Since we didn't necessarily tear the place up the night before, even for the big 21, I was awake at 7 am and ready to go. None of my companions were up yet so I laid in bed until 8, then got up, and took a shower. It's sort of strange taking a shower in a regular shower, not my usual corner of the bathroom arrangement. After we were all ready, we went down for the breakfast buffet, had some fruit and croissants and then Lindsay and I headed to the airport to pick up our rental car.
Now nothing is ever simple and quick when you are in a foreign city. So getting the car was a 3 hour process when it could have easily taken an hour, maybe an hour and a half. We first had to walk to the bus station which was about a 15 minute walk to get on the 747 bus to Dublin Airport. Ofcourse that cost us 6 euro a piece. I should also add that nothing is ever cheap either. Then we had our 30 minute bus ride to the airport. When we arrived at the airport we got pointed in the right direction of Dan Dooley Car Rental. Now there were about 10 different car rental places, but just our luck, Dan Dooley was the only one with a line. After about 10 minutes of standing in line, we made friends with the couple that were in front of us when they told us they had been already waiting for 45 minutes. Great, let's set up shop in the car rental line. We chatted with this couple from Anchorage, Alaska for the greater portion of our wait. Which we wouldn't expect to be long, since there were only 4 people in front of us, but it took at least an hour. Luckily we had fun talking to our Alaskans and joking about the excitement that occurred when we heard the printing of the receipt, which meant we could move forward. When we finally got to the counter and said goodbye to our Alaskan friends (who turned out to be some type of Executive--should've gotten his business card) we understood why it took so long. First of all, there is only one woman working (we found out that economic conditions has caused Dan Dooley to cut his staff in third) and this woman was a chatty chatty woman. She had an accent, but I'm not sure what country from, since she definitely didn't look Irish. But she won my heart with her sweet talking and compliments. She told us that we had a four door, 5 passenger car... an extra seat for a gentlemen and then she winked at me. I'm pretty sure she used the phrase "she knows what I'm saying" about 39 times. We laughed with her at the prospect of an Irish lad and bringing one home with us. She told us that the Irish gentlemen are quite romantic and hold a "love torch". She also told me that I should be a model, and that I could easily get an Irish man to come home with me. Like I said, she was very chatty. She even wished me a happy birthday a few times, after hearing the Alaskan couple wish me it. After about 20 minutes at the counter, we finally got our slip and headed out to the curb to get our shuttle.
It was a cold day in Dublin, and we were quite happy when we saw the Dan Dooley shuttle pull up. The driver reminded me of all the reasons I love Ireland. He apologized for the wait, and we said it was fine, the weather was just cold but if he could fix that, we'd be happy. He laughed and said if he could control the weather, he'd be a rich rich man and not driving a bus. Duly noted. We told him we were from Chicago and Milwaukee and he said that Lindsay sounded Canadian. He said that lots of people come to Ireland from the States and we told him it was because they keep putting Ireland in love movies. He laughed and said "PS I LOVE YOU?" and then told us that Gerald Butler is actually Scottish and his accent is not a very good Irish one. He recommended a CD for us for our ride (Shannon Sharon). When he dropped us off, he gave us directions and keys and we got into our Renault Megane, a four door sedan that was about the size of a Camry.
(Enjoy your holiday in Ireland. Rule 1: Drive on the Left Side of the Road. Thank you Dan for the reminder)
Well first of all, I got in at the left side. Normally, this would mean I was driving. But not in Europe. Lindsay was in the right side front seat, normally the passengers side, with a steering wheel and a little fear in her eyes. First step, how to start the car. Well there was no key (at least not one we were familiar with) and no ignition. Hmm.... we finally found a slot to slide in our credit card looking key into and then a button that said "Start/Stop". Alright, car on. Success. Then to drive. We went over the basics....a left turn is like a right turn and vice versa. But when she pulled out the first time, my brain was still thinking in American driving ways. Luckily, Lindsay's wasn't. We made it out into the street and on our way, through our first roundabout...these crazy traffic patterns that are all the rage in Ireland. We found our way back to the hotel through the city centre, while the whole time I felt like I should be driving on my side. After a few wrong turns, we made it to the hotel, loaded up the other ladies and were on our way.
