Our flight took off around 10:15pm, it was long and smushed but we did both manage to get some sleep when we finally resorted to earplugs after 3 hours of crying babies! We landed in Dublin and Geoff went through customs (I didn't have to on account of my European passport), then we headed out to get our luggage. Once we were done with all the flight stuff it was off to get our rental car, we officially have one of the smallest cars I have ever seen! (See below) One more bag and there is no way we would have been able to pack it all in! It is four doors - just - but is so Euro looking with the flat short back and the skinny frame! 
Gisseppi (this is the name we have given our GPS), then directed us to Dublin.... Dublin... what to say? It is huge, insanely packed, has no parking, scary driving, and the people are mean - all in all it is New York! We drove around in search of food - and when we found food places we drove around in search of parking - this is when we got pulled over by the police. A very nice young Irish man directed us to pull into the bus lane and wait for him.. we did of course.. and he came over talking about a right turn being illegal - we were very confused since we had driven straight through an intersection on a red light (not having a clue that it was red since there were about 10 yellow and green lights facing us!) and had not taken any turns for quite some time.. as it turns out the person in front of us and behind us had taken an illegal right hand turn into our lane and he stopped our car instead of the person in front of us by mistake! But we had a very nice chat about crazy Irish drivers and what to look out for and then he sent us on our way.
We found parking around the next corner, parked our car, got our garage ticket, and went out in search of a place to eat. We first stopped at a pub - sat down for a little while and the waitress came to take our order. We were not ready so asked her to come back, we waited, and waited, and waited while all of the 4 staff chatted behind the bar (we were the only ones in there to eat as it was 2pm), over a half an hour later we still had not ordered drinks, so we gave up and left.
Place #2, there was another pub in the middle of town which we thought we would give a shot since it seemed to be in a more popular area, so we went in and sat down - there were two people at the bar and then the bar tender and a waiter - they only served food until 3 and it was 2:45 so we wanted to check to see if it was too late to order - so Geoff went up to the bar and asked the bartender, first she ignored him and went to talk to her friends at the bar, and on his second attempt she said 'the kitchen is over there go find out for yourself' and walked away... needless to say - we left.
Finally we settled on Quiznos and got a burned sub and some lettuce with a slice of Kraft cheese and 3 pieces of sandwich chicken on it - we ate quickly and decided at this point that maybe Dublin was just not the place for us for today.. we wanted to brush our teeth, take a shower, change and relax in a place where people at least pretended to be happy and nice!!
We headed off - Gisseppi directing - to the Wicklow Mountains. It was a beautiful drive, with some great stop off points and some good picture opportunities. We spent a good couple of hours driving through unmarked back roads just enjoying the beautiful sunny weather and the rolling Irish landscape. We passed through Hollywood, Blessington and around the shores of the Poulaphouca reservoir, and we decided when we were at the end of the road that we would find a place to stay and wash up and eat. The end of our road brought us to Glendalough - a beautiful little town within the mountains that hosts a vintage hotel (our abode for tonight, photo below) and pub as well as a 12th century round tower and 11th century St. Kevin's Kitchen which we will be exploring tomorrow. We are all checked in, cleaned up and soon to head to dinner! It has been a fun and educating day - we will post this when we are back in a populated area!
Gisseppi (this is the name we have given our GPS), then directed us to Dublin.... Dublin... what to say? It is huge, insanely packed, has no parking, scary driving, and the people are mean - all in all it is New York! We drove around in search of food - and when we found food places we drove around in search of parking - this is when we got pulled over by the police. A very nice young Irish man directed us to pull into the bus lane and wait for him.. we did of course.. and he came over talking about a right turn being illegal - we were very confused since we had driven straight through an intersection on a red light (not having a clue that it was red since there were about 10 yellow and green lights facing us!) and had not taken any turns for quite some time.. as it turns out the person in front of us and behind us had taken an illegal right hand turn into our lane and he stopped our car instead of the person in front of us by mistake! But we had a very nice chat about crazy Irish drivers and what to look out for and then he sent us on our way.We found parking around the next corner, parked our car, got our garage ticket, and went out in search of a place to eat. We first stopped at a pub - sat down for a little while and the waitress came to take our order. We were not ready so asked her to come back, we waited, and waited, and waited while all of the 4 staff chatted behind the bar (we were the only ones in there to eat as it was 2pm), over a half an hour later we still had not ordered drinks, so we gave up and left.
Place #2, there was another pub in the middle of town which we thought we would give a shot since it seemed to be in a more popular area, so we went in and sat down - there were two people at the bar and then the bar tender and a waiter - they only served food until 3 and it was 2:45 so we wanted to check to see if it was too late to order - so Geoff went up to the bar and asked the bartender, first she ignored him and went to talk to her friends at the bar, and on his second attempt she said 'the kitchen is over there go find out for yourself' and walked away... needless to say - we left.
Finally we settled on Quiznos and got a burned sub and some lettuce with a slice of Kraft cheese and 3 pieces of sandwich chicken on it - we ate quickly and decided at this point that maybe Dublin was just not the place for us for today.. we wanted to brush our teeth, take a shower, change and relax in a place where people at least pretended to be happy and nice!!
We headed off - Gisseppi directing - to the Wicklow Mountains. It was a beautiful drive, with some great stop off points and some good picture opportunities. We spent a good couple of hours driving through unmarked back roads just enjoying the beautiful sunny weather and the rolling Irish landscape. We passed through Hollywood, Blessington and around the shores of the Poulaphouca reservoir, and we decided when we were at the end of the road that we would find a place to stay and wash up and eat. The end of our road brought us to Glendalough - a beautiful little town within the mountains that hosts a vintage hotel (our abode for tonight, photo below) and pub as well as a 12th century round tower and 11th century St. Kevin's Kitchen which we will be exploring tomorrow. We are all checked in, cleaned up and soon to head to dinner! It has been a fun and educating day - we will post this when we are back in a populated area!
No comments:
Post a Comment