A brief stop in Northern Ireland

After our time in Dublin, I was excited to head to Northern Ireland to show James the place I spent a semester when I was a student. But first we had a day of sight-seeing planned.

Murals on Falls Road in Belfast.

A view of the Lake at Mount Stewart Gardens.

Lilypads in the garden at Mount Stewart Gardens.

A view of the motorway on a cloudy day, heading from Dublin to Newry.

For much of the trip we were on a motorway, which made the drive similar to being on a freeway in California. Except no one was speeding or tailgating. We stopped for lunch right after we crossed the border into Northern Ireland (officially part of the United Kingdom) in a little town called Newry. We had lunch in a little sandwich shop and got caught in a little rainstorm as we headed back to our car.

We don’t think it is a place that gets a lot of tourists because the people we interacted with in a couple shops all chatted with us a lot. They asked where we were from, where we were going and told us all about their family in America as well as plans to visit. It was a welcome change from Dublin where most of the people we interacted with were in a rush. They get so many tourists I am sure there is no novelty left there.

From Newry, we ended up on some of the more narrow roads of our early trip as we headed to Mount Stewart House in Newtownards. The trek included a lot of left turns followed by an immediate left turn. The roads were narrow and oncoming traffic kept James alert.

When we arrived at Mount Stewart House, the weather had cleared so we were able to enjoy the gardens without getting soaked. We toured the house, which belonged to the 7th Marchioness Edith, Lady Londonderry and her family in the early 20th century. Many parts of the house were off limits as we were told a family member still lives in the house.

We enjoyed walking through the gardens and seeing the variety of plants that survived in the climate. My favorite spots were the Spanish and Italian gardens, along with the lake.

The highlight of the day, however, was getting together with a friend from my days at the University of Ulster, Coleraine. I hadn’t seen him since 1998, but we kept in touch via email and more recently via Facebook. We met up in Belfast for dinner and he took us on a quick, after dark tour of Belfast since we had not seen much of the city. It was really cool to hear a little history of the city from someone who knows it so well. And James and I hope someday we can return the favor if he ever happens to visit California.

The only downside of staying in Belfast so late to meet up for dinner was that we had to drive the two hours to Coleraine after dark. It turns out it is harder to navigate roundabouts after dark, when you are unfamiliar with them. We had the added trouble of our navigation system not being able to find our hotel so we were using my cell phone to guide us to the hotel for much of the trip. The navigation kept trying to give us directions to a Lodge hotel that required us to take a ferry crossing to England…

I misled James on one roundabout so we drove on the wrong road until we got to the next roundabout and were able to turn around. We made it to Coleraine in one piece and checked into our hotel just after 11 p.m.

The Boyne Valley and James’ favorite stop

On our fourth day in Ireland, we took another day trip from Dublin north toward the Boyne Valley. We set out for Newgrange and Knowth around 9 a.m., with an expected driving time of 45 minutes to an hour.

Trim Castle dates to 1152 in the Boyne Valley.

A view from the roof of Trim Castle.

Newgrange is believed to be 5000 years old.

We visited Newgrange in the Boyne Valley in Co. Meath.

Hill of Tara

Unfortunately, our navigation unit tried to direct us to the actual Newgrange site from which there is no public access. We realized this when we turned down a road for  Newgrange Farm and finally stopped to ask a local for advice. She didn’t know exactly how to get to the visitor’s center, where we would be able to buy tickets to take a shuttle down to the sites, but she knew gave us a general direction to head in. We saw signs pointing us in the direction of the Bru na Boinne visitor center and used Google maps on my phone since the navigation system directions were wrong.

The drive out to the visitor center looked a little like it was the wrong direction, too, as it turns out it is in a remote place. We went down a narrow road where at times trees from both sides of the street arched over the roadway so that it looked like we were entering a dark tunnel.

Once we arrived, 30 minutes later than anticipated, we decided we would tour Newgrange. This neolithic site is believed to be 5000 years old. From the shuttle bus, we were able to walk around outside the burial tomb and then head inside through a narrow passage way. I thought it was pretty impressive to be inside a manmade structure that was so old and still standing, for the most part. Our tour guide said in all these millennia, the stone roof has never leaked.

From there, we headed to the Hill of Tara. We parked near a cafe, but there were no clear signs of which direction to go to get to the Hill. We headed left, passed a few shops and the cafe, where we found a holy well. Some locals appeared to be filling up bottles with water from the well. I wasn’t sure we were going in the right direction so we headed back to our right and asked someone in an art shop which way to go. As we walked a little bit past the car park, we found a sign and a gate leading up to the visitors center. The visitors center was closed so we were able to tour the hill for free. We walked around a bit where myth claims ancient Irish kings ruled, in the rain, before heading back to our car.