Map in hand, I directed Lindsay out of Dublin and towards Doolin. We rode for a significant portion of the trip on the M4/N4 which made us feel like we were in Wisconsin, not Ireland. The only noticable differences were 1) the speed limit signs were in kilometers... 120 kph which is about 75 mph. 2) we were on the left side of the road, not the right 3) sheep were everywhere in the countryside.
We were cruising like champs until we came closer to Galway. In the town of Loughrea, we found ourselves loathing roundabouts. First of all, the signs are not posted preemptively, you just need to KNOW which way you want to go. Well we did not. My directions I had gotten earlier were utterly useless as they basically said (right...left...left...without any further direction). We took about 3 laps around the town in various roundabouts before we stopped to go to the bathroom and get directions. One thing I've noted about Irish bathrooms....they are always SO cold. Like can't put your ass on the seat, don't want to take your pants off cold. It turns out that we weren't that much off course, we just had taken a wrong exit on the roundabout so we headed in the right direction. We saw a beautiful rainbow and I think it was a sign that we were on our way. We headed down Limerick Road...and had reminders of all the times I've heard Limerick referred to as "Stab City"...no thank you.
Soon we were cruising on narrow Irish roads that are the norm in the more rural parts of the country. Lindsay was quick with sound effects whenever we got to close to an oncoming car, which given the width of the road, was quite often. We followed a large coach bus down one of the roads and stopped each time he let out a student returning from school in their sweet uniforms. We were driving through mountain regions, and these mountains had a dark grey stone on them. The ladies were unsure that we were going in the right direction, since no sign had mentioned Doolin but we kept on trucking.
We went through the town of Lisdoonarva, which is home to the Matchmaking Festival in September, which according to the sign is the largest singles' event in Europe. For all the single ladies in the car, we were interested and disappointed that it isn't until September...but we're not sure what type of Eligible bachelors come to the small quaint town of Lisdoonarva, which is not even that bolded on a map. We continued, taking in a bunch of breathtaking views. The road signs were humor for most of the trip as well. We got to a very windy road that took us up the mountain. We stopped at the look out point and we could see from the mountians to the sea, and even a small faint rainbow. I love those rainbows. It began to rain so we got back in the car and headed towards Doolin.
When we finally got to Doolin, we asked for directions at the local gas station and they pointed us in the direction of the beautiful red Doonagore Farmhouse B&B and our lovely hostess Mary Sweeney. Mary greeted us at the door and took us up to our rooms so we could put away our stuff.
The sun was going down and I really wanted to see the Cliffs of Moher at sunset so we headed in that direction. It was afterhours so we could park for free and we walked towards the somewhat empty Cliffs of Moher just in time to see the bright sun set into the horizon. I think MAJESTIC has become my new descriptive word, because everything in Ireland has just that majestic quality about it. We enjoyed the sunset, but then it got quite chilly so we headed down to the car and towards town.
When it gets dark in the country, it really gets dark, and makes it difficult to find things when we don't know where you are going. Mary Sweeney suggested we go to Gus O'Connors for a bite to eat and maybe some live music. However, it was nearly impossible to find it, and after many turns and narrow roads that may or may not have been private property, we settled on Fitzpatrick's Pub. It had been a long day in the car and navigating, and Lindsay was getting into her foodless mood, so Fitz's fit. While the atmosphere was charming, the food made up for lackluster hospitality. Me and Linds split some delish chicken and potatoes, while we sat by the fireplace and listened to American hits. Typical. We didn't find any of that famous Doolin music...which I was disappointed about, since Doolin is supposedly a musical gem.
We headed back to the Doonagore and to bed, after watching some high quality Irish wildlife shows and listening to our neighbors laugh hysterically for at least an hour.
No comments:
Post a Comment