janisj, we didn't take them outside the castle, but I know that a lot of people like to do that. Actually I had hoped there would be more Monty Python related souvenirs in the shop, but they were mainly focused on Outlander right now ... blasphemy.

Re: gps, this was pure user error, so never trust a gps user.

<B>Day 11: Kilkenny and Waterford, Thursday 7/13</B>

Erica was really interested in seeing the Waterford Crystal factory and as an easy trip from Kilkenny we decided to do it in the morning. So we set out in the morning after our simple store-bought breakfast and got there and got there in less than 45 min down the super fast M9. After parking in a public lot very close to the factory, we got in there with a few minutes to spare before the next tour … perfect timing. Erica and I found the ~ 1 hour factory tour very interesting and informative (I knew close to zero about Waterford Crystal other than the name) and it was pretty cool seeing how almost everything is done by hand by master craftsman. I asked at several points along the way about potential places for automation, and the guide stressed how the reputation of the brand is based heavily on the handiwork … makes perfect sense and it’s great that this craft still exists.

The final display room was really cool as it held some very unique and interesting pieces. And the gallery contains the largest display of Waterford Crystal in the world. Waterford Crystal also has a fairly checkered recent financial past which has impacted this struggling city and many of its inhabitants. Dean, our tour guide, spoke with me for about 15 minutes after the tour and told me how his father was a master craftsman in the old factory in heyday of the 70s and 80s when thousands of people were employed, and then about the economic hardship on the city when the company started struggling and thousands of people lost their jobs. It was a unique perspective on this narrative. All in all this was a worthwhile trip and unique experience for us.

After Erica bought a few ornaments in the gallery and we did some other souvenir shopping in a local shop, we grabbed our picnic lunch and walked over to The People’s Park, where we enjoyed our sandwiches and chips, the kids played on the playground for a bit, and we fed the birds. We wanted to get back to Kilkenny to do more there, so we headed back in mid afternoon and spent a bit of time back at the apartment resting and doing some more laundry. Then it was back to High Street for some shopping and more ice cream eating. I swear Ian must have asked for ice cream about 4 times a day on this entire trip since it was everywhere.

We decided to check out the Medieval Mile Museum because it was fairly new (opened in Feb) but was getting good reviews and we wanted to get some of the history of the city. On Thursdays they stayed open later and ran the guided tour every hour until 7pm. We got there around 5:15pm so we signed up for the 6pm tour and checked out the museum on our own for the 45 min. It is housed in the old St. Mary’s Church, not to be confused with the larger and more famous St. Mary’s Cathedral. I have to admit that it is a bit underwhelming and pricey (€30 family) at first. There’s the main room as you walk in, several side rooms or corridors, and a small upstairs room. If you don’t get the guided tour, I think it’s harder to appreciate what they have there and to get the full history of the city. After the tour I was very impressed and would recommend it, by tour only of course.

Since we were the only ones there that evening, we got a personal 1 hour tour from the curator and archaeologist who was involved in some of the excavations and findings. How cool is that? Naturally, she was very passionate about the museum and the city’s history. It housed some very neat artifacts, mostly of the burials that were in an around the church, and also the Liber Primus, the medieval Book of Kilkenny dating from 1231. I would say this is more for adults as our kids had a bit harder time appreciating what they had, but some of the stories they enjoyed.

After learning about Dame Alice Kyteler, who was a pub owner and was tried for witchcraft in the 1300s, we naturally had to have dinner at the famous and historic Kyteler’s Inn. We were seated upstairs right by the trad band playing area, and got to enjoy some beautiful traditional music (three piece band with guitar, mandolin, and accordion) while eating our very tasty dishes of chicken wings, Irish stew, bangers and mash, and chicken pot pie, and of course, a pint of Guinness. After spending quite a bit of time listening to the music, we made our way back to the apartment with another stop at the Dunnes to pick up more snack and picnic foods.

<B>Day 12: Kilkenny to Killarney, Friday 7/14</B>

We started the day with another light breakfast in the apartment and then left around 10am (all we had to do was leave the key under the door mat) for the Rock of Cashel. It would be another beautiful weather day (high 60s F and sunny). It took about 1 hour to get there and the view from the R639 as you round the bend and see the Rock BOOM right there in your windshield is fantastic. We were able to park in the main lot below the Rock and get up there before too many of the tour buses started rolling in. The whole grounds and ruins were very impressive. Ian was in a bit of a mood, so he decided to sit on the soft green sloping lawn facing the Hore Abbey while we toured the place on our own before the official guided tour started at noon. He would cheer up and join us again for the tour. We spent about 2 hours in total there learning all of the history (including the a-hole Cromwell and his massacre of hundreds of men, women, and children taking refuge in the church) and seeing the very cool paintings on the original cathedral roof from the 1200s.

