8 may 2011 - the family comes to town (part 2)

hello all! hope everyone is doing well :) i for one am having a blast at holy cross right now (currently watching shows in the library while everyone else does actual work... sorry i'm not sorry). but i thought it was about time i finish up my family post!

i left off with petra and nick's departure on sunday. it was sad to see them go but thankfully i'll see them in a few days when i return to madison! dad and i headed to the guinness factory after easter mass (interesting combo) and had fun learning all about the "ruby red" beer. after that, we headed to trinity and checked out the campus there before heading back to the hotel for a nap. after the nap, we headed to dinner and then out to the pub. we stayed out late catching up and laughing at some fellow pub goers who were a little more inebriated than us :) there was also some traditional music going on which was a plus!

these two were deep in conversation/loving on each other all night!

dad and i left our hotel in the morning and made our way to kilmainham gaol, a former prison outside of dublin. eileen and i are especially obsessed with prisons and get sucked into prison documentaries all the time so this was a must-see. we took an obnoxious amount of pictures so that eileen could feel like she attended as well.

yikes!

after getting our fill of prison action, we hopped in the car to drive to swinford, which is where some of my irish ancestors come from. we wandered around the town and made our way to the local cemetery (surprisingly hard to find), where we found a bunch of potential relatives. after creepily taking a bunch of grave pictures, we hopped back in the car and did a quick stop at kylemore abbey and clifden. on the way, we decided to grab a quick dinner but since ireland doesn't have a mcdonalds every 5 feet, we were forced to be a little more creative and ended up buying bread, turkey and cheese and making sandwiches on the road (more difficult than one might think. especially with constant twists and turns). we finally made it to galway and had a delicious dinner at a restaurant called artisan.

because i can't go one post without a sheepshot

in the morning, dad picked me up bright and early and we made our way to the aran islands only to miss the boat by 8 minutes. instead of waiting around for 3 hours for the next one, we decided to go to connemara national park! we spontaneously decided to climb to the top of "diamond hill" which was more of a small mountain. i realized how horribly out of shape i am when i had to stop multiple times on the way up. the hike was worth it though and we had a fabulous view.

after an exhausting day, we headed back to galway, had dinner at an italian place in town, and parted ways so dad could drive to dublin for his flight in the morning. it was an absolutely amazing week full of great memories! can't wait to see the fam in a few days!!!

also can't wait to see this...

4 may 2011 - the family comes to town (part 1)

greetings from the USA!

i am safely back in the homeland after my 7 hour flight over the atlantic :) excitement aside, i am going to attempt to backtrack to the family visit to ireland and recount the week's events.

the trip started with the arrival of dad, petra and nick after a flight to dublin and a strenuous 3-hour drive to galway. i've never seen dad as flustered as that first day behind the wheel of a car on the left side of the road. he shook it off and had left-side driving down pat by day 2, however, which was definitely a relief. after they checked out my apartment, we headed to the hotel so that dad and petra could take a nap. for reasons unknown, nicholas wasn't even a little bit tired so the two of us headed to the park and down to the bay to check out the water. it was so much fun to see the little guy after a whole 8 months. he's grown so much!

after meeting up with the 'rents, we decided to head to dinner at the casual mcdonagh's. we enjoyed the over-sized portions of fish and chips before heading to the king's head pub to watch a soccer game (which nicholas LOVED).

the next day we woke up to drive down to the cliffs or moher and then to killarney. the cliffs were as gorgeous as ever but there were a surprising number of gnats flying around which was pretty annoying. it was also not as enjoyable to hang out by some giant cliffs when you have your hyper 7-year-old brother in tow. i was pretty sure things weren't going to end well but i was thankfully proven wrong :)

we continued our drive down to killarney where we stayed for two nights due to its central location near the ring of kerry and blarney castle. after our arrival we were eager to get out and walk around after so much stressful time in the car and ended up walking to killarney national park which was absolutely gorgeous. we had so much fun catching up while walking along a little babbling brook in a forest. we eventually made our way to ross castle and checked that out for a bit before the long walk back. nick had so much fun in the national park and his main activity involved letting us walk a ways ahead before he would do a "race" to catch up to us. he did this over 20 times and i have no idea how he still had energy to spare!

we went out to dinner at an italian restaurant before nick and i settled into my luxurious bed to watch homeward bound. he loved the classic and apparently watched it again on the plane. just trying to keep the 90's alive. petra and dad were able to head out on the town to get a taste of some traditional irish tunes in a pub.

the next morning we had planned to go to dingle, but since it was good friday, the ferries weren't running and our concierge was kind enough to advise us to drive the ring of kerry instead since it was also a pretty rainy day. we ended up having an absolute blast driving through rural ireland and exploring a series of "abandoned houses" on the side of the road. nick was so enchanted with getting to go inside these old ruins that he spent the rest of the drive (and even the drive to dublin) yelling "ABANDONED HOUSE!" every time he saw a rundown stone house. we also got to see some tetrapod tracks (first animal to walk the earth), a mine that provided the slate for some famous buildings in england and a picturesque beach (where nick proceeded to completely soak himself). we found dinner at a little b&b which also provided the game connect 4 to entertain us while waiting for our meals. after the long drive home, we pretty much rolled right into bed.

on saturday we made our way to blarney castle! this was high on my list of "things to do before i leave ireland" so i was happy to finally get the gift of gab. the weather was perfect so our walk around the castle grounds and then our exploration of the castle were a lot of fun. nick especially loved tunneling around in the dungeons of the castle. after kissing the stone, we hopped back in the car for our long haul to dublin.

once we settled into our hotel near st. stephen's green, we decided to head out and get some fresh air. we explored the park and let nick burn off some energy before the easter bunny surprised nick and i with giant german chocolate-filled eggs! we walked around grafton street, watched a fire-juggler and eventually made our way to the bull and castle restaurant near christchurch cathedral. a lucky find back in february with some fellow hcers, this restaurant has the best irish stew i've had in ireland, so i made sure to bring the family back there for another taste. we got some dessert at bewley's and finally went to bed semi-early because petra and nick were leaving bright and early for their flight back to the u.s in the morning.

that's all i have for now! i will explain the rest of the trip in my next post :) love you all!