Exploring the Emerald Isle and attending a Wonderful Wedding

An unstructured five days driving around southern Ireland was a relaxing introduction to the country.  We had a rental car and our first night booked in an AirBNB on a houseboat in Sallins, a bit out of Dublin.  Finding a tourist information office was our first port of call (after the grocery store) on the way to the west coast and the Cliffs of Moher.  They were impressive and we had good late afternoon sun to show them off. Each day we booked our Air BNB for where we thought we would end up and fortunately that all worked out fine for us and meant we kept things flexible. Found nice places to stay and between our hosts and the tourist info places, we also found good restaurants.

Had three nights at Cahersiveen (never did learn how to pronounce it) on the Ring of Kerry which gave us one day for the Dingle Peninsula (Inch Beach, Dingle, Dunberg Fort, Beehive huts) and one day for the Ring of Kerry.  Learned about Skellig Michael (a very steep rocky island inhabited by monks for 1000 years) and even saw it in the distance, tasted Skellig chocolate at the factory, visited the 2000 year old Staigue Fort with its 6 m (20 foot) high walls (built without mortar) and enjoyed the views in Killarney National Park.  Had a walk around Muckross House and Gardens, as well as Ross Castle (one of the last castles in Ireland to fall to the English in 1652).  On the way to Kilkenny we visited the Rock of Cashel (reputedly the castle where the King of Munster was converted by St. Patrick in the fifth century AD) in Tipperary (a good excuse to keep singing that song) which contains a replica of the 12th century St Patrick’s cross.  Attempted to find our AirBNB in Kilkenny without having an exact address and by one of those amazing strokes of good luck, we met a woman on the street who knew our host and directed us to their place. Kilkenny was a great town to visit, interesting history on the Medieval Mile, good pubs with music, friendly locals, the famous Kilkenny Castle, Cathedrals and a 9th century round tower 30 m high which we climbed, before driving to Dublin.

The instigation for this whole trip was to attend Jenn and Paul’s wedding in Dublin.  Pre-wedding festivities included a ‘family dinner’ at Paul’s parents’ home and a tour of the Guiness Storehouse.  Barbara spent a couple of nights with us in our lovely Air BNB apartment in Dublin.  The wedding ceremony was conducted by a celebrant who was a friend of Jenn’s – it was powerful, emotional and touching.  Jenn’s way with words was evident in the ceremony and in her vows.  She looked radiant in her stunning gown as she married her handsome Irishman.  My dear friend Lesley, the mother of the bride, was also stunning in her hot pink dress and a gracious host all evening. And it was quite an evening with a couple of hours in the pub between the ceremony and the reception, followed by dancing til way after midnight.  In addition to the Irish contingent the guests were from Canada, Australia, and various countries in Europe.  It was a wonderful celebration of family, love and friendships in the crazy and wild party town of Dublin where revellers carry on in the streets most of the night.  A post-wedding brunch in a pub rounded off the festivites.  I was honored to be part of Jenn and Paul’s moving celebration, and very happy to have time with lots of old friends and to make some new ones at the wedding.  We really enjoyed our time in Ireland, even though it was not on our travel list before the wedding invite arrived.  

Our houseboat stay in Sallins near Dublin

 

Poulnabrone Portal Tomb

 

Cliffs of Moher

 

Beehive huts on the Dingle Peninsula (with photographer Dick in action)

Driving around the Irish countryside

 

From the chocolate factory….lots of sayings in Ireland

 

Staigue Fort on the Ring of Kerry

 

Muckross House

Ross Castle

 

Rock of Cashel

Kilkenny Castle

 

The 30 m tall round tower we climbed

And then we had to climb down!

 

With Barbara at the end of the Guiness Storehouse tour

 

Jenn and Declan (even Declan did the Guiness tour) with Jenn’s brother Jeff in the background.

Jenn and Paul in Dublin on the wedding day

At the service

 

Lesley, mother of the bride, and one of my oldest and closest friends

Jenn and Lesley at the reception

Jenn & Paul doing their reception speeches

I got some lovely cuddles with Declan at the post-wedding brunch

 

Friends, family, festivals, farms, food, fun…

Friends, family, festivals, farms, food, fun….

We’ve had a great time in Scotland and England enjoying being with friends and family at the Edinburgh festival, on the farm in Somerset (England), a 2 year old’s birthday party in Aylesford and two full days in London.
Our time with John, Chesca and Tom at the Edinburgh Festivals was an amazing experience, especially as it was so well organized by John, who gave us a taste of a wide variety of shows from Tom’s improvisation shows to stand up comedy to concerts to book festival talks, with the complicated logistics all worked out. Doing 7 shows in one day was quite a feat for us, as we are out of practice at being out in the streets at midnight.  We would highly recommend the Edinburgh Festivals as a unique cultural experience catering for all tastes in a lovely city, and we were very lucky to be there with good friends who knew ‘the ropes’.
With sunny, warm summer weather our time on Pam and Guy’s farm in Somerset, England involved nice drives, good visits with family, pub lunches, an oceanside cliff top walk and for Dick a ‘men’s only’ pub crawl through the countryside, a tour of the farm and a ride in the combine (a large farm machine).  We also enjoyed celebrating Eve’s second birthday at Russell & Mandy’s before heading up to London for two very full days with Cathy which included a trip down the Thames to Greenwich, a visit to the British Museum and seeing a show at the Old Vic, “Girl from the North Country”, featuring Bob Dylan’s music.

Next stop Ireland……

Edinburgh Festival with John & Chesca

 

On the streets of Edinburgh

 

Relaxing in their sunny backyard with Pam & Guy

 

Visiting Stourhead Gardens

 

Walking on the cliffs with cousin Celia & Bob, and Pam & Guy

 

Overlooking Kimmeridge Bay

 

Nephew Tom, Sam & Oliver

 

Nephew Russell, Mandy & Eve
At the Greenwich Observatory with Cathy