Life in Pictures
*drum roll* Here they are!!! My pictures from Ireland.
Day 1 - Dublin
We arrived in Dublin after not sleeping for about 24 hours. My travel partner was the driver and I was the navigator. We had a Garmin Nuvi gps unit that wouldn't recognize streets (lat/longs worked, which I had, but I didn't know it at the time), so instead a few mile drive to our hotel, it became a multi-hour drive with lots of turns. By the time we got to the hotel and checked in, she was fully cranky. We amicably split up (and by that I mean we ditched each other at about the same time) and each did Dublin on our own.
Ha'penny Bridge: This bridge over the Liffey in downtown Dublin was built in the early 1800s to replace an aging ferry system. It was a toll bridge and cost a half penny to cost.
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Clarence Hotel: Bono and Edge from U2 own it. It's just up from Ha'penny.
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Day 2
We went to Newgrange, which is part of the Bru na Boinne burial mounds - some of which predate the pyramids in Egypt. From there we were going to cut across on some back roads to reach a major road and drive to the west coast. Part of the way, the back road we were on was closed to all but local traffic. It took two hours on *really small* backroads to make it to the main road because if I zoomed in far enough to see the road we were on, it was too close-up to get an overall idea where we were going and if I zoomed out the road would disappear from the map.
Route: A = Dublin; C = Newgrange / Slane Castle; D = Castlebar
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View of rolling green hills from Newgrange. This was one of the only places I saw this - in my mind - quintessential Ireland view.
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Slane Castle: Slane Castle is on 1,500 acres. They have a annual summer concert that attracts about 100,000 people each year. I have no idea where they all park, unless there's a HUGE grassy area I couldn't see.
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Castlebar: Actually, this is Breaffy, just outside of Castlebar. It was purdy.
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Day 3
We were in what is unofficially called Connemara. There are bogs in the area and we saw peat-cutting (I was very excited by that). We first stopped in Galway. The Garmin told us to drive the wrong way down one-way streets and so when we saw a parking garage we took it and then, because we parked where we planning to, go lost in downtown Galway (see a reoccurring theme?).
On our way back to our hotel, my travel partner pumped gas for the first time. She had trouble getting the nozzle to enter the tank and then couldn't find the receipt that printed by our pump, so she got frustrated (less will push her over) and slammed the closest thing where was to slam, which was my car door. My pinky toe broke and my next two toes over are really bruised, and she yelled at me for mentioning she hurt my foot.
Day 3 Route: Breaffy (D), to Galway (B) to Kylemore Abbey (C), and back to Breaffy (D)
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Sheep! We went to Kylemore Abbey, a huge mansion on a lake with a formal garden, but my favorite part of the day were the sheep that – while unwilling to remain fenced in a pasture – also didn’t go into the road.
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Day 4
Shockingly, we didn’t get lost. I thought we might have been lost when arriving at Blarney Castle because there are no signs that say you’re in the right place. You drive into an area that looks like you’re at a dead end of a alley, but it opens into the parking lot.
Day 4 Route: We left Breaffy (A), went to the Cork and Blarney (C), and then back to Limerick (E) for the night.
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Blarney Castle: This is a view of the castle from the poison garden. If you liked Harry Potter’s herbology class, you’ll like this garden. It even had mandrake and warned you not to pull it up and be exposed to the scream of the mandrake root.
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Limerick: The houses are so hodgepodge here, although it may make the 500 year-old castles and churches in the background less out-of-place looking. They have a bit of everything.
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Day 5
I loved Killarney. If I had to pick a place to live in Ireland, it’d be there. There a big (free) park, and rural areas, but enough people travel into Killarney that it’s sizable enough to fill needs. I don’t have any decent pictures of it, though.
Day 5 Route: We went from Limerick (H), to the Ring of Beara (F-E-D-F), and then to Killarney (G).
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Ring of Beara – This is where the last of the rivers snake their way to the Atlantic Ocean.
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And the most important part of the day: this Shetland pony
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Day 6
We went to Wicklow National Park with only a few wrong turns and one turn-around when we were n a wrong road and it dead-ended at a power plant.
Day 6 Route: We left Limerick (A) and drove to Waterford (B), then got off the freeway at C, and drove to Wicklow (D). It was pretty and mountainous. I didn’t know Ireland had an area like this. It’s the most visited park in Ireland because it’s a short drive outside of Dublin.
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Glendalough, an old monastic settlement, is located in Wicklow. It blended into the natural scenery in a nice way.
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Some of my favorite signs:
They have very active signs. I think this sign says that if you run in front of an on-coming car it has the right to honk at you.
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These are the emergency exit signs. In the event of an emergency, panic and run.
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Both the 2 km and the 32 km are accurate – like the weather. Ground distance wise it’s 2 km and small-windy-road-feel-like-distance is closer to 32 km.
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Day 3: You forgot to mention punching your asshole travel companion in the face.
lol. She's the one now shunning me at work (fb context).
fyi - She's a fb friend (I blocked her from the post).
awww yah awesome pictures and sounds like a cool trip even if your co-traveller is a douche. I loooooooooooooooooove that pony! : )
Not all of them are the same. I picked different ones to mix it up. The pony will represent in all of them, though.
:)>>> pony
don't take this the wrong way or anything, but... I fucking hate You sometimes.
<3
WOW, What a great trip to Ireland! All the pictures are fantastic. You really did catch the essense(spelled wrong) of Ireland. The castles are awesome but I must agree, the Shetland pony is my favorite to :)>>>
Sweeeeet.
Knowing British/Irish traffic laws/local signage as I do, I think officially "Caution Pedestrians" means the cars have to be careful, because people may dash out onto the road unexpectedly. But it does look like "Pedestrains Be Careful Cuz Youz Fair Game." In Spain, that would probably be what it meant...I was once knocked down in a crosswalk.
don't take this the wrong way or anything, but... I fucking hate You sometimes.
<3
I'm focusing on the fucking me sometimes part.
Yow, sorry about your travel partner! Is your foot O.K.?
Love your pictures and of course, the pony is precious!! :)>>> What an amazing trip!
Awesome HH! We love the Shetland Pony the best :)
Looks like you had a great time, aside from the injury. I think it must be something about Ireland because the only time I took my wife (then girlfriend) to Ireland she punched me in the face. Needless to say the punch was really embarrassing, for her, as I had been punched harder by babies to be honest! I thought my future wife should have a better punch but we laughed about it the next morning and put it down to the anti-British vibe she got by visiting the pro IRA shop was stopped at after touring the Guinness factory.
That being said Mary you saw more of Ireland in a week than I did in about 10 visits over there (which I regret now, not the visits, not seeing more) but I guess you never really applicate or take advantage of what is on your doorstep, or at least I didn't when it came to Ireland.
Next trip is to where...........???
amazing HH. I'm still pissed off with you that you decided to visit once I'd left that side of the world!!
But it looks amazing, and you managed to see / do loads. One of my regrets is not visiting the Republic of Ireland when I lived in the UK. Like GESC says you do tend to ignore what's on your doorstep.
Next trip is to where...........???
I know!!! I'm ready for more adventure.
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I lived in Fresno for a while and it's shocking how many people hadn't been to Yosemite National Park. It was back when gas was $0.89 a gallon and an annual pass was $10, so I took loads of people there for their first time.
Wow, beautiful pictures HH!!!! Looks like so much fun, except for the toe part, ouch!
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