European family adventure

Our flight out of Dublin wasn't until later in the evening, so we had some time to explore Dublin in the daytime for a bit.  The guys went to get a shave, Robin had a chiropractic appointment, and Lori and I went to see the Book of Kells at the Trinity College Library.

The library itself is amazing, especially if you like books.  Or libraries.  Or old things.  Or the medevial harp that was used as the model for Ireland's coat of arms and the Guinness logo.

I don't know who this dude is but here's a bystander looking super impressed about the harp (harp not pictured)

Overloading one of the few outlets in the airport

Our hotel was about 45 minutes from the airport, and when we discovered we could walk right up to a train that would take us to our hotel, we elected to get a train ticket rather than call a cab.  However, trying to figure out the automated ticket machine involved a lot of this:



And this:






























By the time we got our tickets, took the train, and checked into our hotel it was almost midnight.  Our food options were limited to McDonalds, and some late night place across from the train station.  We did NOT come all the way to Milan to eat at McDonalds.

The late night place was weird.  As in, it had a very strange vibe.  And it was overpriced (20 euros for a large beer?!).  Plus they kept adding all these hidden fees.  "You want the wifi password?  Here!" and then we find a 2 euro charge on our bill for the wifi password.

The food was borderline terrible.  It ended up being one of our least delicious and most expensive meals of the trip.  But, for the 2 euro a person we paid for the wifi password, at least we got a group picture (complete with the two super-friendly super-sketchy guys who ran the place):

Off to Dublin!

Amalie is still stuck at the hospital and likely won't be discharged until tomorrow.  Matt is staying with her and the rest of us are headed to our next destination.  It is, of course, a difficult decision to leave Amalie, even though we know she is in good hands with the hospital staff and has Matt there to support her.

We made one last stop on our way out of town to visit Amalie at the hospital, but on the way dropped off some laundry at the "laundrette" (yes, we had to Google what a laundromat is called in Ireland).  We had not had much success with drying our clothes, despite them being strung out all over the house for three days, and figured a commercial place with a dryer might be a godsend.  And for 10 euros a bag, it was worth every penny!  We dropped it off with the promise it woudl be done in less than 3 hours, so headed on to the hospital with the intent of picking up our clothes before we left town.

We have become quite familiar with the hospital at this point; it's begun to feel like a second home, as has the Mr. Waffle across the street, where we went to eat breakfast yet again.

Over breakfast, we began planning how Matt and Amalie could rejoin our group, since they will be trailing a day behind us if Amalie gets released tomorrow.

We also had one last item to take care of before we left Galway, and that was to mail some things at the post office. We had more stuff than we needed, between souveneirs and clothes we were no longer planning to wear, so we made a stop at a post office that was less than a mile from the hospital.

A short walk, or it would have been if the massive fence surrounding the hospital grounds had not required us to walk about 2 miles out of the way simply to find a gate.

We arrived at the post office to discover we were woefully unprepared to mail anything.  After waiting in a short line, Chris and I walked up to the lady sitting behind the Plexiglas.

Us: "Hello, we'd like to mail these things."

long pause

Lady:  "Do you have a box?"

Us:  blank stare

Lady:  "Do you need a box?"

Us:  "Yes please!"

Lady:  "You'll have to go next door to the Mr. Price and see if they have any."

Okay, so clearly they do not have boxes at this post office.  We head over to the Mr. Price and corner an employee who is emptying a box of items to restock the shelves.

Us: "Hello, can we buy a box here?"

Employee:  "What kind?"

Us:  "Umm, pretty much exactly the same kind as you have right there."

Employee:  "Here, you can have it."

Score!  And back to the post office.  Now with a box.

Lady:  "Do you have tape?"

Us:  blank stare

Lady:  "You need to tape and address your box.  Do you need me to weigh it?"

Us:  more blank stares

She finally took pity on us, and gave us a pen and paper to write the address on, then took the box and taped it up for us.  Thankfully, she did not make us go back to the Mr. Price for some packing tape.

Box mailed, we returned to the hospital, and our cars, and the entire group (minus Matt and Amalie) drove to Dublin.  After checking into our very cool hotel (Blooms Hotel), we had some amazing tapas then headed to the Temple Bar area for a night on the town.

Another day in Galway.  Amalie is still in the hospital as they are treating her for an infection, and we are told she will likely need to spend at least another night, if not two.  Krista drove Lori and Robin to the hospital to visit Amalie, and then the three of us walked to a cafe across the street from the hospital for some breakfast.  The cafe was called Mr. Waffle and midway through our breakfast I heard Teenage Dirtbag over the radio.  Since this was the third time in three days that I had heard this obscure song from the early 2000's, I finally used Mr. Waffle's free wifi to learn that the song made a comeback in 2013 in the UK, and since then has enjoyed frequent radio play.  As it turns out, my outdated iTunes playlist has suddenly become relevant again.