After we left we had a very hard time finding a park to have our picnic. We were kicking ourselves at this point for not just bringing the food into the Rock and eating on the beautiful grounds, but everyone was very hungry so we just stopped in a nearby parking lot and ate our food there. Off were were now to Killarney for the 90 min drive. We got to the Ross Castle Lodge B&B near right down the road from, you guessed it, the Ross Castle, where Rosaleen greeted us into her cute little house right on the edge of the Killarney National Park. It was literally one of the last houses on the road into the park and had a very pretty garden out front, side and back. The clippety clop of horses pulling their jaunting cars was a welcome sound outside the B&B all weekend long.

We settled in briefly but then quickly drove into the Park to the Torc Falls car lot. Little did we know that there were three Torc Falls lots, and we chose the first and furthest one from the falls. This was OK though as we got a nice long hike out of it as opposed to just walking to the falls and back to the car. The falls was very pretty, not huge but not small either. Ian wanted to climb up to the bottom of the falls, so we all started climbing the rocks and got there with little problem. Next we continued on the yellow trail to the edge of the Muckross Lake where Ian would enjoy some more rock throwing/skipping. We continued on the yellow and then blue trails back to the car park for a total of about 90 min of up and down hiking.

Everyone was hungry after a light breakfast and lunch (and no ice cream!) so we drove into town where we unsuccessfully tried a few placed that were all booked or very busy. Ian was happy that we ended up at the Golden Chopsticks Chinese restaurant, which was pricey for Chinese but we thought was pretty good. We also found it amusing that you could order your dishes with steamed rice or chips. Yes, it seems almost every meal in Scotland and Ireland is served with chips. Haha. We finally learned our lesson with the huge portions we’ve been getting and ate family style off of three dishes. After dinner we got back to the B&B around 9pm and started the wind down.

Next up, Killarney and the Ring of Kerry.

I just wash the clothes and hang to dry now. I have never gotten my clothing dry except once and they became permanently wrinkled. I am a fan of quick dry clothing. But you have clean clothing. Every trip I have to figure out each machine.

First time we visited Waterford was when it was fully operational. 2000 I think. It was wonderful. I think most of their crystal is now made in Poland.

I'm really enjoying your trip report, Paul.

I've just returned from my 3rd trip to Ireland but there's still much I haven't seen. When I got to Kilkenny Castle I was met with a massive downpour and got drenched to the skin for the second time that day. Missed pretty much all of it :(

Macross, yeah, we learned how most of it is made in Bulgaria, Czech Republic, and Slovenia now. I think they employ < 100 people in the Waterford factory now.

margo_oz, thanks much. Yes, I'm so thankful we got amazing weather in Ireland ... I think we spent a total of 12-14 hours on beaches (detailed in future postings), which I had never dreamed of when planning this trip.

We are looking forward to a trip to Oz sometime in the next 2 years, so I'll be back on here looking for advice. :)

Scotland had never been on my radar, for some reason. I don't know why but I feel its mountain scenery is just OK compared to Switzerland. Also it strikes me as too rural and unsophisticated. But I could be wrong.

Could be :-)

Potatoes; I once went for a meal out in Northern Ireland and was offered baked, mashed and chipped potatoes, all on the same plate.

"But I could be wrong." . . . Ya think!????

Oh - yes - you are much too sophisticated for Scotland.

Allow me to interrupt this interesting little conversation.

<B>Day 13: Killarney, Saturday 7/15</B>

We started with a very nice hot breakfast, one of six choices that Rosaleen offers each morning. Today was a day that we had pre-booked a 2 hour pony trek in the National Park, so the morning was free to visit the Ross Castle (#10). The 10 minute walk to the castle along the park road sidewalk was very nice and we saw several deer along the way. We would later find that there are huge herds of a couple different types of deer in the park that have no real predators. We got to the castle a bit after 10am and explored the grounds a bit (you can actually get inside the outer wall and walk the grounds without having to pay yet) before entering the castle for the tour. The structure is a handsome tower house castle with a great postcard view from the bridge crossing a small creek. We had planned to take the lake boat tour first, but they weren’t running yet and didn’t have any departure times posted, so we signed up for the 10:30am guided tour as this was the only way to view the castle.

