Vaca-Recap

Hey gang! A short (relatively) recap of the vacation:

Friday, July 20th- Packing and last minute running around.

Saturday, July 21st- The best trips always start out shitty. The limo man calls me & asks me for directions. Creepy enough, but then he shows up 15 minutes early and (after my telling him 3 times that my block is one way & he needs to park on the corner) he turns onto my street and blocks traffic for 5 minutes. MK gets there and we board. We get to JFK at 3:30 and as I'm pulling my big suitcase up to the front door, my handle snaps and pieces of it roll down the street. Peachy. Then we go to check in & my spiffy new fangled Electronic Passport can't be read through the check in machines and I have to stand in line. Kill me. We get aboard the plane… with about 20 infants & toddlers for a 5 & ½ hour flight. AHHHHH!!!!

Sunday, July 22nd- We land in Shannon and get our luggage fairly quickly. We are met by our Guide, Micky. Awesome guy, I wanted to bring him home. We had time to kill since one of the planes was delayed so we wandered the airport & had breakfast. And this is where we found out that we were to by joined by former teacher Mr. Ulmer & his wife. We then got dropped off at Bunratty Castle early cause the plane was delayed for another few hours (this turned out to be the people we spent most of our time with; Susan & Lucia.) We finally got them and headed to our hotel, dropped off our luggage and went to the Cliffs of Moher. Beautiful place, we had lunch INSIDE a mountain. Neat.

Monday, July 23rd- We visited Rathbaun Farm and Fenton & his sheep. We then went onto Galway City (this is where we lost the nun for a few hours). We also visited Connemara and the marble factory. Tonight was the evil dinner. Irish pork is bad for Sam's.

Tuesday, July 24th- I felt like death. In the morning we visited Kylemore Abbey. This is the most beautiful, serene place I have ever been in my life. I really wanted to stay. We then went to the Apparition Shrine in Knock, then visited WB Yeats grave is Sligo. I then went into the dining room… and ran back to the room. Icky.

Wednesday, July 25th- I felt MUCH better. Glenveagh Castle & National Park today, very nice scenery. We drove through Ardara (which is where some of Mom's family comes from) and wandered around the old graveyard looking for family. After dinner I tried a glass of Guiness & Black (which is blackberry cordial & Guiness). I drank about a quarter of it, then passed it to MK.

Thursday, July 26th- Today was Armagh. We were supposed to go through this 2 part exhibit about the history of Armagh, but MK & I snuck out (we started a trend) and snuck to St. Pat's Cathedral (very pretty). Back at the Trian, we went through a "Gulliver's Travels" exhibit which was pretty sweet. In the shop I found a quill & bottle of ink for calligraphy. Neat! We then went to Dublin and the Jameson Factory and had entertainment (band & dancers). I discovered a new drink, Jameson & Ginger. It's a shot of Jameson and Ginger Ale. Gooooood stuff.

Friday, July 27th- We visited Kilmainham Jail (where they kept most of the people from the 1916 Easter Rising). The also filmed a lot of movies there as well as some exterior scenes for "The Tudors". That afternoon was free to wander. We went to Trinity College & saw the Book of Kells, found a book store that sold Doctor Who books (yippee!) and took refuge from a nasty downpour in a Friday's. We then walked down the Georgian Mile (lots of Georgian houses) and visited Bram Stoker's house as well as Oscar Wilde's house & statue.

Saturday, July 28th- We went to Killkenny City and saw Killkenny Castle, then visited the Waterford Crystal factory (pretty cool stuff).

Sunday, July 29th- We went to Blarney Castle (No, I didn't kiss the stone. MK… well, ask her about it). Then we went to Cobh Heritage Center (the Titanic & Lusitania stopped there last and most people who emigrated left Ireland from there). Then off to Killarney.

Monday, July 30th- Today was the Ring of Kerry, lots of nature. We also got to see how sheep dogs work large flocks of sheep.

Tuesday, July 31st- We did the other side of the Ring of Kerry, the Dingle Peninsula. We stopped to have lunch in a pub in Dingle (lots of fish & chips were consumed during this trip). We visited Slea Head beach (where they filmed "Ryan's Daughter") then back to Shannon and Bunratty Castle for a medieval dinner. Pretty cool.

Wednesday, August 1st- Back home. Flight out was good, not as many kids. Got the luggage easy, then we went to leave. Grr. We landed a half hour late, got to the phone to cal the "limo" service at 5:30pm to tell them to come get us. They said "Sure, it'll be there at 7pm." Excuse me? Apparently I booked the "airport shuttle", not the "limo service". Damn it. The shuttle didn't show up until 7:30pm. We made it from Jamacia, New York to Roosevelt & Southampton in Philly… in an hour and a half. Left JFK at 7:30pm, walked into my house at 9:01pm. I was at once happy & terrified.

I know I'm missing a ton of stuff here, but I hit most of the salient points (I think).I have lots of stories that I'm sure I'll annoy people with for months. Later!