From there we headed to the small town of Trim to view our first castle. We decided to do a tour of the castle keep so we could actually see inside of it. For the tour, our guide talked about the history of the castle built by Hugh De Lacey in the 1100s. The tour took us up to the roof of the castle, with an amazing view of the Boyne Valley that James enjoyed. I was a little nervous being up that high. To get down from the roof, we had to walk down several flights of spiral stairs, which made me very nervous. But once we were on the ground again I felt fine and it was worth it since James still says this was his favorite stop halfway through our trip.

A few notes on driving

James and I have been in Ireland for a week now. It has gone by faster than we realized it would and we have logged nearly 900 km around the island. We are in Westport, but we took the long way around from Dublin up to Coleraine in Northern Ireland.

We recommend a small rental vehicle to get around Ireland.

James has been doing all the driving and for that I am grateful. I tried to drive for a few blocks on our way out of Trim, but found it quite difficult to manage the clutch, shifting and trying to stay in the center of the lane as my tendency was to drift toward the curb.

James has the hang of driving for the most part, but he said driving out of the airport was pretty nerve-wracking on the first day. Even though we had a hotel outside the city center of Dublin, he still had to maneuver a motorway, a super long tunnel, a pile of roundabouts, roadwork and multiple toll booths – all while driving a stick shift on the left side of the road.

We made it to our hotel in one piece and parked the car for two days until we ventured out in it again for our day trips to Glendalough/Boyne Valley.

With James as the full time driver that left me to be the navigator. At first we couldn’t get our navigation system to work so we used Google maps on my cell phone, which wasn’t ideal as I had a hard time explaining to James some of the directions that came up on it because they were really unfamiliar. By the time we went on our day trips, we figured out how to use the navigation system a bit better and it was easier for James to follow than my verbal directions.

One of the things we would recommend to people is to look up road signs before coming here as they are different than in the U.S. They are even different between Ireland and Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK. We’ve figured most of them out, but it would have been helpful to know some of them before we got on the road. I had brushed up on some of the street laws so we did know some things such as turning left on a red is not allowed (unlike in the US where it is fine to make a right on red, if traffic is clear.)

Also, note that much of the country has speed cameras. One of the benefits of the navigation system is that it tells you what the speed limit is on any given street. We saw more speed limit signs in Ireland than in the UK. The speed limit changes from kilometers to miles when you cross the border, but there is no clear sign of when that happens. The navigation system gave us the speed limit in kilometers even while we were in Ireland so that was helpful.

We also recommend a small car. Hertz offered us an upgrade to a larger vehicle and we said no because we wanted something easy to maneuver. The roads can be really narrow in rural areas and in the cities. Very few roads have a shoulder and some are overgrown with shrubs.

One of the best parts of the drive is that we have seen some really beautiful parts of the country and we are looking forward to sharing some of these photos soon.

A day trip to Glendalough and Powerscourt

After a couple days on foot and on DART around Dublin, James and I decided to hit the road to see some places in County Wicklow.

We can prepared with our rain gear for our trip to Glendalough.

A picture of the Japanese garden at Powerscourt in Co. Wicklow.

A statue in the Italian garden at Powerscourt.

James and I explored the Monastic City at Glendalough.

Originally, I had planned for us to be at our first stop, Glendalough, by 9:30 a.m. But I underestimated how tired I would be after our first two days. I hit snooze a bunch of times and did not wake up on time. Then we took a pit stop to Tesco, a grocery store that is all around the island. I was still a little worried about not having a mobile wifi device so we wanted to check out Tesco Mobile to see if they had a unit we could buy or an advice.

We picked up a few extra items for a picnic later in the day and when the phone guy arrived, we asked him about mobile wifi options. He said data service on the island doesn’t really get faster than 3G so as long as we weren’t being charged roaming fees, it would make the most sense for us just to rely on our cell phones for GPS. So we decided we would be okay between our navigation system and our cell phone data.

We got to Glendalough about noon and admission was free for the day. We visited the Monastic city, then headed out on the trail to the Upper Lake. I had a chance to visit Glendalough when I was a student as part of our orientation in Dublin. I remember it bring really rustic and a beautiful setting. Things have changed a bit, with a fence keeping the sheep from roaming through the grave sites at the Monastic city. But the walk to the Upper Lake looked much the same.

Right when we reached the lake, it started to rain so we were happy to have our rain jackets with us. But it remained a light rain for the walk back. It started raining harder when we got back to the car park so we enjoyed a picnic lunch of fruit, cheese and crackers in our car.

Since it was already 3:30 p.m., we decided to skip a stop at the Powerscourt Waterfall and to head straight to the Powerscourt House and Garden. When we arrived at the gardens it was raining harder so we were glad to have waterproof shoes and rain jackets. The gardens – and there were several of them – were really beautiful even in the rain. My favorite was the Japanese garden with its gazebo and bridges. We stopped into a shop for some hot chocolate and a caramel square from Avoca (delicious!) before heading back to Dublin for the evening.

