ireland - day 1
note: our internet wasn't working in the villa, so i'm posting the trip day-by-day to keep the anticipation alive. :) the trip was absolutely amazing. i did not want to come home.
day one is really two days, i suppose. thursday was all packing, anticipation & the start of the long flight. i was feeling pretty good about my packing until i decided i should following the airline requirements for carry-on baggage weight limitations. yeah, they say 13 pounds max - and the carry-on suitcase i was using weighed almost 8 pounds empty. so i rearranged and ditched that bag completely. i ended up with my checked bag & a back pack. it was easier to navigate the airport that way anyhow. :)
the sunset as we flew out of chicago. the flight to dublin was about 7.5 hours, and marlana & i both took tylenol pm in hopes of sleeping through most of it. i felt like i hardly slept at all ... but in reality i must have dozed through the majority of the flight as suddenly we were descending into dublin. i'm in ireland!
the flight from dublin to shannon was quick - 45 minutes, at most. the line at customs wasn't bad, and we were out the door to pick up the rental car fairly quickly. the fellow driving us to the rental car was a good guy, giving us directions for driving through the irish roundabouts - stay left, look right. it appears they don't believe in stop signs at intersections - just roundabouts. this could be interesting.
marlana drove today, and we are grateful for the gps unit we rented with the car. katie, as we named our gps, is quite useful in the roundabouts. :) i get to drive tomorrow. i'm nervous, but i can do this, right? it's easy ... just drive on the opposite side of the road & don't hit anything.
even though we knew we would arrive before check-in, we headed to the adare manor to see if our villa was ready. yikes is it gorgeous here! kid you not, those are photos of the manor house & the gardens. ridiculous, right? :) i'll get photos of the villa tomorrow for you to see. it's got 3 bedrooms (each with their own bathroom), a full kitchen, dining room, sun room and a brick patio ... basically, more rooms than mine & marlana's houses combined.
the villa wasn't ready for us to move in, so we went to the clubhouse for breakfast. we both got the full irish breakfast, which included black & white pudding. luckily we both tried the pudding before asking what it was. :) it's made of bread crumbs & oatmeal, mostly. and the difference between the black & white portions? well, the black gets it's color from pig's blood. no wonder it was so moist. ;)
a nice gent from the manor picked us up at the clubhouse when our villa was ready. he showed us around the unit, taught us how to lock the front door, and then proceeded to organize a coffee maker for marlana. (kid you not ... he said "organize" ... so cute.) then he drove back to the manor house & got an ethernet cable for us, so we could use the internet. unfortunately, we haven't been able to make the internet work. we'll ask about it tomorrow.
once we unpacked, we headed out to walk around town. the manor has a pedestrian gate that exits right at the edge of the downtown area. so we parked there (is the car adorable?!), but before we walked downtown we shot photos of this little house on the grounds.
that's right, actual ruins on the grounds where we're staying. now, you know how much i love broken down buildings, right? this is likely to make me more happy than i can actually stand. :)
downtown is a series of thatched-roofed gift shops and then brightly colored storefronts. so adorable! downtown is also only about 3 blocks long, so it's easily walked, and we were able to avoid parallel parking on the "wrong" side of the road. :)
the trinitarian monestary is on one edge of town. it was a pretty impressive building, though there was a wedding going on inside, so we didn't go in to peak.
this is the park in downtown adare. it's definitely spring here, and there are daffodils blooming everywhere. daffodils & the smell of freshly mowed grass. i love it!
we drove into limerick this afternoon to pick up some coffee & filters for the newly organized coffee maker. katie didn't seem to have a good feel for where a grocery store might be, but we found one anyway. granted, after dinner we found one here in town ... but hey, driving is an adventure, right? marlana's gonna be a pro at this.
we had dinner at one of the pubs in adare. i had the fish & chips. and i can't have irish fish & chips without eating the chips. good thing i gave myself the irish exception to the french fry embargo. :)
at least one family that we saw on the flight over is also staying here at the manor. they're in the stretch of villas next to us. we saw them walking around town tonight, too. small world, i suppose.
we're crashing early tonight. we were more awake than we expected to be with the five-hour time difference, but we're pretty tuckered out. we're not setting alarms for tomorrow morning. we're on vacation; we're going to relax. :)
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'becca is nervous about driving tomorrow!
