We were a little disappointed to wake up to cloudy skies, but like every morning at a bed & breakfast we woke up to the smell of bacon, or as it is here, what we Canadians call back bacon, which made it better :-)
A bit unexpectedly on this trip we have hardly run into any Canadians. We did see a fellow on July 1st with a Blue Jays cap who wished us a Happy Canada Day, but otherwise nothing or no one from home. Even in the B & Bs that had guest books, very few Canadians. Where are we all, we know there are Canadian tourists here!?!!?!
When we checked in last night here at Newlands Lodge, Mariead said she's had several guests from Canada recently. A couple from Vancouver and two from Ontario. We came down to breakfast to find an almost full dining room. Mariead introduced us to Kevin and Monica from Port Carling, ON. We somehow chatted for over 2 hours over breakfast. They were almost a week into their trip and we are on our last full day. Turns out Kevin, like Greg, used to work for CP as well. We had a rousing conversation about CP, where we live, our trips so far, and driving in Ireland. We chatted so long it was after 11 am checkout time and both of us had to get going.
We thanked Mariead and her husband Jimmy for a lovely and comfortable stay, which it definitely was. As we were leaving we noticed there was a fairy tree down the road - noticeable by all the strips and items hung on it. Cool!
The tour was Colm explaining the different aspects but also had some very cool interactive elements. Some of our favourites parts were the ghost of the Franciscan Monk welcoming us at the beginning (very Obi-Wan Kenobi!!) and when we were in a room recreated from the Smith'wicks family home. The room was filled with portraits of the various Smithwicks men who ran the brewery over the centuries. One of the portraits started speaking but we thought we noticed the other portraits slightly moving as well - blinking, moving house head, etc. It was like in those movies when you think the eyes in the painting are watching you. Turns out we were right as in turn they each spoke and then we're conversing with each other. So cool!
As we had some time before we were due in Dublin tonight, we stopped at the Smithwick's Experience Kilkenny....of course one last beer tour before leaving. There were 7 of us on the tour, us and 5 men from Austria. Our tour guide Colm was very good and it was a wonderful and entertaining tour about how Smithwicks beers are made and the history of the ales from the time of the original brewing by Franciscan monks on this site in the 14th century to when the Smithwicks family founded it in 1710 to now when it is brewed by Guinness in Dublin.
The tour was Colm explaining the different aspects but also had some very cool interactive elements. Some of our favourites parts were the ghost of the Franciscan Monk welcoming us at the beginning (very Obi-Wan Kenobi!!) and when we were in a room recreated from the Smith'wicks family home. The room was filled with portraits of the various Smithwicks men who ran the brewery over the centuries. One of the portraits started speaking but we thought we noticed the other portraits slightly moving as well - blinking, moving house head, etc. It was like in those movies when you think the eyes in the painting are watching you. Turns out we were right as in turn they each spoke and then we're conversing with each other. So cool!
While we were enjoying the tasting at the end of the tour, we noticed 3 school tours come through and apparently there were a few earlier in the morning as well....kids clearly younger than the 18 year old legal drinking age. The tour guides explained they do get a lot of school tours from different countries for kids to learn about the brewing process as well as the history here. No free tasting for them, just a free key chain.
Enough fun, time to make our way back to Dublin. Thankfully we were on all major highways so no high blood pressure driving today. We found Ireland is just like home....summer = road construction. We ran into one scene of major road work, which really backed up traffic.....looked like they were adding another lane to where one motorway merges into another and some people were actually working this Saturday morning. It added an extra 10-15 minutes to our drive so nothing major.
We arrived, checked in and dropped our luggage at Holiday Inn Express Dublin Airport before heading to the airport to drop off our rental car. As we took ALL the insurance we could basically drop our keys and go. It looked like a huge rental car operation with each rental car company having 3 car washing bays lined up & continuously going. In the end for 12 days, it cost us 128 Euros (about $292 CDN) to rent the "intermediate" car, 552 Euros (about $830 CDN) for insurance and 86 Euros (about $145 CDN) for taxes. After driving thus past week, the insurance was well worth it! We caught the Hertz shuttle back to the airport then the free hotel shuttle back to our hotel.
It was our typical night before going home....out for the "last supper" (a very good meal down the block at "Gourmet Food Parlour"), extra welcome as we somehow missed.lunch (unless you count the pint at Smithwicks!). Then back to the hotel to check in for our flights tomorrow, sort out all the contents of our luggage and to work on our blog.
The luggage sorting is extra important as on this trip we are paying to check bags. We managed to stick to one checked bag each, and each to capacity, $35 each....if we had a second bag it would be an additional $50. When we go to Asia it's 2 free bags each. LOL dirty laundry is a good cushion for breakables!
Enough fun, time to make our way back to Dublin. Thankfully we were on all major highways so no high blood pressure driving today. We found Ireland is just like home....summer = road construction. We ran into one scene of major road work, which really backed up traffic.....looked like they were adding another lane to where one motorway merges into another and some people were actually working this Saturday morning. It added an extra 10-15 minutes to our drive so nothing major.
We arrived, checked in and dropped our luggage at Holiday Inn Express Dublin Airport before heading to the airport to drop off our rental car. As we took ALL the insurance we could basically drop our keys and go. It looked like a huge rental car operation with each rental car company having 3 car washing bays lined up & continuously going. In the end for 12 days, it cost us 128 Euros (about $292 CDN) to rent the "intermediate" car, 552 Euros (about $830 CDN) for insurance and 86 Euros (about $145 CDN) for taxes. After driving thus past week, the insurance was well worth it! We caught the Hertz shuttle back to the airport then the free hotel shuttle back to our hotel.
It was our typical night before going home....out for the "last supper" (a very good meal down the block at "Gourmet Food Parlour"), extra welcome as we somehow missed.lunch (unless you count the pint at Smithwicks!). Then back to the hotel to check in for our flights tomorrow, sort out all the contents of our luggage and to work on our blog.
The luggage sorting is extra important as on this trip we are paying to check bags. We managed to stick to one checked bag each, and each to capacity, $35 each....if we had a second bag it would be an additional $50. When we go to Asia it's 2 free bags each. LOL dirty laundry is a good cushion for breakables!
2025-02-18