The Irish Chronicles: Part 1

Sometimes, when I stop and think about it, I find it all so surreal. I can hardly believe I was in Ireland for the past two weeks, let alone that it was my second time in Ireland.

I  know it happened. I have lots of evidence. Capital One has lots of evidence. Still, sometimes I just stop and think, "Wow."

I never spent a whole lot of time in the west of Ireland when I was studying at Trinity College in Dublin. Mostly, I just stayed in and around Dublin - some might say that's too bad, but guess what? I got to know that city really well. In any case, I was excited to spend some time in the west, and with some cousins we had recently learned still lived there and even had a guest house that we could stay in while we visited.

We were in rural Ireland - the part of Ireland you always imagine when you think about it. When I went on my first shake out run, I felt so lucky that I got to run in such beautiful countryside. I stopped several times to take photos. One of those times, my cousins' neighbor, Mike, was out and about.

"Are you taking a picture of the rock?"

(me, slightly embarrassed) "Yeah, I think it's a beautiful scene."

Mike quickly figured out that I wasn't from around there, so he probably was a little less confused as to why I was taking photos of 'the rock'.

Each day, there was a new adventure, err, castle to explore. Three castles in three days doesn't sound like much, but it was exhausting. I think my dad was especially exhausted trying to drive 1) on the wrong side of the road and 2) on such narrow roads.

Blarney House on Blarney Castle grounds

Bunratty Castle

Cahir Castle

We filled ourselves with delicous food from classic Irish Lamb Stew (complete with a scoop of mashed potatoes right on top) to fresh caught seafood and everything in between. Although there was quite a bit of rain each day, it managed to hold off until we had finished with each castle tour.

The evenings were spent by cozy fires in our guest house, which was almost 300 years old and had walls that were almost 1 meter thick. If you are looking for the perfect Irish country house to rent for a few days, I know of a great one :).

Our last evening with our cousins involved one of the best meals I had while I was traveling - and the best part? The meal was at a restaurant ... that used to be a church!

Soon, our Irish country stay was coming to an end ... and it was time to head to Dublin. We all knew what that meant ... marathon day was creeping closer. Boy, was I starting to get nervous ...