Day 1: The first day we arrived around 6am. Amazingly, we were able to check into our hotel at that un-Godly hour, and chose to sleep for 2.5 hours. From there, we explored Dublin. We walked around near Trinity College, Christ Church Cathedral, and walked all the way to the Guinness Factory where we did the tour. My Mom and I both had our one and only Guinness of the whole trip that day. Yuck! After that, we needed another nap, as it was later afternoon then, and the jet lag was catching up with us. We later headed to Temple Bar area, a nightlife hotspot in Dublin, where we had a delish dinner, and a fun night out!
I have heard mixed reviews of Dublin from other travelers, but I liked it. I felt like it was a city I could live in. Wasn't my favorite city in the world, but I suppose it reminded me of Boston in some ways. Walkable, historic, cute. I enjoyed it. :)
Day 2: The next day we had a leisurely breakfast and took a train to Cork, heading southwest. That took about 3 hours, and then we got to see the "real" Ireland--rolling green hills, sheep, cows, farmland. After getting settled in our B&B in Cork city, we went to dinner at a trendy restaurant called SoHo and had some good dinner and drinks.
I would have liked to enjoy Cork more, but unfortunately, it didn't really work out that way. It was more of a stopping point along the way from Dublin to the Southwest of Ireland. From what I saw, it looked pretty nice.
Day3: This morning after a yummy breakfast at The Garnish House, we set off to get our rental car. It was my first time driving on the right side of the car and the left side of the road!! A little funky at first, but just fine. Plus, we had a major nerd mobile and that was very small and easy to handle. First stop, the Blarney Castle, so we could kiss the Blarney Stone! Did you know my family (the McCarthys, formerly the MacCarthys) once owned the Blarney Castle? Well, "we" did! Anyways, that was a fun time. The grounds are really nice there, and it was fun to kiss the stone. Kind of gross though if you think of all the lips that have touched it. I swore my mouth felt dirty afterwards. They say they wash it down everyday...but I've ALSO heard the locals pee on it. Food for thought-yum. Anyways, I kissed the Blarney Stone but Annie was too scared since you need to lie on your back, grasp some handles, and lean backwards upside down. Ha! Now I have the gift of gab, as if I didn't already!
Next, we began our McCarthy journey. One main event in this journey to Ireland was to see the house that my grandfather, who was born and grew up in Skibereen, Ireland, lived. The circumstances were quite funny. It's a long story but worth telling. Our instructions from a cousin who had been there were: go to a bar on the main street in Skibereen and find Michael Duggan at the bar. Apparently he's always at the bar and EVERYONE knows him. So, we get to the main street in Skibereen and see a bar. Long story short, we go in Bar 1, no one's ever heard of him or even the area dear old Grandpa lived. Bar 2, same story. Bar 3, closed with some random non-English speaking people outside it. Return to Bar 1, try to call Michael Duggan, he doesn't answer. They were really unfriendly in there anyways, (rare in Ireland), so we sadly moved on. I was feeling irritated and annoyed by our lack of info and that the most important part of our trip may not happen.
So my Mom had been told Grandpa lived on "the road to Kilkileen." So I decided to type Kilkileen in the GPS. After about 10 minutes of driving, we had to take a left down this super narrow, grassy road. We were unsure, so we stopped at a B&B and Annie went in to ask for help. We showed him the picture of the house we were looking for and he said he knew it and would drive us! So he (a 70ish Irish man) jumps in his car and leads us...to the wrong house. I hold up the picture and he insists it's the right house, but then states "I'm colorblind." Haha!
Ironically, while we were driving to the wrong house, my Mom says "That's the house!" and pointed, I slammed on my brakes, but I had to keep driving and following the man.
So we backtracked after the colorblind/wrong house incident and Annie was right!
We then ended up meeting the elderly couple who lived there, going in the house, touring it, and getting a chance to spend time in the house where my mother's father, my grandfather, lived in! It was a wonderful experience to share with my mother-especially on Mother's Day! :)
From there, we drove to Kenmare and after a little resting in our B&B, we went for a nice Italian dinner (haha, yes, in Ireland) and then to hear some traditional Irish music. This resulted in us dancing with an 80 yr old man who smelled very badly, like bacon, from some intense dancing. I couldn't understand a word he said due to his Irish brogue. That was a trip!
To be continued...
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