Day 11 PM, Road to Tullamore, Day 12, Seamus and Emer and family

We bailed out of Dublin a little late and skipped breakfast because someone was convinced that we could only charge breakfast to our room and not pay cash for anything in the hotel restaurant..... The trip and stops were all planned out and the first was the National Stud, where there was a very old and internationally renowned Japanese garden. There was the easy path of life for those who had been there, and a more challenging path for those up to it. Needless to say who took what, but they were both very nice.  

There was also St. Fransira Garden, an ancient monetary with paths, mounds, ponds and paths. 

We rolled into Tullamore by 16:00 and wandered about town checking out the facilities and window shopping. We all converged on the Bridge Street Lodge and Pub. Eventually wandered around the corner to the Bridge Street Hotel, called Seamus and awaited his arrival. He found me waiting on the front steps and drove Mom back to his MAGNIFICENT house with Chris and I following. Seamus and co. and family took 4 years to build one of the nicest houses I have seen in many a year. It has near 3 ft thick walls made mostly of stone. All the floors are tile with massive 6 ft triple pane glass doors. They have a wonderful set of twins and a young son Patrick who is a dead ringer for Sean Kane of Kearny.

We soon fell in with Emer and all the kids and had a great dinner and conversation. Emer's Mom and aunt were visiting and all the women had some great craic while the men wandered about to the stores and hang about in the yard. ots of fun playing with pipes and guy stuff. After some more shopping and running about Seamus and I finally had time for a pint at the Blue Ball Pub. Seamus was sorely disappointed that they were out of Tullimore Dew and we had to settle for a dram of Jameson's before heading back to join the the women. We stayed up late talking and getting caught up on trans Atlantic happenings.

   We got up on the early side to be sure to see and photograph the kids before they got off to school.  We then proceeded to consume Seamus and Emer's morning talking, sharing some photos and slowling getting ready to hit the road.

After taking all that time we wandered about the country side a bit looking for something of interest before deciding to make a beeline to the hotel and then go shopping. Found the hotel with no problem, checked in and gathered up all the luggage and pieces to pack for the flight. We were relieved  when we realized that our flight was at 09:00 and not 07:00.

After the girls repacked and I went down to the lobby for internet access to confirm our flights and seats we headed out for some shopping (unsuccessful) and dinner at Durty Nelly's ( successful ).

This brings us to the last live post of the trip. I will be going back to fix some of these posts, upload more photos and video and generally add some more detail that I don't have and am too tired to drag out of others at this time.

This has been a 3000Km trip over 13 days with 1 driver and 3 navigators. a 2009 Toyota Afasdfgjk of some sort which is the worse for the wear (thank god for full insurance coverage)


I hope you all have enjoyed and hope to share the nearly 1000 photos with yoou all...........

See many of you Friday or Saturday after some recovery time.

Day 11, Monday September 14

We got up and took a cab to O'Connell Street where all the bus tours start and the banks are to be able to exchange our Pounds Sterling for Euros. Found THE "Cafeteria" and had a nice (still too big) breakfast. I will be eating fruit for a year to loose this weight.

Got the bus, 23 stops in 90 minutes, Trinity College, Merrio Sq. Mansion House, Parliament House, Christ Church Cathedral, Dublina (Viking exhibit),  Bull and Castle, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Guinness Store House, Kilmainham Gaol, Phoenix Park.

Much of the commentary was about the rebellion and those politicians and Volunteers who died in the war for independence. It is sometimes easy to forget that Ireland is a very young nation, not just 87 years old.

After riding the first loop through we transferred to the next bus out and ot off at Trinity College to see the Book of Kells. This is one of the most beautiful man made objects I have ever seen. This is especially realized when you see the details of how they were made. One red ink was made from a pregnant insect!!!

We then hopped onto the bus and got off at The Bull and Castle Brew Pub. Some nice bar food for mid day and a nice pint of microbrew. We then walked across the street to Christ Church and took a walk about. Across another street to the Dublina exhibition.

Walked back to where we got off the bus to get back on instead of walking across another street to a much closer stop...Oh well...

We then got off at the 7 story Guinness Storehouse to take a tour and have a pint. The view from the top, the Gravity Bar, was magnificent.  

Caught the last bus back getting off at stop 21, closest to our hotel. We walked back using the last available energy in the name of some exercise.

Mom stayed in while Chris and I went to Temple Bar for dinner. Great food, and free wifi at The Shack Restaurant.


Toddled back, stopping at Messrs Maguire for a microbrew (Bock and a coffee) Walked back to the hotel to write the blog and process some photos. The 24 hour Internet access I paid 10 Euros for quit at 23 hours and 15 minutes, forcing another 10 Euros out of me.

Off this AM (late) to tour the countryside and maybe coast as we make our way to Tullamore to see Seamus and Emer.

Day 10, Sunday Evening. September 13, Dublin

We rolled into Dublin in the late afternoon and found the hotel with little problem, a first for Devon. After parking in front and dragging all the bags up to the room we went back down to drive to Temple Bar for dinner. BIG mistake. We spent a very frustrating half hour driving the Temple Bar streets, alleys, and sidewalks! We then did the best thing yet on this trip, we took the car to the parking garage and took a taxi. He got us to Temple Bar with no problem. We had a very nice dinner upstairs at Oliver St. John Gogarty.

After which we walked the streets of Temple Bar enjoying the sites.

We then made a bold move and began to walk back towards the hotel.  We had a nice slow walk and made ot all the way back.