The tour was nice and inexpensive and explored the 4-5 floors of the tower house. The tour finished at 11:20, but now the next boat trip wasn’t until 12pm and lasted one hour. With having to be at the stables at 1:15 for our 2pm pony trek, this wouldn’t have left enough time to grab lunch and get over there so we had to skip the boat. In hindsight we should have waited for the first boat trip and then seen the castle second, and we didn’t need to get to the stables that early as they really only spent 15 min with us before the ride. Oh well, lesson learned.

So we drove into town and had lunch at a small French bakery with a limited soup and sandwich selection, which was perfect for a light lunch. We did about 15 min of souvenir shopping before driving the 10 min to the Killarney Riding Stables. We got there at 1:20, and got fitted on our horses around 1:50. The four of us were grouped with a young couple and two young girls, so it made for small nice small group of 8 riders plus two guides. The horses were good, though a bit lethargic in riding their routine route, the guides were great and very talkative providing lots of good riding information. The scenery of the ride, however, was less than spectacular as most of the 2 hour ride was through fields, woods or high brush. At the very beginning there was a nice view of the tallest mountain in Ireland, Carrauntoohil (3400 ft), across the lake, and we did see several huge herds of the deer, but the rest was not really worth it. All-in-all the ride was fun and well organized, but I think we could have spent our time and money (very expensive!) better in the Park.

After the ride we drove back into town and did some more souvenir shopping (how are we going to get all of this home?) before having an early dinner at O’Connor’s Pub. My shepherd’s pie and Guinness were spectacular and Ian liked his wings, but the beef stroganoff was an odd, overcooked dish and the steak sandwich was pretty terrible … a bit like chewing on a leather shoe. After dinner we spent some more time in stores and grabbed Ring of Kerry picnic food at the local Dunnes store. The kids again decided to wind down at the B&B while Erica and I walked backed to the Ross Castle to enjoy the evening views over the lake and feed more ducks.

<B>Day 14: Ring of Kerry, Sunday 7/16</B>

Before the trip we were deciding on whether to do the RoK, Dingle Peninsula, or Beara Peninsula. Given our location, we decided to stick with the easy choice of the RoK, leaving the other two road trips for a future vacation. Against my initial plan, Rosaleen advised strongly to drive the Ring clockwise. She recommends this to all of her guests for two reasons: (1) most of the good stuff (her opinion) is in the first half of the Ring going clockwise, so you spend the early high energy hours doing fun stuff rather than driving a lot, and (2) you get down to the Skellig Ring where the tour buses can’t go before you start to pass them on Ring of Kerry, thus you never encounter the buses coming at you on the narrow roads and you never get stuck behind them. I bought it and it was very good advice. It worked out perfectly. We spent 11 hours on the Ring from 9:15am to 8:15pm and only encountered three buses and very little traffic the entire time.

After leaving Killarney through the NP, we stopped first at Ladies’ View for a beautiful view of a lake and the Gap of Dunloe among other sites. A bit further down the road after Kenmare Ian was getting a bit car sick in the back (thus started the “Ian gets to ride in the front seat” part of the vacation), so we stopped to take a break at a pullout that had a “Holy Well” sign pointing into the woods. Why not? It was a short 5-10 min walk down to the holy well, which was a trickle of a spring coming out of the ground under a tree with some small shrine items placed around it. Oh well, not worth it, but no harm as Ian still needed to recover a bit.

Next we drove straight to O’Carrolls Cove beach, which was right off the side of the road. What a little gem of a beach. It was not crowded yet, so we found a parking spot right down at the entrance to the beach and restaurant. This was our first Scotland/Ireland beach experience, but I already knew the water would be too cold for me and Erica, and it was. We are too used to warm Texas and Gulf waters at this point, so anything below 75F is freezing. But the kids don’t care of course, so they were out wading in the beautiful clear, turquoise water. This is also where Isabel started her limpet collection … she has always like limpets for some reason, and this beach was covered in them. Big and small, but all completely intact, the kids filled a medium ziplock bag with them. The rock formations off to the south end of the beach were really neat, too, so we all went exploring for a bit. Ian managed to slip into a tidal pool and get his second pair of shoes wet. C’est la vie.

After spending about 2 hours at that beach, we drove 10 min down the road to the next beach at the Derrynane house. Now this was a serious hidden gem that had the look and feel of a tropical beach, including the amazing water clarity and color. This beach was huge (probably over a mile from end to end) and had fantastic rock formations down in to the water that looked almost like petrified wood. We had skipped the Derrynane house completed because in this weather (70s and sunny and warm) we were ALL about the beach this day. We probably could have stayed here all day, and would have been happy doing that and just heading back afterwards, but alas, there was still so much to see. We had our picnic lunch on the rocks in the middle of one end of the cove and then did more tidal pool exploration, which were filled with large limpets, snails, and anemone, and clambering among the rocks. Even the expansive grass-covered sand dunes between the House and the beach were a beautiful sight (Isabel still bugs me today about being obsessed with nice grass).

