Ireland Days Ten-Fifteen
Still going!
Day Ten- Leisurely drive up to Kilkenny. We stopped at a magnificent stone circle and a dolmen on the way. Weather was sunny and gorgeous, and it was a perfect morning. We got to Kilkenny and had a nice wander around. Stopped into the Rothe House, a Tudor-era house museum. The house had a really impressive Tudor garden that was impeccably recreated. Late lunch at Sullivans Brewery's outdoor patio. We stayed for three nights in a thatched roof cottage just ten minutes outside of the city, so we got ourselves settled there and then eventually went back out for a ghost tour. I love a ghost tour!
Day Eleven- Started the day with a visit to Kilkenny Castle. Last time we were in Kilkenny years ago we got to the castle too late to go inside, so this was a big item on our agenda, and it was really great. They were running a one-way system with timed tickets, so we were nicely spaced out from other visitors, which was good. After the castle we visited the Medieval Mile Museum. Managed to grab a table in the patio at Kyteler's Inn for lunch. After lunch we wandered around more, stopped in some bookstores, and ended our wandering at the Black Abbey. Back to the cottage for a rest, then we went back to Sullivan Brewery for a late dinner.
Day Twelve- One of our must-see agenda items was the Irish National Heritage Park, a living history park that has recreations of various dwelling types from Irish history (crannogs, thatched huts, even a recreated Norman castle). Definitely a place to revisit with West in non-Covid sometime. We spent a solid few hours there and got out just as the crowds of kids were starting to get intense. Went down to Wexford thinking it might be a good town to wander around in, since it has some Viking history, but it's a pretty work-a-day town without much in the way of touristy things to do. We walked around town, enjoyed some buskers playing Smashing Pumpkins songs, and then hit the road. On the drive down we'd passed through a tiny town that was super picturesque, Inistioge, so we stopped there for a late lunch on the way back to our cottage. It was so pretty! Dinner was some microwave curry from the local grocery store, not the tastiest food on earth, but it sufficed.
Day Thirteen (OMG, long vacation!)- Dublin to end the trip. We parked at our hotel, Clontarf Castle, and then took a taxi downtown. Wandered aimlessly around popping into various bookstores. It rained most of this day, but we made the most of it anyway. The weather cleared in the evening and we walked about 20 minutes from our hotel to a seaside restaurant that was perfect for ending the day in a chill location away from the bustle of Dublin proper. Our hotel room was totally luxurious, it really was a perfect place to round out our trip. It had a window seat that looked out over the top of the castle!
Day Fourteen- Last day of vacation! Back into Dublin. Went to the National Museum of Archaeology, Dublinia (the only real bummer of the trip because it was the least Covid safe thing we did the entire time), Christ Church (with a spooky crypt), and shopped for souvenirs. Had a really nice late lunch with some extra pints as we sat out a rain storm at Peter's Pub. By the time the rain cleared we were pretty done with Dublin, and we cabbed back to the hotel. Walked down to the local grocery store and picked up some snacks and booze for dinner, then settled into our hotel room for one last cozy evening.
Day Fifteen- Traveled back home, an exhausting day even though we really just hung around the airport and sat on an airplane all day. The whole airport process was a little stressful but once we got through the various lines for checking in, security, and immigration (in Dublin you go through US immigration in the Dublin airport and then the plane lands in Boston in the domestic arrivals terminal, so you basically breeze out once you land in America, strange system but it actually saved a ton of time).
That's all! Overall, having come out of it with everything working perfectly, I'm glad we went. Would I recommend traveling for fun during an international pandemic? I'm not sure I would! We had to provide negative Covid tests within 3 days of our flight home, and that made me really nervous, because if you test positive you basically have to quarantine for ten days before you can come home, and that is Not Ideal when you have a kid waiting for you on the other side of the ocean. If I had to do it again I'd probably be more inclined to take West with us to avoid that level of stress, but then again, almost everything we did on the trip would have bored West to tears, we skipped some meals and/or ate at weird times, and that would have made him cranky, and in general it was not a kid-friendly trip. Plus, after a year and a half of being stuck in the house together most of the time, we all needed a bit of a break from each other, and West really needed some kid time and some outdoors time. So, it all worked out in the end!