Christianity and Guinness, two staples of Irish life

Dublin packs a lot into a few miles around the city center. James and I set out to see some of the most iconic sites on our first full day in the city.

Stained glass windows in Christ Church Cathedral.

Sheridan’s Cheesmongers in Dublin.

A facsimile of a Book of Kells page.

A view from the Gravity Bar.

A glass of Guinness in the Gravity Bar.

Heading to the Tara Street DART Station, we saw this little statue.

First, we headed to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells, one of the oldest intact copies of the Gospels ever made. It is especially well-known for the intricate drawings and lettering in the book, with some of the flourishes looking golden on the page. The exhibition leading up to the room with the Book of Kells, where visitors can see two pages on display under a special light that strives to keep the book preserved, we learned all about the book. The pages are made of calfskin and the inks used were made from a variety of substances available to Irish monks in the 9th century. The identities of the scribes are not known. As a writer, I guess I was impressed at the preservation of this old text.

James and I, being book nerds, also enjoyed seeing the Long Room in the Old Library. It is said to house a copy of every book ever published in Ireland. Needless to say, it is a very big room with very high shelves.

From College Green, near Trinity College, we caught a bus out toward the Guinness Storehouse. When we got off the bus, we followed a group of what looked like young Dutch tourists who seemed to know just how to find the entrance to the Storehouse tour, which is down some alleyways from the main street. James was slightly disappointed in the tour, as it did not take us into any working parts of the brewery. We described it as what a brewery tour would be like if it was designed by Disney. But the tour is worth it if only to stop at the Gravity Bar at the top to have a pint while getting a panoramic view of the city. James had his pint. I had a sip of mine and passed it on to James.

Following the brewery tour, we headed back to Dublinia, a museum about  Viking history in Dublin, and Christ Church Cathedral. Dublinia was interesting because it included information on the centuries of Viking influence in Ireland, from their arrival as raiders to their defeat as settlers. The museum would be especially fun for kids as it has some interactive pieces, such as trying on
Viking clothes. We learned that Christ Church Cathedral was actually first founded by a Viking ruler.

After our visit to Dublinia and Christ Church, rescheduled from our original plan to see it on our first day in Dublin, we were out of time to visit some of the National Museums near the city center. And in all fairness, we were pretty tired from all the walking. We decide to head back toward our DART station, with a quick stop at Sheridan’s Cheesemongers for some Irish cheese and crackers for a picnic the next day.

At the end of our first day, we realized we had experienced a bit of an Irish miracle. We had almost two days on the island without rain!

Fickle Irish weather

James got his first experience of the Irish weather I had every day while I was a student at the University Ulster, Coleraine.

Started out sunny this morning,  then we had a misty drizzle. Then it was pouring when we got to Giant’s Causeway. Now it’s sunny,  but brisk.  Perfect weather for soup.

View from Carrick-a-rede rope bridge trail.

Cream of carrot soup at the Nook.

The first day in Dublin

The DART station at Sandymount.

Fish and chips from the Shack.

Beef and Guinness Stew from the Shack.

The first pints of the trip at Lord Edwards, across from Christ Church Cathedral.

On our first day in Dublin, I learned that all the planning in the world doesn’t mean everything will go according to plan.

First, I planned a little too well for our trip to the airport. Aer Lingus has only one flight out of SFO each evening – and we arrived 45 minutes before they even started checking in baggage. So we spent a little time in the airport lobby before going through security check points.

And despite neck pillows, sleep masks and every intention to get a good night’s sleep on the 10-hour flight, I only managed a restless 1.5 hours of sleep before I was wide awake.

We landed a little early and made it quickly through customs on Friday morning around 11:15 a.m. Dublin time (3:15 a.m. CA time) – with the first passport in our newly renewed passports. But when we got to the car rental desk, they weren’t sure if they had a mobile wifi unit available – which I had requested back in May when I booked the car rental. The desk clerk sent us out to the area where the cars were parked and said one of the guys out there would have a unit. As we checked out our Clio Renault, we waited for the wifi and took a look at our navigation system. A little panic set in as I had planned the mobile wifi to keep us connected in case the navigation system failed us or we decided to change our route up on the way.

But  I had to hold it in so that I could serve as a navigator for James as he drove a stick shift on the left side of the road for the first time. The drive was a bit nerve wracking, especially since there was some road construction going on that day. Luckily our room was ready when we arrived at the hotel a bit before check in. We were able to shower and head into Dublin for the afternoon.

We had Leap cards to ride the Dublin Area Rapid Transit, busses and commuter rails so we didn’t have to drive anymore that day.

