Ireland - crap I will see and you will too

Started by Jims5543, June 05, 2017, 09:22:40 PM

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Jims5543

I leave tomorrow evening for Ireland. I leave Orlando at 20:30 on Tuesday and will be in Ireland 7 hours later at 10:30 Wednesday.

Trying to get all my clients settled and ready for my hiatus.

I am sitting with headphones on working on drafting fixing everyones problems.

Dropping bombs on muther eefers who thought they could make me drop what I was doing and save their ass as they waited until the last second to order something or make me change me schedule tomorrow or Wednesday to jump when they say so.



So I decided to do something unusual, I dipped into my Amazon Prime Music account and found all the early U2 albums are on there. So effing cliche... but eff it.

I forgot how good early U2 was, how raw, how edgy and just fuckin rock and roll they were. The guitar riffs the drums the vocals the meaning behind many of the vocals. Boners voice has a haunting tone to it when he carries a note. 

Fuck you Bono.

Back to work.

If I am lucky I may be done by 01:00

This should ensure I sleep on the plane on my way over.



Wait!! there was a story here.

From 1982 - 1984 I was in a vocational school called BOCES.  It was a school where you could go half the day while in your Junior and Senior years of HS and get a certificate program in a trade. I chose Drafting and Design.

The guy sitting nest to me was Cary Sweat. He was one year older than me when I was a junior, and he introduced me to U2. He handed me the October Album, I fell in love with the song Gloria.  This would be in the fall of 1982, Cary was excited as the new album was coming out in early 1983, War.

I purchased all of the U2 albums I could find, I ended up with Boy, October and then War when it came out, I was addicted to this band. They were my soundtrack in the early 80's.

So on a drunken whim this evening, I shot out an email to who I assumed was the best match for Cary Sweat in my google search. It seems my buddy Cary is a ghost online.

Let me step back for a second, Cary was a stoner, he used to spread out his cheap ass weed on his drafting table, put a print over it then when the coast was clear use an exacto knife to clear out all the seeds before bagging it back up.

How he got away with that is beyond me.

Cary was a cool laid back Dude, I loved being his neighbor in my Drafting class. The next year I was kind of lost as he and another guy named Steve Burgess graduated.

So I emailed Cary:

QuoteIs this Cary that attended BOCES drafting program in the early 1980's?

I sat next to you in class and you introduced me to U2 before Bono became Boner.

About to head to Belfast Ireland  tomorrow, listening to War while trying to get my clients all squared away and your name popped in my head.

Not sure this is you but it makes sense if it is.

Shot in the dark.

Hope I did not miss.


And I missed!!


QuoteI'm afraid I'm not. But serendipity being as it is, your note reminds me of all the nights I would play those tapes quietly, hoping to fall asleep contented and oblivious before the "thunk" of a completed tape.

Best of luck to you, Jim. Safe travels. Peace.

But I like this guy, he is an Architect (which made sense with our drafting backgrounds) in Delaware.  We went to School on Long Island.

My response back. (Bushmills)

QuoteThanks for the fast response. 

I am more of a Flogging Molly / Dropkick Murphys kind of guy these days, some sort of nostalgia came over me this evening. (I am not blaming the Bushmills 21 y/o)

I decided I needed to track down Cary (Bushmills) and your online profile, or lack thereof screamed it was the guy that sat next to me, the non conformist that separated the seeds out of his nickle bag on the drafting table right in the middle of class with an exacto knife.

My apologies for barging in. I shall lift a pint this week while in Belfast in honor of Cary Sweat (not you.. OK you too ) wherever the hell he is on the face of this rock.

Thanks for the response.

Best of luck to you too good sir.

I shall leave you alone now.


PS just blew through War and October and now on Boy.

