IRELAND

For Fall break this year we decided to play Ryan Air roullette. Ryan Air is the Southwest knock off of Europe and they have crazy low prices on airfare. We looked to see where the cheapest airfare was going and that is how we decided where to visit. Ireland won and that stuck with our "why go anywhere warm" theme of travel. Josh out did himself with the planning of this trip. We had five days to see as much as we could so here was our schedule:

Arrive at 9PM in Dublin and spend the night

DAY 1
Leave at 7AM and drive South to Waterford to visit the House of Waterford (crystal factory)
Hop in the car and head west to Blarney Castle to kiss the stone.
Hop in the car and head west to spend the night in Killarny at Darby O'Gills Guest House.
DAY 2
Leave at 7AM and head to the ferry. Drive to the Cliffs of Moher.
Hop in the car and travel East to Bunratty Castle to tour the castle and grounds. Hang out and eat at the castle for dinner - 14th century style banquet.
Hop in the car and drive East to Dublin.
DAY 3
Wake up at 8AM and head out to Dublinia - hands on museum.
Visit Guiness Factory and take the tour.
Visit the Leprechaun Museum.
DAY 4
Leave at 7AM and head North to New Grange - Neolitic burial site
Hop in the car and continue North to the Giant's Causeway
Hop back in the car and head South to Belfast for dinner and sleep.
DAY 5
Leave at 8AM and head South to Dublin and the Dublin Zoo
Drop car off at rental office and head to the plane.

It was a BUSY trip but we saw all 4 coasts and so many wonderful things. There are quite a few posts about what we saw and tons of pictures, so please read up and enjoy our adventures!

House of Waterford

Our first stop on our whirlwind tour of was Waterford on the Southern coast of Ireland. Josh did this for me and really wasn't very jazzed for this visit. This is an excellent tour for people of all ages! It is a very small factory that does speciality pieces and they encourage tour visitors to get up close a personal with their employees. The tour takes you through a brief history of the factory, into the mould room where they use wooden moulds and paddles (they smell really good - like a campfire), then through the blowing department - where you see master blowers at work. Next you go through the quality control department where you see them working on preparing the pieces to head to the cutting department. In the cutting department, you watch master cutters at work. They are insistant that you get as close as possible to see them work. We had one fella have us stand behind him so we could get a better view on how he made all his cuts. It is worth mentioning that all the cuts are made by hand without having any patterns on the glass. There are "guides" on the pieces, but the patterns are memorized and are all done free hand by master cutters using diamond edged drills. It was something to see. Next you move on to the finishing department. This was where Josh lost his little bald mind. Sitting on one table was what appeared to be the 2012 Super Bowl trophy. It was actually a copy of the one they did but it was still really neat to see. On a table across from that, though, was what made Josh's day -the 2012 NCAA trophy. Yes the actual trophy ! Upon seeing it, my husband broke all the rules and picked it up for a picture! The last stop is the showroom where you can purchase items. We "ohhed and awwwed" and left with our pocket books still full, but it was an amazing tour to take.

Waterford Crystal Pictures

This is a 5 foot tall champange flute
The wooden mold the master blowers use when shaping items

One of the master blowers working on a vase

Quality control department - sanding the lip of a vase

One of the cutters at work

The dish all cutters perfect for a whole year. All cuts are by hand with only the bare minimum of guidelines on the bowl. (apprentice bowl)

Working on the apprentice bowl. They really want you right there watching them work. This fella had us move behind him so we could see better.

One of the items that made Josh's visit worth while. Note the writing!

In the showroom

Blarney Castle

Our visit to Blarney Castle was so amazing. The stone (as opposed to wood) Blarney Castle was built in 1210 AD, destroyed in 1446 and then rebuilt later by Cormac Laidir MacCarthy. It has changed hands many times over the years and is now considered a partial ruin, but remains a huge tourist attraction because of the Blarney stone. Kissing the Blarney stone is supposed to gift you with eloquence, but getting to it takes stamina! You climb narrow, uneven stone steps (and not straight up - we are talking winding stairs) about four stories up. The view at the top is beautiful but also a little daunting. Next, you sit on the ground facing away from the tourret wall, lean backwards grabing 2 metal bars, and strain to smooch the stone. There is a saftey grate below your head, but it was frightening for Jax and he decided not to pucker up. We started back down to the ground, and about halfway there Jax changed his mind and back up we went. We were so proud of him for working past his fear and recognizing it was a chance in a lifetime. The Blarney stone is the main attraction, but the grounds are amazing. You can spend hours wandering around, taking pictures or just relaxing. There are also extensive gardens including a poison garden which was really neat to look through. I have posted a whole bunch of pictures from this visit.....

