Tour of Ireland with Mom and Dad

Mom and Dad got in early Tuesday morning. I wasn't quite ready for them, I was still shaving, but they were good about my room being a mess. I guess they've gotten used to it. We had breakfast at that pub by the library, which was a good traditional Irish breakfast, of which we would have many more over the course of our B+Bs. They were pretty jet lagged, so after they got settled in they took a quick nap and I changed some money and got stuff packed so I wouldn't have so much stuff to bring back. After that we went out to city center to get some shopping done, and go to the library, and stuff like that. We went to Doalns for dinner and pub music. We kinda got lost finding the first B+B, but got there eventoually, and I stayed there instead of driving all the way to UL again, what with the roads being narrow, a ton of roundabouts, and a stick shift.
So we got up, and drove out to Bunratty, which means 'end of the river'. There was much more to it that I saw last time, we walked around the grounds and saw peacocks and Irish Wolf Hounds, which were huge and awesome and used to get rid of the wolves on the island. The castle itself was cool, and we had the same guy we had last time giving the tour. We learned the prefix 'mc' means 'son of,' and 'O' means 'grandson of'. Interesting tidbit.
After Bunratty we went to Craggaunowen, which was a cool place with a castle and a ring fort on the lake. They'd build on the lake so invaders couldnt' get to them. And there was an awesome walk that was all lush and green and mossy in the forest, and they had wild boars, too, which was kidna cool. Then on to the Cliffs of Moher, which weren't as easy to see as I remember, but still really cool. Really windy, too. After the cliffs we went down to Doolin, and ate at that same pub. We had had a huge breakfast, so we only had soups, a theme we'd continue after eating huge breakfasts at every place. Then we had to drive all the way to Dingle, take a ferry over the crossing, but we finally got to this nice place called the lighthouse, overlooking Dingle Harbor, which was cool. We checked in, got a Pizza and a few beers, and listend to some traditional music at the pub.
The next day we did some shopping at Dingle, which actually had a few really cool, hippy-type shops. Then we drove to the dingle peninsula and drove that little ring, which was really neat! The roads were really narrow, though, but the views were spectacular. Lots of tall mountains, sparce brush, lots of Sheep, and the ocean right there. We saw some old 4 BC stone forts and huts, all made out of un-mortared stone, and what are called Beehive huts, which are cool stone huts with tops. They look like beehives, go figure. We drove out around the point, and on te way back we hit the Gallarus Oratoary, which was another cool stone dwelling, used as a church. Really neat. Drove the rest of the way and got to Killarney. This one was a little off the beaten path, and the map was useless, but we got it eventoually. We had some pub food, but there was a band practicing next door, and they were loud and bad. But it's all good. We were planning on doing the Ring of Kerry, but seeing as we'd already done all that driving, we decided against it. We went to Muckross house instead, which was really cool, and had BEAUTIFUL grounds. Rock walls, various plants, huge trees, and the house was pretty cool too. This drive from Killarney to Cork was really neat; we actually did do a bit of the Ring of Kerry, and took a nice scenic route, but towards the end we were all fed up with driving and got to Cork, but the trip was nice and green. Cork was a nightmare getting into; we came at it a different way and there was TONS of traffic. We only looked around for a little bit, but we walked to St. Finnebarr's cathedral, which was really cool. Passed the Beamish brewery, which is sweeter than a guiness, but i dont' like it as much. Then we drove to Kinsale, which is the Gorme capitol of Ireland, and also a harbor, which was really neat. We had a DELICIOUS Italian dinner for Dad's birthday, and it was really good. Checked into the B+B (Which was a GARISH yellow) and went into town to have a drink. Turns out one of the guys was working in Waterville (Ireland) so I struck up a conversation with him. Kinda cool.
Then next morning, after the obligatory delicious breakfast, we drove back through Cork and did Blarny castle, which was AMAZING! The castle was big and imposing, and they built it on a cliff, and made the sides come to a point, kinda, so it looks even bigger and taller than it is. The grounds around the castle are really cool, they have some sweet caves and stairs and trees and a sacrifical rock and druid's circle. It's awesome. And the castle itself was really great, too. The stone was cool, but they guy who had to help you was very "GO GO GO!", so you didnt' really get a chance to appreciate it, but I do remember it had a kinda chunk taken out of it. Though I do feel a bit more loquacious...After Blarny, we went to the Fota wildlife park, but it was expensive and cold, so we kept going to the Jameson Whisky distillery, which was really cool. I got to do the taste testing!! I learned that Scotch is Scotch Whisky, and the difference is that Irish Whisky is distilled thrice, Scotch twice, and American only once. Also, Irish Whisky uses a smokelss heat source to heat the barley, while Scotch uses peat, which gives it that (gross) peaty taste and smell. But I learned I like Powers Whisky best, then Jameson, then Paddy, then Jack, and Scotch is just disgusting. But it was well worth the trip. I even got a certificate!
After that we (and by 'we' i mean 'dad', because I sort of passed out after those 6 shots of whisky) drove through Waterford, where they make waterford crystal, and over to Graiguenamangh, where our B+B was. Took a while to find it, it was kind of out of the way, but nice. There was NO food to be found, though, so we just had some stuff from the grocery store. Dad and I went to a small Irish pub, and he taught me how to drive standard. Kinda of. We found a church parking lot, but it was on a hill, and I smoked the clutch. Ahh, well.
Next day we drove to Kilkenny, which had a really cool castle, still kept up, and set up like victorian times. Really neat, and big grounds, too, though not as impressive. We went to St. Mary's cathedral, as well as St. Candice's, which were both cool. Then we traveled on to the Rock of Cashel, which was really cool. A big castle on this huge precipice. It was the center of Munster King's power until 1101, when they gave it over to the Church. You can see the Romanesque style chappel, and the huge gothic cathedral, too. It was pretty sweet.
Then, we just drove back to Limerick! We got everything fully packed up, and I stayed the night at the B+B, since they had an extra voucher, and I probably wouldn't be able to use it. In the morning, they dropped me off, I spent 20 minutes trying to print boarding passes (because the library is horrible), and Mom and Dad headed home!
It was really great seeing them, and now I've only got about a month left before I'm home again...at least one or two more posts before then, though