Everything after that.... sadness, Bono lost me.
Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride! -Hunter S. Thompson

Jims5543

tapping out... 01:30 est I am off for a few hours sleep.
Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride! -Hunter S. Thompson

BruceK

Hope you have a great time in Ireland. If you take the Guinness tour look for the original lease Guiness signed, its in a display in the floor (!) and it's a 9,000 year lease.  Nine thousand years.   He had some major balls!

Other than the free Guiness at the end, that was my favorite part of the tour.
1988 Austin Mini
2002 MINI Cooper S
1992 Toyota LiteAce (JDM)
1997 Jeep Wrangler Sahara

Jims5543

#3
Quote from: BruceK on June 06, 2017, 07:25:28 AM
Hope you have a great time in Ireland. If you take the Guinness tour look for the original lease Guiness signed, its in a display in the floor (!) and it's a 9,000 year lease.  Nine thousand years.   He had some major balls!

Other than the free Guiness at the end, that was my favorite part of the tour.

I have plans to visit there Monday, will indeed look for the lease.  Thanks for the tip. Looking forward to getting on the rooftop bar and having a pint while looking over the city.

So far Ireland is awesome!  I have made numerous observations but the theme is politeness. Both in person and on the road.

On the road, everyone stays to the left unless passing and if passing ans someone is coming up on them, they will speed up to GTF out of the way. My mind is blown I have never seen this before.

Driving on the left while being on the right side of the car. 5, five would be the times I walked up to the rental POS car on the wrong side to get in. Sober.

Driving on the left in daunting, on the motorways no problem, in a city or through a round about (especially running on no sleep) is headache inducing. I feel my day tomorrow will be much better. More on that later.



At 9 PM Local am sitting in a pub in Belfast just had sausages over mash with pickled onions. It was not called bangers and mash on the menu but I know.. I know..

Notice how light it is outside at 9PM local



I did not get a VW Pasat I got the disclaimer "or something equal" it is called a Skota Superb. Sounds like a car name Jeremy Clarkson would make up. It sucks, I hate the way it drives and it feels like a tank. It is the size of my old  2005 Audi A6. Ironically the controls in it remind me of my car from 12 years ago. This is not a good car to drive in tight cities or on narrow country roads both of which I have done and found this car to be big clumsy and awkward.


Did the Titanic Museum this afternoon, very cool. A must see when in Ireland.


Saw some IRA posters


Belfast is beautiful.


I only slept 4 hours Monday night trying to get all my work done before I leave. I hoped to sleep a lot om the flight from Orlando to Dublin Tuesday night. Did not anticipate the Disney vacation families coming back to Dublin. Plane full of screaming kids the entire trip back even headphones did not help. I am beat to hell. It is 9 pm here (4pm home) still light as day here. Not sure when it gets dark here. Pretty cool.
Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride! -Hunter S. Thompson

Jims5543

Still alive. The IRA did not kidnap me.

I have just been going 100 MPH since we left Belfast.

I will say by about the 3rd day the left driving was much easier and I found the locals holding me up.  ;D

When I passed my first car on the motorway there was celebration. I would like to say I was never passed and I did all I could to NEVER hold anyone up, even if it meant I had to drive a couple of miles because I missed a turn, I refused to be that asshole that screws (or as they say here Fuuks) everything up.

Saw lots of cool cars, amazing sights and made some great observations.

More coming later in week, I leave for my very long day tomorrow. I have a ton of pics uploaded ready to go.
Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride! -Hunter S. Thompson

Jims5543

The last post I made was done from my "office"  I would like to say, I did not work hardly at all this trip, I checked in and sent some last minute files to the office on Wednesday night from Belfast and that would have been the last time I was on my laptop until Sunday night in Dublin to send a couple more files I had to sign off on.

Again, here is the office in Belfast.



This was our morning breakfast delivered to our door handle, a lot of hotels offer B&B to compete with the actual B&B's. My only regret from this trip is that we did not stay in one B&B.  We should have, it was out of my comfort zone and I wish I would have gotten out of it.



When we left Belfast we headed to Carrickfergus Castle.