day one is really two days, i suppose. thursday was all packing, anticipation & the start of the long flight. i was feeling pretty good about my packing until i decided i should following the airline requirements for carry-on baggage weight limitations. yeah, they say 13 pounds max - and the carry-on suitcase i was using weighed almost 8 pounds empty. so i rearranged and ditched that bag completely. i ended up with my checked bag & a back pack. it was easier to navigate the airport that way anyhow. :)
the sunset as we flew out of chicago. the flight to dublin was about 7.5 hours, and marlana & i both took tylenol pm in hopes of sleeping through most of it. i felt like i hardly slept at all ... but in reality i must have dozed through the majority of the flight as suddenly we were descending into dublin. i'm in ireland!
the flight from dublin to shannon was quick - 45 minutes, at most. the line at customs wasn't bad, and we were out the door to pick up the rental car fairly quickly. the fellow driving us to the rental car was a good guy, giving us directions for driving through the irish roundabouts - stay left, look right. it appears they don't believe in stop signs at intersections - just roundabouts. this could be interesting.
marlana drove today, and we are grateful for the gps unit we rented with the car. katie, as we named our gps, is quite useful in the roundabouts. :) i get to drive tomorrow. i'm nervous, but i can do this, right? it's easy ... just drive on the opposite side of the road & don't hit anything.
even though we knew we would arrive before check-in, we headed to the adare manor to see if our villa was ready. yikes is it gorgeous here! kid you not, those are photos of the manor house & the gardens. ridiculous, right? :) i'll get photos of the villa tomorrow for you to see. it's got 3 bedrooms (each with their own bathroom), a full kitchen, dining room, sun room and a brick patio ... basically, more rooms than mine & marlana's houses combined.
the villa wasn't ready for us to move in, so we went to the clubhouse for breakfast. we both got the full irish breakfast, which included black & white pudding. luckily we both tried the pudding before asking what it was. :) it's made of bread crumbs & oatmeal, mostly. and the difference between the black & white portions? well, the black gets it's color from pig's blood. no wonder it was so moist. ;)
a nice gent from the manor picked us up at the clubhouse when our villa was ready. he showed us around the unit, taught us how to lock the front door, and then proceeded to organize a coffee maker for marlana. (kid you not ... he said "organize" ... so cute.) then he drove back to the manor house & got an ethernet cable for us, so we could use the internet. unfortunately, we haven't been able to make the internet work. we'll ask about it tomorrow.
once we unpacked, we headed out to walk around town. the manor has a pedestrian gate that exits right at the edge of the downtown area. so we parked there (is the car adorable?!), but before we walked downtown we shot photos of this little house on the grounds.
that's right, actual ruins on the grounds where we're staying. now, you know how much i love broken down buildings, right? this is likely to make me more happy than i can actually stand. :)
downtown is a series of thatched-roofed gift shops and then brightly colored storefronts. so adorable! downtown is also only about 3 blocks long, so it's easily walked, and we were able to avoid parallel parking on the "wrong" side of the road. :)
the trinitarian monestary is on one edge of town. it was a pretty impressive building, though there was a wedding going on inside, so we didn't go in to peak.
this is the park in downtown adare. it's definitely spring here, and there are daffodils blooming everywhere. daffodils & the smell of freshly mowed grass. i love it!
we drove into limerick this afternoon to pick up some coffee & filters for the newly organized coffee maker. katie didn't seem to have a good feel for where a grocery store might be, but we found one anyway. granted, after dinner we found one here in town ... but hey, driving is an adventure, right? marlana's gonna be a pro at this.
we had dinner at one of the pubs in adare. i had the fish & chips. and i can't have irish fish & chips without eating the chips. good thing i gave myself the irish exception to the french fry embargo. :)
at least one family that we saw on the flight over is also staying here at the manor. they're in the stretch of villas next to us. we saw them walking around town tonight, too. small world, i suppose.
we're crashing early tonight. we were more awake than we expected to be with the five-hour time difference, but we're pretty tuckered out. we're not setting alarms for tomorrow morning. we're on vacation; we're going to relax. :)
----------
'becca is nervous about driving tomorrow!
Labels: ireland
posted by 'becca at 11:59 PM
4 Comments:
I'm so glad you're posting this way! it is so fun! I did hear about the bread pudding... lol. i love the pictures! I'm SO glad you enjoyed your trip!! --oh, and our GPS is named Abby... Abby Road. lol.
Sweet! Looking forward to hearing more.
I'm glad you're posting too. We're both covering things the other missed in their entries. ;)
Aaaaah! This is so exciting! i can't wait to hear what happens next!
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