SouthWest Ireland with the Parents

Sangria on the Beach

So, Spain was pretty awesome. We got there, and it was actually warm! I'd forgotten what that was like in Ireland. We ended up on the wrong bus, without knowing it, but luckily some nice lady who also spoke English heard us freaking out and told us the other buses and stuff we had to get on. So we got to the hostel, all settled in, and walked along the beach, which was 1/2 a block away from our hostel, it was amazing! And the people at the hostel were really nice too. My roomate was from Argentina. It was the off season, but apparently Palma de Mallorca, the Island we were on, is a huge destination for German partiers,like our spring break stuff. We saw a huge 'super pub' called Mega Park, it was a huge beerhall thing. We had schnitzel in there, it was ok. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
So we got there, walked around a little, and ended up at a cool Italian place. The old guy taking care of us must have been bored, cuz he kept coming over and doing magic tricks and stuff, or pull a fake gun on one of us, or give someone an exploding pen, or give us 75% shots, it was pretty crazy. After that we got a few things of Sangria and this thing called Shandy, which is half beer half lemonade. No one else liked them, but I thought they were really good. We drank them at the beach at night, which was beautiful, and just hung around.
The next day was pretty much spent at the beach drinking sangria with these huge straws. There are pictures on the blog. It was awesome. There was a grocery store right across the beach, and a gallon of Sangria was like 2 euro. Oh if only we had those prices in Ireland!! So we did that, we read, we talked, we jumped in the water (which was cold! It wasn't really super-warm on the beach yet), made a sandcastle, and drank more sangria. We ended up taking a nice long nap after it got cold out, then going into the city. Stuff was closing, so we ate at McDonald's (for Shame!) and ended up at this hole in the wall ex-pat pub, that was kinda nice. I had a Caronita, and they offered a lime, but put a lemon in. Ahh, well. Couldn't stay long cuz we had to hit the last bus, but it was good.
Next day we went to the beach, Dan and Carolin (his German Girlfriend) had to leave, so we spent the day with them on the beach, then when they left we took another Siesta. Sitting in the sun really takes a lot out of you! We went to the German Beer hall for lunch, and because it was the offseason everything was like 30% off. I had the schnitzel, which was like breaded pork, but it was just ok. For dinner we bought wine and cheese and baguettes and ham and sat on the beach and watched the waves and ate...it was heavenly. At night we got some drinks and had White Russians, which were really good, and played cards and stuff. Pretty chill.
Next day, it was cold and windy, so we didn't' spend to much time at the beach, but we went into the city to shop around and stuff. We had Tapas, which are appetizer thingys. Not bad. Got back, had more bread and cheese in the room this time, because the girls were too cold, then we had black russians, because we still had all the stuff left for russians, just no milk, so we got coke instead. Then, the awesomeness happened. We decided to go out to this cocktail bar the hostel recommended. So we went, and it was a Canadian guy, John, who owned it. He was really nice, gave us a free shot to sip on while we were deciding, and gave us good, off-season prices (4 euro for a drink instead of 6) So we were excited. And Cielito used to work as a bartender, so she was asking about all these drinks, what he had for ingredients, and that stuff. He didn't have any limes, but we had bought like 5 for our drinks beforehand, and only used one, so she ran off to get limes to make mojijtos for us! He had her get behind the bar, gave her mint and rum and she used our limes, and made us and him one. And then she stayed behind the bar all night, pouring drinks for the 10 or so people that were there, and also for us. It was awesome! John was so cool, Cielito kept feeding us drinks all night, there was actually good music on, and there were funny austin powers pick-up lines in the bathroom. It couldn't have gotten much better! But wait, it does! At the end of the night, he was like '15 euro, we'll call it even.' We must have drank at least 100 euro worth of alcohol between the three of us (well, two of us, Brette didn't really drink to much), but we only had to pay 15! In fact, we went to another pub afterwards with him and I bought him a beer, and our two beers came out to almost that much, for 2 beers! And we were drinking all night! it was great! Everything you wish to happen to you at a bar, and it did. AMAZING times. There are a few pictures, and Cielito's going to make a drink list of everything we had that night, so I'll put that up later.
Needless to say, I wasn't feeling to great the next morning, but I didn't have to throw up or anything, so I'll count it as a victory. And the hostel had a great breakfast, which helped, too. So the last day we got up, walked around Palma for a bit, the girls did some shopping, we had some nice sandwiches which were called something, but I forget, and we headed for home. Plane ride was fine, got back safe and sound, and here we are!

Next trip is Ireland with the Parents!!

Drink List (for all of us, I didn't have that many on my own)

3 shots apple schnapps
2 beers
3 super strong mojitos
2 japanese slippers
2 appletinis
1 cheeky monkey
1 squashed frog
1 screaming orgasm
3 shots sambuca
2 flaming sambuca shots
3 jagerbombs
3 kiwi drip tray shots

and here are the pictures

Spain