There were numerous primary school trips there at the same time. I thought it was cool the boys were all in suits and the girls in uniforms.


Met the castle guard, Mrs5543 tried to make friends with the dog.


We then headed further north, driving on the left was really hard on the first 2 days or so.


Next stop was the Glenarm Castle, it is an actual inhabited property being   the home of Viscount and Viscountess Dunluce and their family. You cannot go inside, you can only walk a pathway around it. Then tour the gardens nearby.



We then moved on to the Caves of Cushendun, where Game of Thrones filmed the shadow baby birth scene.







It was after 5PM at this point so we decided to drive for a while and find a hotel or B&B to crash at. We came upon Ballycastle and found a hotel to crash in.

The hotel is to the left in this picture, it was a nice fishing town.


It was a cute town, we checked in, put on our raincoats and walked about a kilometer up the road in pouring rain to a Pub for dinner.  We ordered the requisite pint of Guinness, then I moved on to some Powers whiskey.



Saw these signs and laughed. They hate the term Northern Ireland, it is properly called The North of Ireland.



I bellied up to the hotel bar, which was empty and closing at 21:30 and ordered another double of Powers to compliment the double I had at dinner.

The bartender asked if I wanted it on ice... I laughed and told her my accent must be throwing her off, I would prefer a pitcher of water. She smirked and said, you know your whiskey, I was proud of myself at that moment.  ;D



View from room:


End of Day 2
Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride! -Hunter S. Thompson

94touring

I can't imagine living in a castle like that. 

Jims5543

Day 3, the road from Ballycastle to Portrush
We woke and ate the complementary buffet breakfast (or order from the kitchen gratis)  we all chose poached eggs and toast.  By now we noticed the Coffee in Ireland was weak, the tea (according to my family I do not drink tea) was excellent.

Then we were off, today we were going to see some neat coastal sites.

Our first stop was Carrick-a-Rede swaying bridge.  Some say fisherman of yore cast nets from here to catch salmon. The landscape was remarkable, it was the first time I was blown away by the color of the water.







The bridge, I was expecting something longer, it was cool though, but a once only type of experience.



We could not get over how pretty the coastline was.


The next stop, was Giants Causeway, any Led Zeppelin fan knows the cover art photo of Houses of the Holy was shot here.



The geometric shape of the rocks was remarkable.






Next we headed to Bushmills for lunch then the distillery tour.

I was taking a pic of what was about the 10th Coal and Wood delivery truck I had seen that say.


When this cool little Mini whipped by, I almost missed him.


The Bushmills tour is worth every penny and every minute of your time, even if you are not a drinker it was very interesting as they take you through the entire brewing and distilling process. No pics allowed inside.
So this is about the only pic I took there. I was able to buy a limited release 12 y/o only available at the distillery. Score!



Snapped a couple of random street pics walking back to car.





Our next stop was Dunluce Castle, except it was after 5 PM at this point. We headed there anyway, online it said it was open until 6, we got there right at 5:30, we were cool with being the last ones in, no dice, gates locked their closing time is now 5:00.  Google was not up on that.

Say a cool Land Rover Defender parked out front.





Sadly, the Castle would have to wait until tomorrow.

We headed into Portrush to grab a hotel room. Actually hotel rooms what we were finding everywhere was that 4 people cannot be put in one room.  No one is set up for that, so we had to get 2 rooms most nights.



End of Day 3.
Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride! -Hunter S. Thompson

94touring

There's a place in Arizona where the rocks have cool formations.  Amazing how these you show formed like that.

LarryLebel

The rock formations are called columnar basalts formed naturally when basaltic lava flows cool down.

MiniDave

What a fantastic trip you're having!  Wonderful photography too, I'm really enjoying following along on your adventures...
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

BruceK

Quote from: MiniDave on June 16, 2017, 07:45:49 AM
What a fantastic trip you're having!  Wonderful photography too, I'm really enjoying following along on your adventures...

