Saying Goodbye Ireland

Well we took a few last minute pictures before jumping on a plane to England. We were heading to Newcastle, England (northern England) where Joel & Roxanne live. England here we come!

Wandering Around

Well we finished looking at Trinity College and wandered around a bit more and checked out another Cathedral. While on the way there was a lovely Irish man playing an instrument and so Joel thought we would try or really just pretend he tried. And Roxanne had to get a picture with their mail boxes because in England there red and Ireland green. Being Ireland though I guess that makes alot of sense.

Trinity College

Well the four of us stopped by Starbucks prior to heading to Trinity College. Joel & Roxanne had never tried a flavored latte before so Casey & I thought we would introduce them to the sweet dessert drink. Well Joel guzzled it down so fast that it was gone way before we got to the College and the sugar had already kicked in. He was hitting Roxanne up for hers by the time we got there. At Trinity College after the laughter had calmed down we went to take a tour the Trinity College Library where The Book of Kells was. This is an extremely old manuscript in Latin containing the 4 gospels of the New Testament I think it was copied by monks in like 800AD. We also went to another section of the Library where it had so many old books that were from wall to ceiling that it was incredible. You couldn't take a picture inside the library but Casey got one from the outside to try to give you an idea of it.

Last Day in Ireland - yummy traditional Irish food

Well our last day in Ireland we decided to make a full day of it and do as much touring of Dublin as we could. We wander around the streets a bit and went for a traditional Irish meal. Was it ever yummy!! I had the traditional Irish lamb stew and it was tasty! Casey was a bit jealous and wished he had ordered the same but I shared.....a little.

The Twighlight Zone

Well we didn't realize how hard it was going to be to find somewhere to eat on the way. We stopped at one place that looked like a hotel/pub resturant but all that was there was burger, fries etc. for as much as a steak dinner would be here in Canada. So we decided to keep driving. We decided that the next town we were going to find anything no matter what because we were all famished. So its dark and we pull into this small town and see what looks like a nice resturant that use to be an old cool hotel. WELL as we are walking in to the resturant a man is standing out side smoking and decide to courteously blow his smoke in our diretection. We walk in and the entire room goes almost silent while everyone turns and looks at us. Which was a little bit ackward. The room was one big room with a high ceiling big beautiful fire place and wood bar. We were seated by the fireplace and given menu's and while we looked at them the waitresses talked in another language while staring at us. We'll when I went to go to the washroom it was upstair in what was obviously an old hotel. While up there I thought that it looked like some old murder mystery movie (which I never watch but pictured this is what it would look like)and decided to hurry back to the rest of the crew. The one thing I was able to tell them was that we had finally found the "shire"....the toilets in the washroom were brand named Shire. Well Joel, Roxanne & I ordered Lasagna, which to this day we wonder what type of meat they used because we didn't think it tasted to much like beef. While Casey ordered a curry dish.....I don't know what he was thinking. Well we finished and paid and as we left all the other tables were looking at us and whispering to one another...it truly felt like the twighlight zone!

Arriving in Cork

So as we are approaching Cork we realize it is another LARGE city not a little cute town that looks like the shire! We are all so over tired by now we are laughing about everything and turning everything into a joke. So we thought well we drove 4 hours lets check it out before the suns gone.So we drove around randomly up streets to "check the place out" then we head into the centre of the city which looks like a real cool shopping strip. We went into a mall and where we found parking and kept joking around about wondering if each person we encountered would know where the "shire" was. We then headed to the street and wandered around for a little while the rain started and then to find a place to eat. We went to one resturant and sat there for about 2 minutes and decided to leave. We couldn't find anything so decided to grab a coffee at a Glory Jeans (which is an Aussie company)amd head back to Dublin and find something to eat on the way.

Cork Road Trip

So we made a stop in a town called Kilkenny that is the best preserved medieval town they say. We stopped at the Kilkenny Castle and browsed around it (not in it)then headed into the town and wander the little streets. It was so neat but unfortunately everything was closed. We did go for lunch though in a really neat building with the wonderfully irish prices...ouch.

The Adventure to Cork Begins

Well the morning comes and we are all exhausted except Joel who slept through the whole night and we are off to on the road to Cork. So we were very excited to go to Cork as we were told that its a beautiful little town that will remind you of the Shire. So we headed out of Dublin into the country side, south. It was beautiful scenery with rolling green hills with sheep & rock fences and old buildings. We stopped at a gas station cause Casey saw these ruins of a building on the side of the road. So camera happy Casey went.

Starbuckies Ireland!

Well after our touring we went back to find a grocery store to make something for dinner. Not much around but we found enough to get by. When we got back to our hostel room Roxanne went to use the bathroom and when she walked in she turned around and walk back out to tell us that it looked like someone had used it while we were gone and forgot to flush. There was a phantom poo in the loo. We were all a bit weirded out but what could you do. So we headed for the kitchen cooked our wonderful meal. I had never seen blood sausage or hagass (no idea how to spell that) till we headed to the kitchen and I don't think I would it would be something I car to smell or see again. After dinner we then decided to head out to find ourselves a coffee shop. While the rain came pouring down & I mean pouring we of course found ourselves a starbucks. We spent a few hours there enjoying a few cups of coffee (casey maybe more then a few) and had brought Joel & Roxanne a few North American goodies. After that we headed back to our hostel through the Temple Bar area where it was in and wandered through some souvenier shops. We realized that at night is when that area starts getting busy as the people there like their late night drinks. After we wandered around for a little we went back to our hostel to make it an early night as we had a full day ahead of us the next day. We were planning to head to Cork as it was 4 hours away and we had a bunch of people tell us we must check it out. So we wanted to get up bright and early the next morning. We all got into bed and all of us fell asleep except Casey. He couldn't sleep (hmmmmm how much coffee did he have), so every few hours he would wake me up (not on purpose of course) and I would check if he was even sleepy and he was wide awake. Well about 3 or 4 am he got up to go to the washroom when he wakes me up to tell me the phatom poo was back! Well needless to say something was fishy because we all knew it was no ware to be found before we all went to bed. At 5 am I think Casey slept for 1 hour before we all had to get up and get ready to go and well he was our driver on the rental car. I little bit scary!