Where have we been?!

Okay, loyal followers.  Thank you for keeping up with us and looking forward to the next posts!  We are humbled by your following, care, and concern for our words/pictures/trip details!  Here is where all we went...mostly.  We went back to Killarney after the 1/2 day trip to Dingle, but Google Maps only lets you keep track of 10 places...so we hit the high points.  We drove around at each place, so the total mileage would be a LOT closer to 1300 km!  We drove about 1/2 of all of Ireland.  Impressive...we sure think so!

Thanks for sharing in our journey.  We've had a blast documenting it for you (and us as we look back over the years)!  Love you all!  

Mr. & Mrs. Chris Eichrodt!

Hotels in Ireland

Here are our thoughts on the hotels we stayed at during our time in Ireland.

The Aspect Hotel was a smoking hotel, so all our stuff smelled like a hint of cigarette smoke.  The shower was hot and had a shower head that was massaging.  The bed and the pillows weren't all that great.  It has a beer bottle opener in the bathroom.  We had to use the computer at the little desk that was opposite the bed, that held the tv.  The view was of the parking lot and it had a huge window that you could open, but wanted to fall off the tracks!

The International Hotel faced a roundabout, out the front of the hotel.  Green lights shone into our room's window, but the curtain blocked it fine.  It had two little windows that could be opened when the sun made the room too warm.  The bed was better, the duvet was wonderful.  The pillows were still too firm.  The bathroom was beautiful in tile but had a dumb shower design that spilled water all over the floor.  My hair stunk like I washed it in the toilet each morning.  UGH!  I'm still not exactly sure what it was because Chris's hair didn't smell.  We did love the breakfast that was included each morning.  Scrambled eggs, 2 pieces of a honey-cured ham that was SO good!  There was also hot tea, pastries, juices, etc.

The Salthill Hotel was a 4-star hotel RIGHT on Galway Bay.  We ordered room service of a 12-inch pizza and a pint of beer for $15 euros.  It was the first time either one of us had ever ordered room service.  The mushroom/chicken pizza and Smithwick's beer was very tasty!  I just LOVED this room!  There was a double bed and 2 twins pushed together.  The bed was SO comfy, the pillows were SO soft, as was the duvet!  It was also a road between us and the beach!  We had to park in the underground garage one day, but it was always free!  :)

The Best Western in Dublin was fine.  But it was a Friday night and that meant the pubs right around the hotel partied till 2:20am...which meant for a rough night of sleep the night before we had to get up at 7am to fly back home.  This room was SO narrow.  The shower made LouAnna's hair smell LESS like sewer, but the smell was still there.  Dublin was a dirty city, compared to the rest of Ireland and having to park around the block and pay for parking was a hassle.

Day 7 - Returning Home

We woke up bright and early on Saturday morning (6:30am local time, 2:30am Indiana time) so that we had time to shower, pack the rest of our stuff, check out, drive to the airport, return the rental car, get through United Check-in line, get through security, get through customs, grab some breakfast at the airport, and get on the plane by 10:15am for an 11:10am take off.  We actually made it, but had to go through Dublin Airport security AND the Customs security...lame!  We made it to the terminal at about 9:30am and had just enough time to grab snacks, some "to go" breakfast, and chill before the SEVEN HOUR flight to Washington DC - Dulles, where we connected.  The 7 hour flight wasn't as bad as it could be, because they had free in-flight movies on the screens in each seat back.  We watched This is Where I Leave You, a comedy with Jason Bateman, and The Judge, with Robert Downey, Jr.  We started to watch Tammy, but turned it off because we either weren't in the mood, or just didn't find it funny.  Gosh, that was a long flight.  Here's just how long...almost 3500 miles at about 500mph.  LouAnna is NOT happy sitting that long, let alone in the middle seat!

As we were slowing down...one of the last times they updated us on the monitors.

We finally got to Dulles and had about a 90 minute layover, and then it was just another 2 hours till we arrived in Indiana and got down to baggage claim.  By about 7:05pm, LouAnna's dad, Slick, and Rachel were in the car picking us up and we were headed to our house...FINALLY!  We got home at about 7:35pm and were happy and exhausted!  This was the longest amount of daylight we had ever seen!  We fell asleep a little after 10pm (after having been up almost 20 hours) and slept for 11 hours!  Bliss!