After another 2-3 hours here, we continued down the road, stopping at several scenic overlooks, and entered the Skelling Ring past Waterville after passing only three buses on the way. Next we stopped at the Ballinskelligs Blue Flag beach, but this one would be not nearly as nice and 10 times more crowded than the Derrynane beach. There was a nice little craft/good fair set up in a grassy area near the parking lot with a live band playing as well. We spent very little time at this beach except to go explore the small Bellinskelligs, or McCarthy’s, Castle (#11) that was situated right at the end of the beach. It’s not really much to speak of as it’s really just a small tower house ruin and we wouldn’t have stopped for it had it not been right on the beach, but it was completely open to climb on its walls and walk around the top of the “battlements.” I’m surprised it’s not protected a little bit more than this, but otherwise it wouldn’t be worth seeing.

Next up was the Skellig Chocolate factory where we got the 10 min chocolate tasting “tour” (there was no production going on at this time), Ian bought some strawberry flavored chocolate, and then we tried a very nice hot chocolate made with milk and the Skellig milk chocolate. A short way down the road were the Kerry Cliffs. There was a small fee (€ 12 for a family) but it was well worth it as the cliffs are very majestic and the two overlook spots from points jutting far out from the cliffs, give you a great vantage point to see both sides of the formations. Some people had said they were as good or better than the Cliffs of Moher … I wouldn’t go that far, but they were certainly worth the drive and stop and money. They also offered a decent view of the Skellig Islands. We decided against a trip to the Islands because of the time commitment involved, but maybe another time.

We decided to go to Valentia Island, but for the main purpose of getting Valentia Ice Cream and not much else. Unfortunately we got there 10 min after they closed at 6pm. I really wished places like this would stay open later in peak tourism season, but oh well, Ian will have to get ice cream somewhere else. So we continued on to Knightstown where we had dinner at (a closed) Pod creperie. The savory crepes that we enjoyed at the outdoor seating were really good, and they were nice enough to serve us the crepes and ice cream past closing time. After this meal we made our way back to the peninsula on the cute litte €7 ferry with about 6 other cars. Thus ended one heck of a fun day on the Ring of Kerry and one that we would not soon forget.

We drove straight home from here with no other stops and got back to Killarney at 8:15, where we went straight to Ross Castle so that the kids could feed the ducks one last time with the remaining bread we had. Someone had let loose their annoying little dog to run all over the place and chase the ducks into the safety of the reeds, so we waited until they left and got our duck feeding on. Back to the B&B to prepare for another long day en route to Doolin and the Cliffs of Mohair, as Erica called them.

Next up, Killarney to Doolin

"Allow me to interrupt this interesting little conversation."

Sorry :>) - Loacker just sets me off

"with a great postcard view from the bridge crossing a small creek"

I know that exact viewpoint - were there swans? I have a photo there w/ two adults, 5 cygnets trailing behind and one riding on the mom's back.

Your RoK day was AMAZING - who'd a thunk you'd have beach weather????

Regarding wet clothes, which is often a problem in Ireland and Scotland,if the hot towel racks in the bathroom are working, ( sometimes difficult to figure out how to turn them on ) they do a great job of drying out almost anything overnight. I've been in a few B& B's that have drying rooms.


You really do seem to have made the most of your tour of Scotland and Ireland.

Still along for the ride and a mighty fun one it is!

No swans this time, janisj, only ducks. And yup, I can't say enough about the amazing weather. Up near Doolin we would have near 80F and so ~ 6 more hours of beach time were had. We had no plans for the beach on this trip (only Ian brought a swimsuit hoping for a hot tub at one of our accomodations), so it was a pleasant surprise.

historytraveler, yup, did that, too. They did wonders for our soaked shoes/boots also.

irishface, thanks. I am enjoying reliving it again. We're already planning our next 3 trips as well, so staying busy with vacation stuff.

<B>Day 15: Killarney to Doolin, Monday 7/17</B>

After another nice breakfast and talk with Rosaleen about our RoK trip (she agrees that spending all day at Derrynane beach is her idea of a perfect day, too), we set out at 10am for Doolin. A compromise for not staying in Dingle or doing the Dingle Peninsula was to make short drive through Dingle on the way to Doolin. Given the drive time and other stops we wanted to make on the way and the weather (projected to be the warmest day of the trip so far, near 80F), we decided to skip Dingle and go straight up. We got to Limerick by lunch time and stopped for a nice light lunch of toasties at Nellie’s Corner Café. Then 20 min up the road was our next planned stop at Bunratty Castle (#12) and Folk Park.

