Photography

(Most of)Ireland Recap

So, after speaking with Colleen and also being completely overwhelmed by my Ireland pictures, I have decided to make a slight amendment to my initial plan of posting Ireland all in one post.  Instead, I have decided to post most of Ireland here and then do another post next week with pictures from my most favorite place I visited in Ireland and I think it just may be your most favorite place too.  Ireland was so green and beautiful and the cities we went to had so many lovely and quintessentially Irish things that it has been really hard to narrow down.  I promise that I did the very best I could.  I apologize in advance when my post breaks your phone again like it did to mine every time I tried to look at my England post on it.  Oops.

We took a 6:30am flight from London to Dublin which also meant we had to wake up at 2:00am in order to make said flight.  Needless to say, the day we got to Ireland we were a little exhausted.  Never the less, we rented our car out of Dublin and drove 2 1/2 hours to Blarney Castle so we could kiss the Blarney Stone and affectionately greet Ireland.

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Blarney castle is this super old and partially ruined castle on a lovely piece of property near Cork city, where we were staying for the night (Thank God). Basically you climb these super slippery and pretty intimidating spiral stairs to the top, risk death by hanging upside down off the castle floor with only some steel poles to protect you so that you can kiss a stone that had millions of other people’s spit on it.  Sounds lovely right?  Actually it was kind of fun other then the fact that my feet were so slippery in my shoes that I felt like I would fall off the castle or bust down the steps at any moment.  So I took them off and went barefoot.  If you know me personally this will not surprise you.

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Blarneygardenriver2blogWhat was surprising to us, however, was how very lovely the land that the Blarney castle sits on was.  We ventured down to the path by the river which was completely enchanting.

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We then drove the short drive to Cork to a fantastic B&B called Fernroyd and met a funny little puppy name Chippy who lived there along with his delightful owners.  We liked Cork but it was a much more metropolitan city than we were anticipating and slightly more gritty.  In hindsight, we probably should have stayed at or spent some time in its neighbor, Cobh, which we heard was much more quaint.  Fernroyd house was definitely one of our favorite places we stayed though and it was perfect timing because we were ready for some comfort at this point.

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Chippy.  He was a sleepy boy and would pass out almost instantly upon laying down.  We have this in common.

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Corkguysinkilts2blogFunny story…We ended up hanging out with these gentlemen later in the evening.  When I took this photo, I just thought their kilts were funny.

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The next morning we woke up leisurely and had a lovely Irish breakfast and then we headed west to Killarney National Park.  I had read there was a waterfall there and that’s about all it took to hook me.  I like a good waterfall situation.  I am somewhat sad that we missed the Ring of Kerry and Dingle but we had a limited amount of time and had to be cutthroat with our city selections.  When I go back to Ireland, both of those places are on the list.

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Killarney National Park has lakes and mountainy type land masses and is truly a serious beauty.  We hiked up to Torc waterfall from the Muckross house, which was very nice but we didn’t bother touring that.  We were really more in the market for natural Irish beauty then we were for house tours.

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Muckross House was quite a beauty though.

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After this, we drove to Doolin to stay and see the Cliffs of Moher, but you guys are gonna have to wait till next week to see that.  It was truly breathtaking.  Sorry to get us all out of order.  After that we drove up to Galway to spend a few hours.  Galway had a very fun atmosphere and I think it was the kind of place that you would fall in love with if you spent the night there.  Unfortunately we didn’t get to do that.  We were there just long enough to see that it is a charming.

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The last place we went to round out our Irish adventures was Dublin.  I have to admit, Dublin was a place I wasn’t terribly excited about, but we ended up being very impressed by it.  It is very clean and the architecture is lovely.  It was also surprisingly quiet.  The first night we got there we really only had time for dinner.  Interesting events of the evening included me being forced to get up in the pub and sing James Taylor with the “traditional Irish singer”.

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Katie was invited behind the bar at a different pub to learn how to pour Guinness.  She was cute.

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Dublin is apparently known for their colorful doors.  They definitely had them in abundance.

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DublincemeteryB&WblogI dragged Katie to Glasnevin Cemetery to take pictures of the stunning tombstones.

