The Road to Dublin

After our low-key night in Cork we split up a little bit as some people wanted to go to Blarney (castle, stone, kiss...you know the one) and some of us didn't.

Jigga & I hopped in a car and went over to Jen's place quickly before we left Cork. It was a fascinating visit to her home and specifically to her shoe museum.



Today's drive took us from Cork all the way to Dublin. It was just me & Jigga and we had a nice drive. The drive was relatively easy...at least up until we got into Dublin. But our day took us through Kilkenny where we stopped for lunch.

We stumbled upon the Kilkenny food festival and then walked around, ate lunch and went to the Kilkenny Castle. When Steve & I were here on our honeymoon, I didn't really love Kilkenny. I think the main reason is because I was expecting Killarney...and they're totally different cities in Ireland. So apparently it was hard for me to not be disappointed when Steve & I arrived and it was nothing at all like I was expecting. Luckily this time I knew Kilkenny was not Killarney and I enjoyed the city much better.

When Steve and I were here, we met up with some people who knew my Dad really well and told funny stories about him being arrested. My mom arrived in Kilkenny later that night to hang out with the same people. They took her to a pub that my dad used to go to when he came here with his friend Kieran and she left some of his ashes in that pub. She was very adamant about leaving him behind in Ireland in a city that he loved so much.

So yes, Kilkenny and I are friends and I definitely like it and would come back. And although our stay was brief, it was still a fun visit.











The rest of the way to Dublin was filled with:

beautiful rainbows:





green green grass



and random castle ruins on the side of the road






i promise i am much happier than i look!





Although we arrived on a Sunday PM, Dublin was hustling and bustling. Jigga and I drove around in circles because we had absolutely no clue what we were doing or where we were going. We had some good maps, but Dublin does not have very good street signs. The signs they do have are on the sides of buildings and are either not lit at all or not very well lit. Miraculously we found our hotel, but there wasn't any parking out front or even an unloading zone. So around and around we went until we resigned ourselves to a parking garage about four blocks away.

Refusing to do more than one trip, we made the uncomfortable walk to the hotel bumping into people, toppling our bags over on the sidewalk, getting annoyed glances at the people we hit with our luggage and were relieved when we finally made it into the place we'd be staying for the next three nights. Unfortunately we discovered there's no "lift" at the hotel and we were up on the third floor! But the place did have internet access so that was a bonus and almost made up for it.

We were meeting back up with mostly everyone in Dublin so it was fun to get settled into the hotel knowing we'd see everyone soon enough. We were also meeting up with Hal and Lynn who were here to actually run the marathon (you know, the one that I was supposed to do). Jigga and I were the first to arrive in Dublin so we got a chance to chill out for a few minutes. But before long, Hal and Lynn arrived at our hotel and off we went to Temple Bar to find some pasta.

Everyone else slowly staggered into the city throughout the next couple of hours and we all met up for a drink away from the madness that is Temple Bar and around the corner from our hotel. It was a great way to end a long day.











After spending the last week in the "country" it's nice to be in the city. Tomorrow's the marathon and we're going to cheer on Hal and Lynn and do a little exploring if we're up to it.