A Laddie and A Lassie In Scotland and Ireland: Last Days in Ireland

Last Days in Ireland

We left Cork early on Friday morning, because our rental car was due back at noon in Dublin. Luckily, we were able to use a major highway (there are few of these where you can actually get somewhere quickly) and get to our Dublin hotel to drop off our luggage before the car was due back.

We took it easy our last two days in Dublin. We had no real plans of what we wanted to do, so we wandered a bit before coming upon the National Museum of Archaeology. It’s a great museum and it is totally free! I specifically wanted to see the exhibit on the Vikings, since we had learned about them on our walking tour, and knew that Viking artifacts were found throughout the city. First we watched a movie in part of the museum that told about the Viking history in Dublin and also showed most of the artifacts that we would be seeing in the exhibit. I thought this was cool because it gave us some of the backstory to each artifact, rather than just trying to figure it our by looking at them behind glass. Then we walked through the exhibit, looking at Viking warrior bones posed the way there were discovered, weapons, cooking utensils, a primitive hairbrush, glass beads, and many other neat things.

After we left the museum, we walked over to the Trinity College green space and Chris laid down on the grass to catch a quick nap in the sun. I amused myself by people and seagull watching. This is not the first time we have napped in a public green space in Europe! I’m sure it won’t be the last, either, considering how busy we always seem to be!

Our next stop was to the Chester Beatty Library. This library was actually named European Museum of the Year in 2002. It houses the collections of Sir Alfred Chester Beatty, who collected manuscripts, paintings ad rare books from around the world, including Ancient Egyptian songs written on papyrus paper. There are ancient writings from many religions such as Catholicism, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, and Islam. Many of the books and writings are thousands of years old…it is a pretty amazing place for anyone that appreciates literature. I would definitely recommend the library to history lovers! Again, this library/museum is completely free to the public, since Beatty left his collections to the people of Dublin.

Of course, we wound up back at the Temple Bar District…it is Dublin, after all! We visited the Quay Bar, which is very busy but always seems to have great live music. We found a little area in the corner of the bar with a good view of the band, and had a few pints. The band was really good, playing a mix of Irish pub songs and current songs too. There were a few hen parties as well, but none as crazy as a group of men who came in dressed like women…Chris and I have no idea what they were doing; our only guess was perhaps it was a stag party and they all had to dress up? They definitely weren’t pretty enough to be real drag queens! Their wild dancing pretty much cleared everyone else off the dance floor, including one of the hen parties.

For dinner, we found a little Mexican burrito place called Burrito and Orange and had the best burritos in the world. At least they tasted the best after a few beers! Of course Chris got the extra hot sauce that made his belly yell at him the rest of the night.

The next morning, we got up extra late and took a bus into the city center. We walked down the main street, O’Connell Street, to do a bit of souvenir shopping. Then we decided to go see the Jameson Whiskey Distillery. It is actually called The Old Distillery, because in the 70's they moved to Cork...this was the original distillery. The tour cost about 28 Euros for two adults, which is a bit on the expensive side. First you watch a movie that tells you about John Jameson and his distillery…it was actually a really good, funny short little flick. Then, a tour guide asked who wanted to drink some extra whiskey at the end of the tour and handed out 8 green batons to the people he selected. I actually was one of them! Poor Chris was likely a bit envious! He brought us into a series of rooms designed to teach people about the distillation process. What makes Jameson whiskey different is that it is triple-distilled, whereas many Canadian whiskeys are only double-distilled. Still not sure what this means…lol. He also showed us a bottle of the most rare of the Jameson whiskeys, which is aged 18 years and goes for about 129 Euros.

At the end of the tour, I got to sit down at a table with 7 others and try three different shots: Jameson’s, Jack Daniels, and Johnny Walker Black Label. He showed us how to compare them. To me, they were all a bit strong! I got to drink a glass of Jameson’s on top of that, too, so I was feeling lovely by the end. We all got certificates stating that we were official taste testers of the whiskey, or something to that effect. The green batons we were carrying turned out to be diploma holders…how convenient! One of the guys sitting across from me was actually from London (he went to school at University of Windsor!). He was in town before driving up to Northern Ireland to be in a wedding. He was actually the "Maid of Honour!" He told me that he hosted the bachelorette party and it was him and 15 women...he said it was great! Isn't it funny who you come across on your travels?

Chris and I wandered back to the Temple Bar District, walking over the Ha’Penny Bridge for the first time (very exciting) and sat down at some barstools in the famous Temple Bar (the red building everyone is always snapping photos of). Again, there was good live music playing. Chris tried the Galway Hooker beer he had been wanting to try, and I had some good old Paulaner, which I have loved since our Germany trip. Our last official beers of the trip were two pints of Guinness, which I basically mandatory for a trip to Ireland. Did I mention I like Guinness?

We really enjoyed our time in Scotland and Ireland. While the weather was a bit chillier and wetter than expected, that is exactly what keeps the countries looking so beautiful year round. Some of our favourite times were just the driving parts, especially driving into the Scottish Highlands and the Dingle Peninsula in Ireland. We also really enjoyed the many little pubs we wandered into, where a couple of guys were playing instruments and singing some Irish ditties. Like most places, these people take pride in their heritage and it definitely shows. Tasty foods, new drinks, beautiful sights and interesting people are the reasons that Chris and I keep travelling, and why we love it so much. Slainte!

National Museum of Archaeology and History