Then drove around looking for place to eat. Ended up at The Goblet in a small town near the hotel. Good food! They had a kind of serving line going with several kinds of meats and veggies. There were alot of what seemed to be locals streaming in while we were there.

Back to the hotel where we hung around for a bit waiting on Christina to call. We met her at Phoenix park at the Arts in Action festival. That was a really cool venue. There were tents for classes that adults and kids could do. Also a market area and food. I was quite impressed with the Irish music demonstration. The guys there let any little kids come up and perform their Irish dancing. Christina’s daughter got up and danced some. They were all so cute!!

Then we followed Christina and Richard out but got a little lost and ran out of time for a drink before the car had to go back to the rental place.

None to eventful evening at the hotel restaurant and then off to bed for a 6am shuttle.

Got on and rode over to the Titanic attraction where we were disappointed. Could not get in because they were sold out till Tuesday!! If I’d known that we would have bought ahead. All this way and couldn’t even get to see it. Oh well…so I bought the tour book. At lead I can read about it. We walked up the street to the next bus stop but should have stayed put. Wasted some time here walking and missing the bus.

Back on the bus and we rode it all the way around. Saw the Peace wall and murals around the city. Back into town and we got stuck in a union parade. Finally got through that and we found a place to eat called The Roost. Good hot chocolate!! Especially since we were frozen.

Walked down to the market and looked around a bit. Alot of crafts and fresh foods. Back on the bus to keep from walking more. Rode around the murals again and got off by The Crown. Walked again back to the shopping district where we started the bus tour before everything closed. And schlepped back to the hotel for a rest before trying to find dinner.

We made it to the Giants Causeway. It was the coolest natural site yet. It’s hard to explain in words but once you get out there it’s like lego stacked together but rocks. And WINDY!! The legend goes that giants had made a bridge between Ireland and the mainland. Because it looks too stacked together to be made by nature.

Drove into town at Bushmills, changed some money to pounds and ate a late lunch at Copper Kettle. The hot chocolate was fantastic! The ladies were really nice and the food was good.

We got a call from Christina but have not been able to call her since. Something wrong with our phone so we went to check out Dunluce Castle ruins. It was on a rocky outcropping right on the ocean. We got there just before they closed the gates. Really worth doing because you can explore some ruins like you see driving all over Ireland.

So we headed into the city and checked into the hotel. Headed out to the Crown bar as Angie’s brother recommended. Then needing our music fix we been trying to find since we got here, are sitting waiting on the band to start playing at Robinson’s bar. Bring on the music !

Filled the car with diesel and figured out we got roughly 48 mpg. (847 km / 42.2 liters then translated to mpg). We have gone more than 500 miles so far.

Took a side trip to see the Cliffs of Moher and found some really awesome scenery! Just did get there before a huge group of tour busses with kids arrived. We’ve been lucky missing the tour groups.

Ate lunch at a small pub in Doolin and found out after our food came it was a tourist trap. People started flooding in and when we came out there were 3 tour busses there! We barely got there and out before it got busy.

Then we drive on up the coast through little towns and past some really impressive rock formations. There were gray rocks everywhere. And rock walls all over.

Finally made it to Galway and to the hotel. The strip here is crazy busy and we ha a tough time getting into the car park. One word…tiny!! The guy behind us took out his side getting in. We cleared front and back by mere inches.

The town of Galway was nice but we didn’t get to see much cause the streets roll up at 6pm and the food places don’t open till after 7. We got to see a few places. Sat down in a place called Taffes and listened to some Irish music for a bit but they were not serving food. Left and walked further down and found The Quay. Good food there and it was a little quieter. Would have hung around but their music came on later than we wanted to be out tonight, especially with the long drive to Belfast tomorrow.

On the walk back Angie found her Jameson 12 yr and had to have it. We also stopped to watch this crazy ride on the carnival across the street which was hilarious.

Up early for the log drive to Belfast. We are going to meet Christina and her family at the Giants Causeway.

Angie is getting better with the driving. Actually enjoying the drive now! We were whipping around the curves and past cars on roads that are too small to pass.

Ate lunch at a small town called Smead at the Villiage Restaurant. We just did miss a tour bus that came in. Vac rurally we picked a good place and the Coke was cheap!

We got done at a decent hour so we decided to also drive the Dingle Peninsula. That was a good choice…it was completely different plus it was not so tourist infested. The road was tiny and barely eeked out of the side of the hill. We even drove across a stream!! Very well worth it even if we did get back late.