I'll second that!
1988 Austin Mini
2002 MINI Cooper S
1992 Toyota LiteAce (JDM)
1997 Jeep Wrangler Sahara

Jims5543

I am back in the states, the trip was over on Tuesday 13 June.

I am just recapping my travels now, sorting pics recounting my days. We were going so fast while there I needed a vacation from my vacation. We walked a solid 9-10 miles a day while there.

We are already planning on going back again next year, Cork is on our list and this time, only 1 other location, we plan on staying put and really canvassing the city / region we are in.

I will eventually get to Derry (LondonDerry) which really, really stuck with me, more so than Belfast, which I want to visit again too.

Derry has a lot of in your face history about the Troubles, many murals, still to this day fresh graffiti denouncing the English Government and the forced diversification of the city.

Derry really hit me hard, I think about the place every day since I have been back it is a remarkable city and I strongly urge anyone contemplating going to Ireland to go there.

Skip Dublin, there is a section of Dublin that is Disneyland for American drunks, according to the locals I got to talking to, not even the Irish party in that area, it is called Temple Bar area of Dublin. It was overpriced complete tourist trap and cheesy. After being in the North for a few day, I was pretty bummed out by the scene in Dublin and wished I had just skipped it.

Bah!! I am getting way ahead of myself. Another post this evening maybe.

Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride! -Hunter S. Thompson

BruceK

My wife and I visited the western and southern parts of Ireland 3 years ago.  We absolutely loved it - preferring the countryside to the "big" city of Dublin.
1988 Austin Mini
2002 MINI Cooper S
1992 Toyota LiteAce (JDM)
1997 Jeep Wrangler Sahara

Jims5543

Day 4 Portrush to Derry

Another breakfast in the hotel, today I was a tad bit braver and had beans with my breakfast. I was surprised  they were so bland. More weak coffee.

Dunluce Castle was cool, we spent a lot of time there walking around exploring, we were glad we waited the next morning so we could take our time.




We then motored on to the Mussenden Temple.  After paying to get in, we took turns hitting the toilet, the boys wandered off and when Renee and I came out we did not immediately see them. A fellow sitting at a picnic table joked they were hiding from us. I headed over to the table and started chatting with the guy. He was about 60 and was really nice, passionate about the property we were on and the plants. Seems he has been visiting and volunteering to work there since he was a lad.

He told us all lots of cool stories about the property and the grounds as well as some history you will never get from the pamphlets. He gave me some tips on what to look for, like the mausoleum under the Temple that the protestant pastor let the local Catholics use to hold mass in secret.

I learned he was ex IRA and had the attitude, its over, we just need to move on. He told me to hit up a pub in Derry called Peadar O'Donnells. I never go to go in there, the owner is also IRA as are a lot of the patrons. This is supposed to be a legit waterhole for the locals.

He also told us to look for Bishops Road and to take that to Derry.

We greatly enjoyed this property.



The sheer scale of it was staggering.





This is where the Catholics held mass:


The property offered an amazing view of the North Atlantic


Bishops Pass, I was not prepared for this,  the roads are already frighteningly narrow, this road was 1 car wide. I never took a pic I have hand prints in the steering wheel from this road.

We were basically going over a mountain, at the top there was a statue of a god, we visited the god.


Again mind blowing views:


Hunger had taken hold of us all, we decided to detour on our way to Derry off the A2 into Limavady to grab a bite, we found this take away Fish and Chips joint, we were not disappointed.




We rolled into Derry, drove around a bit trying to get a feel for the place, found a public car park and pulled in.  Searched for hotels at 16:00 on Saturday started calling for rooms, none, none and none in Derry proper. Fook!! Then I found a place called Everglades which was ironic, they had a few rooms left, we took 2, it was about 2.5 Km from City center.

We drove there, checked in emptied the car and had the front desk call us a cab back into town.

We told the cab driver we wanted to go see the wall just get us to a good point to jump up on it. Backing up, Derry is called the walled city from 1613-1619 s a wall was built  around the city, it is the last in tact wall of its kind in all of Europe.

