What we loved and what we won't miss

Most of us agree that while our visit has been way over the top and in many instances, exceeded our expectations, there are some things we don't mind leaving behind.  For starters, single ply tissue and short flush toilets, along with low light bathrooms and duvets with no extra sheets! We also won't miss watery scrambled eggs, neeps, tattles and haggis, although we did try it all.  We won't miss instant coffees for breakfast.

We will miss our morning and afternoon tea and sweets nearly every day, bacon that is more like ham, many multi brown breads, our Walker Scottish shortbreads, and of course, our Guinness chocolate!

We won't miss getting on and off the bus multi times a day, getting up so early to put luggage outside our door, and packing and repacking to make it all fit.  We also wont miss the hit or miss

Internet connections or the free Internet that ran like molasses.  We did enjoy several great hotels with easy, free access to the Internet and we loved it. IPads, tablets, cell phones and net books fired up instantly.

We will miss the beautiful Scotland countryside, the wild, craggy seaside and the haunting mists of the Highlands. In Ireland, we will miss all the stone fences with sheep grazing on the farms, the brilliant yellow rape seed fields, the wild and beautiful County Donegal, all the castles and ruins way older than our entire country and the gorgeous eastern seaside areas of Dingle Peninsula  and the Ring of Kerry.

We leave the big cities with mixed feelings.  Edinburgh, while large for Scotland was quite navigable by foot traffic and traffic jams seemed far away. We felt comfortable in the ancient city.  Dublin and Belfast, on the other hand made us quite grateful for our skilled coach drivers as traffic was insane.

We are all wiser by far about much of the history of Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.  We will pay attention to future news items affecting these areas as we have been there, heard the stories and know much better the struggles that have lasted for hundreds of years. We have lists upon lists of queries for Google about places, people and events we want to know more about.  History came alive for us like never before, and now we look forward to learning even more about where we have been.

National Stud Farm

On Saturday after arriving in Dublin, we planned an excursion out to Kildare, actually Tully, to see the world famous Irish National Stud farm.  Our driver, Damien, picked us up at the hotel and off we went through the countryside.  It was a gorgeous day with bright sun our entire visit.  The farm is home to many famous stud horses, retired studs and mares and their foals.  In addition, there is a beautiful Japanese garden which is well worth the visit even if you don't care about horses.  There is a nice restaurant and the requisite gift shop.

After being in the busy, busy city of Dublin, this farm was truly a tranquil haven.  If you were seeking a restful, zen experience, this would definitely qualify.

The place is pristinely clean and orderly.  I guess if your inventory was valued at $80,000,000 for just one horse, you would want the place to match his worth. All of the stallions, mares and foals were out in their respective paddocks, so we were able to see quite a few.  The stud horse's fees are based on the winning history of his progeny, so if his kids win, he is worth more! Any given stud horse can provide services from 100-150 times a year.  Incredible Spirit  costs $65,000 a visit, so do the math!!!

He was out there in the paddock someplace??

Our guide said this horse was a real fighter and had claustrophobia in his stall.

      Bob was upset that his fees were only $4,000.

Jerry is the horse expert among the four of us, so he could have given the tour and provided even more information than our college student guide, Andrew.  Jerry has this incredible memory of horse bloodlines, racing results and just about everything you might want to know about thoroughbred horses. Come to think of it, I have never heard him say he had a horse on the farm in Indiana. He did talk of staying up to watch the running of the Belmont on Saturday night, but on Ireland time, this was 11:30 PM and he never made it.  He has a 30+ year streak of watching the Belmont as it is happening.  

Lydia and Jerry made one last run through the gift shop and presented Bob with a gift which you can see in the photo above.

    Lydia and Jerry outside the stud horse stalls.

   You can see why this was so peaceful.

   This was one of the older foals.   Others were out in the paddock, staying close to their mothers.

Ancient Antiquities

One of the highlights of our Dublin stay was a visit to the National Museum of Ireland.  During this entire trip, we had spent little if any time in any museums, so wasn't sure how this one was going to play out.  We had picked up a brochure at the Trinity Library on an exhibit at the National Museum of Ireland-Antiquities.  The brochure promised a history of Ireland in 100 Objects.  There were pictures of objects dating to 5,000 BC. While most of the articles were housed in Dublin, others were scattered throughout Ireland.  We were at the entrance of the museum when it opened at 2:00 on Sunday afternoon. We could hardly contain ourselves as the displays revealed themselves--each one more spectacular than the one before.  One of the most appealing aspects was that they allowed photographs AND the items were so well marked that I could also

     Gold dress fasteners.  800-700 BC

photograph the descriptions.  The following are but a few of the fabulous items on display....all found in Ireland.