Matt's flight was due to arrive in Dublin, so Chris and Ryan left early in the morning to pick him up.  Nick and Steven stayed back at the house.  Because I don't have many pictures from today, here's one of a really pretty cathedral in The Square that we visited yesterday.

We had no particular plans for the three days we were scheduled to be in Galway, which was fortunate due to Amalie's unexpected hospitalization.  Chris, Robin, and Lori got up early to head back to the hospital and be with Amalie.  The rest of us stayed at the house, working on laundry, catching up on sleep or work, etc.  Steven might have broken a chair.

Around 11am, the hospital group returned (sans Amalie) and we all had eggs and bacon at the house.  Although this house was huge, and had a wonderful spacious living room, it also was old.  With solid stone walls.  Which means the tiny room on the far side of the house (the one pictured above) with just one couch and the washing machine, was the only one that got a wifi signal.  So it was in this room that we spent most of our days, beginning with today, as we sat around trying to book Matt an earlier flight out to be with Amalie.

Trying to book a same-day international flight that doesn't cost a fortune and has reasonable layover times is a bit like what I picture being a stock trader on Wall Street is like.  There were four of us on laptops in a tiny room, all scouring the internet for flights.  As soon as someone found one that met airport, price, and timing criteria, they would hold up their hands and yell.  We'd all quickly discuss the details to make sure everything was correct, then the person would hit the "purchase" button on the website.

This worked about 0% of the time.  Usually within 30 seconds of finding a flight, it either a) filled up or b) went up in price by at least $1000.  So it was on to the next.  After about three hours of pretending we were all a part of the New York Stock Exchange, we finally secured Matt a flight.  In fact, the timing was so close that Matt actually had to leave for the airport before his flight was booked, and on the general faith that we were going to find him a flight out of that airport.

Robin and Lori took a nap, trying to recover from their late night/early morning, and Steven, Chris, Ryan, Nick and I took the train from Ankeny to Galway to visit Amalie in the hospital.

An interesting point about this hospital is that it's not set up for long term visitors.  Visiting hours are, technically, from 8am-10am and from 4pm-6pm, although as long as you aren't disruptive they are pretty lenient about visiting outside those hours.  But they absolutely won't let anyone - not even a spouse - stay overnight. The rooms themselves have one chair for visitors if you are lucky, and the space is tiny, so this means crowding around the bed either standing or sitting on the floor.  And there are no waiting rooms, just a small cafe and coffeshop at the main entrance with a handful of wooden tables and chairs.  There was some very poignant wall art, however.


Around 6:30, Robin and Lori arrived to see Amalie.  Robin stayed to sit with Amalie while the rest of us went to the Square in Galway for some dinner.  We wandered around until we found the King's Inn.  Dinner was wonderful, and afterwards we explored the square some more until we landed at the Front Door for drinks.  Amalie was there with us in spirit:

At the end of the night, Lori and I hailed a cabbie with a big enough van to fit our entire group.  Our cabbie's name was Anton, and he had a noticeable Eastern European accent.  This created a slight language barrier, and the following conversation occurred:

"Hello, I am Anton. Where are you going?"

"Ankeny."

"Yes, my name is Antony.  Where can I take you?"

"Ankeny."

"I am Anton.  What is the address you are going to please?"

Anyway, you get the picture, but finally Nick got out his phone and GPS'd some directions.  He navigated Anton the rest of the way home.

Everyone was a little "extra tired" from our late night out, so the morning was spent relaxing at the room.  Everyone was on their own for coffee and breakfast, then we all met at The Coachman's for lunch.  We spent the morning and early afternoon exploring the cute downtown area of Kenmare around our hotel, and doing some souvenir shopping.  Around 4pm, we left to drive to Galway, where we would be spending the next three days.

On our way, we decided to drive through Tipperary to see some Irish history.  Only on a drive through Europe can you glance out our window and see an old mill, castle ruins, and an abbey.  The Glanworth Mill is the last remaining reverse undershot water wheel mills in Ireland.  All that remains of Glanworth Castle is the keep and the castle wall, but it is still a beautiful sight as you drive by with the late afternoon sunlight.  It is now used as a "public walk and courting area" by the locals.

We made it to St. Michael's Church in Tipperary, where we let ourselves in through the gate and wandered around looking for clues to the family history.  We didn't linger too long, however, because we wanted to make it to Galway while there was still time to grab some dinner.  Amalie was also starting to feel unwell.

