Our first adventure in Ireland- Honeymoon 2004

I have had a love for Ireland for a very long time. It started out with my Grandfather who told me he always wanted to go. That meant that obviously I had to go too since he was one of the most important people in my life. His mother was the daughter of Irish immigrants who had siblings that were born in Ireland. Had they emigrated from Ireland a couple years later, he would have been the son of an Irish immigrant. Sadly Grandpa never made it over to Ireland and so I made it my strongest wish to make it over myself. This wish was realized when I announced to my future husband that we were going to Ireland for our honeymoon. Sorry Matt, you didn't get much of a say, but it worked out great anyways, right?

Grandpa Heitman and me as a 2.5 year old

Fast-forward to August 5th, 2004 and we are on our way to Ireland! Our flights took us from St.Louis Missouri to New York where we spent 3 days running around with a good friend of mine from undergrad (Thank you LP! I'll never forget your awesome hospitality!) and then off to Ireland for 9 days. We had planned most of our trip with my friend's mom who has spent a good amount of time in Ireland. She was able to give us ideas of which places we had to see, where we should stay, and where I would most likely get to sing in a pub as I promised my grandpa many many years ago. If only Eileen Dryer (an amazing author as well as all around fabulous person) could plan everyone's vacations over here they would definitely have a crack (or craic as they say over here) of a time! 

August 8th, we boarded a plane from New York to Dublin, Ireland. In hind sight we should have figured out how to stop off in Shannon since we wanted to be in the West, but apparently that wasn't an option when we booked flights. So off and away to Dublin with the intention of driving across the whole country after disembarking from an 8 hour over night flight. Now to preface this, every time Matt and I travel it truly is a comedy of errors. This was no exception! 

This was our first experience driving on the left side of the car on the left side of the road which would have been tricky enough but made a bit worse by sleep deprivation. Seems somewhere over the Atlantic I "stole" Matt's pillow and he didn't get much sleep. Bless his heart he didn't wake me up or insist on having it back. Coincidentally this was the last time I slept the whole flight over.  So as we begin our journey west at 10 am, we assumed we could make the 167 miles in about 3-4 hours. Come on, this whole country is smaller than the state we lived in! Surely it couldn't take that long to cross, right? Unfortunately we didn't understand that they didn't have highways at the time. There was a small stretch of "motorway," (AKA highway) at the beginning so into the car we went, with Matt and the helm and me navigating with a paper map (no GPS back then!). Our first bump in the road was that the speeds were listed as just a number in a circle, no MPH or Km/h to tell us miles or kilometers per hour. Matt would drive 60 KPH and everyone would pass him, so I insisted he try MPH and then he was passing everyone. All the while he kept drifting between the 2 lanes much to my exasperation.  I was just at the point of telling him (ok, yelling, because that's what newly married couples do, right?) that we're going to get pulled over when in fact a police officer (Gardi, here) flipped on his lights and we were sunk. By the time to officer got to the car I was soundly whacking Matt with the map and saying, "I. Told. You. We. Were. Going. To. Get. Pulled. OVER!!!" The cop thought this was the funniest thing he'd seen so after laughing at both of us he asked how long we'd been in the country. "30 minutes?" we replied. "Oh, and how long will you be here?" "9 days, we're on our honeymoon." More laughing at us. Finally he says, "YOU, (points at Matt) here we drive on the left, so if you're going to be slow, drive on the left. YOU, (points at me) you tell him where he's supposed to go and no more hitting. Enjoy your holiday!" Not the best start to a romantic honeymoon, huh? But it was also my first clear indication we were not in Kansas anymore, Toto. Holiday? What holiday? We're here for our honeymoon, not Christmas!

Back on the road and headed to Kildare where the Irish National Stud Farm is located. This is one of my favorite places in all of Ireland. It has a beautiful garden and TONS of gorgeous million dollar horses and their babies! What's not to love??