The little village set up in the Folk Park was cute and educational. Ian fell in love with the mini goats in the pen at the center of the village, so we agreed to let him hang out there while we explored everything else (I guess 11 castles was enough for him). As we were walking away, one of the goats got out of the pen so Ian stayed with him and tried to keep him in the area while we went and informed a park staff. Anyway, after checking out some of the village buildings we went in to the castle for a self-guided tour. This would be the best example of a classic Tower House castle that we had seen, with 4 spiral staircases all the way up to the battlements (great views up there!) and including all of the rooms in between. In total we spent about two hours in the castle and park.

With this crazy warm weather, the next obvious destination was the beach at Lahinch. After the 45 min drive, I was unprepared for what I saw. This town was absolutely bursting at the seams and the beach was packed. The car lot at the beach access was full, so we ended up parking around the corner closer to the Lahinch Golf Club. Certainly the warmest weather of the year so far (I checked the weather for June and July afterwards and indeed it was the warmest at 77F) and low tide (it’s a very deep flat beach so high tide around noon brings the water right up to the sea wall) brought everybody and their grandmother out. It was great fun. We got ice cream just off the beach before doing down. Ian had his USA flag swimsuit on (wear it loud and wear it proud! Haha) and we did a bunch of exploring on the rocks and pools on the south end of the beach. Unfortunately, there were a billion jellyfish all over the place in the water and on the sand. I read later that this was not uncommon at this beach, but the locals didn’t seem to care. We talked to a local lady and she said their stings don’t bother much, but it did limit the amount of swimming that Ian and Isabel would do.

I committed to Susan Daly at our B&B in Doolin for a 6pm arrival, and I was having a hard time getting in touch with her from the beach, so I decided to make the 20 min drive to Doolin and leave the family at the beach since they were having so much fun. Now that was a fun single track drive on Ballyellery Road from Lahinch to Doolin, up and over the peninsula of the Cliffs of Moher. The best thing was coming up over a ridge and then BOOM, right out of the front window was the almost fake-looking round tower house Doonagore Castle and the ocean behind it. This was one of three castles built along the cliffs, though this one is privately owned so no viewing was possible. But what a way to arrive in Doolin. I checked in on time with Susan, got all of the bags inside our two room upstairs family suite, and then headed back to Lahinch to pick up the family.

I picked them up after the had played at the playground for a bit and we headed back to Doolin. I know, this seems like a lot of senseless driving, but the scenery was so great that I didn’t care one bit. The Daly House B&B is a less than 5 min walk from the cute little area of town on Fisher St, pretty much right above Gus O’Connor’s Pub, and a short walk from the pier. We couldn’t have asked for a better location. Oh yeah, the profile of the Cliffs of Moher were visible from our bedroom window. After everyone settled in, we walked down to O’Connor’s Pub for dinner where we had good dishes of beef and Guinness stew, mussels, salmon, and pasta. Oh, and my pint of Guinness was tasty as always.

After a long day out and at the beach, the kids walked back to the B&B to go to bed early, and Erica and I walked down to the pier for sunset. We were treated with a beautiful sunset over the Atlantic and with a very playful and show-off of a dolphin named Dusty. Apparently he’s the local dolphin that has been playing around the pier and Inis Oirr for many years and divers come specifically to the pier here to swim with him. This night he decided to do all kinds of flips, slaps, and jumps right up next to the rocky shoreline. What a treat for our first night there. We got back to O’Connor’s at 10:15 for some trad and then back to the B&B by 11pm.

<B>Day 16: Inis Oirr and the Cliffs of Moher, Tuesday 7/18</B>

We had booked the full day combi trip to the Aran Island of Inis Oirr (pronounded Inisheer) which left from the pier at 10am and returned at 4:45pm. But first we had what was probably the best breakfast of our entire vacation so far. Susan’s sister was the cook, and she served a variety of fixed hot breakfasts (probably 10 choices or so) or any custom breakfast order, plus a full array of home baked goods and fancy yoghurt parfait cups. We all ate way too much on this morning. Because we had to arrive by 9:30am and the pier was a 15 min walk away, we decided to drive there and park the car so that we had an easy way back after a long day. We got to the Doolin2Aran ferry booth right at 9:30 and they rushed us onto the boat like we were late. This was a bit off-putting, but this was smaller boat (several other companies run a similar service) and everyone else was already on the boat so they wanted to leave early and get to the island first. We pushed off 20 minutes ahead of schedule, the ride was very pleasant (calm waters and already pretty warm, it would be the second warmest day of the year today) and we were the first ones on Inis Oirr, so it wasn’t so bad.

