Wednesday 12/12/2007- Sunday 12/16/2007:
We collected our bags and were very happy to finally be able to read and understand all the English signs in the airport. We picked up our rental car, a Nissan Micra…. as the name suggests, it was rather small. We then decided to head off for Blarney Castle as Dermot quickly got used to driving on the left side of the road again. The steps leading up to the roof (where the Blarney stone is) were rather adventurous. Dermot was having flashbacks of his tumble down a flight of stairs in Croatia. Unlike Croatia, though, the Blarney Castle had plenty of warning signs that also reminded visitors, they are responsible for themselves if they fell down any stairs… (Feels like home). We trekked all the way up, grabbed onto the iron bars, bent over backwards and gave the stone a kiss. (We decided to ignore the wives tale that locals come and pee on the stone during the night). We are now blessed with the gift of Blarney.
We then carried on to meet Dermot’s cousin Raymond and his wife Teresa in Clonakilty, about an hour south of Blarney Castle. Raymond greeted us at reception (he happens to be the Sales Manager for the Quality Inn here) and then brought us to our complimentary room. In the room, we received our first engagement card which Raymond and Teresa left for us, along with a bottle of wine (just like Jeanne gave us!).
We met Ray and Teresa in the lobby around 8pm and headed into town for dinner. We went to a nice little restaurant pub in town which served great seafood, as Clonakilty is known for its seafood). After dinner we headed into town for a drink at a local pub. Seeing that it was a weeknight and it was already getting late, and Teresa was a super trooper for coming out being 8 months preggie, we then decided to head back to the hotel. Many thanks to our very gracious hosts!
Katie decided to get a massage the next morning while Dermot went off to have his Irish breakfast. (Oh how he missed the traditional Irish fry….) We then left the hotel and headed into Kinsale to have lunch at a restaurant called Fishy Fish Café. This restaurant has received accolades from food critics around the world, so we figured we’d give it a try.
Wow…we were both speechless from our delicious meal—we were very full and happy as we headed back to the farm to see Uncle Bernie and Uncle Mick. The drive took nearly 6 hours, as we just barely survived after almost having a head on collision with a car…. that had NO HEADLIGHTS. We thanked our gift of blarney for help avoiding that collision- and carried on to grab dinner at Tulley’s in Castlerea, just outside of Ballinagare. After we arrived back to the farm, Uncle Mick, Tommy Higgins and us went out for a few pints to catch up on the last two months. We also entered a raffle at the pub for a snowman decoration. We put in 6 entries to finish the 60 lines on the raffle and ended up winning! Although technically Sheena F. won, because we put in her name on one of entries, we were happy with our 16 euro donation.
Back in the little house, we had a lovely night sleep back on familiar ground, with the heat of the turf fire and the comforts of home. We woke earlier then Mick (couldn’t believe it!) and had breakfast before feeding the cattle. Most of the cows were in the shed for winter, and we got to see the little calves that have begun to grow up…
We headed into Castlerea to pick home some groceries, so we could make Uncle Mick a traditional Eastern European dish … one of Katie’s grandma’s specialties: Haloopkies. After several hours of preparation, we let the food simmer while we visited Uncle Bernie recovering from an operation. He was staying in the next county over: Mayo. He was feeling much better and looked like he was back to his old self and should be coming home before Christmas.
Returning back to the house, we enjoyed the Haloopkies and then headed out to town to see Ultan and Sheena and their new house which was recently finished. Sheena was delighted to hear of her winning the snowman from the cornerpub. After receiving a tour of their well decorated house, we headed into the Pub to meet up with Uncle Mick, Tommy H. and the Mulleadys. We headed home at around 2 a.m., and with no heat or fire running in the house…. Katie went to bed dressed in her jacket, gloves and with her winter hat on. The fire Dermot attempted to start in the fireplace never took and the house was kind of cold.
Our last day on the farm was rather quick, as we headed up to Uncle Mick’s for our last Irish Fry. We visited a few of Dermot’s local friends before hitting the road for Kildare. We arrived around 6 p.m. and had a great home cooked dinner. After dinner we headed into the K club. Unfortunately it was already dark, so Dermot wasn’t able to get out on the course. We had a couple of drinks in the club there and then headed back to the house head off for bed.
Up at 7 a.m., we showered had breakfast and then were off for the Dublin airport. After about 25 minutes, we arrived at the airport, dropped off the rental car and then headed into the airport about 2.5 hours before our flight was set to depart. We purchased some duty-free, bought some snacks and then waited in the departure lounge until we boarded our flight. Thanks to headwind, our 6 hour flight back ended up being 7 hrs and 44 minutes… oye!