    Gold Torc. 1200-1000 BC. County Mayo

   Amber necklace    900-500  BC. County Cavan

Gold Collar 800-700 BC. Gleninsheen County

  Broach

Many of these items were found in the bogs  where they had been preserved for centuries.  There is supposition that possibly they were placed there to prevent plundering when enemies attacked, and then were never recovered.     Some items were found as recently as 2006 at a beach under a rock that someone overturned.  Others were found in a commercial peat bog as the digging scoop came out of bog. How amazing is that!

Leaving Ireland

We can't believe our time here in Scotland and Ireland is coming to a close.  We have so many memories and hope all of you have enjoyed coming along on our trip.  We have 10 more hotels  to add to our TRIP ADVISOR account as well at least 15-20 more restaurants ( assuming I can remember them all enough to write a review.)

At a time when there is so much unrest in other parts of the world and economic uncertainty facing more than one nation, we experienced little in the way of protesting or any civil unrest.  We were blessed to have enjoyed the most splendid weather in both Ireland and Scotland.  The natives here in Ireland still can't believe they have had an entire week of sun. 

We traveled with 35 others together on a 57 passenger coach for 15 days and never a cross word did we hear.  We came from the USA, Canada and Shanghai, China.  We were all in the range of 55-80 years old with hundreds and hundreds of years of marriage if you added them all up--57 years for one couple.  People were friendly, very courteous and in general just great folks.  Everyone respected the times set by our guides, allowing us to keep to our schedule.  We have all exchanged emails and promised to stay in touch.

We are asking ourselves whether we will elect to take another coach trip such as this one....the jury's still out, we think.  While this method has many, many advantages, we yearn for the freedom to move when we want and where we want.  Stay tuned to see where we go next.  ( some of you already know we are heading to Kenya, East Africa, for the second time this coming September.)

                         

                   This was a special year for Ireland, and we were a part of it!

                      

                          The harp which is the official symbol for Ireland

Dublin and the Hop on-Hop Off Bus

We spent most of Sunday on the Dublin Bus.  We had a shuttle pick up at our hotel to one of the stops, then proceeded throughout the route.  We had tickets to either Guinness Storehouse or Jaimeson Distillery.  It was fairly early on Sunday and the cruise line and tour buses hadn't found their way to Guinness, so we decided to stop.  This was one of the best manufacturing / production tours we had ever seen.  They had taken one of the old brewery buildings and outfitted 5 floors with a great display telling the Guinness story since 1759.  The ticket seller told us the first Guinness in the USA was in North Carolina in 1817.  We accused him of making that up.  There is no Guinness production in the USA today.  The top floor houses the Gravity Bar where you can tip a pint for free!! There is a full 360 degree view of the city which is worth the entire visit.

The Guinness trademark is the Celtic Harp which they had copy written years ago.  Since this is also the symbol of Ireland, all of the Irish cymbals flipped the symbol horizontally to make sure there was no confusion.

    An ancient Celtic harp on display.  If you ran your hands across the glass, the harp would play!

Trinity College Library and the Book of Kells

One of the most sought after tourist destinations in Dublin is Trinity College Library and the exhibit of the Book of Kells, produced by Celtic Monks in 800 AD.  All 680 pages survive today and several are on exhibit.  The book contains the Gospels from the New Testament in Latin and are highly illustrated.

The Library itself is quite an attraction with many rare, old volumes on exhibit.  We could take photos of these, but not the Book of Kells.  The library holds all copyrighted written materials from Ireland and the UK---encompasses over 5 million volumes.  Authors and publishers are bound by statute to place copies of their work in the library.

       1704 Celtic Harp

        Long Hall of Trinity Library

      One of the many manuscripts on exhibit.

Blarney Castle, House and Grounds

The history behind the Blarney Castle is all on Google. So,will not repeat all the lore.  The castle itself is pretty much in ruins and the climb to kiss the Blarney Stone is not for Seniors!!!  The grounds are beautiful and worth the time, even if the castle is not.  There is also Blarney House, built in 1870.  From the outside and a brief glimpse inside, this would be worth a visit.  We just didn't have time and make it back to our bus.  

Blarney Woolen Mills are in the town of Blarney.  The retail store is huge and certainly can entice one to stimulate the economy big time. They have way, way more than must woolens.  Lydia and Joyce tried their best to bring Ireland out of their recession.

       Blarney House.  1870