Vacation!

Wow, looking back, I see why we needed one!  It's been way to long since we've been anywhere!   I don't know how that happened, but as they say, "time flies", and I guess it sure did!  Thank goodness my travel agent/friend called us and put the bug in our ear and got us up and moving!  So much so, that our "vacation" turned into a 4 country, 32 day adventure that included flights, guided bus group, days on our own and a cruise!  So...I'm going to break this into separate blogs, otherwise it would be way to long and you will all fall asleep!

So, our first country, IRELAND!  

Both Jack and I had family that came to the US from Ireland, so this is one country we were both looking forward to.  I've always had a special interest in seeing the area that the "Troubles" took place and was looking forward to that as well.  We had never done a group bus tour before, but being in the travel business myself for years, I had worked with Trafalgar and knew it was one of the very best, so I felt assured we would be in good hands.  

We landed in Dublin after a 3 connecting, long flights and were greeted with warm smiles and taken right to our wonderful hotel to rest!  The next morning we met the rest of the group, who turned out to be 42 of the nicest people you would want to tour with!  All a bit younger than us, but "mature", all, it turned out, always "on time", from as far away as South Africa and New Zealand, to Canada and various parts of the US and even one couple that lives about 5 miles from where we used to in California!  We rotated seats on the bus each day and sat with different ones each morning at breakfast which allowed us to get to know each other quickly.  It all made for a very fun group.  Our guide and driver could not have been better!

There were so very many great places, stops and visits we were taken to - but here are some of the "highlights":

A visit to the Irish National Stud and Gardens in Kildare;  House of Waterford Crystal; Blarney Castle; Celtic Steps - which was a wonderful entertaining evening; a Jaunting Car Ride - which was a horse drawn car(t) ride through the Killarney National Park; Ring of Kerry Scenic Drive; Be My Guest Dinner - An incredible evening at the home of sheep farmer (Michael) who shared with us what it was like and then gave us a fabulous catered dinner with live Irish music and stories. (I didn't want to leave!); Adare - where they are known for their thatched roof houses; Derry and the Troubles area where we had an incredible step aboard guide who was 11 or 12 when it started and lived in the gated area.  The gates were locked in at 9pm and unlocked in the morning for school.  She still lives there and they are still being locked.  Her knowledge was incredible with such insight and kindness.  We stopped and signed the peace walls as well.   From there we traveled on to the Giant's Causeway then onto Belfast and a visit to the best Titanic Museum I've been to (seen 2 others) that was almost like a Disney visit and Smithsonian rolled into one; That was all in week one!

Of course in between all this was lots of scenery with castles, beautiful churches,waterfalls, green rolling hills, great food, beer and whiskey tasting and of course wonderful pubs!  

From Ireland, we took a ferry over to SCOTLAND!

Of course I took many more picture that if you want... are on my Flickr account,

Marie