We ook a tour bus ride of Dublin on Monday and had a wonderful time, getting on and off frequently and riding the lass bus back to the start at 21:00. I will try to post more before check out or from Seamus's.

 

Day 10, Sunday September 13, Galbaly

Sunday began with mass in the church that my Grandparents were married in.

Very nice mass after and before visiting the family grave sites. stopped by Patsy and Peters for tea and a tour of the original Tally farm.

Back to Mary and Joe's to pack. We got back to town for the woman's Tractor Ride.

Off towards Dublin by 15:00. We stopped at Newgrange, but instead of going to the secret hidden visitors center for the bus ride we went directly to the site and could not get in.

Day 9, Saturday, September 12 - Belfast

Got up, ate an early but too big breakfast with Mary and Joe. Off to Dungannon to get a bus to Belfast to get a bus tour of th city. Typical back road drive with Devon directing, found the bus depot as usual, by accident. Nice quiet ride to Belfast, got city tour bus around the corner in front of the Jury Inn. Tour of the Titanic docks..

."It was fine when it left here." with an English Captain and a Scott Engineer..."  Storemont (Parliment), Shankfill Rd and the Falls road area with all the murals. Much death and sorrow here. Lots of new construction and development now that things are quiet.

Stopped in the Tyrone Chrystal factory on the ride back from Dungannon to Galbaly.

       Got back to Mary and Joe's in time to get ready to visit Geraldine and the family. Eugene, Their children, Joanne and her family, Geraldine's parents, Michael and Mary, Aunts Bernadette, Margaret, and Mary Mallon. We had a wonderful visit and enjoyed many a memory and rememberances of Rose, Anna, Jeanette and Francis.

Back to the Cassidy's for a good night's sleep after a long day.

Internet connection is not cooperating, pictures to follow.

Day 8, Friday Sept. 11 Giant's Causeway to Galbally

Back in Internet Access, will try to get caught up ove the next day or 2. Day 8, Friday, September 11, Up earlyish again and after a very nice breakfast we headed to The Giant's Causeway. We got there before anything opened, paid the 6L parking and waited till the theater opened.

Very nice movie about the 2 theories of the forming of the Giant's Causeway, I liked the Finn McCool story myself. After the movie, Mom and I took the bus from the Visitor's Center down to the bottom while Chris walked.

We waited for Chris and set up a photograph. Mom, having been here 6 times previously too, sat out some time on a bench before taking the bus back up to the car for a nap.

Chris and I took the cliffside walk past the Giant's Organs, out around the amphitheater, to the dead end where the trail ends because it is too unstable.

On the way up, we passed the bottom of the Shepherds Trail. It went very up and included 162 steps. But it promised a down hill walk back to the Visitors Center.

I was at first looking forward to that walk, but I was wavering...On the way back since it was 9/11/09 Chris and I decided to do the walk in memory of THE 9/11 firefighters. We trudged our way up to some magnificent views, and then back down to the visitor's center.

     After a nice visit we headed south, eating lunch in Cookstown and getting to Galbally and Mary Cassidy's by 15:30.

We immediately began a very nice visit with Mary and Joe in their extremely nice house. After a nice dinner Patrick and Peter Tally came by and picked me up to go to a Galic Football match over on Omagh. , It was Galbally (winner of the all county title for the past 3 years)

Galbally Pearse's (2-9)

v

Killyclogher St. Mary's

It was with a heavy heart and more than a few expletives that we saw Galbally fall and be eliminated from the competition. On the way home we stopped in downtown Omagh where they have erected a memorial to thos who died right on the spot where the bomb went off.

        When we got back, all the Tally's had come over for a visit. Kathleen, Margaret, Betty, Patsy, Sean, John Joe, Patrick, Peter, all had a nice visit and tea. We all got caught caught up and had a wonderful time getting acquainted.
   After everyone left Joe and I stayed up till nearly 01:00 chatting about everything under the sun, most enjoyable.

Tomorrow the visit to Belfast.

Day 7, Sligo to Bushmill

The Pearce Lodge was the best B and B we have stayed in to date. Largest bathroom and room, nice breakfast, store across the street. Good parking in back and back entrance.  Chris and I went to a nice Tapas bar Tobergal  Lane Cafe. Modern, nice singer guitarist. I had 2 tapas, Chris a steak. They served Galway Hooker Pale ale, nice for a change. Over to one of the pint at  Hargadons Pub  the oldest Pub in town. for a pint and back to room for the night.
     Got a little late start since the alarm was not set. Had very nice breakfasts, French Toast for Mom and Chris and Salmon for me, along with some nice coffee. We will end up bringing back most of the coffee we brought because so far it has all been good.  After breakfast we headed to the ancient burial site in Carrowmore. Mom napped while Chris and I took the little tour of the ancient tombs and took some photos.

On up the road towards Bushmill, we stopped for lunch in Londonderry.  Nice slow food place before walking as much of the Walled City as we could.

 

We headed up the road, again following the GPS to nowhere, down some back roads to where it thought we needed to be. Eventually, found the road the Causeway Lodge was on and happened across the Lodge.  Turns out this is a 5 star lodge, complete with world class lavatories, ( the shower is half as big as our entire bathroom at our first BandB) huge rooms and all the amenities. Mom got her own room so she could get some sleep. Chris and I went into town to the Bushmill Inn for dinner. Very nice, John Dory fish for me and a nice Goat Cheese dish for Chris. We were not able to bring a dish back to mom due to really silly safety rules. You are not allowed to take anything out of a restaurant because you may incorrectly reheat it and get sick! 

Tomorrow the Giant's Causeway and on ti see Mary Cassidy in Donigal.