Streets of Kenmare.


I'm super upset that not only do the skittle tast different, they look different. Why mess with a good thing?

Rock of Cashel. AMAZING!! Thank God for hunger pains :)

Guiness....aka cattle feed.

St. Patricks in Dublin.

A few pics!

This is as Irish dressed as you can get!!


I can not explain how scary kissing this things way. i was pretty much doing a semi-back bend while holding on. Back in the day there wasn't anything to hold on to. So you had better trust who ever it was holding you upside down!

Kenmare.... BEAUTIFUL, and it only gets better.

Thought we'd throw in a pic of the ass-backwards car!

A few forgotten comments and thoughts

While driving in the car today we were discussing a few things we'd forgotten to mention!!!
1. Guiness Factory. This place was HUGE!!! it was very informational, but to tell you the truth it smelled like cattle feed (and I know what that smells like!!) I have not ever really drank a Guiness before (besides the occasional Irish Car Bomb!) So i decided what better place to do so then at the place where it's made. And just as i suspected, it tasted just like i figured. Cattle Feed!! Not that i've eaten cattle feed, but if i were to guess what it tasted like, i'd say guiness is a prime example.
2. Driving. I briefly menitoned this in the last post, but i must tell you IT IS WEIRD!!! I can handle the stick shift being on the left, no problem. It's all the damn roundabouts that make my life here in Ireland Hell!! they're all two lane and if you dare try to exit, you'd better be in the left, or you'll get honked at, ran into, stared down and possible even flipped off!! I'm happy to report that i've only been honked at 2 or so times.... so again, i am proud of myself! Yesterday we had driven from Dubline, Cashel to Kinsale and those roads were mostly highway like roads so no biggie. Flash forward to today and we found ourselves on roads that were no wider then our regular full size lane back home. (hence why the cars are sooo damn tiny here!). If i'm the only car on the road i'm fine, but the second another car is in sight and about to pass i tend to make a MEHHH. Depending on the size of the oncoming car the MEHHH would be hardly noticable or a shriek, Travis was really enjoying this!! OHHH and also, the gas here is RETARDED!!! At first i thought we were in gas heaven, seeing 1.16 on the signs. I didn't realize they sell it by the Liters. We spent 43 euro's to fill up our little car. ($61.19) RE-DONK-U-LOUS!! So next time you want to complain about gas prices...don't.
3. Housing. We were strolling around town looking at all the lovely sights and what not when we passes a real estate place. They post some houses for sale in the window.... i decided we're moving here so thought we'd better check out the prices.... sad to say, we'll be living in the USA for quite some time!!! The lowest price we saw was 268,000 euros or $391,000. I have no flipping clue how people afford that!! No wonder the majority of the houses here are bed and breakfasts...... just saying.
4. Cost of Booze. EXPENSIVE..... like not even college town type expensive....we're talking hanging out at the Ritz expensive. Guiness=6euros($8.75) more expensive then the cheap seats at the Rockies. Wine=5euros($7.30) While at the bar we got me wine and travis a bud heavy, costing us 11.75euros ($17.12) Needless to say we went ahead and bought a bottle for $20 and will be drinking that in our room before dinner :)
5. Black & White pudding. Soooo for breakfast this morning travis ordered the traditional irish breakfast. It had 2 fried eggs, some bacon (which by the way looks like pig ears here!) sausage links and these little patties that are called Black and White pudding. I tried the lighter one and decided it wasn't bad, tasted like sausage almost. Made travis try the black one and didn't really like it. Well come to find out, they are just fried sausage, the black one being cooked in blood. we won't be eating that again.....MEHHH.
6. Craic. Not to be confused with the drug of choice for the rock-n-rollers. Basically it means, a shit ton of fun. If we were to say it's the craic ninety (weird i know) we'd mean it's the most fun possible. The ninety means like close to perfection or something....i don't know i just shake my head and pretend i know what they're saying!!!!

Ok. Well those are the things we remembered in the car. We'll blog later about today's adventures!! Be sure to check out our pics on my facebook!

Wrong side of the road!

Hmmmm lets see, where to start! Yesterday after a much needed nap we got up and went to dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe! I know i know...we can eat at those in the states, but we were too hungry to search any further!! After dinner (and a bottle of wine) we decided we needed to find a local pub with some live Irish Music! Well that we did!!! It was super packed and super loud, but fun to see/hear local sounds!! After a bit we found a seat at the bar, and after ohhh about 10 minutes, a pair of lovely Canadian ladies set down beside us! They were there for one of their 50th birthdays! They LOVED us.... and Paddy's (whisky). So they bought us several shots.... which i'm sure we could have done without! We also met a lady from Texas. She was a funny little lady :) We were out way later then we should have been, but it was well worth it!