We had a little time to reflect on our week and come up with our favorites.  Chris and LouAnna both agree that Ladies View was the best moment of the trip!  Cliffs of Moher and the Hawk Walk take spots and 2 and 3!  This trip was better than we imagined and the PERFECT honeymoon for these two love birds!  We had an absolute blast, but Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz was right, there "is no place like home"!

Day 6 - Guinness and our last night in Ireland

After sleeping in, taking our time putting up the blog post, and gathering our things, we left Salthill/Galway and headed to Dublin.  After stopping for petro and a yummy chicken burrito at the Centra/gas station, we were on our way to the Academy Plaza hotel (aka - Best Western) to drop off our things because we bought tickets to Guinness last night online for 10% off!  Each ticket gets you a free pint of beer - yay!!  So, we arrived at our hotel after the 2.5 hour drive, literally put our stuff down, used the potty, and headed to St. James Gate (aka: Guinness)!  The tour was better than we thought it would be.  It goes into detail about how they make the beer and what makes them different than other brewers and other beers!  There was a tasting area and then a free pint at the end of the tour.  Chris doesn't like beer, so LouAnna was able to drink both pints!  Yay!  We even got a few recipes and will TOTALLY be making the Beef and Guinness Stew!  We both totally loved that!

Picture of what hops look like...they are flowers!

LouAnna found an anchor inside Guinness!  haha!

Included in the price of admission!  Both for LouAnna!

the Miranda - a beer ship that transported to England.

The actual bell from Miranda!  Saw this in the taste testing room!

We finally saw guys wearing kilts inside Guinness...this must be more of a Scotland thing.  :(

You would enter in on an iPad why you like Guinness and it would be added to their interactive screen in the factory.  Here was LouAnna's.

 After Guinness, we went back to our hotel and asked the receptionist where we could get a good plate of fish and chips.  She told us about Murray's, just around the corner.  Boy, was she right?!  That was the best plate of fish that LouAnna had this trip, and Chris thought the Bangers and Mash were pretty darn good, as well,  We each had 3 Jameson and Cokes, as well.  Cheers!  Man, that whiskey is so smooth!  Our waitress, Lily, was so adorable when she found out we are on our honeymoon.  We ended up leaving with a little group hug!  :)

Now, we are in our room, winding down and getting ready to sleep our last night in Ireland.  Well, the last night for this trip.  We are sure we'll be coming back before our passports expire!  ;)

Fish and chips

Bangers and mash

We will be home tomorrow and we'll blog again, but it may not be till Sunday morning...or afternoon!  Talk to you soon!!  Love from Dublin!

Here's where we went today...

Day 5 - Hawks, Fish, and Jameson...oh my!

Sorry the post is late today.  We have SUCH a comfy bed here in Galway that we decided to sleep WAY in!!  We woke up at almost 10am!  Ahhh!

Okay, on Day 5, we drove up to the little town of Cong to do a Halk Walk.  It's essentially where you get to take a hawk out for a little walk with them flying to your glove and to trees all throughout.  It was SO amazing!!  The hawk was named Maya and was beautiful!  She's a Harris Halk and weighed less than 2 pounds!  Pictures and this little blog paragraph doesn't do the experience justice because it was VERY cool!!  We wanted to see Ashford Castle, but it's closed for construction, so it looks like we'll have to come back one day!  :)

Maya

LouAnna wasn't nervous and loved every minute with Maya!

Chris conquered his fear of birds with Maya, the hunter!  :)

Then, we went back to Galway to go to the Aquarium.  Chris had fun taking a ton of pictures, but only a few ended up on the website.  We still have LOADS more to show you, if you are interested, when we return!  LouAnna's favorite were the rays because they are so thin and graceful swimmers.  One even came over to her and lifted up it's face to say hello.  Chris's favorite was also the ray because the color markings on top were beautiful and they were great to photograph!

Sting Ray

Clown Fish and Shrimp

Apistogramma Cacatoides - the fire fin fish!!  ;)

This cawfish was as big as a chihuahua/weiner dog!  ;)

Then, it was time for some pub food.  LouAnna had looked up this one, The Kings Head, here in Galway that was 3 stories, had a King's throne, and a medieval fireplace.  It was here that we had our first Jameson and Coke and it was SO smooth!  YUM!  Then, Chris and I got the Traditional Irish Stew.  The lamb just melted in your mouth!