We arrived at the Inis Oirr pier at 10:15 and immediately rented a pony trap to tour the island with a guide. The ride was €30 for the family, and we shared the cart with another family of 4 where the wife was from Ireland and husband from Florida (they lived in Florida now). I don’t know if this was a good or standard price as we didn’t price shop, but it was a nice way to see the island. I wanted to rent bikes as I’m a cyclist, but I left it up to a family vote. Our driver was an older gentleman, born and raised on Inis Oirr. He was a bit hard to understand and was not a big talker, but was willing to blab a bit about this and that if you questioned him. After learning this both of our families took turns asking questions. We got a nice tour of the crazy stone walls used to separate private plots all over the island, the 1960s era shipwreck, and then he dropped us off below O’Brien’s Castle (#13) as it was too steep for the pony to climb up.

The castle ruins itself were kinda neat and the views of the town, pier, and beach were stupendous. But I only wish they had invested in some signage around the castle giving some of its history. As it was it was more of a stone playground that you could climb up the walls of. On our way down from the castle we stopped at a little café and got a couple of milkshakes for the kids. Then we made our way down to a really fun little playground in the sand that had a great zipline, tire swing, and tightrope walk. We spent a good hour there while Ian became the first person of about 10 trying to make it across the tightrope without falling off. After that a little Chinese girl there with a big family showed off her gymnastics skills and proceeded to cross the rope without falling numerous times. Good times!

Much to Ian’s chagrin, we passed the beach en route to lunch at Ned’s Pub at Susan’s suggestion. We had a nice light lunch of toasties and chips, and then grabbed some ice cream on the way back to the beach. This is where we would spend the remainder of our 3 hours on the island. What another nice little beach with beautifully clear and turquoise water. Ian quickly befriended what we determined to be an “island dog,” a sheepdog who would fetch a plastic coke bottle from anyone he could find to throw it in the water. Ian spent the better part of the 3 hours playing with the dog and learned that the dog was going among the various beach blankets and stealing other bottles (and shoes!) from the unsuspecting beach goers. Too funny. I also got Ian to do one jump from the rocks off to the right side of the beach, but the tide was pretty low show it was very shallow. More limpets were collected to finalize Isabel’s Irish limpet collection. We ended up with a large pasta sauce jar full of them.

We went back to the pier around 4:30 where there were hoards of people either waiting for their last rides, or having missed their earlier appointments were trying to find another ride back. It was rather chaotic and a bit of a mess, but luckily I asked a guy in the crowd which boat we needed and he pointed us to the right one as there were 4 or 5 boats there already. We were boarded first since we were combi tickets holders, so we got the best seats on the top of the boat. We left right at 4:45 and went straight back to the Doolin Pier to drop off the hitch hikers and pick up people only getting the Cliff cruise. Despite the great weather all day, the skies started getting overcast as rain was predicted for the next two days. However, by the time we got to the Cliffs of Moher, a hole opened up in the clouds and sun shown on the Cliffs once again.

They were indeed glorious and massive. I wish I could have seen them from the land as well, but in committing to the all day island trip and spending so much time at both beaches, that was not in the cards for this trip. The guide on the boat gave us some information about the cliffs for about 10-15 minutes, but I felt it could have been better and more interactive. I’m not sure how the other companies do it, but Doolin2Aran only gets a mediocre grade in my book. Fortunately, the Cliffs of Insanity (Princess Bride reference) kind of spoke for themselves.

We got back to the pier and then to O’Connor’s Pub for dinner at about 7:30pm where we had a very tasty dinner of mostly fresh seafood, including mussels, crab, chowder, baked hake, and prawns. Like the previous night, the kids went back to the B&B and we walked back to the pier to see if Dusty was entertaining again. He was there swimming around but not really performing, so we headed back afer about 30 minutes and before sunset as it was getting cooler on this evening.

Next up, Dublin and our last two days.

Well, I finally got around to finishing this trip report, so thanks for your patience, whoever is still out there reading this.

<B>Day 17: Doolin to Dublin, Wednesday 7/19</B>

It was raining this morning for the first time since we’d come to Ireland, which slightly impacted our plans for the day, but we couldn’t complain with what we had up until now. We took our time getting ready today, had another epic breakfast with Susan, and got on the road by 10:30 to get over to the Caherconnel Fort in time for an 11:15 sheep dog demonstration. They only have two a day, so it was important to get to this first one. We had originally planned to tour more of the sights in the Burren, but the weather convinced us to just do this dog show and get to Dublin.

