Ireland: Kilkenny Castle & Rock of Cashel

Our drive from Dublin to County Kerry took several hours, but we broke up the trip with stops at Kilkenny Castle and the Rock of Cashel. Kilkenny Castle is located in (you guessed it) Kilkenny, and has been a manor home most of its life. The inside is decorated as a Victorian home -- not as castle-like as I would have guessed! The back of the castle opens up to a long lawn and garden, which we didn't get to fully explore... but Charlotte of course spotted a playground and got some time in!

The back side of Kilkenny Castle

Looking out from the Castle to the gardens & grounds

Enjoying the gallery staircase

The portrait room at Kilkenny Castle

Chris, Colleen, and Charlotte at Kilkenny Castle

The town of Kilkenny

Front of Kilkenny Castle

Charlotte fell asleep just as we were arriving at Rock of Cashel, so Grammy stayed in the car with her while the rest of us hiked up the drive/path to the complex of buildings on the top of the hill. It was SO windy up there!! We were under a wind advisory for the whole drive down to County Kerry, actually -- but the winds definitely felt the strongest on the top of the Rock. Rock of Cashel is a church complex with historical ties to St Patrick and Irish kings, and dates back to around 1100. 

Replica of St Patrick's cross

Walls of Rock of Cashel

Interior of Cormac's Chapel, built in 1100

Listening to the tour guide in the Chapel

Old decorative paintings in Cormac's Chapel

Interior of the Cathedral at Rock of Cashel

View of Round Tower, oldest part of Rock of Cashel complex

Looking across the countryside from Rock of Cashel

Irish cross and grave markers at top of Rock of Cashel

From Rock of Cashel, we had another 2 hours or so to drive to get to our hotel in Kenmare in County Kerry. It was a wet and windy drive but Paul did a great job!

Ireland: Dublin

In September, we were lucky enough to have Paul's parents and siblings fly across the pond to meet us in Ireland for a week! We typically take a week's vacation with his family once a year, and it was fun to explore a new country this time. We started the week in Dublin, then travelled to County Kerry, County Galway, and then flew to London for 3 days before the family returned to the States and we returned to normal life. 

The fam arrived in Ireland mid-morning, and Paul, Charlotte and I flew from Stansted into Dublin mid-afternoon. We had a driver who met us at the airport and took us to Brooks Hotel in the city center. We finally met up with everyone around dinnertime, when the others returned from the Guinness Storehouse. We hadn't made a booking for dinner, but we were able to get into a unique tapas restaurant across the street from the hotel. Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel and Charlotte got to sleep in her very first "big girl" bed, as our hotel room had one kingsized bed and a twin sized one for her. She fell out of the bed the second night but didn't get hurt or even fully wake up, I just popped her right back in and she went back to sleep. 

The next morning, we got up and had breakfast at the hotel before heading out for the day. The hotel served hot food and also had a great buffet of breads, cheeses, and fruits. I loved the traditional Irish soda bread across the trip! We then walked around the city to see some of the sights. My biggest must-see in Dublin was the long library room at Trinity College, and it was our first stop. There are over 200,000 books in the room -- and it's just gorgeous. It's part of the exhibition to see the Book of Kells, which was interesting, but the library itself was the real showstopper for me.

Walking across Trinity's campus

Entering the Library

Awesome spiral staircases

Celtic Harp

After we were done at the library, we walked across town, crossing the River Liffey, and saw the area of town around the General Post Office, where the Irish headquarters were during the Easter Uprising in 1916. This is also where the Proclamation of Irish independence was read; because it was the 100th anniversary, we saw this document posted in many places (including hotel brochures and on the side of buildings).

From there, we walked on through a large shopping district, where we encountered a pop-up fashion show going on. We eventually ended up at the Jameson Distillery, which we then found was officially closed to tourist visits until St Patricks Day (6 months after our visit). They had a couple of workers posted at the door, who walked us around the corner to a large hostel with a makeshift tasting room for tourists. It was still apparently run by the Jameson company, but on a much smaller scale than what is probably typical for the distillery. I am not a whiskey fan, so I sat out on the experience and entertained Charlotte. We were surprised to learn that they import their whiskey barrels from Kentucky for proper aging.

