Home at last!

First, let me repeat,a FANTASTIC trip all around, until we arrived at the Dublin airport yesterday to head home.

OMG air travel today is painful enough without throwing in an errupting volcano! It was a two day journey to get home. We were supposed to leave Dublin at 10:30 yesterday but our flight was delayed two hours until 12:30. They boarded us for the 12:30 and then informed us there were more delays, possibly up to two hours to get a flight path and space to take off, but that to be ready at a moment's notice we had to stay on the plane. Two hours of sitting at the gate later, and one loss to Chuck at Rummy 500, we took off. The flight was 9:40 instead of 7:40 because they were routing planes up over Iceland and Greenland and back down to avoid the ash cloud. 11+ hours on the plane we arrived in Atlanta but has missed both evening flights to Portland. Side note movie review: they played several movies on the plane to entertain us. Dear John (cheesy!). The Blind Side (very good). The Day the Earth Stood Still (minus 50 IQ points).

We stayed in the notel motel (Quality Inn) courtesy of Delta. Flew home this morning on a 8:30 flight. Tired but glad to be home.

Galway to Dublin

We drove from Galway to Dublin today - about two and a half hours on good highway. Found the rental return right away and took the bus back to Trinity College area and the Brooks hotel. We were in Dublin a Sun-Tues last time and it was nothing like today. It is sunny and there are people everywhere - you can barely walk down Grafton Street right now. We are taking it easy and on volcano watch as flights are being delayed and canceled due to the ash cloud again.
All in all a fantastic trip. You could not meet nicer people or see more gorgeous scenery. We are getting a little tired of meat, specifically bacon (ham to us), and potatoes in every form you can imagine. And I have two weeks of very dirty clothes! Time to go home tomorrow, volcano willing.

Aran Islands - Inishmaan

Planes, trains and automobiles... no... buses, ferries and feet, yes! Today we took the ferry to Inishmaan, one of the three Aran Islands off the West coast of Ireland in the North Atlantic. Who knew the ferry terminal was actually 30-45 min out of Galway and required a bus ride (Chuck made me ride in the top of a double decker bus - another story!) before the 45 minute ferry ride? After our two hour bus and ferry ride we arrived at Inishmaan, which is the middle island in size but the least populated and the least visited - so as you can imagine, Chuck chose that one to visit. Inishmore is the most visited and the most populated and has started catering to the tourists as much as a small island can. So back to Inishmaan... all you can see are rock walls going everywhere sectioning off the land into small parcels we think they use to move the cows and sheep around for grazing. It was sunny but windy and cold as there is nothing to protect you - the entire island is a pile of rocks. So we walk, and walk, and walk. We finally come upon one of the three or so ruins, Synge's Chair, which is supposed to be the spot the author and playwright JM Synge found inspiration in his summers on Inishmaan. A pile of rocks. Chuck liked it as it was right on the cliff looking across at Inishmore cliffs so he went down the rock piles to the edge - scarring the shit out of me. We came accross a local giving a tour to a group of Swiss tourists so we listed for a bit getting some history of the 130 people who still live on the rock pile, I mean island. And we walk, and walk, and walk. We pass what we think is the only pub on the island that doesn't look open and head on up to the ruins of a 7th century fort. A pile of rocks. We walk and walk, back to the pub and it is indeed open - yes! We see some people from Dublin who we talked to on the ferry and have a pint while chatting with them. Everyone on the island speaks Gaelic but the bartender spoke enough English to hook us up with the pints and a ham and cheese sandwhich. Thankfully as the return ferry did not come until 4:30 and we were tired of walking and hungy. We did not get back to Galway until 7:00 - a very long day. I thought it was interesting to see the islands and how people are still living but it was a long tour to see a pile of rocks. Chuck of course loved it - no people and a pile of rocks! We ate a quick dinner at Garvey's Pub and are crashing early - back to Dublin tomorrow.

Galway City

After a two+ hour walk around Galway City we think we have seen all there is to see here... not as many sights as other places we have been. We walked to the Spanish Arch - not very exciting and Lynch's Castle in now a bank. The big draw seems to be the pub scene and the ferry to the Aran Islands, which we are doing tomorrow. After yesterday's all day drive I could use a down afternoon anyway. The typical tour route in Ireland takes you aniticlockwise ( as they say here) starting in Galway and moving in the opposite direction we have gone. Perhaps that is why Galway is anticlimactic for us. Looking forward to the Aran Islands tomorrow.