The driver warned us it was evening and the kids would be up on the wall carrying on and drinking.  We were OK with that. We were wager to walk it.

When we first got on the wall the place was crowded with 15-20 year olds, I was actually impressed so many kids that age were actually outside hanging out. None of them were a bother, a couple even commented to each other about Mike as he walked by saying his hair was "Mint" and he had a Conor McGregor haircut.

Kids all over the fookin place. Yet, they are all well behaved and my older son Mike got a compliment in passing. As we walked by he heard one of the kids say his hair was "Mint" the other chimed in, yeah he has a haircut like Colin McGregor. What I thought was awesome was that all these kids were OUTSIDE!! Not sitting in their houses on consoles and computer and their phones.


As we walked around it, I was blown away, it was remarkable. I snapped a ton of pics I will just post a few to start.



A picture through the wall to the won outside it.


Danm, shit is real here, I am fascinated by the Troubles, and cannot read enough about it. This shit is raw, it has been hidden in most all of Ireland, in Derry its in your fookin face. I am going to revisit this after I am done with me recap. I have a lot more photos and have been doing a ton of reading up on the troubles, people associated with them both past and present and some other odd historical research relating to the Troubles.



Pic of a road inside the all.




We decided to walk back to the hotel since the cab ride was not very long, I am still amazed how light out it is, I know, we are really far north, just not used to this.


We headed back to the hotel, we could not find a place to eat in the city, where we would feel comfortable in jeans and tshirt, everyone was dressed up nice.

Our plan was to order room service, we stopped at the front desk, and inquired as to how late room service ran, since everything closes early. She asked if we just wanted a table in the restaurant, we said we were under dressed, she laughed and told us we should see the bus tours, we were fine. She insisted we grab a table, called to the restaurant and arranged a table. We ate a great dinner with the slowest service ever. I think the meal took over 2 hours.

I wandered to the bar after dinner for a nightcap as the family headed to the rooms. Again, threw the bartender off with a request for water over ice. I ordered a Whiskey called The Quiet Man 8 y/o and it was very very good. My regret was not finding a off license (The States version of a liquor store) to grab a bottle or two. But alas, I have found out that Total Wine carries it, yet a liquor store in Dublin did not carry it. Go figure!!

http://www.thequietmanirishwhiskey.com/

Here is a morning shot of the bar empty.



End of Day 4
Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride! -Hunter S. Thompson

Jims5543

Quote from: BruceK on June 16, 2017, 03:24:57 PM
My wife and I visited the western and southern parts of Ireland 3 years ago.  We absolutely loved it - preferring the countryside to the "big" city of Dublin.

Sounds like where we will be next year, South and West, is where we are going, Cork and possibly Galway are our 2 destinations.  We covered a lot of ground on the Coastal Causeway route, it was awesome, we enjoyed it a lot, next time we are going to slow the roll and wander 2 cities for 3 days each.

Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride! -Hunter S. Thompson

Jims5543

Day 5 Exploring Derry and then heading to the land of Leprechauns, Dublin.


Again, breakfast was included, by now we were losing the boys, they were trying to sleep in and we were rearing to go up at 0700 every morning.

The breakfast here was continental, with choices of yogurt, cereal fruits, some pastries and Guinness Bread. Oh and you could have oatmeal, Irish Style which meant some Bushmills poured over it.

First, I had to run back to our car to fetch a few items left behind, like umbrellas. When we parked we were alone, this is what it looks like everywhere in Ireland, parking spaces are tiny and any kind of decent sized car is squished in the space.



We headed back into Derry inside the walls parking near the Peace Bridge. There seemed to be a lot of peace this unity that all over the place, seemed like the government there thought ramming peace down everyone's throat would fix everything.

A random shot down a city street on Sunday morning in Derry. I took a lot of random shots like this all over the place. 250+ pics on my camera prove it.



