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After this weekend, I am glad I got to experience driving in Ireland from the back seat. This past weekend, the Rehkempers came to visit and graciously took me to Northern Ireland with them. Such a nice change of pace, even though the GPS may have directed us the wrong way a couple times and seemed to always tell us to take the second exit of the roundabout. You would think counting until the second exit would be easy, not in Ireland.
On Friday morning, we visited the first distillery of our trip at Kilbeggan. Much better than Jameson in Dublin because they actually distill there and everything that was built back in the day is still working today, but don’t worry whiskey still does not taste good. Fun fact: Kilbeggan is owned by Jim Beam.
Next stop, Guinness. Believe it or not, this was my first Guinness brewery tour. I couldn’t tell you one thing I learned from Guinness, except for the fact that Guinness is actually terrible. The Guinness tour is definitely high tech and very modern, but whatever happened to actually seeing the process of the beer making. Isn’t that why people do brewery tours? The best part of Guinness was the sky bar, where you got to “enjoy” a pint of Guinness, while looking over Dublin. Conveniently, they labeled the glass windows to let you know what you were looking at.
Saturday morning, we were off to Northern Ireland, which is actually a different country and apart of the UK, so that meant my first experience with pounds! (Bummer because it’s not dropping like the euro.) Arriving in Belfast, we found a hop on hop off tour bus, which I believe is the best way to see a new city. It may be expensive, but in the essence of time and effort, the bus is totally worth it. You don’t have to worry about walking far to tourist destinations, as these busses drop you off right there. Our first stop was the Titanic Museum. The Titanic was actually built in Belfast. While, we didn’t do the museum because I think the Titanic speaks for itself and I couldn’t tell you what even went into making a ship, we were able to see the pump house and the dock where the Titanic sat before departing.
Ironically, the museum looks like an iceberg.
Next, was a Soulard type farmer’s market, St. George’s Market, where I got to see fish still moving, while being sold. So much homemade jewelry, knitwear, artwork and homegrown food. After the market, we tried to see the Parliament building, key word: tried. The Parliament was conveniently blocked off because Belfast was preparing for an ice skating event coming up. We ended our day trip to Belfast at Holywood Golf Club, where I pretended to know what golf was. Now, I know a lot about Rory Mcilroy, you know the #1 golfer, who is only like 25 and maybe a little bit about golf. Rory grew up in Belfast and had his first membership at Holywood. Actually pretty neat, especially being able to see the sunset at a famous golf course.
In all, Belfast was actually much different than Ireland cities. Everything was much more modern, buildings weren’t as old and you could tell it was more Americanized or English than Ireland. That night, we stayed in a beautiful bed and breakfast on the coast and had a wonderful dinner, where I tried my first beef and Guinness stew. (Thank God you can’t taste the Guinness.)
Sunday, we were off to walk across the rope bridge and to walk on the Gaint’s Causeway. The sun must have really liked us because we not only got to see an amazing sunset, but an even more amazing sunrise.
The rope bridge…100 feet…above…the ocean. I am 5’1″ with low swimming abilities, so thinking about being 100 feet above water on a bridge made out of rope only made me a bit anxious. The bridge was originally used by fishermen to carry their catchings from one side to the other, which gave me confidence that I wasn’t carrying as much as them, so I could make it quickly, right?
(if you can zoom in, you can see the fear in my eyes)
Okay so spoiler alert, I made it, twice. Not only did you have to cross it once, but twice, in order to get back to the car. I am very proud of myself for facing my fears, while only shaking a little bit, in order to see the view and to say I did it.
The mystical Giant’s Causeway was definitely mystical. The story is that the causeway was once used as a path from Ireland to Scotland, by yes, a giant. Our tour guide told us that if you go to Scotland, you can see the same looking rocks, so I’m going to take her word for it that it was indeed connected and just for the heck of it, used by a giant. But its also very plausible that the causeway is there due to geology, but that’s not as fun. Pictures don’t do this place justice. Although it was freezing cold, the Gaint’s Causeway was an amazing place. I can only imagine it during the warmer months.
And for our last destination of the trip, Bushmills, yet another whiskey distillery. You would think by now I would realize I don’t like whiskey and would stop agreeing to do these tours. I am so glad I went on this one, as we were able to see the whiskey actually being made. But unfortunately, this meant we weren’t allowed to take pictures inside, as everything is flammable and I was not about to ruin the great tasting whiskey.
Thanks to the Rehkepmers I was able to see a part of Ireland (or the UK) that I probably wouldn’t of had the chance to see!
Back home in Galway, until tomorrow, when Katie and Kyle are arriving! I am so excited to see my sister and can’t believe the time for her to come is already here. Friday, we’ll be departing for London and returning on Sunday, where Kyle will be our personal chauffeur. Needless to say, after experiencing the roads of Ireland, I can’t wait to watch Kyle try to maneuver the “wrong” side of the road. Hopefully it gets good enough that next week I will have a video of it. Here’s to the Ullman sisters taking on Ireland and England! (Thankfully we’ll have a chaperone.)
