November 06, 2008
Revision to Honeymoon Story and Pics
This took an eternity for me to upload and publish. I didn't want anyone to get the story out of order so I posted them one at a time. I am sure that not everyone has had a chance to see all of the amazing pictures so I am writing this post. I have changed the dates/times on all of the posts to read in consecutive order on one day. Therefore, rather than reading posts everyday for a month in backwards order they will show up in order.
Thanks! I hope you enjoyed them enough to make you want to go. :) For those of you that were bored and ready for me to get through all of these and post normally again... that begins now. :)
link | posted by Sweet Yet Sassy at 7:36 PM
November 05, 2008
The Beginning of the Trip!
Our Honeymoon trip to Ireland -Part 1
After staying up until 1:30 in the morning packing everything, 5:00 a.m. came way to early! We got up and made it to the airport in plenty of time. We flew into Chicago with enough time in our layover to grab something to eat.
A lady in our church made us Bride & Groom shirts to wear. She made them green since we were going to Ireland! At the airport in Chicago there were about 8-10 guys in athletic wear returning home to Ireland and they noticed us in our shirts. They were teasing us and asked us why in the world we would choose Ireland for our Honeymoon. ha ha! They said it rains all the time and we better have rain coats. They were pretty nice.
Our awesome Shamrock plane - Aer Lingus!
Waiting in chicago
Flying into Ireland
I loved the shadow of the airplane on the ground!
We had smooth flights. When leaving Chicago we flew into Dublin, stopped to let people on and off of the plane and then flew back over to Shannon. We landed at 9:30 the next morning! Holy Cow we were tired!
This is our cool compact car -Kia Picanto in Periwinkle Blue! Ha ha! We had just enough room for two carry ons in the trunk so everything else had to be visible in the back seat all week!
It was an adventure getting out of the rental car parking lot. It was really hard at first trying to figure out driving on the left side. I kept turning my windshield wipers on instead of my blinkers. (Now that I am back I still do that because I got used to the European car.) It took me several turnabouts to get used to driving through Shannon. Then!......there were only 2 lane anorexic roads everywhere!!! So not only am I trying to get used to driving on the left side, there are cars coming at me close enough for their mirrors to high five my mirrors and there are rock walls on either sides of the lanes, with no shoulders! AAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!
Some of the sights
After several hours of driving, we started nodding off-not good since I was driving. We decided to stop for a bathroom break and get a snack. We stopped at a fuel station in Inagh. The lady inside was super nice-first encounter with the Irish. (besides the rental car place) She was obsessed with my ring and how pretty she thought it was. I have a wrap around my solitaire and she had never seen anything like it. She said they were behind in Ireland. ha ha. We talked to her for a bit and told her where we were going (Cliffs of Moher). She said if we were feeling a 'bit adventerous' we could take a side road and drive along the coast down by Spanish Point. So...adventerous we did go!Spanish Point was a beach area. There was a contemporary hotel with a parking lot. We parked there. Ruins of a building were at the top of the hill. We walked down to the shore from there.
This entry way led up some stairs to someone's backyard. :)
link | posted by Sweet Yet Sassy at 9:00 PM
Cliffs of Moher and Kinvara
Part 2
After we left Spanish Point we passed many more fabulous views before we reached the Cliffs of Moher. Here are a few of the pictures of the passing scenery.
This was rather interesting. I have never heard of Pitch and Putt but apparently it is Huge in Ireland. There are courses all over. It is similar to golf except all that is required is a Pitching Wedge and a Putter....hence the name. The greens on this particular course are ridiculously hilly.
Not sure what this structure was but it looked cool
Here we have the breath taking Cliffs of Moher with the views from the hillside. And since you can't hear the waves splashing and see the majestic panoramic view, these pictures will have to suffice. I truly recommend this point of interest.
This was a viewing point fortress that was under renovation.
This was one of our favorite rocks. It looks like a face looking out onto the water.
This reminds me of the Teletubbies home. This was the shopping center and restaraunts built into the ground at the Cliffs of Moher.
The picture below is the Dunguaire Castle in Kinvara. We almost passed it before we even realized it was there. I was nodding off and needed to pee (ha) and was looking for a place to pull over when we saw it. Note I did say I had to pee so I was going to go in the deserted parking lot we parked in across the street from the castle. As soon as I was about to circle around a tree a HUGE tour bus pulled in. : So, I couldn't go in the lot.
This was a really pretty place. We couldn't go in because it only operates April to October not through October and this was October 8th. But the landscape was fun. There was a beaten pathway around the entire castle.
Tour bus left, I found quiet spot at the back of the castle, here to be exact, etc. :)
The next two pictures were taken through the iron gate at the inside of the courtyard.
This was a jammed packed day. Driving on no sleep for two days we ended up stopping by the back gate of someone's land and slept for an hour. :) (Little did I know I would end up stopping everyday and taking a nap for an hour or so.) That 6 hour time difference was an adjustment!!
Good times.
link | posted by Sweet Yet Sassy at 8:00 PM