We walked through the walls and over to the Free Derry side where the Bloody Sunday memorial is. There are murals on a lot of walls here with stories to tell.






Found the Bloody Sunday memorial, spent a few quietly taking it all in. It was indeed moving.





More murals.








I wish I could explain this, every once in a while you find a place that just speaks to you on another level. I felt this way in Derry. I would love to spend a week just in Derry, walking around exploring, sitting in pubs making friends and meeting locals. I loved Derry a lot.

We walked back towards our horrific rental car and had lunch in a cafe just outside the walls.



We then hit the road for Dublin we had a 2.5 hour ride ahead of us.

We stopped about 20 Kilometers outside Dublin off the M2 at a Petrol station / service area to top off the tank and take a toilet break.


i spied these rascals parked in a side lot. I drove over and took pics.













We finished our ride to Dublin, checked into the hotel and wandered around some.

Dublin, particularly the Temple Bar district, is a shit show, I had not seen a single fucking Leprechaun all week until I entered Dublin.  Temple bar is Disneyland for American drunks. It is not Ireland.

It is what it is, sometimes you have to learn shit the hard way. We now know to avoid this area in the future (yes another trip is being contemplated)

I will stop here my next posts will go over my experiences in Dublin and then my lessons learned. I think next time my trip will be much more enjoyable. This one was every good, we just learned a lot and know what to expect better.

For those keeping track that was 5 days 5 different hotels. These rolling stones gathered no moss.
Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride! -Hunter S. Thompson

Jims5543

We finally roll into Dublin, I have to admit, I was surprised to see the rainbow flags flying all over the city, not that I care, I really do not, I just thought it odd, especially since I did not see anything remotely similar in the North.



We checked into our Hotel which was in a the Temple Bar district which is basically Disneyland for American Drunks. We walked a bit and found a Chicken joint away from the chaos of Temple bar. Chatted it up with the  waitress and she told us no one local goes to Temple Bar, it is for tourists only.

Made sense, I had been in the country almost a week and did not see a single fucking leprechaun until we were walking around Temple bar.

She gave us a list of places to go and eat and areas where it is more local. She was awesome!

The next morning we went to the Dublin Castle. The castle was originally built around 1200.  It was suspiciously burned down, it was rebuilt more like a mansion in the 1700's.Some say the fire was arson, so the lord could find an excuse to build a more modern home. There were rumors that Europeans did not want to visit the cold damp castle.

This was the stained glass inside the on site church built  around 1800.


Pipe organ that does not function and was quoted to take 2-3 million to fix.


The interior pillars are made of plaster which is kind of crazy.


Then we walked about 2 Kilometers to the Guinness storehouse for a tour.


We hit the place around 16:00 and that was probably a really really bad time to be there. I would imagine in the morning is better.  This influences greatly my experience there. I shall explain.

There was a line to get in to the line to buy tickets, someone walking out must have liked me they whispered to me to go online on my phone and buy tickets. We did and it saved us 20-30 minutes of line standing to get in.

Once in... wait lets back up.

Anyone have any experience at all with Chinese tourists?  Raise your hand!!

I have, in the theme parks in Orlando, they have ZERO concept of personal space. Worse yet, they do not believe in being polite and queuing up in line.

When busloads of them are unleashed someplace, you are in for a fucking rooting tooting fucking time.

That would be the case here, I know resistance is futile. So when they start humping me from behind, I just stepped to the side and said, "Go right fooking ahead!! Do not let me stand in your way!!"

Which they happily oblige and run right on past. Not one fuck given about any of the self guided tour stops or information being supplied, just get to the fucking front of whatever appears to be a line.

/rant

We eventually get to a point where you get a small glass of beer, they explain the tastes you need to look for then guide you into a nice room where you toast and have a nice taste.



You can eventually work your way up to the 360 lounge to exchange your $30 Euro tour pass for a pint of Guinness and enjoy a very expensive pint while looking out over the city of Dublin.