St. Michael's Church

Our accommodation in Galway is a large house, situated in the nearby small town of Athenry.  We are continuing the theme of "arriving too late to eat dinner" and spent enough time chatting with the (very nice) owner of the house that we know dinner in town is not an option.  So Chris, Steven, Nick and Krista elect to go to the grocery store for food and drinks, while Robin helps Amalie get settled.  We managed to successfully get food, although we missed the alcohol license by 10 minutes.  We also didn't realize you need to bring your own grocery bags.  They have them there for purchase, of course.

While the grocery shopping was happening, Robin, Amalie, Lori, and Ryan were back at the house on the phone with Amalie's doctor.  She was feverish, with chills, and in a lot of pain.  By the time groceries were delivered to the house, they had heard back from Amalie's doctor and the decision was made to take her to the hospital in Galway.

Little did we know she would be spending the next four nights there.

Chris, Robin, and Lori took Amalie to the hospital while Steven, Nick, Ryan and Krista stayed behind to start doing laundry, making dinner, and waiting for news on Amalie.  We had a washer in the house, which was great, although of course not a dryer.  I'm not entirely certain how they ever dry their clothes, considering the weather is usually too damp to hang them dry, but maybe there is some trick we don't know.  As it was, we ended up with clothes hanging from every possible surface inside the house and out on the clothesline (until it started to drizzle).

Amalie was admitted to the hospital with a temperature of 105, and we were told in no uncertain terms that she would be staying the night.  The hospital does not allow overnight visitors, so around 2am the group that went with Amalie was kicked out and sent back to our rental house.  We had cooked some frozen pizzas; everyone ate then crashed for the night.

Breakfast at the hotel then off to drive the Ring of Kerry.  We decided to drive it clockwise, since we would be going the opposite direction of the tour bus traffic.

First stop, Sneem.  Coffee, souvenirs, and bought some postcards to mail to the kids.  Wandered down the street and walked across a grate over a waterfall.

Took the loop for the Skellig Ring (counterclockwise).  Stopped at the Staigue Stone Fort, and explored the ancient structure.



Lunch was seafood, at a restaurant on the water in Portmagee.  More driving, and even though the weather was overcast we got some great views:

Morning at the hotel was our first introduction to a "Full Irish Breakfast."  I avoided the black pudding - being aware of what it was - but ate the entire patty of white pudding, thinking it was some sort of hash brown potatoes.  When we asked our waitress what was in the white pudding, she told us, "you don't want to know."  Okay, then.

To catch our flight, we needed to leave by 6:30 am, so we got up early and packed the clothes draped around the place that were still moderately damp.  I miss dryers.  We each snagged a fresh plum off of the tree out back (not really sure if we were supposed to, but there was nothing specifically forbidding it...) and Scotland gave us a wonderful farewell in the form of a double rainbow:


















You can't really see the second rainbow in this picture, but to be fair, I was attempting to take this photo from the backseat of a moving vehicle.

On the way to the airport, I realized I had accidentally grabbed the "welcome booklet" for our cottage rental.  The owners had clearly spent a lot of time putting it together, and it was intended for re-use with the next renters, so I didn't want to just toss it.  At the airport, I asked the cashier at one of the shops if there was anyplace to mail something.  After a brief discussion of what exactly it was I needed to mail, he offered to personally deliver it back to our rental.

"I like exploring new towns" he said.  (Stirling is about 30 minutes from the Edinburgh airport).  He said he'd use his transit pass to take it there or, if it seemed like too much trouble, he'd mail it for me.  I tried to offer him some money to cover his expenses, postage, etc, but he got very offended.  Hopefully he delivered as promised!

It was a short flight to the Shannon Airport, where we met Amalie, Lori, Ryan, and Nick.  Steven's talent for losing things (in addition to his jacket, he also lost his chapstick and glasses at St. Andrews) must have rubbed off on Robin, because she left her sunglasses at the airport bathroom before customs.  Thankfully, a nice security guard was able to go find them for her.

After picking up our rental cars, we drove to Ennis, where we stopped for lunch at Brogan's.  We briefly wandered the streets in search of a voltage converter for Robin, and a nice Irish lady directed us to go to "Jimmy's" because "he has everything."  And sure enough, Jimmy came through.

Moving onwards, we drove the the Cliffs of Morar and walked along the viewpoints.  It was windy, but sunny.  This was our only day of sun in Ireland.












































We left the cliffs, and drove along some extremely narrow roads to finally arrive in Doolin.  We checked into the hotel then went to  O'Connor's Pub for some dinner and live music.  We got there early so we secured a table, and by the time we left the place was packed.  We had only one car and one designated driver to get the 8 of us back to the hotel (it was just a 5 minute drive, but a bit too far to walk), so the ride back was very, very cozy.

From there we went to a bar within walking distance of our hotel.  They also had great live music which went on until about an hour before closing time.  When the music stopped, a boisterous table in the middle of the bar took over by singing showtunes loudly and drunkenly.  No one else paid them any mind.  We left when the bar closed around midnight.