Ireland March 2024

Monday, March 11, Day 1

We left super early Monday morning after only about an hour of sleep. Clearly, we had hoped for more advance preparation and more hours of sleep but a theme of travel is rolling with whatever comes (life, too... Hmm.) But the alarm went off a but before 2:00 and we quietly got up and out the door so as not to wake the kids. I did check in on Avi who called to me in his sleep after I covered him with the blanket that had fallen off but I think he won't remember. 

The drive to the airport was uneventful, parking found, shuttle bus arrived immediately, check-in and security was a breeze. J remarked how much better we're doing at this than in previous times :) First flight was TLV to Vienna and we settled on the floor near our gate to wait for boarding since the chairs had kids with loud games or shows on their tablets. A little Russian girl with a unicorn backpack ended up settling near us but we stayed anyway. No escape :) Very tired but in good spirits, I listened and took notes on a voice note from Anne Job, responded to Jessica Blazer and tried to rest. When people lined up to board we stayed on the floor until the end because that seemed like a lot of standing when I was so tired... But since the flight was so full that meant that there was no room for our rolling bags and they needed to be gate checked. Turns out to be great since they checked them all the way to Dublin and we didn't have to schlep them in Vienna, so yay. 

On the flight to Vienna J slept and davened and I mostly listened to "Measure What Matters" and dozed, there was a guy in the middle seat so we weren't together and I didn't want to give up my aisle access to sit next to each other so asi es. Layover in Vienna required going through security again (annoying) but then nice conversation as we waited for gate info and munched on cheese, nuts and chocolate. We spoke about Judah's professional future, what he's interested in, ways to . We noticed how the Vienna airport is so big that they tell you how long it takes to get to your gate, up to half an hour for some! But ours was close, only 5 minutes, so we made our way there and J tried to record mishna yomit while waiting for boarding but it was noisy and challenging to get a good recording. I was able to get wifi and do a bit of work, we're all feeling good. Flight to Dublin uneventful, J napped and I played Sudoku. 

In Dublin we made our way to the Rental car desk where J spoke to the nice agent from Turkey (?) and we got on the shuttle to the rental car lot where I chatted with 3 Columbia grads who were vacationing together. Found our cute Renault Clio car, took little video of scratches and dents, prepared for driving on the left, loaded up and started driving to our hostel. We ate camembert and black pepper and olive oil Triscuits on the way and easily found the hostel. I loved seeing the street signs in Gaelic and the streets of Dublin as we drove to the hostel. The check in woman was very friendly, gave us our key cards and we parked in their "car park" and put our bages down in our second floor room (7, right be the elevator and bathroom) before heading to the Guinness factory tour. J cleverly booked a hostel walking distance from the Guinness factory and the Teeling factory so we could drink and not have concerns about driving. 

We were a bit concerned about being late for our appointed tour time (well, I was. J not so much) but it was totally fine and the tour was very, very well designed. The place felt to me a bit like the Monterey Bay Aquarium in its layout and feel, kind of dim lighting, video exhibits, very enthusiastic and educational about their subject. We moved from floor to floor, learning about every step of the beer making process, were surprisingly engaged by the presentation about the history of Guinness marketing and especially enjoyed the tasting room. The top and final floor is the "Gravity Bar" where guests exchange their tickets for a pint of Guinness (or Ale 13?) and enjoy panoramic views of the city of Dublin. I had a few sips but gave the rest to J since I actually don't really like beer and a pint is a LOT of beer. There were no seats available so we stood and walked around before heading out toward the Teeling tour. J realized that he was wearing a Carlsbad hat and it wasn't until we walked out that one of the staff members commented jokingly that he can't wear that hat here! 