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But perhaps the most amazing thing we saw in Dublin was Trinity College Library or “Long Room” as I think they call it.  Now this, friends, is a serious library.

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Complete with a perfect spiral staircase and thousands of first editions of great literary works.  It felt like being at church.

The next morning we flew back to London to round out our trip with Harry Potter.

Have a great weekend guys!

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  1. Lindsay

    These are amazing, Meg! I’ve never had an itch to go to Ireland but this makes me wanna go! Beautiful photos. I want to meet Chippy and I love that picture of Katie pouring the beer!

    • Megan

      Chippy was a funny guy. You would definitely have liked him. Let’s go! I’m ready to go back!

  2. lindsay blietz

    Awesome pictures guys! Can’t wait to see the rest, this is really getting me excited about our trip in August!!!! I heard locals pee on the Blarney Stone…….guess i’ll wipe it first with a cleaner. We are doing about 2 days in Dublin and also a 4 day southern tour
    (Dublin – Connemara – Galway – Cliffs of Moher – Dingle- Killarney – Blarney)!!!! So excited!
    How was the weather?

    • Megan

      Sounds soo fun! You are gonna absolutely have a blast! I don’t know how that cleaner thing is gonna work out. It is down far and there is a guy there watching over it. 🙂 But maybe you can work something out. Consider spending the night in Doolin near the cliffs. It was our favorite place. You can ask Pete about Dingle. I think he has been there. The weather was beautiful (mid 60s and lower 70s) most of the time we were there but apparently that is very unusual.

      • lindsay blietz

        Our tour includes B&B stays in the towns we stop in so I think the one near the cliffs is gonna be in Annascaul on the Dingle Peninsula. I know August is suppose to be nice weather so fingers crossed. We are staying in Temple Bar district when we are in Dublin. I am thinking about adding another day tour to The Giants Causeway, did you guys get to go there?

        • Megan

          We did not go to Temple Bar when we were in Dublin. I do think it is an area they recommend to tourists though. Let me know how it is! We did not go to the Giants Causeway but someone was telling us about it while we were there and saying it is very cool. We didn’t have time for that. One the last day we were in Ireland when we were flying out, it rained and that made a huge difference in the temperature. It felt very cold. Just bring a rain coat and light weight sweaters and t shirts.

          • lindsay blietz

            Yeah I have looked into temple bar and know it’s touristy but alot of stuff we want to do was in that area….oh wells. We are doing The Kilmainham Gaol (jail tour), a viking tour on a boat, an Irish Dance Party and a Free Comedy night at one of the major irish pubs that had awesome reviews. Looking at time now I don’t think we will be able to do the Causeway…dang.

  3. Katie

    Megan, I dare say your pictures surpass my pictures! Thanks Lindsay, it was a very enlightening experience to learn the correct way to pour a Guinness. I can’t wait to see your pictures of Doolin and the Cliffs of Moher! It makes me want to go back.

    • Megan

      You poured it like a pro babe!

  4. Kristen

    Ahhh I’m so jealous! Dying to go somewhere lately. Ireland is def on the list. Looks like an amazing time.

    • Megan

      It was amazing Kristen. You should definitely go.

  5. Taylor

    Eeeee!!! Beautiful pictures. I’m a real sucker for all things green and Ireland has lots of it. Just love hearing and seeing all your adventures. Oh, Chippy seems like a real nice fella. I love his name haha.

  6. Colleen

    Gorgeous Meg! Yah man take your time, no need to kill yourself editing pictures.

  7. Laura

    That library looks like the one from Beauty and the Beast!!

  8. Stephanie

    Loved the pictures! Chippy looked like my Duncan. He is a sleeper too. I want to go back! It is beautiful !

  9. Jean Wilks

    Thanks for sharing! I enjoyed the comments and pictures too! Two Beautiful Ladies!

  10. Quinn @ Kimchi & Sweet Tea

    Ireland is always a gorgeous place to visit, but your pictures make me want to hop on a plane right now 🙂

  11. Lindsey @ be pretty

    Amazing… and James Taylor! 🙂 You’re going to marry an Irish man! 🙂 Love your pics… please teach a photography class! 🙂