Day Ten- Leisurely drive up to Kilkenny. We stopped at a magnificent stone circle and a dolmen on the way. Weather was sunny and gorgeous, and it was a perfect morning. We got to Kilkenny and had a nice wander around. Stopped into the Rothe House, a Tudor-era house museum. The house had a really impressive Tudor garden that was impeccably recreated. Late lunch at Sullivans Brewery's outdoor patio. We stayed for three nights in a thatched roof cottage just ten minutes outside of the city, so we got ourselves settled there and then eventually went back out for a ghost tour. I love a ghost tour!
Day Eleven- Started the day with a visit to Kilkenny Castle. Last time we were in Kilkenny years ago we got to the castle too late to go inside, so this was a big item on our agenda, and it was really great. They were running a one-way system with timed tickets, so we were nicely spaced out from other visitors, which was good. After the castle we visited the Medieval Mile Museum. Managed to grab a table in the patio at Kyteler's Inn for lunch. After lunch we wandered around more, stopped in some bookstores, and ended our wandering at the Black Abbey. Back to the cottage for a rest, then we went back to Sullivan Brewery for a late dinner.
Day Twelve- One of our must-see agenda items was the Irish National Heritage Park, a living history park that has recreations of various dwelling types from Irish history (crannogs, thatched huts, even a recreated Norman castle). Definitely a place to revisit with West in non-Covid sometime. We spent a solid few hours there and got out just as the crowds of kids were starting to get intense. Went down to Wexford thinking it might be a good town to wander around in, since it has some Viking history, but it's a pretty work-a-day town without much in the way of touristy things to do. We walked around town, enjoyed some buskers playing Smashing Pumpkins songs, and then hit the road. On the drive down we'd passed through a tiny town that was super picturesque, Inistioge, so we stopped there for a late lunch on the way back to our cottage. It was so pretty! Dinner was some microwave curry from the local grocery store, not the tastiest food on earth, but it sufficed.
Day Thirteen (OMG, long vacation!)- Dublin to end the trip. We parked at our hotel, Clontarf Castle, and then took a taxi downtown. Wandered aimlessly around popping into various bookstores. It rained most of this day, but we made the most of it anyway. The weather cleared in the evening and we walked about 20 minutes from our hotel to a seaside restaurant that was perfect for ending the day in a chill location away from the bustle of Dublin proper. Our hotel room was totally luxurious, it really was a perfect place to round out our trip. It had a window seat that looked out over the top of the castle!
Day Fourteen- Last day of vacation! Back into Dublin. Went to the National Museum of Archaeology, Dublinia (the only real bummer of the trip because it was the least Covid safe thing we did the entire time), Christ Church (with a spooky crypt), and shopped for souvenirs. Had a really nice late lunch with some extra pints as we sat out a rain storm at Peter's Pub. By the time the rain cleared we were pretty done with Dublin, and we cabbed back to the hotel. Walked down to the local grocery store and picked up some snacks and booze for dinner, then settled into our hotel room for one last cozy evening.
Day Fifteen- Traveled back home, an exhausting day even though we really just hung around the airport and sat on an airplane all day. The whole airport process was a little stressful but once we got through the various lines for checking in, security, and immigration (in Dublin you go through US immigration in the Dublin airport and then the plane lands in Boston in the domestic arrivals terminal, so you basically breeze out once you land in America, strange system but it actually saved a ton of time).
That's all! Overall, having come out of it with everything working perfectly, I'm glad we went. Would I recommend traveling for fun during an international pandemic? I'm not sure I would! We had to provide negative Covid tests within 3 days of our flight home, and that made me really nervous, because if you test positive you basically have to quarantine for ten days before you can come home, and that is Not Ideal when you have a kid waiting for you on the other side of the ocean. If I had to do it again I'd probably be more inclined to take West with us to avoid that level of stress, but then again, almost everything we did on the trip would have bored West to tears, we skipped some meals and/or ate at weird times, and that would have made him cranky, and in general it was not a kid-friendly trip. Plus, after a year and a half of being stuck in the house together most of the time, we all needed a bit of a break from each other, and West really needed some kid time and some outdoors time. So, it all worked out in the end!