See you soon,
Jenn
On Friday morning, we visited the first distillery of our trip at Kilbeggan. Much better than Jameson in Dublin because they actually distill there and everything that was built back in the day is still working today, but don’t worry whiskey still does not taste good. Fun fact: Kilbeggan is owned by Jim Beam.
Next stop, Guinness. Believe it or not, this was my first Guinness brewery tour. I couldn’t tell you one thing I learned from Guinness, except for the fact that Guinness is actually terrible. The Guinness tour is definitely high tech and very modern, but whatever happened to actually seeing the process of the beer making. Isn’t that why people do brewery tours? The best part of Guinness was the sky bar, where you got to “enjoy” a pint of Guinness, while looking over Dublin. Conveniently, they labeled the glass windows to let you know what you were looking at.
Saturday morning, we were off to Northern Ireland, which is actually a different country and apart of the UK, so that meant my first experience with pounds! (Bummer because it’s not dropping like the euro.) Arriving in Belfast, we found a hop on hop off tour bus, which I believe is the best way to see a new city. It may be expensive, but in the essence of time and effort, the bus is totally worth it. You don’t have to worry about walking far to tourist destinations, as these busses drop you off right there. Our first stop was the Titanic Museum. The Titanic was actually built in Belfast. While, we didn’t do the museum because I think the Titanic speaks for itself and I couldn’t tell you what even went into making a ship, we were able to see the pump house and the dock where the Titanic sat before departing.
Ironically, the museum looks like an iceberg.
Next, was a Soulard type farmer’s market, St. George’s Market, where I got to see fish still moving, while being sold. So much homemade jewelry, knitwear, artwork and homegrown food. After the market, we tried to see the Parliament building, key word: tried. The Parliament was conveniently blocked off because Belfast was preparing for an ice skating event coming up. We ended our day trip to Belfast at Holywood Golf Club, where I pretended to know what golf was. Now, I know a lot about Rory Mcilroy, you know the #1 golfer, who is only like 25 and maybe a little bit about golf. Rory grew up in Belfast and had his first membership at Holywood. Actually pretty neat, especially being able to see the sunset at a famous golf course.
In all, Belfast was actually much different than Ireland cities. Everything was much more modern, buildings weren’t as old and you could tell it was more Americanized or English than Ireland. That night, we stayed in a beautiful bed and breakfast on the coast and had a wonderful dinner, where I tried my first beef and Guinness stew. (Thank God you can’t taste the Guinness.)
Sunday, we were off to walk across the rope bridge and to walk on the Gaint’s Causeway. The sun must have really liked us because we not only got to see an amazing sunset, but an even more amazing sunrise.
The rope bridge…100 feet…above…the ocean. I am 5’1″ with low swimming abilities, so thinking about being 100 feet above water on a bridge made out of rope only made me a bit anxious. The bridge was originally used by fishermen to carry their catchings from one side to the other, which gave me confidence that I wasn’t carrying as much as them, so I could make it quickly, right?
(if you can zoom in, you can see the fear in my eyes)Okay so spoiler alert, I made it, twice. Not only did you have to cross it once, but twice, in order to get back to the car. I am very proud of myself for facing my fears, while only shaking a little bit, in order to see the view and to say I did it.
The mystical Giant’s Causeway was definitely mystical. The story is that the causeway was once used as a path from Ireland to Scotland, by yes, a giant. Our tour guide told us that if you go to Scotland, you can see the same looking rocks, so I’m going to take her word for it that it was indeed connected and just for the heck of it, used by a giant. But its also very plausible that the causeway is there due to geology, but that’s not as fun. Pictures don’t do this place justice. Although it was freezing cold, the Gaint’s Causeway was an amazing place. I can only imagine it during the warmer months.
And for our last destination of the trip, Bushmills, yet another whiskey distillery. You would think by now I would realize I don’t like whiskey and would stop agreeing to do these tours. I am so glad I went on this one, as we were able to see the whiskey actually being made. But unfortunately, this meant we weren’t allowed to take pictures inside, as everything is flammable and I was not about to ruin the great tasting whiskey.
Thanks to the Rehkepmers I was able to see a part of Ireland (or the UK) that I probably wouldn’t of had the chance to see!
Back home in Galway, until tomorrow, when Katie and Kyle are arriving! I am so excited to see my sister and can’t believe the time for her to come is already here. Friday, we’ll be departing for London and returning on Sunday, where Kyle will be our personal chauffeur. Needless to say, after experiencing the roads of Ireland, I can’t wait to watch Kyle try to maneuver the “wrong” side of the road. Hopefully it gets good enough that next week I will have a video of it. Here’s to the Ullman sisters taking on Ireland and England! (Thankfully we’ll have a chaperone.)
See you soon,
Jenn