The walk to the Teeling factory was brief and pleasant (insert map with route highlighted here) and we took a couple of pictures before entering the Teeling factory. The woman at the desk was very friendly and I appreciated her relaxed, joking welcome. J started to take out his tickets but she said "Judah? yes, I have you here" and we joked about how she'd been waiting for us. The tour guide, Brian, was informative and personable. After J spoke to H on the phone (she was unable to reach me since my roaming wasn't set up and my phone was on silent anyway) to help her with stress and upset related to our being away and her having tests to study for, we learned about the history of whiskey making in the Irish economy, the impact of prohibition on the industry and the revival of the Teeling company by thr grandsons (great grandsons?) of the original Teeling proprietor. We then proceeded to the factory rooms where we saw the vats where they make the mash and ferment it and the three large copper distilling vats (?) named after Teeling's three daughters. From there we went to another room with piles of barrels (room smelled great) to hear about the aging process before going in to the last, open space for tastings. We really liked the 3 samples and afterwards J went to the bar to taste the special "Explorers" series and loved it, so we bought a bottle of that at the gift shop along with a hat and a tote bag for me. Brian recommended Galway and said it was his favorite city in Ireland. That Dublin was a city but in Galway it felt like time stood still, a week could go by without noticing. I thought it would be fun to get a picture there and send it to Penina apropos the Ed Sheeren song "Galway Girl." I was a bit buzzed an bantered with the Canadian staff person about how one could rearrange the magntic letters that advertised item name and prices (i.e., "bar run" could become "bra urn," etc.) and we walked the short distance back to the hostel. 

We ate spicy peanut noodles and beef jerky and drank some of the second bottle J got at the Teeling distillery and had an excellent evening before totally crashing (apparently I was falling asleep while we were talking, I was SO  tired...). 

Tuesday, March 12, Day 2

So happy to have slept! I went upstairs to the lounge after showering and davening and explored the shared kitchen, outdoor balcony and lounge space and had a quick meeting with tamar about the new onboarding forms before having oatmeal together for breakfast and starting the drive west. There had been a change in itinerary that led to some inefficencies in driving times. Additionally, the weather was quite wet and gray, and when we finally pulled into the parking lot for the Cliffs of Moher Visitor's Center, the man at the booth affirmed that there was zero visibility. We decided that we didn't want to pay 24 euro for not being able to see anything and looked for other places to park that might allow us to walk to see whatever we might be able to glimpse. After a couple of unsuccessful attempts (a second parking lot where the staff woman sent us away and a turn off that was not leading us near a viewing point) we set course for a "southern viewing point" and parked outside a locked gate. We hopped the fence and walked the trail to the viewing point which was a good, adventurous exploratory hike and we were able to see small glimpses of the ocean surg against the base of the cliffs and small glimpses of some of the cliffs. We encountered two other couples (we passed one quietly and spoke briefly with the German couple who took our picture) and a pair of friends (one from India who now worked as a hotel manager in Dublin) at the gate near our car who also gave us suggestions about what to focus on for the next day. We reflected on the difficulty of feeling disappointed about how the driving times and weather were impacting the day and how we recovered. Note: everyone is worthy of compassion and forgiveness :) 

We set course for Killarney where we had an apartment waiting for us and were impressed with Waze's ability to choose the shorter route with a ferry ride (J ran into the market that advertised currency exchange and the woman there was very slow in helping him and I was worried that he'd miss the ferry since the other cars already drove on and he'd left his phone in the car and was still not out. Tldr, he made it, I vented, J listened and talked about the need for salty snacks on travel, I wasn't ready yet, we repaired and had a good ride. I found a bit of hate that someone had posted over a "Do not throw garbage overboard" sign and tried scraping it off but the ferry had arrived so I left it. We talked on the way after that about how sometimes it's okay to have silence, we don't have to fill the space all the time. And that I can share what I'm thinking about. Another moment of tension when we found the apartment blocks and J was trying to figure out which block was ours (B? D?) and I misunderstood and suggested that we park and he got upset, thinking I was minimizing his efforts and underestimating his abilities (?) and being impatient (I was feeling impatient, that's true). I said I didn't like the way he was talking to me (something like that, we clarified and got into the building). It was rainy but fine.  

Wednesday, March 13, Day 3:

Ring of Kerry... back and forth... Ross castle... Torc falls... surprise hike... friendly encounter with older York sounding hiker who gave us directions... Toilets lock automatically at 6:00 pm. Proceeded to Ladies' View... Adopt a Sheep sign and Sheep farm activity (closed) but we drove in to check it out. Moll's point and decided to abandon the rest of the Ring of Kerry since Wilton Castle was ~2.5 hours' drive away and it was already getting late. Visibility was very low because of the weather but the route out towards Cork was different than the route we'd taken to get to the Ring of Kerry so we got more new landscape. 

Middleton distillery, I revised welcome email, J did a "flight tasting" and loved the Yellow Spot. I drove the next 2 hours to the castle - very challenging because of driving on the left, dark, foggy, rainy. Hard to be in the drivers' and passengers' seats in different ways.