Killarney to Galway via Tarbert Ferry to County Clare and the Cliffs of Moher

Weather: Light rain/mist, cloudy and very foggy in some places. A good day to be in the car? Maybe, but we were in the car for a VERY long time today. We decided to make the most of our time in Galway and get there in one day instead of breaking the drive in Ennis for one night. The drive up to Talbert took about an hour and a half and we waited about 30 minutes for the 20 minute Ferry ride over to County Clare. Ferry's are cool and we enjoyed the ride. Continuing on North we took the road that follows the coastline up to Galway. A few towns, if you can call some of them towns, later we stopped in Milltown Malbay at some crusty pub for lunch. The bartender and one local, who we could not understand and gave the young chicken a run, had a TV on where we learned the volcanic ash was causing some airport closures again. Our friend Victor!
We finally made it to the Cliffs of Moher, which Lonely Planet described as something like a tourist circus on its best day, but we decided it is a one time must see. Not sure it is worth it. The cliffs are big and fairly spectacular but places on the Oregon Coast as well as in other countries I am sure are just as nice. The parking lot is HUGE and full of tour buses, the entire place is paved sidewalks, gift shops in the side of the hill, a cafeteria. The views were good but they keep you way back from the edge (probably with good reason). The fog was rolling in so we did not stay long.
Here is my plug for making this drive... if you continue North on the coastal road from Cliffs of Moher you are in for a treat, a twisty, bumpy ride, but a treat. The coastal views of the North Atlantic are fantastic in some places and driving through the Burren (limestone landscape butting up to the ocean) is not to be missed. These views rival the Ring of Kerry.
The rest of the drive into Galway is SLOW and we finally made it to the hotel around 5:30 after a few traffic snafus in the city. A long day! We ate in the hotel bar and are going to bed. Exploring Galway tomorrow.

Ring of Kerry

Today we got up early (well, early for this vacation!) and headed out of town around 8:30 to drive the Ring of Kerry. We were hoping an early start would put us ahead of the tour buses, and for the most part it worked. We saw a few but they were mainly behind us and it is not high season here yet. A bit past Killorglin we pulled into the Kerry Bog Museum. Looked slight cheesy and definitely touristy but our book said it was worth a "quick" stop so we did. Cheesy and touristy and smelled like burning peat (duh - bog). Chuck did like the Kerry Bog Ponies. We left quickly when a tour bus pulled in. Kind of interesting but one thing on which I would have to disagree with Lonely Planet.
Continuing on we had some fantastic views of the Bay of Dingle and the Dingle Peninsula to the North. After driving through some very small towns and alternating hugging coast with inland views of mountains and valleys we made it around to Waterville on the Southwestern tip - fantastic views again coming down into Waterville. BUT, and to agree with Lonely Planet here, the entire drive is worth your time to see the scenery/views between Waterville and Catherdaniel. This is where many postcard views come from and they do not do it justice. You leave Waterville and come up a hill and round the corner and there is the Atlantic as far as you can see dotted close to the shore with the Skelligs (rock islands). We stopped a the viewpoint for further inspection. To the left you can see down the bay/mouth of the Kenmare river and the green fields, cows and occasional house lining the shores. The Atlantic is truly phenomenal. After pulling ourselves away (it was cold and windy) we stopped in the town of Sneem for lunch as it was after 1:00 by now. Nothing to write home about - again touristy (this is the Ring of Kerry) and a large group of French tourists milling about.
We headed home and grabbed a pint at Dan Linchins in Killarney where we (mostly Chuck) talked hiking and climbing with the bartender, Trish, a local.
Great dinner later on at Bricin, also a good Lonely Planet recommendation.

Ross Castle, Killarney National Park

Weather: Cool, breezy, cloudy with sun breaks.

Did I mention my husband likes to walk? Today we walked into another part of Killarney National park to see the gardens and go on to Ross Castle. After a beautiful two mile walk with the Mountains in the background behind the fields and trees we made it to Ross Castle on the edge of the lower lake. Ducks and swans in the inslet, very picturesque scene. We decided to wait 30 minutes until the next guided tour started, which turned out to be a good idea as the tour was very interesting and informative. Built in the 15th century by/for an Irish Cheftain, it is a typical "towerhouse" designed and built to keep intruders out. We learned some interesting design details like why the stairs always go up in a clockwise direction (most people are right handed so when you are coming down the staircase you have more room to swing your sword around the outside of a corner).