The view is pretty cool




What I am failing to show you is the crushing crowd of people. So here you go.





We lasted about 5 minutes, I go to drink 2 pints, Mine and Mrs5543's Woo!!  She said stouts are too filling.

We headed back to the first floor, and I got to see the lease signed in 1759 for 9000 years.




I saw this on the way there, I should have listened.




The following are random pics taken through out Dublin. It should be apparent when we got back into the Temple Bar area.



















My older son Mike sporting the Colin McGregor haircut.




I picked this book up in a local bookstore in Dublin, I about finished it on the place ride. Really good read about the troubles from the perspective of a 7-10 y/o living in Free Derry.



Also grabbed some Mini porn.


That concludes the trip, the next morning I headed to the airport and spent 8.5 hours on a plane

I will add to this with some more cool pics and some comments.

Lessons learned right off the bat.

- No hotel we stayed in had air conditioning, I would not want to be there f if is actually hot out. They get some decent humidity.

- Driving there is tough, especially in cities. Staying left was not that hard, unless things were hectic then I found myself wanting to go right and fighting it. By the 3rd day I was instinctively heading left.  I want to explore using mass transit more, there are trains, subways and buses everywhere.

- Dublin was not for me, I want to see more of Belfast and more than anything Derry. (Future plans being made 2-3 years from now minus kids. :D )

- Next trip will be in the South Cork is on the radar and possibly Galway. We want to spend 3 days in each place.

- We will not wimp out and skip doing the B&B scene next year.

- Everyone needs to have over the ear noise cancelling headphones for the trip over next year. A Flight from Orlando guarantees kids coming back from Disney = noisy plane = no sleep.

- Pack lighter and smaller, carry less shit and be more portable.

- Learn more about each city plot more plans on what to see and when to see it.

- Remember everything closes at 5-6 PM even grocery stores. Take advantage of anything that opens early so you can cover more ground each day leaving evenings for drinking, eating and fun.
Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride! -Hunter S. Thompson

MiniDave

Thanks for taking the time to post these Jim, I've really enjoyed them!
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

BruceK

Very interesting reading - loved the photos.  When I toured Guinness the crowds were lighter, and it was able to enjoy my beer (and my wife's beer too).
1988 Austin Mini
2002 MINI Cooper S
1992 Toyota LiteAce (JDM)
1997 Jeep Wrangler Sahara

gr8kornholio

Really enjoyed the trip, thanks for all the posts and pics.  Had my "rant" experience on family vacation at Carslbad Caverns.  Know exactly what you're talking about, but not cutting me off for the elevator line, nope!  lol.
I am the GR8KORNHOLIO! Are you threatening me?

Saussie Aussie 1965 Australian MK1 Mini.
"Beavis" - 07 MY/MY MCS, B/MY Konig Daylites, JCW sideskirts, TSW springs, TSW lower rear control arms -- Exploring the country with new friends since 11/09.

Jims5543

Dan gets to gloat now.

For the last 10 years I have been using Photobucket, it is a free hosting site. With a pretty nice app for your phone too.

28 June 2017 they changed their policy and will no longer allow you to use them to host pictures on 3rd party sites for free.

I said hell, I have been using them for free for so long I am OK with paying for hosting.

$400 a year in order to host 3rd party.

Welp, it was a nice run with photobucket.


sorry the pictures are down guys.



Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride! -Hunter S. Thompson

MiniDave

Yeah, I have grown to hate Photobucket......I understand they need to make money to keep afloat, but I think they went way overboard.

When someone posts a pic that links to PB, I don't even try to open it any more.

There used to be domain hosting sites as cheap as $10 a year (like 1 and 1), are those still out there? If so you can just set up your own dedicated server and host them yourself.
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

94touring

Well crap. Upload them to our media gallery.  You can mass upload a ton at a time too.

Willie_B

Just downloaded/saved all the stuff on PB, then deleted my account. Guess i will use Flickr now.