The grocery stores here suck. They don’t have near the variety we have back home bee were struggling to find still water and coke !!

Back to the hotel before heading off to find dinner, which was another battle. We went in one bar called Danny Mann’s. Total tourist trap! They had good music but it was PACKED!! We sat down and waited 10 minutes….nothing so we left. Walked up the street and the places were closing. Went to Hannigans where we found they stop serving dinner at 9:00. The man was really nice and called another place and then sent us to Flays. Found some steak which was ok and then we hiked back to the hotel. On the way saw a woman bout run into an oncoming car. Didn’t look the right direction.

On down the road we decided not to go to the castle because of the tourist trap and the fact that it was raining. Sober spent our time in the Blarney Woolen Mill. Super cool place! I ended up with a throw, OCD jacket, and a cap. Angie got a sweater for her mom, a nice scarf, and some nick nacks for the kids. We had it shipped home.

Ate at a pub nearby that had really good food and then back on the road. This is where we really started hating our GPS which I named “Frieda”. Don’t know why but that’s what I called her. She’s a bitch…taking is off perfectly good roads for ass backward ones where you can’t even pass two cars beside each other. And rough as pig iron !

Finally! Got into Killarney by the back road “Freida” brought us by and had to override her finally at then end.

The Holiday Inn is nice here but a good walk from the shops. We spent a little time downtown and then back to the hotel where we been camping out in the bar for the food and free WiFi.

On the way to Waterford we saw signs for two funny named cities: Kilkenny and Kilcullen. If you look at the map there are alot of places with the “Kil” prefix. Don’t know really what it means but they were funny !

It didn’t take long to get to Waterford and after three trips over the main bridge and a detour to find Waterford crystal factory outside of town where the GPS sent us, we got parked and into the hotel finally. Dooley’s Hotel was pretty nice. First night we both had our own beds!

So out we went out headed to the New Waterford Crystal Factory down the street from us. The tour was good but much smaller than I remember from last time I was there in the old place. They only make custom order stuff there. Like the tiles for the NY ball, bowl games, and such. Got to see them remaking the Alabama college football trophy from this year. Said something about the QB’s dad tripping into the table breaking it. They aware having it remade. Also got to see a London Olympics trophy being made. The tour was probably better the. When I did it last!

Back to the hotel for dinner with a stop for cokes along the way. Another day done!

Next we ended up at the James Joyce tower Sandy Cove. There we walked out to the 40 foot baths. It’s this shear cliff face where the waves crash into the rocks below. There the wind was bad too! At one point Christina walked down to the front near the cliffs edge where the sea spray had made the floor wet. All of a sudden a HUGE wave crashed into the cliff and shot up in the air to the top where she and some kids were standing. We heard screams and then turned around I see the huge splash come down on top of them while they tried to get away. Pior Chrisina was soaked. Might have been ok for her but IT WAS COLD!!

We walked around on the other side to see maybe 20 people getting into swim suits …and it 40 degrees outside to go take a polar bear swim. Crazy people!! They went in one by one nearly naked while people on the sides started gathering to watch. Funny thing was he people watching were bundled up and you only see faces. These other crazy people were swimming out in really choppy water to the a bouie marker and back. One guy got a little lost and swam in different toward some rocks. His family went out to help him.

We went by Bono’s house in and saw the gate where people used to write messages to him. He had it covered and bars put over it but kept it to where you could still see the writing.

We finished up our ride with a trip through Graystone where we got some goodies at the Happy Pear. The apple I got there was really good tasting. It’s a type of veggie place with produce, restaurant, and cafe.

We regrouped at Chrisina’s house and then we piled back in the car for a trip to City Center to tour the Jameson Whiskey factory. That your was MUCH better than the Guiness factory. The tour was cheaper and actually guided. Angie was picked to do a super taste test where each person tried a Irish Jameson, American Jack Daniels, and Scottish Whiskey. Believe it or not but the Jameson is awesome! Triple distilled so it’s really smooth and no burn. I got to sample the Jameson and cranberry. You can’t taste it in there and could get wasted if you didn’t watch it !

Capped off the evening with some Baliey’s Hot chocolate at the Central Hotel.

Completely crashed…but slept well cause I had the bed!

Here’s how to opt out and keep your location data private:

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