Before we headed out for the train station a couple blocks from our hotel James realized he had forgotten a belt as he wore some hiking pants on the plane. So our first order of business became searching for a belt. We found one on Grafton Street, a busy shopping area near Trinity College. From there we headed to Dublinia, a Viking exhibition and Christ Church Cathedral, only to arrive after the last combination ticket of the day had been sold. The girl at the counter informed us admission would be free after 5 p.m. due to a special event called Culture Night. So we decide to spend half hour at a nearby pub called Lord Edwards.

We had our first pints of the trip, a Bulmer’s Cider for me and a Beamish for James. When we walked back out, the line for Dublinia was now down the block, around the corner and around another corner down an alley way. Running on very little sleep, we decided we would skip the exhibits until the next day in favor of dinner and an early turn in.

We ate at a little place near Temple Bar, traditional fish and chips for James and a Guinness Beef Stew for me.

We had crossed one of our to-do items off the list, but more importantly we got a satisfying 10 hours of sleep so we were able to tackle a full day in Dublin on Saturday.

When

Dreaming of Dublin Arrival

James and I leave tomorrow evening for Dublin so it might not be surprising that my dreams last night were all about the trip. We’ve spent so much time planning, I feel confident everything will go smoothly. But my subconscious hasn’t gotten that message.

In my dream,  we forgot the foreign currency we ordered months ago.  We forgot cameras. We forgot to buy a LEAP pass to use on the Dublin Area Rapid Transit and buses when we arrived at the airport. And our hotel room didn’t have an en suite bathroom. All of these worries are unfounded, but I’ll be extra careful to check for key items when we pack tonight and tomorrow morning.

A map shows many of the places we want to visit in Ireland.

These dreams might have been prompted by James and I talking about our itinerary last night.  He looked at our map of Ireland we’ve had up on a cork board in our living room since last fall. It has pins in all the cities we plan to visit, creating an outline around much of the coast of the island. He pointed to the very center of the map — far from our selected destinations — and said “Now ‘s the time when I pick a spot right there and put a wrench in all your planning.”

He was joking, of course. But I am sure the itinerary we have will evolve after we arrive. We may just end up in some hamlet we’ve never heard of before seeing a part of the island that’s not listed in any tour books.

After all the planning, we are exciting that we will soon be share our travels!

Pre-pack planning commences

I used to be really good at remembering to pack everything I needed for a trip. But in recent years things haven’t always gone so smoothly.

A practice packing run.

Perhaps part of it is that I take a lot more short, overnight trips that seem like they shouldn’t really require a lot of forethought. After all, what’s needed but a change of clothing? This type of thinking has led to my realizing upon arrival at my husband’s mother’s place that I have forgotten deodorant or a toothbrush. Luckily, for these occasions there is a Rite-Aid close enough for an emergency trip.

Part of it might be that when you are sharing luggage with someone, as I now do with my husband, it’s easy to assume the other person packed something that you need. This has been the case with phone chargers or other electronic devices.

I always used to create a list of things I needed to pack before leaving on a trip. For Ireland, I am reverting back to this system. My old lists used to be scribbled on a piece of paper, usually the night before, and left on my night stand. I would cross off each item as it went into my luggage.

The list I’ve created this time has a column for my things and for my husband’s, with shared items assigned to one or the other of us so we can be sure we won’t miss anything we need for a 16-night trip around Ireland.

We actually did a trial pack last weekend to see how much we could fit into our large suitcase so I have a pretty clear idea of what we are planning to take that has helped in developing the list.

And if we do arrive and realize we have forgotten some key item, I am sure Tesco’s or some other store will have it.

Everyone wants to go to Ireland

While James and I have a week left before we head out on our trip, it turns out we know someone who departed from the Bay Area for the island this week.

I found out a few weeks ago that someone my mom works with who is a friend of the family had plans to travel to Ireland in September. Our stays won’t overlap as he and his fellow travelers fly to Dublin on Tuesday and return a few days before James and I leave. I enjoyed sharing some ideas with him of activities and places to see as well as hearing what some of the items are on his itinerary. I also found it reassuring that the person who was taking the lead in planning his trip also employed multiple spreadsheets.

Some of our destinations overlap as his group will be traveling from Dublin around the Southwest of the island and up to Galway, flying back out of Shannon Airport. We both have Grafton Street and St. Stephens Green in Dublin, as well as the Rock of Cashel, the Aran Islands, the Ring of Kerry and the Burren on our lists. His group also has golfing on the agenda, while James and I focused some of our stops around finding some traditional music. Our trip is also more than twice as long so we will see a lot more of the island, including a stint in Northern Ireland.

While we won’t likely talk before we leave on our trip, we are interested in comparing notes when we return. It also seems that someone who works in my division at SJSU who I don’t know well is in Ireland right now so I am hoping to ask her about her trip when we are both back in the country. And the priest who married James and I also happens to be traveling in Ireland with a group from the church where we were married. It seems everyone wants to go to Ireland.