Day 14, October 3

Today we were off to Nice in France. Luckily we left the hotel early as the queue at the check- in line was over an hour. Two hours later we arrived in Nice to fine, sunny weather. Our rooms, although in the old Raddison were spacious and had brilliant views of the Mediterranean. As has become our motis operandi we found a supermarket and stocked up on some antipasti for dinner nibbles. Nice to relax in Nice.

Day 13, October 2

Back into Dublin again to see more sights. We walked around Trinity College with the intention of seeing the Book of Kells but the thousands of Uni students mulling around for Careers Week meant we would have had to wait for hours. We explored the Temple Bar area with all it's eateries and pubs and finally settled for lunch at the famous O'Reilly's Pub. Lots of walking on hard cobblestones but great fun.

Day 12, October 1

Monday, October 1: Time to take in the Dublin experience! After bussing it into the city we decided to use the hop-on hop- mode of sightseeing to get around the city easily. While commentary on the bus was about the historic buildings, Dublin still seems to be the same old buildings of years ago but overall Ireland is in bad recession and it's going to take a long time to get back on it's feet. No trip To Dublin would be complete with a stop at the Guinness Storehouse and what an eye-opener. Seven levels of information and some fascinating facts on the roasting and brewing process. Interesting to see that Guinness buy most of their hops from Australia. We were happy to spend several hours there watching videos of how the Scottish hand-craft barrels using traditional methods of planing the wood and heat- treating into shape. On the top floor is the Altitude Bar which has spectacular views of the entire city. At the time of our visit all the Galway hurlers also were there and great fun to talk to.
Back on the bus again we soaked up some more sights before becoming soaked - a quick downpour had us heading/running for the right bus stop to head back to the hotel. A good day in Dublin.

Day Eleven - again!

Oops again - it really is a case of adventure before dementia when you fall behind with your posts. So we are back to Sunday again. After leaving the The Mustard Seed, we took a detour on our way to Dublin to Doon to see Molly's lovely family on their farm. Lovely to catch up with them and see where Molly grew up in Ireland before heading to Perth. Travelling later on the M- something was a breeze and we arrived back in Dublin minus the rain and in time to drop off the car and head to our next accommodation - Castleknock Hotel and Country Club. Arrived to a roar of cheering Irish hurling fans watching televisions everywhere and seeing Kilkenny beating Galway. The game was being played in Dublin and Molly's father was a hurler for Galway. What an experience watching the game which is a bit like ice hockey but played on grass with Gaelic football rules thrown in. Hurling is a national amateur sport and the players play for the love of the game and not pay. They even have to take a day off work to play for the grand final before a crowd of over 80,000! Our accommodation was between Dublin city and the airport in a lovely treed part of town and a favourite venue for visiting sporting teams including the All Blacks and international soccer teams as well as being one of the favored golf courses in Ireland.

Day Eleven

Sunday, September 30: Oops fallen behind with this blogging so bear with us. Today we drove down to Kinsale via Cork. Kinsale is a lovely fishing village where the last person was picked up from the Titanic on that fateful journey. Weather beautiful. Had the best seafood chowder ever at Fishy Fishy - highly recommend it for future travellers. Next stop was Blarney Woollen Mills outside Blarney Castle. The shop was larger than any Ikea and was a one-stop shop for everything Irish. Several hours later we were back on the road again for our last night at the Mustard Seed which was booked out for fine dining by the locals so it was salmon and nibbles beside the fire.
Ireland is truly magic and a sea of green fields and trees. You've never seen green until you've been to Ireland.
But time to move onto Day 12. Can't post any photos as yet because of not being able to upload Picasso.

Day Ten, 29 September,2012

Lost my train of thought now! Ah, yes, today we went to Kinsale via Cork. I'd heard about this place as well. Kinsale is the port for Cork City. It has a monument to the Titanic . It was the port that the last passenger was picked up before the Titanic's fateful journey. Kinsale is very pretty as ports go. Today it has a lot of restaurants and boutique shops one of which I had to buy from--- home made chocolate. Funnily enough, it was called Koko. We have a Koko Black in Claremont and the big Kokomo Black in Melbourne. This shop has nothing to do with either of those shops. The owner who makes all of the chocolates, just used the name Koko. Like my brown dog, called Coco . We ate at another lovely eatery called Fishy Fishy which we were told about. All about beautiful fish dishes! We didn't bother going into Cork itself but went to the Blarney Woollen Mills where everything was sold from hand crafted linen and lace to Woollen products, jumpers and the like, to Waterford Crystal wear and other Irish crystal , also touristy things. It's a huge place, a one stop shop if you like. All very interesting, but we were tired and headed back to our cosy Mustard Seed Hotel for more drinks by the fire. We had our own snacks but the owner said, no you must have this on a proper plate and he had the crackers, salmon, cheeses etc brought out in style. We had a wine and turned in for the night. The long drive of the day before plum tuckered us out!! The next day was the drive to Dublin to drop the car off.

Day Nine- 28 September

The manor house Hotel and Country Club couldn't have been a nicer place such was their hospitality and service. After a home cooked breakfast we drove off into what would be a very, very long day ahead. First stop was the Belleek Pottery Factory at Belleek of course. I had heard so much of this pottery which is more like fine bone china than chunky pottery. Every piece is completely hand made and decorated. Truly fascinating. We did a short tour of crafts persons at their work. Such fine work you need years of practice and all have to pass an apprenticeship before being able to be employed. One must have absolute patience and steady hands to do this fine, excellent work. I had one or two pieces shipped home as we have a wedding to be in the family. Gosh, now it was  midday and we had to get a wriggle on. We had to get to Ballingarry, south west of Limerick city before dark a five or six hour drive! Unfortunate to miss out on Galway Bay, but ,hey, the traffic was appalling. We had numerous traffic stops due to road works and as this is Ireland traffic lights haunting traffic one way stays on forever even if there are no cars. No such thing as the lollipop man that earns $90,000 a year just to hold the stop, go signs! Ireland has 31 % unemployment. Could fix that!! I desperately wanted to go to Cliffs of Moher to pay my respects for darling Mary's sister who passed away last year. We made it!! My golly, gosh, has it ever changed! Last time I was there in 1974 there was one small road and you could go right up to the edge, not that you'd want to. Today there is a huge car park and a ticketing system( of course) ,shops, cares, toilets etc. the best thing though is the majority of the cliff face is fenced off with a high barrier. I love this place with its beauty and ruggedness but I don't like the idea of portraying it as a tourist monetary gain as people suicide off the top. I payed my respects then we hit the road again. It was 5pm. Eek, more hurdles along the way. It is well known that if you want to get somewhere fast, things beset you. This time it was dairy cows being headed down the road. I didn't mind this at all. It was lovely to see. Nearly there and we passed though the most beautiful village ever, not including Broadway in Shropshire, England. Adare is classified as the most beautiful village in all of Ireland and that it is. We were nearly there! Eventually got to The Mustard Seed at Ecco Lodge Hotel, another delightful place with a warm and welcoming owner, cum everything man! This man has an award winning restaurant called the Mustard Seed and you could tell it was good in the restaurant by the number of people booked for a meal. We arrived at 6.30 pm, luckily still light and were greeted by a seat by the fire and pre dinner drinks with canapés. We loved our room which was up and around, down and along! The home and the rooms all filled with antiques and quirky collectables. Angie and I had a huge room, in fact it was probably two rooms once. Angie had the double in one section and I had a quiet nook in another separated by a sofa and writing desk. Everything ran like clockwork even they were busy with meals. Nothing was a problem. We were to have two glorious days there, but I was totally stuffed from all the driving so tucked into bed early.