Ireland Trip 2015

KingXanaduu · Postby **KingXanaduu** » Wed Jun 03, 2015 5:53 pm

Since I’m back from my Ireland Trip, I thought I’d like to share the exploits of my trip with everyone else hear, cause I want to extend a piece of Ireland to the rest of you, so you can see this wonderful land and culture.

So, for the next two weeks, I will be posting each day of my excursion to Ireland everyday, complete with facts, pics, and food porn for you culinary enthusiasts. So everyone, prepare to grab a pint, marvel at the green, and prepare to journey to the realm of Ireland. :)

Day 1

Our first stop took me and my family to the Shannon Airport in Limerick, where I got to see the Irish landscape for the first time. :) Please excuse it my photos aren't really "Oscar worthy". -o-;

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I can tell you this; Ireland was a lot lusher than I thought it would be. Then again, this is coming from a guy who has lived most of his life in a desert. Ireland lives up to its hype of being the greenest countries on the planet. But also, this was a bit of a double-edged sword, as there was hardly ever a second there where it wasn’t either raining or blowing a gale in near freezing temps.

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But regardless, Ireland was a beautiful site to see, almost looking at the world in the past.

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Here’s Castle Bunratty, a tower house made in 1425, which was a pretty site to see on our first arrival, but it wouldn’t be a site to see today. That comes much later. :)

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Now, because we so jet-lagged from our 16-hour flight, most of the day was spent napping until dinner at the hotel.

However, that didn’t mean that we didn’t have time before our naps to explore the city of Limerick for a bit.

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We managed to explore the streets, the bridges, and even the small cathedral of St. Mary’s for a bit.

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We even visited a local art and history museum, which showed many various artifacts ranging from as late as the Stone Age, to as early as the Renaissance. Among the exhibits was supposedly one of the 30 pieces of silver that was given to Judas himself! Now, whether you want to believe that or not is up to you. XD

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Now, during my time in Ireland, I noticed a lot of posters and ads about the current election for the legalization of Gay Marriages. Now, since we already know the outcome know, there may be little cause for discussing this matter now, as I think you guys already have. However, since we arrived on the 14th of May, I was woefully ignorant of what was transpiring in Ireland at the time. But, nonetheless, I was happy that Ireland was trying to push for some sense of equality towards this matter, so massive kudos.

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So, after our jet-lagged nap to recovery, our dinner was served to us. Now, because I was still a bit jet-lagged and because it was our first day, I didn’t get any pictures for any Food Porn, so I’m just gonna have to just tell you what I had:

Duck Parfait, with Seared Salmon in Orange Sauce, and an Oreo Cheesecake for desert. All of it was 100% of “yum.” :3

Now, since this was my first day in Ireland, aside from the museum we didn’t get much of the general history or other facts as our tour guide wasn’t scheduled to arrive for us until tomorrow. The real trip started fully for us the next day.

I look forward to making more posts about Ireland and my trip, and I hope you’ll enjoy what I have to share as well.

Day 2 will start soon, I still have some pics I need to filter, so expect another post soon. :)

Chuckman · Postby **Chuckman** » Wed Jun 03, 2015 6:37 pm

Beautiful country. I should like to visit someday.

Gob Hobblin · Postby **Gob Hobblin** » Wed Jun 03, 2015 6:50 pm

It looks like home.

There's something about it that is strangely nostalgic, even though I've never been there and it looks nothing like Texas.

Ray · Postby **Ray** » Wed Jun 03, 2015 6:57 pm

Did you drink any of their beer? I hear Ireland makes some of the best.

IronEvangelion · Postby **IronEvangelion** » Wed Jun 03, 2015 7:30 pm

Looks like a beautiful place. Makes me wish my own country had ancient ruins.

xanderkh wrote:Castle Bunratty

This name is pure win. Kinda makes me wonder what kind of stuff happened there. :shifty:

Any idea what the name means in old Irish?

Gob Hobblin · Postby **Gob Hobblin** » Wed Jun 03, 2015 7:35 pm

It's the Anglicized form of Bun na Raite. It means the End of the Raite River.

IronEvangelion · Postby **IronEvangelion** » Wed Jun 03, 2015 7:42 pm

Gob Hobblin wrote:It's the Anglicized form of Bun na Raite. It means the End of the Raite River.