Looking up at the smokestack of the Jameson distillery

Mom & Kate in the Jameson tasting room

Kate wasn't so much a fan

Peppa Pig stickers during the whiskey tasting

After the tasting was over, Charlotte was getting crabby and Paul & I decided to take her back to the hotel to attempt a nap. She never did sleep, but we got some takeout lunch and ate it in the room while we all had a little quiet time. Afterwards, Grammy and Papa took care of Charlotte while Paul & I went for a walk along Grafton Street over to St Stephen's Green. We saw a large group of adults doing ballroom dancing in a gazebo there -- fun to see people enjoying themselves in a traditional way!

For dinner that night, Paul stayed with Charlotte at the hotel while the rest of us went to a restaurant in the Temple Bar area. It was called Boxty, and was delicious and traditional Irish food. We ate in a cozy basement with a hilarious waiter, who served Kate a version of moonshine with a warning that it might make her "lick the windows." The cozy basement got a bit hot when we all ordered versions of Irish stew for dinner, but it was extremely tasty. After dinner, Mom, Dad and I headed back to the hotel while Kate, Chris, and Colleen went out to a bar for a drink or two. Paul had gotten Charlotte to sleep while we were gone, and we settled in for the night.

The next morning, we had breakfast and packed our bags while Paul and Dad picked up our rental cars for the remainder of the week. We then loaded up and headed southwest toward County Kerry!

Norway: Bergen

For the tail end of our Norway whirlwind adventure, we spent about 24 hours in Bergen on the west coast. As I mentioned in the previous post, the train ride into town was beautiful. After we settled into our AirBnB, we headed down the steep switchbacks into the old town of Bergen.

View from the train into Bergen

Looking down the switchbacks from our AirBnb

One side of Bergen's harbor is lined an area with old wooden houses and lanes called "Bryggen." It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and was built starting around 1070. It was originally a large commercial complex of warehouses for merchants in the area. It's now been converted to artist studios, shops, and restaurants. We wandered briefly through the area before going to have dinner at a burger place.

Charlotte and me in front of the shopfronts in Bryggen

The narrow wooden lanes of Bryggen

After dinner, we took turns pushing the stroller back up the mountain (whew! seriously a challenge!) and got Charlotte to bed. I grabbed my phone and ran back outside to grab a picture of the gorgeous sunset!

The next morning we took the tram up the remainder of the mountain we were staying on, Mt. Floyen. We got on the Floibanen tram from a stop just up the street, and quickly ascended steeply to the top and were treated to amazing views of Bergen and the surrounding area. We made the mistake of telling Charlotte there was a playground at the top, so she was mostly losing her mind while we looked at the boring view and were not immediately at said playground. We got there eventually!

View from Mt. Floyen

The tram making its way up to the top

Finally, playground time

We opted to walk down the mountain, which was a pleasant way to see the views through the sparse trees. At times it felt like a controlled fall, especially for the person making sure the stroller didn't escape down the steep trail!

Because the check-out time was noon at our AirBnb, we collected our luggage and headed to the train station. We used a locker for the rest of the afternoon for most of our stuff, then headed out to wander around the city. We found a nice city park to relax in, then grabbed some Chipotle-like burritos for lunch. 

We saw a few references to the US presidential election while we were there, this one was the most light-hearted.

After lunch, we walked out to the end of the Nordnes peninsula, across the harbor from Bryggen. We walked through a cute shopping district, and then spent some time relaxing and enjoying the view from the park surrounding the aquarium at the end of the peninsula. Charlotte blessedly, FINALLY, decided to take a nap in her stroller for about 45 minutes, so we just sat and enjoyed the quiet there until she woke up -- watching the boat traffic on the waterfront.

Shopping district

Finally.

Looking across the water at Bryggen

The side of Mt Floyen, where our AirBnB was located. We could locate it by the somewhat purple roof (hard to see in this pic).

After returning from the Aquarium park, we visited the famous Bergen street fish & farmer's market. I thought Charlotte would be wrinkling her nose and commenting on the smell, but she actually loved it and asked to walk through it two more times!

From there, we headed back to the train station to collect our luggage, then crossed the street and boarded the bus to the airport. The Bergen airport was odd -- not enough space to sit at gates, and very crowded as a result due to people standing in the walkways. They also didn't allow us to gate-check the stroller, so we had a harder time wrangling Charlotte than we usually do at airports. Our drive home from Gatwick was late, but we didn't hit any traffic at least! By the time we got home around 1 am, Paul only had about 3 hours before he was scheduled to leave for Heathrow Airport for a work trip back to the States. World traveller!!