After a couple hours making kissy faces with adorable baby horses we were back on the road to travel the last 140 miles. In Missouri this would have taken us 2-2.5 hours, tops. Not here. First we had to figure out how to navigate. At the time, without a motor way, and the serious lack of road signs we learned that you don't look for roads, you puddle jump town to town until you reach your end destination. This means what would have taken us 2-2.5 hours actually took 6-7 hours! By the time we got to our B & B, and settled for the night it was time to go to the pub for a pint and traditional music! 

Matt enjoying his first Guinness in Ireland

After a lovely evening we went back to our B & B to finally get some rest because we had a whole lot of traveling to do in our 8 remaining days. Matt drove the whole time because I was terrified of the narrow roads and the fact that we had already been hit by a bus once didn't make it any better. The good news is that side mirrors are spring loaded both directions so when the bus clipped us, all it did was fold the mirror in with a loud THWACK! Pretty sure I should have had some Valium just for the car rides too and from the sites. After about 6 days I finally became less panicked about the driving and was able to enjoy the countryside without keeping my eyes firmly on the map so I didn't have to see what was going on outside the windows. With the advent of GPS this is no longer necessary so I now just keep a book in the car, you know, just in case. Below is a quick recap in pictures of those next 8 days.

DAY 2:

O'Brian's tower Cliffs of Moher

Of course it's a great idea to hang over the edge of a giant cliff right after you get married, right?

My first ferry ride! Headed towards Dingle

This is the dog that bit me. Yep, I got bit by a collie on my honeymoon. It looked happy and was wagging it's tail, but then bit me! 

Dunbeg Fort

Matt making out with Clyde, the boxer. This was a bit foretelling because he looked a lot like Gypsy. After we took this picture he led us to a pub where we ate, drank, and made merry.

DAY 3:

Inch Strand

Look, a castle! I look like belong here, I know! Totally should have been born a queen!

Looking through the window of a ruined church

Celtic cross along the Ring of Kerry

Trekking in Ireland! How exciting! WOW I was so much skinnier then! Sadly my horse had gas the whole way and Matt was behind me so this trek was a bit less enjoyable than mine.

Matt got a lovely piebald horse! He got his first experience cantering on this ride. At the top of the mountain the guide asked if we'd like to go for a bit of a canter. I said, of course, but since Matt was a bit behind so all he got to say was, "a bit of a what?" before we all took off. It was lovely and as you can see he returned still in the saddle!

No trip to Ireland would be complete without a livestock traffic jam, especially if there are sheep involved!

St. Brendan's creek, need to find this place again! So pretty and I have no clue where the heck it is!

Two guys we met at the first pub where I sang.  I had about 7 shots of whiskey by this time because they thought it was a good idea to present me with a shot to get me to sing. After closing this place down we went to another pub and continued to have a good time! Fun nights outside Tralee!

Day 4:

Matt in front of Lady's lake around the Ring of Kerry

SHEEP!!! You see so many of these guys in the west! I love them, but they don't love me. They run away which at the time made me very sad, now I see it a s a challenge...

Skellig Islands- Didn't make it over, but got this great view!

Ross Castle near Killarney - Lovely castle we will be re-visiting.

Day 5:

Blarney castle!!

This awkward shot of my crotch is really me kissing the Blarney stone. Yes, you have to lay down on wet stones and then do a sit up to kiss a rock that all sorts of germy mouths have touched too! FUN, right???

The further you head south-central you see more and more cows

The Rock of Cashel! Great place to visit. They're doing lots to restore it now but that also means there is a TON of scaffolding on it so it won't look like this again for a LONG time. Still well worth the visit

Hore abbey. Yes, I giggled a lot when I heard the guide call it Hore abbey (pronounced whore).

Up top at the Rock of Cashel, I'm so tiny next to the round tower

Cahir Castle. Another spot well worth the trip. Sadly we didn't get to visit while we were there in 2004 because we were just passing through. Now we live 30 minutes away!

Double Decker sheep bus! Never saw one before and haven't since, much to my chagrin. Who wouldn't want to see a double decker sheep bus???

