourists who arrived after we did but apparently had pre-booked. So we headed south to Glencar Lake and waterfall. Both a big hit even though it was cold, windy and raining. On to Sligo to check out Carrowmore. Another new Interpretive Center and guided tour; as I recall the last time I was here we just climbed over the fence and walked around on our own.

We decided to go on to Westport to check into the B&B a little early. Our hostess was in hospital, having just had her first baby, but Himself was a gracious host and treated us quite well. The Seapoint House is right on Clew Bay so some of us (not me) decided to go for a hike on the shore. This is another lovely B&B although a bit hard to find, about 9km from Westport on roads narrow even for Ireland. We had an adventure finding a place to eat in Westport and didn't get to go to Matt Malloy's Pub although we drove past it several times!
Stay tuned...

DebbieK
Registered User
Posts: 22
(6/1/03 9:32 pm)

Re: Second four days

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Sounds like you all shop like my Mom & brother
Good thing you had the larger vehicle by now

Debbie

Dude
Unregistered User
(6/1/03 10:19 pm)

Shopping

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Yes, those euros spend just like Monopoly money, don't they? When I planned the trip I had no idea we would shop more than sightsee or visit historical sites!
The shopping bags fit nicely on the back seat with Mary Anne. But it was a challenge to get everything back home, except of course for the things we had shipped.
It really is nice to have the VAT deducted in advance like they do now.