Tour of Ireland

While a few things have happened since then, we didn't want to forget to write about our recent trip to Ireland!  The day after the Royal Wedding, Erin, Eric, Derek, and I took a (very) early flight to Dublin.  Derek and I were joining Erin and Eric for the first three days of their week-long visit, and we got to see Dublin, Waterford, and Cork. 

We kicked off the weekend with a Guinness Factory tour.  I drink Guinness now.  For those of you who know my beer consumption habits (which are very limited), you know that this is a big deal for me.  A couple of months in the British Isles and I practically skipped into the factory.  Turns out, the beer has that burnt kind of taste because they roast the barley before brewing the beer.  Makes sense.

We continued being tourists by going to the Temple Bar for lunch, Trinity College to see the Book of Kells, and Dublin Castle.  We had a nice Irish dinner at Foley's, and spent the rest of the evening playing cards at McGrattan's, trying prawn-flavored Pringles (ew), and sampling some of Ireland's finest beers and ciders.

Day 2 involved hopping in the Peugeot to head to Waterford, where we were met with drizzly wind and not many people.  The highlights were definitely the Waterford Crystal factory, and a nice lunch served by friendly Irish people.  You have to try brown bread.  Seriously.  It's delicious.  I will be adding it to the list of things to attempt to replicate upon my return to Little Ireland (aka Boston). 

Even the boys were somewhat enthralled by the process of creating Waterford crystal.  The tour was much more up close and personal than many other tours we've been on during our travels, and you could actually talk to the glass blowers and cutters, and touch some of the works in progress.  I have a new found respect for all the crystal baubles that adorn the living rooms and dining rooms of prior generations.  I even felt a slight tinge of desire for elaborately cut water goblets, but I opted instead for one of the decidedly simpler (and cheaper) vases.  Should be a blast to carry back to the US.

Crystal Blowing

Bowl etched with London landmarks

My favorite thing about the drive down to Cork via Waterford (other than Eric's skillful driving and Erin's attentive navigation) was the occasional field of bright yellow flowers.  I had only seen this type of thing from planes, but they have these huge fields that just look like someone took a yellow crayon to the grass.

And finally, we made it to Cork.  Ireland also does some awesome scones.  Seriously, those triangular things at Starbucks are an abomination.  I feel like half of this post has been about food.  Must be because I had a salad for lunch today.  Anyway, to wrap up (as I imagine you're tired of reading), the final thing we did before heading back to London was visit Blarney Castle, home of the Blarney Stone.  So the deal is, if you kiss the Blarney Stone you get the "gift of gab".  This was concerning to me, (1) because I'm a germaphobe and kissing something that other people have been kissing and doing god knows what else to is mildly terrifying, and (2) because you can clearly see by the length of this blog post that I do not require any additional gab.  However, I thought the castle was really cool (despite Rick Steve's grumpy review), and I enjoyed climbing up and looking out over the green surrounding area.  And, to my delight, the guy manning the Blarney Stone pulled out a spray bottle of antibacterial stuff right before it was our turn, and I sucked it up and kissed the stupid thing!  Now I try not to think about what germs I may have contracted.  Plus, we finished our visit with this fabulous picture of the four of us...a little water logged, but continuing to have fun.