Ireland: Day 3+4

Hullo faithful readers! Jessica here. Happy Easter to you from Cork City.

I am fortified with Cadbury Creme Egg (better than the ones we have in the States) and ready to update. Better how? To tell you the truth, I don't know. I've been saying it for 10 years - that the Cadbury is better over here - but it's been nearly that long since I last ate a Cadbury Creme Egg, so I really have no idea what they taste like at home. Sugary, I bet.

Anyway, to finish up our Dublin adventures, we did walk to the Jameson distillery and take the tour. Not nearly as cool as the Guinness tour, but I did learn that whiskey and beer are exactly the same raw material up until the distilling happens. You probably knew that already. I managed to snag one of the 8 spots in the "special whiskey taster" part of the tour, which I promptly gave to Timo. He's better qualified than I for that job. Then after a fair bit more walking around, we went back to the hotel to get ready for dinner.

As previously mentioned, Danielle & Ander booked us for dinner at Chapter One restaurant, and dear reader, it was outrageously good. We did the tasting menu, which was seven little plates of delicious. There was very real danger of falling asleep at the table (chef's tasting dinners are not fast) but it was worth it. We arrived a little early, and were shown to the bar where we ordered cocktails and sat on velvety poufs (yes, really). After a few minutes of looking at the dinner menu, we placed our order for the tasting and were shown to our table. It was lovely and relaxing and I can give a full rundown of the menu to people who are interested.

The next day we were off to Cork. Good train ride through the country, gorgeous hotel here, and a relatively quiet Easter weekend are on the books for us. Any moment now the hotel is surely going to realize that we are not fancy enough to be staying here, but for now we'll just enjoy rolling around the king-sized bed and standing in the heated-floor bathroom.

Here we've caught most of Cork City, both days of the Franciscan Well Brewery Easter Beer Fest, and seen "How to Train Your Dragon" at the cinema. Good times. Tomorrow we make for Galway and the Aran Islands where we just miiiiight strike out into the countryside. That is, if we ever get tired of city luxuries.

Hold on, an Irish tapas restaurant is calling me...

Ireland: Day 2

Now that the wedding is over and the honeymoon is underway, I figured it would be an opportune time to make my first post. Better late than never, yes?

Yesterday was our first full day in Dublin. While still cold, the skies were clear. We started the day with breakfast at the B&B. My lovely wife (I will never get tired of saying that) had the mushroom fritata while I opted for the "full irish". The full irish, as it turn out, is a carnivor's dream. Egg, bacon, sausage, mash, and tomatoes. That and a small pot of tea had me ready to explore the city.

First up we walked to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells. There was a nice introductory exhibit about the history of bookmaking and religion in Ireland. The book itself was absoluetly beautiful, you almost can't help but hold your breath when you see it. On our way out we passed through the famous "Long Room" which was a gigantic library of ancient books. We both envied the employees of the preservation society as we watched them mend various items.

Then we strolled through downtown Dublin itself, stopping to admire some of it's architecture. The city is amazing. Gorgeous old buildings as far as you can see dotted with the occasional modern bit of architecture. The best part was that these new buildings had strong references to the classes surrounding them. None of them looked garish or out of place despite being obviously modern.

We stopped by the two most noteworthy cathedrals in Dublin, The Christ Church Cathedral and St. Patrick's Cathedral. Huge towers, intricate stained glass, and beautiful arches and doorways. We were lucky enough to reach The Christ Church Cathedral in time to hear it's bells ring.

After soaking in the sites and building a healthy appitite we headed to the Guinness brewery. While decidedly more touristy it was still worth the visit. The tour is located inside a five-story structure complete with museum, gift shop, tour of the brew-making process, restaurant and topped with a gravity bar. The structure itself wraps around a five-story sculpture of a pint glass. We ate a tasty meal before going to the top floor to enjoy a pint and take in the view.

After a liesurely nap back at the hotel we headed back out for a nice quiet dinner at a local wine bar. Everything was very tasty even with our flakey waiter (forgot one of our appatizers and pretty much dissapeared after serving us, had to flag down another person just to get dessert and the check).

Today we plan on lounging about a bit more as we put in several miles of walking yesterday. This afternoon I think we'll check out the Jameson distillery and tonight we are going to enjoy the Chef's Tasting Menu and a wonderful restaurant located inside the Writer's Museum. Thanks go to Danielle and Ander for booking us the reservation.

Tomorrow: Train ride to County Cork!