At the fort, they had planned to delay the start of the dog show to hope for a break in the rain, but when that didn’t happen, they pushed on. The viewing area is covered, which is really nice. However, the high winds blowing directly in from the sheep herding pen meant that you were going to get soaked anyway, so we sucked it up and stood up front so that we could see and hear. The demonstration itself was really cool and so much fun. The trainer was also a cool guy who kept calling one of the dogs a brat for constantly leaving her position (creeping up on the sheep) when he turned his back … I wondered if it was a gimmick. Regardless, it was very cute. The dogs performed magically to both voice and whistle commands and moved the sheep around the course as instructed.

Ian befriended the 20 year old (I don’t think I’ve ever seen a 20 year old dog) retired lead dog as she watched the show with interest. The trainer also showed us all of the different types of sheep in Ireland and talked about their features. Afterwards, skipping the fort, we drove through some scenic portions of the Burren on the way to Kinvara where we had decent pizza at an Italian café and wine bar situated on the quay.

We drove the remaining 2-3 hours to Dublin without stopping and got to the Arranmore B&B in Drumcondra by 5pm. The free parking lot was full, so the owner Anne gave us a 2-day parking pass for the closest side street where we would leave the car until the Friday drive to the airport. We got the family suite at the very top of the “brownstone” style 4-story house, which was basically a renovated attic. The room was quite large for the 4 of us, but the quality left was a bit below average for this trip … perhaps not to be unexpected for a big city like Dublin. The door didn’t really close without being deadbolted, the mattresses were a bit old and hard, there were broken tiles in the bathroom, the electric water pump (haven’t experienced one before) that was needed because we were in the attic was extremely loud. I can only imagine what it must have sounded like to the rest of the house every time we flushed the toilet or took a shower. But it served its purpose and Anne was very nice and helpful, so no real complaints.

For dinner we simply went around the corner to Anderson’s Creperie (we tend to eat crepes whenever we find creperies) and had some very large and tasty dessert crepes. I guess everyone had a sweet tooth tonight. No one was in the mood for pubs and trad tonight, so we turned in early and just hung out in the room.

<B>Day 18: Dublin, Thursday 7/20</B>

Today was projected to be raining on and off all day, but we never got more than a sprinkle for a few minutes, so it turned out rather nice. At the recommendation of TripAdvisor and my co-worker who had been here earlier in their trip, we booked a 10am guided tour (the only way to see it) of the Kilmainham Gaol jail. This was completely on the opposite end of town, so Anne advised us on what time to get on which bus to get there in time. So we go on the #13 bus at a convenient bus stop right down the street (across from Fagan’s Pub) at 9am. There was a poorly executed driver change in the middle of town that took over 10 minutes, but we still managed to get to the jail by 9:45 for the tour which had about 15-20 people on it.

I didn’t know much about this jail or tour, but it became quickly apparent that it had a very political and nationalistic slant to it, which was great because up until now I didn’t know a lot about the modern fight for independence other that what everyone knows about Sinn Fein and the IRA. Our tour guide was a very passionate and knowledgeable Irish lady who kept 90% of the tour focused on Irish Independence. The jail itself was fairly interesting, especially the large Victorian-era east wing, but the stories and history are what makes the place unique.

After the tour, we took the bus back to the city center near Trinity College and had lunch at The Bank on College Green, a very impressive looking old bank building turned into a bar and restaurant. Some of the old vault doors were still in place in the basement near the restrooms. We had a very friendly French waitress who served us pretty good food (fish n chips, shepherd’s pie, pasta x 2) in the upstairs area overlooking the expansive bar. We finished lunch with a 3-flavor ice cream dessert (more ice cream!).

Next we walked down Grafton Street for some window and last-minute souvenir shopping. We finished getting our last bits at the huge Carrolls Irish Gifts shop in the area. We could have saved all of our standard souvenir shopping for this one store as they had basically everything we saw everywhere else for even cheaper. Then we made our way to the nearby museum area to check out what would be the first of three free (the best kind) museums.

National Museum of Ireland, Archaeology – small but packed with artifacts from Ireland’s history, mostly from the Bronze Age to Medieval times. I absolutely loved the large Viking section as I had no idea exactly how large the Viking influence on Dublin and Ireland was. Included in this was a special area on the Battle of Clontarf in 1014, commonly billed as the Irish battle for independence from the Vikings, though this has been grossly over-embellished over time in the name of nationalism. I learned a lot about the Irish king Brian Boru from this exhibit … very cool history.

