Ireland for Dummies

Ellen and I (Kathryn) spent our Fall Break touring the Southern half of Ireland. However to get out of the country was a long and arduous process that involved spending 12 hours in the Bozen train station. Also begging for change.

Our first destination was Dublin (via the Venice airport) and the goal was to visit the Guinness Storehouse to learn all about beer.

We continued on to Galway for the night, then headed off towards the Cliffs of Moher…

…by way of Dunguaire Castle...

...both of which are incredibly beautiful. The Cliffs, although being rained on at first, were so amazing and sported a double rainbow.

Some of the Irish luck for us!

In addition to luck we got a dose of “blarney” at the famous castle.

Yep, we each kissed the stone, and it apparently worked because when we stayed in Cork that night…

… at a cute Bed and Breakfast, we haggled down to a nice price. It was obviously our incredible charm. Also they were desperate.

In addition to honing our bargaining skills, we learned what the inside of an Irish Police Station looks like when we went to retrieve lost personal items. Long story short, it takes forever to do anything at the Guarda Station.

On our way to Kildare (for a most exciting stop), we went off road to visit the Mitchelstown Cave. We were the only ones on the tour and got all kinds of interesting tidbits not commonly given.

The real highlight was the Irish National Stud Farm.

Only a few of the studs were there (others were abroad doing their thing in Australia), but we did see their main stud Invincible Spirit who is insured for 600,000 euro. It costs 60,000 euro to breed your mare to him.

Most expensive horse I’ve ever stood next to.

We eventually made it back to Dublin for our return flight, but we will not forget the amazing times we had in an amazing country. I would go back in a heartbeat.

--Kathryn Farley