Ireland!!

This was a work trip, and there was work to be done.  But I managed to slip in a wee bit 'o fun while over there.  I'm way short on time, so this post is going to be another picture-book style...

We'd had a flight delay in Boston, finally made it to NY in time for our connecting flight, only to have that flight be delayed as well.  So our trip wound up being a real red-eye over.  Not much sleep on the plane (we were all too amped up!!), then a 2-hour bus ride to the hotel.  So we're pretty beat.  What to do, what to do...  Well, let's get checked in, hit our rooms to shower and change, and then go on a pub crawl!  (This was Sunday, and we had to be at work early the following morning.  But we were in Ireland, bitches!)

This pic really wasn't of anything too crazy, but we'd just hit the streets and it reminded me of Germany, so I snapped a pic.

Ahhh, Guinness!  I've been told that you have to have it in Ireland, that it truly tastes different over there!  (It doesn't.)

 

This place knows how to party.  Open-air seating on the sidewalk...and they're sitting on kegs!

Explanation?  I just thought it was a cool chalk-drawn sign.

The bars over there have liquor bottles mounted to the walls for the pours  Nice!

Ahhh...Beamish!  After having tried (and been disappointed by) the Guinness, I'd moved on to Murphy's Irish Stout.  Always a dependable fellow!  But one of the bartenders told me I should try this guy; Beamish.  Wow, now that's good stuff!  (Ignore the foam running over.)  This stuff was in a close, close contest with Murphy's!  (If pressed, I would have to take Beamish, but I went back and forth between the two all week.)

The Finance Manager over in our Ireland office had lined up a pub which would show the Patriots game for us.  How cool is that!!  And there were even patrons there, from Ireland, who were wearing Pats jerseys!  (They were as disgusted as we were in their performance in the 2nd half...)

Most of the folks had headed back to the hotel by the time the game was over, but there was a handful of us who kept things going.  We hit a bar on the way back which was doing trivia of some sort.  It was cool for a while, but then it turned into a dance club so we mosied along to one more pub, then back to the hotel bar (which we closed), then off to bed.  The shuttle to the office was coming early so we needed to close our eyes for a little while.

Next morning!  The view from my hotel room.  Nothing terribly spectacular...other than it's in IRELAND!

Not sure why some of my pics are loading sideways.  I tried fixing them, but no luck.  Anyway, here is the river/canal that was flowing along the street outside of our hotel.

Hey, another Beamish!  (No, this wasn't taken at work.  The Ireland trip was AWESOME, but c'mon.  If we'd been able to drink while working, I'd be blogging from Ireland from now on.)

I just liked the architecture of this building.

A nice carved sign along the side of the roadway.

Uhmm...why did I take this pic (trying to remember)...oh yeah!  We hit an Italian place for dinner on Monday night!  Why an Italian place when in Ireland?  Because it came highly recommended.  And it was awesome!  (As was the vino!)

The bars also have mixed drinks on tap.  On tap!  Like beer!

An authentic Guinness sign...sideways, for your viewing pleasure...

The seaside town of Kinsale, where we went for drinks on Tuesday.  And lunch.  And a sailing outing in the afternoon.  And drinks.  And dinner.  And vino!

This little guy was posted by one of the docks.  Not sure if he's in memory of anyone, but there wasn't any plaque, just a tablet at his feet naming who the sculptor was.

Whoops...another Murphy's...

 

 The Spaniard!  I loved how bring the paint was on this building.

Sunset after Tuesday night's dinner...

For our last night in Ireland (Wednesday), we had quite a lot of folks who said they were tired, and were going to stay in at the hotel and rest up for the trip home.  Wha???  F that!  I'm in Ireland, I'm going out!!

So those of us who were still up for the challenge, headed out to find a nice place for dinner.

Uhm...and another Murphy's...

And another, this time with a chilled Sambuca...

After dinner, we're off to a brewery!

With another cool chalk-drawn sign.  Hey, that one on the bottom (er...to the left, as you're looking at it sideways...)...the Cherry Kolsh?  That sounds awesome!  And it was ready in August, so that means it's certainly ready now, in September, right?  Nope.  It wasn't ready yet.  Dang!

Back at the hotel, we'd closed out their bar once again (we'd closed it every night we were here), I didn't want to go to bed.  I didn't want the Ireland adventure to end.  So, I took the glass-walled elevator to the top floor (along with my cider - I was stout'd out by this time) and just surveyed the surroundings.

My vantage point...

The next morning, the bus arrived @ 6:30 to bring us to the airport.  Arriving at said airport, three of us found that Delta had cancelled our seats on us.  Why?  They said the computer system showed that we hadn't used our tickets out of Boston or NY, so they'd cancelled our entire reservation.  Uhm...hello?  I've got my printed boarding passes right here (for the trip to Ireland), and if we didn't use them, how do you explain that I'm standing here...in Ireland...in front of you right now?

They had no answer for this.  Bottom line was that the three of us were on Standby.

Awesome...

Long story short; we managed to get seats on our flight to NY, and then again (from Standby) to Logan.

So we made it home safely, and well rested.  Hahahaaa, no.  The two SCREAMING babies on the flight made sure of that.  Oh well, it was Definitely worth it, and I wish I was headed back over there again!  (I'd be sure to work in some riding this time.)