National Museum of Ireland, Natural History (“The Dead Zoo”) – Wow, what a cool place for adults and kids alike. I don’t know if it is, but this is the largest and most diverse collection of animals and skeletons I have ever seen. And it’s housed in a cool Victorian-style central room with 4 or more floors all packed with animals. We were wondering what percentage of all known animals can be found here. It’s also an eerie reminder of the British Colonial past when trophy hunting for the sake of collections was a common practice. This was no more apparent than with the lone tiger they have on display, which was killed by King George V and donated to the collection in 1913.

National Gallery art museum – We got lucky as they stay open until 8:30pm on Thursdays and it was already after their normal closing time. Though we are not huge art fans, the collection of paintings was rather nice, especially (for our tastes) the massive wall paintings of the 16th-17th century European collection. Erica is a particular fan of Dutch paintings, so we sought those out as well.

After our fill of museums (oh, Ian sat outside the art museum, enjoying the weather and eating his newly purchased chocolate souvenir, which was much more palatable than art) we walked back through the Trinity College campus. The Book of Kell display was already closed, but that was OK as we had decided that being herded into a room to catch a glimpse of an old book was not worth our time and money … I checked it out online instead.  We ended up at the same bus stop we got dropped off at and waited a long time to catch the #16 bus back to Drumcondra. We had a very good dinner at Fagan’s Pub at Anne’s suggestion (beef and Guinness pie, bangers and mash, wings, pasta). The beef and Guinness pie was the best one I had on the trip, and the pint of Guinness was excellent as usual! We walked back home after dinner to start packing and planning for an early morning.

<B>Day 19: Flight home, Friday 7/21</B>

We had a 10:50am flight, and Anne recommended that we get there 3 hours early due to going through US customs in DUB. That meant leaving by about 7:30am and Anne wasn’t really wanting to get up to prepare breakfast that early, so she kindly gave us €20 back on our rental fee. She wouldn’t take no for an answer, so we graciously accepted. Getting a family of 4 out of a place with baggage by 7:30am was never really going to happen despite all of my nagging, so we ended up leaving by 8am and getting to DUB with about 2.5 hours to spare.

The 3 hour recommendation, which is the same that the DUB website recommends, is pretty much right on as we got to the gate just as they started boarding. Granted part of this time was used to find and execute the VAT tax refund process. This didn’t give us time to get any real food, but that was OK as they served us our first meal on the flight fairly quickly. The flights were uneventful and we got back to 100F Austin by 8pm and were crashed in our comfortable beds by 10pm.

We had an amazing time, and I still can’t believe it’s over, but I’ve enjoyed reliving all of it by writing this report. Thanks for reading along, and I hope there are some useful tidbits for other first time and maybe even repeat Scotland/Ireland travelers. And remember, "If it's not Scottish, it's craaaaaap!"

You guys sure did plan out a great itinerary. It sounds like the kids were real troupers.

Hey, I'm still here and looking forward to your last installment but too late tonight for me. Will catch up with it tomorrow. Thanks for taking the time to write such a comprehensive and interesting trip report.

"I didn’t know much about this jail or tour, but it became quickly apparent that it had a very political and nationalistic slant to it, which was great because up until now I didn’t know a lot about the modern fight for independence other that what everyone knows about Sinn Fein and the IRA. Our tour guide was a very passionate and knowledgeable Irish lady who kept 90% of the tour focused on Irish Independence."

We did this tour a few years back. As Brits we thought it might have been a bit one sided but, our guide steered a central path pretty well (maybe they picked up on our accent).

Unlike the Icelandic guide who explained how much they hated the Americans and British for the invasion. :-)

I stopped buying anything till I get to the airport. Anything you see in Ireland including Carroll's gift shop is there in duty free.

Glad you did the combo ticket for the cliffs. I was happy the puffins were flying the day we did the tour.

If you have netflix watch "The Rebellion" great four part series.

janisj, thanks, and yes, the kids were really easy. They are pretty good travelers in general. As long as I keep Ian pumped full of Chinese food and ice cream, and don't limit his propensity to fall into water too much, he's a happy camper.

Bilboburger, we had that same thought during the tour, that Brits might be a bit offended, but perhaps that's why our guide asked where we were all from before the tour started (no Brits). I had to look this up, but the Americans didn't invade with the British as we were still neutral at the time, but they were involved in the later occupation. However, if they needed one more reason to hate Americans, then so be it. ;)

Macross, there were quite a few puffins out during our trip, but most of them were of the floating variety. And thanks for the tip on the series ... I'll check it out.