Ireland Vacation Part 1

After spending a few days in London (read Part 1 here and Part 2 here) we flew to Ireland on Dec. 26. Since all of the UK celebrates Boxing Day we checked into the hotel and just spent the afternoon walking around the city. Oh and we found a casino. I'm sure that doesn't surprise anyone that knows us. ;-)

The following day we visited St. Patrick's Cathedral, the largest church in Ireland with a spire. They allowed you to take pictures inside (a luxury we didn't have at any of the cathedrals in London).

And let's not forget our "blue steel" look in front of the cathedral.

Next we headed to Dublinia, a historical recreation center focusing on the viking and medieval history in the city. The highlight was holding a shield and real battle axe. Watch it!

The exhibit was located in part of the Christ Church, also included in our tickets. It is the second largest church in Dublin, Christ Church. It was another beautiful church that we enjoyed seeing!

We got to walk to the top of the spiral as well and see a view of Dublin.

Next we headed outside of Dublin to begin our clockwise coastal trip to see more of Ireland. We got beverages to energize us and Jason began the adventure of driving on the "wrong" side of the car and road!

Our first stop was Powerscourt Gardens and House. We walked along the path enjoying being outdoors and taking silly pictures.

The house has been converted into shops which we spent a few minutes browsing. Imagine our surprise when we found this! Delicious!! But please don't ask how much we spent on them...I'm very embarrassed to admit their cost.

We continued our drive heading to the city of Cork. We arrived in the evening and walked to the center of town in search of food after we checked into our hotel. We ate at Soho, one of the restaurants our hotel had recommended.

I took a gamble and ordered prawn (basically large shrimp) jambalaya. It was good, but was not really jambalaya! Jason enjoyed his duck and for dessert we tried pancakes that you cooked yourself on a hot rock. And of course we enjoyed beverages (yay for virgin strawberry daiquiri!)

The next morning we enjoyed the foggy view from our room's balcony before heading out to the city of Cobh.

We visited the Cobh Cathedral, a gothic looking building right by the coast.

There wasn't much open in Cobh, but we attended the Titanic Experience. Here's the actual port that those who boarded the ship from its last stop used.

We grabbed a light lunch at a pub before continuing on to our next stop, Blarney Castle and Stone. You can read about that and more of our Ireland adventures here (coming soon!).