They should have left it that way, it makes a lot more sense than 'Bunratty.' :lol:

Gob Hobblin · Postby **Gob Hobblin** » Wed Jun 03, 2015 7:43 pm

The English should have probably left a lot of things in Ireland a certain way. Alas...they did not....

Just try mentioning the name 'Cromwell' in certain parts of Irealnd and see what happens....

Ray · Postby **Ray** » Wed Jun 03, 2015 7:45 pm

I can imagine a brawl that would make their ancestors blush with envy.

KingXanaduu · Postby **KingXanaduu** » Wed Jun 03, 2015 7:46 pm

Ray wrote:Did you drink any of their beer? I hear Ireland makes some of the best.

Oh sure Ray, they have the best pints of Guinness in the world, but that's a little later. :nyao:

And an interesting fact, despite Ireland being a primarily english country, the native language is Gaelic, which Gob has pointed out.

CX1329 · Postby **CX1329** » Wed Jun 03, 2015 7:57 pm

I am looking forward to the food pornography.

Literary Eagle · Postby **Literary Eagle** » Wed Jun 03, 2015 8:19 pm

Wow, what a beautiful country! Thanks for sharing these. I look forward to the rest!

Postby **pwhodges** » Thu Jun 04, 2015 12:39 am

xanderkh wrote:I can tell you this; Ireland was a lot lusher than I thought it would be.

Remember that one of the things said about Ireland is that every fifteen minutes it rains for a quarter of an hour...

IronEvangelion wrote:They should have left it that way, it makes a lot more sense than 'Bunratty.'

That happens with names. The Welsh mountain Yr Eifl (meaning "the forks", referring to its three peaks) is known in English as The Rivals, which simply sounds similar.

MAGI_01 · Postby **MAGI_01** » Thu Jun 04, 2015 1:02 am

Wow! Looks like one awesome trip!

Looking forward to the rest. A trip to Ireland one day is definitely something I wish to do.

r1cepurin · Postby **r1cepurin** » Thu Jun 04, 2015 1:14 pm

I was considering going there for a potential study abroad trip, but never got to doing it.

Also, I think since seeing everyone discussing their trips, I think I'll definitely make a thread about me going to Korea. I'll be there from mid July to late September so I'll certainly have a lot to cover.

Gob Hobblin · Postby **Gob Hobblin** » Thu Jun 04, 2015 3:22 pm

The one thing I remember consistently about Korea is a pal I used to have from college telling me about the time one of the machine gunners in his platoon fell into a rice paddy while on a training patrol.

Those rice paddies are filled with human feces.

...it was a thirty hour patrol. And he fell in on hour number two.

:gendo_kimura:

That would still be a fun travelogue, so go for it, r1cepurin!

Xander! Where are the photos! MORE PHOTOS!

r1cepurin · Postby **r1cepurin** » Sat Jun 06, 2015 1:59 am

Gob Hobblin wrote:The one thing I remember consistently about Korea is a pal I used to have from college telling me about the time one of the machine gunners in his platoon fell into a rice paddy while on a training patrol.

Those rice paddies are filled with human feces.

...it was a thirty hour patrol. And he fell in on hour number two.

That would still be a fun travelogue, so go for it, r1cepurin!

lol, sounds interesting, in a weird way.

And thanks! I actually do think I'll have plenty to cover, especially because of the MERS outbreak in Seoul, I could talk about how long it's gonna take until the city goes back to normal. I won't be in Seoul, but close by. Also arcades. Really looking forward to arcades, and the nature, too.

I do have a question for Xander on his trip: What kind of food did you have in Ireland? Did you see lots of sheep? I must know!!

KingXanaduu · Postby **KingXanaduu** » Sun Jun 07, 2015 5:41 am

Day 2

Well, aren’t you guys just hungry for more photos……Perhaps I can use this to my advantage. :devil:

Well, since you guys asked for Food Porn pics, I’ll post here what we had for breakfast for the past two weeks. As you can see, it was mostly a buffet style with Eggs, Sausage, Bacon (it was more a ham piece than the bacon we know), and these two blood sausage patties known as Black pudding.

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There were also various cereals, fruits, breads, coffees, and teas. These were the buffets we pretty much had everyday on our entire trip through Ireland.