2 Jamesons with coke

Irish Stew

400 year old fireplace

 Then, we went to a shopping mall to walk around.  You have to pay 20 cents to use the restroom...weird!  There was also a butcher shop on the first floor, too.  Stinky!  Then, we just walked around the pub/shopping area that reminded LouAnna of Key West in that there was just strips of pubs and shops down most of the streets...or Chris likened it to Broad Ripple...so many people, so little parking, and so many shops.

Then, it was back to the hotel to rest and finish off the Forty Creek we had bought at the Toronto airport on Saturday.  It took us almost a week, but we finished this smooth Canadian whiskey.  Too bad we are flying back through Washington DC.  ;)  LouAnna ordered room service this time and then we called it a night...for almost 12 hours!
 

Day 4 - Cliffs of Moher and Galway

Day 4 had us checking out of Killarney and heading up to the Cliffs of Moher.  On the way there, we passed a very large and extremely rugged golf course.  We can't imagine how anyone could golf on that rugged terraine!  But the golf course was very busy since today's weather was so perfect!

Back to the Cliffs.  They rise up from the Atlantic 390-702 feet and on a clear day, you can see the Aran Islands.  Here are just a few pictures of the breathtaking cliffs and the ocean crashing below.

[Four] Cliffs of Moher

O'Brien Tower (opposite the Cliffs) which have a better view of the Aran Islands

We stopped for lunch at a little town just north of the Cliffs and LouAnna got fish and chips at the Ritz House!  Yummy!  She also tried the Smithwick's beer today, and said it was pretty tasty, as well.  Then, it was off to Galway where we will stay for the next two nights.  One thing that LouAnna didn't expect from the countryside is how cute the Irish houses are.  They paint them just about any color on the spectrum!  Here's a couple she could capture on her phone as Chris was driving between 25-62mph!  She missed a couple great ones, like the deep red one and the Colt Blue 2-story houses!  And here's how cute the little town is that we passed on the way to Galway, too!

The Salthill Hotel is just a narrow road away from the beach!  It, too, was very beautiful, as all of Ireland has been so far!

It doesn't seem like we did very much today.  We will explore more of Galway tomorrow, after some rest...today was a LOT of driving!!  Here's how far we went today.

Day 3 - Ring of Kerry and Dingle

Okay, let me give you a little back story.  6.5 years ago, LouAnna did some genealogy work and found out she has some Irish ancestors.  This, along with her reading an author who writes a lot of her stories based in Ireland made LouAnna want to go to Ireland.  Almost 6 years ago, she found a picture of Ireland and has had it as her desktop picture on her work and home computers.  Here is that picture.  It's somewhere in the Ring of Kerry.

Part of today's hope was to find this vantage point.  So, we headed out from Killarney to follow the Ring of Kerry in a clockwise fashion.  Our first stop was a picture wonderland at the Muckross House that lead up to the Torc waterfall.  There are 3 entrances to get to the waterfall...the 2.5 mile walk, the 1 mile walk, or the 1/2 mile walk.  We chose the 1 mile walk that lead past the House and has stunning views!  It was a 25 minute very leisurely stroll back to the waterfall.  Here are some pics that don't even do justice!

Muckross House

View from Muckross House

Just down from the waterfall

Chris at Torc Waterfall

Then it was back in the car to follow the ring of Kerry to find LouAnna's picture.  Here's a map of the entire ring.  It's about 100 miles all around.

The road from Muckross House toward Kenmare was SO narrow and the posted speed limit was 100 kph/62mph.  Look at this picture of the road and tell me if you could drive 62mph!  The road is VERY narrow and 25mph is WAY more appropriate!

So, half way to Kenmare, we stopped along the way to take pictures and LouAnna could feel we were getting close.  Then, we decide to stop ahead at Ladies View where there is a little cafe.  We round the corner and park and right in front of us is...LouAnna's picture!!  It's like seeing the Grand Canyon.  She wept with joy!  We took a BUNCH of pictures and will be hanging some up in the house when we return!  Here's our picture of it!  It's not as green, but just as stunning!!

While we were up there, we also saw a leprechaun crossing!!

Since we had found the vantage point so soon, we decided not to continue the rest of the 100 mile tour and instead do something we didn't plan to, and that was to go to the town of Dingle, along one of the peninsula's in Ireland.  It ended up being SUCH a beautiful day, and a great day for a drive.  It was on this drive that Chris saw the Atlantic Ocean for the first time since he was a very young boy.  There was also a beach, where LouAnna put her toes in the sand!  Who says you can't go to the beach AND Ireland in the same honeymoon?!  ;)

Here we are at Inch Beach

LouAnna with her new scarf at Inch Beach

Toes in the sand...LouAnna couldn't resist taking her shoes off!