This morning we woke up and headed to Kinsale (south coast). (Well, first of all i should tell you that we rented a car. I've never driven on the opposite side, or a stick shift that's on the left. And i have to say, i'm pretty impressed with myself!) Now for those of you who know me, know that when i'm a little hungover i just want to eat!! So after much complaining we stopped in a small town of Cashel. Well thank god for my hunger cause this place was AMAZING! I've been trying to post pics on my facebook, but for some reason that site and this one won't let me download right now. I'll keep trying. After walking around all day we got back on the road. But not before making a dumb american mistake!! We set in the car for ohhhh about 10 minutes and COULD NOT figure out how to get the damn car in reverse! We asked a couple passing by and they were nice enough to help us out. I'm sure they got a kick out of that! We made it to our bed and breakfast around 6 pm. It's in an amazing location and has amazing views! We're about 10 minutes from the town. After getting settled in the room we decided we needed to eat again :) We went into town and wondered for a while. Kinsale is a very small harbor town, but with a ton of character! I wasn't able to take any pictures because it was dark, we're hoping to get back down there in the morning on our way to the Blarney Castle!

The plan for tomorrow is to head back up to Cork to see the Blarney Castle and of course kiss the Blarney Stone! After that we're back on the road again, this time headed to Kenmare. Hopefully i'll be able to get some pictures posted!!

Pissing Rain... Dublin

Well, i'd like to say our travels were all smooth but i'd for sure be lying!! Our flight from North Caronlina to Philly was about an hour late leaving which ment we had to dead sprint from that flight to our connecting flight for Dublin. Literaly the second we walked off the plane we heard "final boarding call for flight 722 to Dublin". It wouldn't have been so bad if the gate were ohhhh just around the corner, but NO, this one was at least a mile away!! There were about 6 of us just Prefontaining it down the concourse! So after we busted our ass's to get there, we sat on the runway for about 2 freaking hours!! It was a mess! But we made it!! (Slept for a grand total of 4 hours thru the flight, so we're a littel sleepy!)

The Dublin airport leaves something to be desired, it's old and dirty and very very unorganized! Luggage was all here, which made this girl VERY happy! We got a taxi to our hotel....and as luck would have it, we had the coolest cab driver in the world! He was just this little old man that is retired and drives the taxi for a few hours a day because he's bored and the weather hasn't been allowing for much else to do!

THINGS WE LEARNED FROM THE CABBIE:

1. Irish rush hour lasts till damn near noon.... they're in no hurry apparently
2. Fuck is a very popular word here....I fit right in.

3. The Brits like to come down here on the weekends and "cause a noisy rucus (sp?)"
4. When he wakes up and its "pissing" outside he likes to go back to bed till noon, then have sex with his wife Sheila.

5. You don't tip bartenders.... but cab drivers its ok :)

6. Marriage is a wonderful thing if its with the right person, and as far as he could tell we'll be just fine!

Ireland DAY 1.... sleepyheads!

Well we did it, we're officially mr. and mrs. mcguire!!! What a GREAT weekend!!! Thanks to everyone that made the trip, and that helped my mom with all the set up/take down and everything else! We couldn't have asked for a better day! We went home yesterday, opened presents, take a much needed 3 hour nap and finished packing! Is it just me or is it impossible to feel fully prepared for trips like this? We sat and stared at our bags going over and over the things we need, but some how i'm sure something was forgotten!! I like to live by my mom's philosophy, if you forgot it buy it :) although some things aren't purchasable, like travis's passport that he tried to leave behind at security!!! So now we wait! We board at 1120, fly to charolette, then to philly, then FINALLY to Dublin! From philly it's about a 7 hour flight, with the 7 hour time difference. so that puts us in Dublin at 840am Tuesday morning their time!! The plan is to catch a cab to our hotel, leave our bags and go exploring!! We are going to try to NOT sleep during the day so hopefully the transition to their time won't be all that bad! We're staying at a swank little boutique hotel in the area called Temple Bar Distric....wonder if that means we're by the bars :) pure accident.... well ok not really but I hear it's an awesome area! So hopefully the next time you hear from us we're safe on the ground Guiness in hand!!

Saturday....are you here yet????

Well, here we are....4 days away. Snuck up on me that's for sure!! I'd like to lie to you and tell you that we're fully prepared and everything is in place...... but i won't. I'm losing my mind going over small details, decorations, schedules.....yada yada yada. My mother, bless her heart, has been a HUGE help. But sometimes i am scared to answer the phone when she calls.... what now? what decision do i need to make (for those of you who know me, know i am NOT a decision maker....i'll sit in the car for an hour before giving in and deciding where we're eating!)... what task do i have now!!! At first this was fun.... i liked having jobs to do! i mean after all this is OUR wedding not my moms! But enough is enough..... no more labels on shot glasses, no more chalk paint on beer glasses, no more welcome baskets, flowers, cake, dresses, garters, tux's, RSVP's..... NO MORE!!! JUST BE HERE ALREADY SATURDAY!!!!! All i want to do is marry my best friend, party the night away with all my amazing friends and family and get on a damn plane to Ireland!!! ....... ok i'm done.... that was my rant for the day (can't promise there won't be more...you never know!)

On a happier note....Family starts arriving TOMORROW!!!!! My parents are on their way up with the trailor (yes....that's how much stuff my mom has for this) tomorrow afternoon, and they'll swing by the airport to pick up Jess!! Can't wait to get the festivities started!!!