Ireland-The Emerald Isle, Dublin #dublin #Ireland #goaheadtours
Sunday 16 November 2014
Weathersfield to Boston to Ireland
(We booked our trip to Ireland a year ago on Black Friday with Go Ahead Tours.)
We dropped Riley, the wonder dog, off at the kennel and drove south to Boston. Our overnight flight
from Logan/Boston to Dublin arrived about 4:45 am. We were met by our Tour Director Cathal (pronounced like Karl) in
the airport. He popped us in a taxi and off we went to the Maldron/ParnellHotel. Got there at 6 am and luckily there was a room ready for us.
Monday 17 November 2014
We crashed,
intending to sleep only a few hours but woke up at noon. We decided, after
surfing the internet, to try to find The Black Sheep Pub on the corner of Parnell and Capel.
We did find the Pub after asking a few friendly folks and found it to be wonderful.
Lots of young folks and a few oldsters too. They had a
variety of Galway Bay Brewery beers on tap so Jay was in heaven. I ordered the fish
and chips and Jay had the club sandwich. The fish came with this green spearminty cup
and I was told this was mushy peas-it was great and refreshing, cutting the
grease of the fish and fries just right.
Our bartender
let us sample the White Hag Imperial Oatmeal Stout (9%) called Black Boar but
Jay and I preferred the Galway Stormy Port better.
Around 3:30 we
met our tour group in the lobby for a brief walking tour around Dublin with Cathal. He
pointed out all the statues and theaters and the GPO (General Post Office). We ended up at The Palace Bar. Jay tried the Beamish Irish Stout and I tried a Hot Whiskey/Hot Toddy (whiskey, hot
water, lemon, cloves and a little sugar-very medicinal.)
Fun Facts: Most Dublin Buildings are in Georgian style-(four Georges ruled over Ireland 1714-1830.) O'Connell Street is the center of tourist traffic and shopping. The River Iffey cuts the city in two: North Dublin and South Dublin.
We met our group again in
the lobby of the hotel for our Welcome Meeting and Dinner. Paddy our driver greeted us too.
We have 12 people on our tour: Jennifer from
Greenville SC; Shirley and Tom from Lake Pleasant NJ; Alex and Kelsy from
Youngstown OH; Tom and Michelle from Tampa FL; Sue from Boston, Laura and Sandy from
Alabama; Nancy and Jay from Vermont; Cathal (our Tour Director) from Cork and Paddy (our bus driver) from Limmerick.
Dinner was great then off to bed. Our room
was right out over the street so the traffic noise went on all night. Coming from living in the woods with no night sounds-sleeping was difficult.
Up the next
morning pretty bleary eyed.
More images from our first day in Dublin: http://photosbynanci.smugmug.com/Ireland-2014/Dublin/
Traditions of Ireland
Go Ahead Tours
November 16-26, 2014
Copyright © Nancy Nutile-McMenemy
Ireland Gallery: http://photosbynanci.smugmug.com/Ireland-2014