Day 6:

At the Waterford factory before all the crystal making got moved to mainland Europe

Workers cutting the crystal in the Waterford factory

This is where I realized I got separated from Matt and called my mom crying because I was lost in a foreign city. Lost all traveler street cred here but I was scared and wanted to talk to my mom. Turns out when I wasn't paying attention (read shopping) Matt took off to use a toilet figuring I wouldn't notice. Unfortunately I did, so I had a full melt down.

Jerpoint Abbey. This place was Ah-mazing, and we almost ran into it...literally. We were driving along minding our own business when all the sudden the road made a sharp left turn. If you kept going strait you ran right into the abbey. Pretty sure I had at least one stroke while over here because of the driving alone.

Got some funny looks when I took this picture because I laid down in the gravel to get this shot looking up at this junction. But it was beautiful so I risked dirtying my last pair of clean clothes just to get the shot. 

I love their little hobbit toes! Amazes me to think this carving was over 400 years old. 

See the little while line on the lower part of the ruins? Yeah, that's my arm. HUGE abbey compared to a tiny person!

Warning to travelers... This is not even remotely a joke. The road will proceed in a zig-zag fashion so slow the heck down!

Day 7:

Made it to Dublin! Before arriving we were strictly warned not to drive in Dublin. Well, we  figured we'd be OK getting to our B&B so we drove into Dublin. After screaming for my life as we almost got hit by their new light-rail system (which was a pink train, that kind of looked kind of penis shaped) we  made it to the Jameson factory for a whiskey tasting. Nothing helps you forget nearly dying like a few stiff drinks!

Whiskey tasting at the Jamison factory!  Sadly when you go now, you only get to try 3 whiskeys. Ah the good ol' days!

Day 8:

Outside Dublin. Getting a good look at the ocean because when you live in Missouri you're nearly 1000 miles from the nearest ocean so I wanted to savor this as much as possible even though it smelled like fish and seaweed. I have no idea what "fresh salty air" smells like, but this was not it. Still took some pretty pictures, smell not included,  so I think it was worth the stop!

Boats! Being an island Ireland has lots of sailing competitions, and those who enjoy sailing as a hobby. This is just one harbor where we saw some lovely sailboats.

Loved the architecture in Dublin, though I really enjoyed the natural beauty of the west.

I'm willing to eat lots of things, but this just didn't sound very good . Made me think of Little Orphan Annie.

Another great place to visit when you're in Dublin especially if you're getting a cab home, or taking a bus!

View from the top of the brewery over looking all of Dublin, and some random lady on a phone

They make clovers on the top of their Guinness! So cute and touristy!

Matt enjoying his Guinness. He had lots of Guinness while we were over here. I had lots of whiskey, we were both jolly for most of the honeymoon! Hard to get crabby when you're tipsy!

One of many lovely Guinness posters around the brewerey

Me and Miss Molly Malone! Know as the tart with the cart, or the dish with the fish. A must see when you go to Grafton street in Dublin.

Our second encounter with the Gardi , this guy was a doll and let me take my picture with him while we were running around town

One of the Georgian doors Dublin is famous for.

Day 9:

I was highly amused by the flying pig sculpture as we were leaving Dublin.

This is an exit sign. I thought it should be a bathroom sign because the only time I run like that towards a door is when I really have to go. I was very disappointed when I found myself outside rather than in a room with a toilet.

Nine days in Ireland and we didn't kill each other. Much better than sitting on a beach drinking alcoholic beverages that require an umbrella, right? We survived driving on the other side of the road, riding horses in the mountains (my horse had gas the whole way up and Matt was down wind. I had a great time!), learning how to use maps, getting lost... getting more lost,  and driving in Dublin. I think this set us up pretty well for all of our future adventures and sets the scene for our moving over here 9 years later. 

More to come soon! I'll begin chronicling our adventures from when we arrived next and then will catch everyone up to present day.