Then, we got to the town of Dingle.  It's a quiet little town.  We stopped for an early dinner at a pub called the Marina Inn.  LouAnna ordered a pint of Guinness and also the Beef and Guinness Stew and Chris got the Bangers and Mash.  Both were SO delicious!  These are our favorite meals since arriving in Ireland and both were very native!

No better way to celebrate St. Patrick's Day than being on your honeymoon with your love in Ireland, finding LouAnna's picture, a drive along the coast, and real Irish food!  Erin go Bragh!

Here's where we've been so far in our 3 days here!  We are having a BLAST!!!

Day 2 - Waterford and Blarney

Before we started day 2, we went to a bank in Kilkenny to exchange our traveler's checks.  It turns out that Ireland stopped accepting them 2-3 years ago.  I'm glad we only brought a couple hundred dollars of them because it looks like we'll be depositing them back into our checking account when we get back to Brownsburg.

Day 2 was very touristy, but VERY amazing!!  We left Kilkenny and headed to Waterford to see the famous crystal.  About 45% of all Waterford crystal is destroyed because of minor flaws.  Only perfect pieces are ever seen by the public.  Looking for the crystal, we mistakenly found the Waterford Castle, which is now a hotel.  This included driving on and off a ferry!!  Chris and LouAnna both took a turn driving onto it!  :)  The people at the hotel were kind enough to direct us to the House of Waterford which had the retail store and factory.  We drove all around Waterford because the GPS didn't want to show us the exact location, but after what seemed like an hour, we found it.  It was free to go into the retail store and we were allowed to take pictures.  The crystal is amazing!!  There are SO many pictures that we aren't posting on this page, but we will be HAPPY to show you when we return!  They were having a sale on all of their Christmas items, so we bought a crystal ornament.  It's a green, glass shamrock.  You will have to come over at Christmas 2015 to see it on our tree!  ;)  LouAnna started to cry in the store because she's been wanting to see Waterford crystal and never thought she'd be able to own some!  Chris must admit that he was overjoyed to be able to share in this and help exceed her expectations of Waterford!  Okay, enough chatting, here are some pics!

LouAnna with her very own piece of Waterford!  She tears up just thinking about it!

Just one of about 40 pictures we took of some amazing pieces!!

The side of Blarney Castle

Then, it was off to Blarney so we could kiss a cold stone!  ;)  Blarney Castle was amazing.  It's a ruin now, but some of the walls are up to 15 feet thick!  The castle is still quite beautiful!  To kiss the Blarney Stone, you have to climb up a circular, stone staircase that is VERY narrow.  There is a rope to hold on to as you climb up the stairs that are the most narrow steps we've ever been on.  LouAnna, who isn't fond of heights, was very scared because she imagined having to climb back down such a narrow path, as well.  We had to stop at a landing for a while because she was on the verge of panic attack.  Poor girl; she really hates heights and steps almost more narrow that her size 10 shoe!  But, she championed on, thanks to the reassurance and calm that Chris gave her.  We made it to the very top of the castle, sat down, and leaned way back and down into the hole in order to kiss the stone!  It was scary and the adrenaline was definitely pumping for LouAnna.  For LouAnna, it was a triumph over fears and having accomplished the feat.  For Chris, it was about tradition and being in community with all the people who have kissed it before and will after him.  By the way, the stairs down were TWICE as wide as the way up, which makes LouAnna wish they were the stairs up AND down!  ;)

Chris puckering up!

LouAnna kissing the stone

Then, we walked around the gardens and landscape a bit, experiencing the calm and beautiful countryside.  It even has a poison garden that contains plants like Mandrake and Wolfsbane, etc! Again, we have WAY more pictures than are being posted, but this gives you a taste of what we saw!

Chris in front of Blarney Castle

By this time, it's 6pm local time, so we head to Killarney where we will stay for the next 2 nights.  We check into the hotel, walk next door to their little restaurant/bar for dinner.  Chris and I both decide to try today's special of roasted lamb, stuffing, mixed veggies, and mashed potatoes.  LouAnna had never had lamb before and it turned out to be VERY tasty!  We were happy with our choice!  Then, we went to our room, took showers and crashed for about 10 hours!  It was a day we will never forget!!