July 31 to August 3, 2005
We had one day on the ship between France and Ireland which is barely enough time to recover.
My mom and step-dad were meeting us in Ireland and staying on the ship while were in port. I called my mom on her cell phone while we were in France to just touch base and she was in Ireland when she answered. I am telling ya, technology is awesome. I didn’t even know she was there yet. We never know our exact docking specifics until the night before the port so I sent her an email with all the details so she could find the ship. The morning we arrived in port she was supposed to be there between 9-10am. Well shortly after 10am she still wasn’t there and I was about to call her on a borrowed cell phone when I saw them pull up in a taxi. She never got my email, but fortunately thought to call the Port Agent and ask where we were docked, so only sometimes technology is awesome. They came on board and got settled into their room. After lunch we took the bus to town to see the Book of Kells and then the Kilmanheim Gaol, which is an old jail. Both were very neat. We wondered around looking for a place for dinner and finally found a nice place that wasn’t too loud. We were all pretty tired by then and a bit bedraggled after a day of adjusting to each other’s traveling style.
We had one day on the ship between France and Ireland which is barely enough time to recover.
My mom and step-dad were meeting us in Ireland and staying on the ship while were in port. I called my mom on her cell phone while we were in France to just touch base and she was in Ireland when she answered. I am telling ya, technology is awesome. I didn’t even know she was there yet. We never know our exact docking specifics until the night before the port so I sent her an email with all the details so she could find the ship. The morning we arrived in port she was supposed to be there between 9-10am. Well shortly after 10am she still wasn’t there and I was about to call her on a borrowed cell phone when I saw them pull up in a taxi. She never got my email, but fortunately thought to call the Port Agent and ask where we were docked, so only sometimes technology is awesome. They came on board and got settled into their room. After lunch we took the bus to town to see the Book of Kells and then the Kilmanheim Gaol, which is an old jail. Both were very neat. We wondered around looking for a place for dinner and finally found a nice place that wasn’t too loud. We were all pretty tired by then and a bit bedraggled after a day of adjusting to each other’s traveling style.
Inside the Kilmanhiem Gaol
downtown Dublin
The next day we took a train to a town north of Dublin called New Grange. We saw these monoliths which were about 1,000 years older than Stonehenge - 3,000 A.D. I thought they were really neat only because they were so massive and old. They had stone etchings which were done before the Iron Age so they didn’t even have metal to do the carvings. There were a lot of spirals and circles in the carvings.
It was a long day and we got back to Dublin kind of late and after wondering around for what seemed like a long time we found a restaurant. Unfortunately, it wasn’t that good and was very loud, but it was food.One thing that I really wanted to do in Ireland was go hiking. Sarah and I wanted to go to the west coast and hike there, but I didn’t realize my mom and step-dad were staying in Ireland for about 10 days after we left to travel over there so of course they didn’t want to head west. Anyway, Sarah and I did split off on the third day and went hiking in the Wicklow Mountains, which is about an hour south of Dublin. It was absolutely gorgeous! We hiked about 11 km or so and had a great time. Because of the timing of the buses we had to stay overnight and ended up in an overpriced hostel that didn’t include towels in the price (which of course we didn’t find out until about 10pm). At least it was clean and safe. We woke up very early the next day and were back in Dublin for breakfast. We met up with my mom and step-dad and shopped around for a bit before they had to leave to pick up their rental car. Sarah and I met all the other RDs for a delicious, but slow lunch. We then just wondered around Dublin a bit. I must say Dublin was one of my least favorite cities of the summer. It was OK, but nothing really stood out for me, although the Irish countryside is gorgeous. I was looking forward to Spain.
Taking a rest on our Wicklow Mountain hike
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