Western Ireland Road Trip

Over the long Thanksgiving weekend we took the car for a trip to Galway, Roundstone, Newport, Leenane and Westport.  The first night we stayed at Ardawn House B&B in Galway, the second night at the Boulevard Guesthouse in Westport.  Both were centrally located and great.  We listened to some really good Irish music-- at Tig Coili in Galway and Mat Molloy's in Westport.  Between Galway and Newport we took the coastal roads.  It had started snowing at that point but the roads stayed mostly clear.  On Sunday we had planned to hike up Croagh Patrick, but the roads to the trailhead were steep and snowy so we decided to skip it.  We'll hopefully get back when the weather is warmer.

Galway City

Wurst and sauerkraut at the Galway Weihnachtsmarkt

Driving to Roundstone

Roundstone harbour

Manning Bay mussels at O'Dowd's pub

Mannin Bay

location of the famous Irish play The Beauty Queen of Leenane by Martin McDonagh

Croagh Patrick - where St. Patrick was said to have banished all snakes from the island

Snow and Bailouts

 It's snowing!  And Ireland is in financial crisis.

Merrion Square

A small Sinn Fein protest outside of Parliament on Sunday.
On Saturday there was a 50,000 person march but we weren't in town to see it.

Westport

Crough Patrick

Thanksgiving 2010

We had a proper Thanksgiving celebration, thanks to the canned pumpkin that was smuggled in from Oregon.  We had trouble finding turkey, but eventually found a boned and rolled turkey breast from our local butcher.  In the end, we successfully managed to feed seven people.  I was the only American, and although everyone had celebrated Thanksgiving at least once before, most had never had pumpkin pie.  I had heard rumors that Europeans don't like to eat this squash for dessert, but by the end of the night everyone agreed that they like it.

We forgot to take photos of most of the meal, but managed to get a photo with some of the leftovers.

Grand Canal Docks on the way to the grocery store

Grand Canal Docks

Ireland, Poland, USA, Denmark, Italy and Germany represent

Leftovers

Wheels

We finally got ourselves a set of wheels to cart us around this fine island. The whole acquisition process was long and dire, and we won't bore you with details, but here is the result. It has a grinding clutch, a leaky radiator and the lights are somewhat - what should we call it, temperamental. But despair not, because the steering wheel has red stitching, the engine roars like a dragon, and best of all, the finish is black! What more could one possibly want?

We still need to decide on a name - and yes, we do welcome suggestions. Tradition dictates something Nordic, with previous members being Boerre, Solveig, and Bjoerg, but we might just go crazy and choose a Celtic name this time.

Malahide to Portmarnock

Last Sunday, we walked from Malahide to Portmarnock, a lovely hike we had already done in the other direction in the summer. It was a lot of fun, even if the weather took a turn for the worse towards the end. All of a sudden things turned dark, and the wind propelled heavy rain drops right into our faces. We hurried to the train station and to our warm home.

Malahide harbour in the background, weather still nice and spirits high.

Another worthwhile manner of spending one's Sunday.

Wind picking up a bit on the beach.

A storm is brewing.

And this was the last photo we were able to take. Trust us, the rest of the walk was also very nice, only cold and wet.

Bull Island

On Sunday we went for a walk on Bull Island on the north side of Dublin Bay.  The island is fairly recent as it was inadvertently created by natural siltation after construction of the sea walls of Dublin Port.  Now it's a nice place for a walk and very popular with kite surfers on windy days.

Bridge to Bull Island

View of Howth Head from Bull Island

Killiney Hill + New Swimming Destination

On Sunday we took the DART to Dalkey, then walked to the top of Killiney Hill.  It was a really beautiful day and clear enough to barely see the peaks of North Wales.  Towards the end of our walk we discovered a new secluded swimming hole that's next on our list.

Killiney Hill

Killiney Bay and Wicklow Mountains

New swimming destination in Dalkey

Finnegan's in Dalkey

An Exciting Arrival

We finally got our stuff from Nashville.  So far nothing is broken.  However, we are missing the biggest item in the shipment, our kitchen table.  How do you lose a table???

Now we need to figure out how to fit everything into our apartment.   A trip to a furniture store for a few extra shelves and places for books is next on our list.  We'll do that once we buy a car, which is proving difficult due to some insurance issues-- but that will hopefully be sorted out soon.

Boxes

Unwrapping the chest of drawers from Grandma Bea

Small mountains of paper

Family Visit

Mom, Dad, Aunt Patti and Uncle Dave are visiting Ireland for two weeks.  They were in Dublin last Thursday through Sunday, and this week are touring around the south and west of Ireland (Kinsale and Galway).  They'll be back in Dublin for the weekend.

St. Stephen's Green

I always ask my parents to bring me bay leaves from
the tree in their yard whenever they visit us.  Thank you!

Whiskey tasting at Jameson

Dun Laoghaire farmer's market

Irish coffee at The Long Hall

Dalkey

It was a cold day, but Richard still swam at Sandycove

Dad, Mom, Patti and Dave

Irish cheese tasting with soda bread - Cashel Blue,
St. Gall and a third I can't remember the name