And this here was our faithful stead throughout our entire trip through Ireland, one that took us all around the entire Isle of Ireland for the next two weeks. This was kind of both a blessing, and a curse at the same time. I’ll explain why later on. :P

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Now, our tour guide, Julian, was probably one of the most intelligent and funniest tour guide I’ve ever had. Now, just to make it clear, I’m not going to post any pictures of specific people here, cause of privacy reasons. Regardless, Julian helped us dull American’s learn about the various stereotypes that we’ve come up with. For example, NO ONE in Ireland ever says “Top of tha’ mornin’ to ya’”. Seriously, that’s a weak stereotype.
And while they do have a lot of pubs and spend a lot of time in them, they aren’t violent drunks like Family guy portrays them out to be. That’s a TERRIBLE Irish American stereotype. In fact, a lot of the people were very friendly, kind, and offered a hand whenever we needed.

So, sorry Seth Macfarlene, there goes that joke.

And another thing I feel I should mention is while they do celebrate St. Patricks day, they do NOT celebrate it the same way we do. Because St. Patrick was the Patron Saint of Ireland, who helped bring Christianity to Ireland, it is more of a religious feast day in Ireland. The COMERCIALIZED St. Patrick day we have is to celebrate the Irish AMERICAN culture, from the many Irish immigrants who came to America, so honestly, the St. Patrick’s Day WE know has really nothing to do with Ireland in it’s entirely, other than the color green, leprechauns (and they have bigger fair folk than that), and beer. So, remember this whenever we have a St. Patrick’s day here.

Now, our driver, Jerry, I have to say, is a MASTER on these Irish roads, because not only are they narrow, but they’re treacherous, bumpy, and small. So, Jerry was a master driving all 40 of us on these Irish roads throughout the entire trip, even around the narrow cliffs that would come on the eastern coast.

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And speaking of cliffs, our first stop on our tour took us to the lovely Cliffs of Moher, whose majestic views rival cliffs seen in any Lord of the Rings Adaption or fantasy movie…..okay, maybe I’m being a bit dramatic, but it still was a sight to see, as well as the small castle up ahead. Now, I got to tell you, up there, the winds were GALING probably around 30 mph!!! I nearly got knocked down twice trying to climb up these hills. :P

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Beautiful, aren’t they?

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Now, our next stop after that, took us to Rathbaun Farm, which was a sheep shearing farm that we stopped off for a brief lunch of scones and coffee, and eventually a demonstration of Sheep Shearing. See? I told you there’d be sheep! XD

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We even got a chance to feed the lambs, see? And no, that’s not me feeding this one. XD

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And while the farm was a bit on the smelly side, their gardens were a relaxing sight to see.

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Our next and final stop for the day was then at the Joyce Family’s Marble Workshop, where Marble is treated the same reverence as jewelry, as it is one of the most common crystallized rock in Ireland, and the most diverse as well. For as you can see, there are tons of varieties being cut here, with the Black Marble being the oldest, ranging back to being older than even the Triassic Period of earth. You can even see some imprints of shells and other fossils from that age still imprinted in the marble. But they also do some other gemstones, such as a Lapiz and Amethyst.

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As you can guess, I fervently picked out a marble souvenir, with an added piece of Amethyst added to it. Whether or not that was a subconscious nod for me thinking of Steven Universe, I don’t even remember. XD

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Once we were loaded up with our first souvenirs, we then headed off to our next hotel in Clifden. And hear, we had yet another fanciful feast, which I know have PICTURES PEOPLE!! FOOD PORN!!!!! XD

For my appetizer, I had a Chicken Salad with Pan Bread:

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Roasted Lamb with mashed potatoes:

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And finally for desert, I had a triple deluxe cake desert, forgive me if I don’t remember all the exact names for all these meals, but I hope the pictures will help excite the imagination.

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So, again, that’s Day 2 of my trip, and there’s much more to come. And, forgive me all for my somewhat lack of timely fashion here, but there is more to come, and I won’t stop. So, enjoy more everyone.

Literary Eagle · Postby **Literary Eagle** » Mon Jun 08, 2015 12:19 am

Wow, those cliffs look so cool!

IronEvangelion · Postby **IronEvangelion** » Mon Jun 08, 2015 12:26 am

Nothing like feeding lambs during the day and then eating lamb for dinner! :lol:

I love that sign for the Cliffs of Moher. That dessert though... I think I would have asked them where the cake was when they brought that out to me. I hope you didn't pay too much for that. :tongue:

Ireland Trip 2015

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