Josh kissing the Blarney stone

Skye kissing the Blarney stone

Jaxon kissing the Blarney stone

Blarney Castle Pictures

The Blarney Stone as seen from the ground - it's about 4 floors up!Teehee

Cliffs of Moher

The Cliffs of Moher are located on the Western coast of Ireland and is one of the most breathtaking coasts we have seen to date. They rise 390 feet above the Atlantic Ocean and reach over 700 feet just North of O'Briens Tower. O'Briens Tower is a round tower anound the midpoint of the cliffs built by Sir Cornelius O'Brien, a decendent of King Brian Boru, to impress the ladies. (hmmmm....Josh never built me a tower...)
It is a faboosh natural wonder to visit. It was made even cooler by Jaxon. He recognized the cave in the cliff wall as one that was used it the movie Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Even the fairly steady rain didn't bother us. Enjoy the pictures!

Cliffs of Mohre Pictures

Bunratty Castle

After our adventures at the Cliffs of Moher, we traveled off to Bunratty Castle and Folk Park. Bunratty is really a tower house in County Clare located between Limerick and Enis. Not only is there a very impressive tower house, there is a really cool folk park that gives visitors a glimpse into 19th century Irish home life.
Bunratty was restored during the 1950's and opened to the public in 1960. It was lovingly restored and has lots of period furnishings and a very informative tour.
The folk park is huge! There is a main street area with stores, a working pub, a doctors house and even a school house. There are several examples of cottages from the very poorest to the wealthy land owner. There is a blacksmiths house, a mill and even a church. All are open to the public to walk through, look at and many times have actors ready and waiting to talk to you.

There were two highlights to visiting this castle. First were the castle hounds. I have been intrested in Irish Wolfhounds for a few years now, and have always wanted one but never had seen one in person. The castle boasted two that live on the grounds - Finn and his sister. (We were told the sister's name but the accent made it impossible for me to catch) These were some magnificent and SMELLY dogs. Josh is still telling me no but I am making it my mission to get one of these dogs some day!

The second highlight was ment as a suprise for the kids. Twice a night a banquet is held at Bunratty Castle. We were met in the hall and offered a glass of mead or punch and while waiting to be escorted into the dining hall, we were entertained by a fiddler, a harpist and some very talented singers. Once taken into the dining hall, we were treated to a feast of soup, chicken veggies and dessert as well as red and white wine and water. There are no utensils but that is in keeping with the time period where they only had knives to eat with. There was also entertainment during the meal with lots of singing that ranged from bawdy to beautiful. It was a really cool way to end our visit to the castle and Jax and Skye both had a great time. Jax made the night of some Australians that were visiting. Apparently my kid is really funny and quick with his one liners.
I posted more pictures below so check them out!!!!

Bunratty Castle Pictures

The King and Queen of the Castle

One of the houses in the folk park

One of the houses in the folk park

The playground - built to look like a castle with a maze in the middle

The mill house

The church

Dublinia

Dublinia is an interactive museum, geared towards students and children, in downtown Dublin. It covers Viking Dublin and Medieval Dublin as well as touching on the way archeologists unearth the treasures that are either displayed or mentioned in the museum. In the Viking section, the displays are lifesized and include a typical Viking house, ship and dockside market. You can try on different types of helmets and even spell your name out in runes. In the Medieval section of the museum, there is a scale model of Dublin and lots of information on the Black Death which swept through the town. The final section of the museum is dedicated to the field of archeology. it shows many of the items found in digs around the city of Dublin. It is totally worth the visit and both Skye and Jax seemed to enjoy it.

The entrance
Jax trying on a helm

Viking burial

Rubbing out the runes in our names

Information on The Black Death

Guinness Storehouse

Since we visited the Famous Grouse Experience while in Scotland, we figured checking out the Guinness Storehouse while in Ireland would be a good idea.
This brewery turned museum is spread out over 7 floors filled with large video displays and tons of information culminating in a free pint of Guinness or soda at the very top of the building in the Gravity Bar.
The first floor covers the four main ingredients of Giunness - barley, hops, yeast and water. The next few floors cover the history of brewing and the brewery with large displays and lots of information. Floors five, six and seven have various corporate offices, meeting rooms and a number of bars. From floor seven, you can take an elevator or two flights of stairs up to the Gravity Bar that has a 360 degree panoramic view of Dublin which is spectacular.
Is The Guiness Storehouse worth the visit? Well, it was interesting and I am glad we did it, but really it is a much hyped museum with very little interaction due to an assumed high visitor preference. It is very impersonal and I think much of the attraction to this museum is the free pint of Guinness at the end. The way I look at it is we have been so blessed in the exciting things we have seen and done on our trips that there was bound to be a dud eventually.