Sleepless in Dublin

Dublin from up top.

Stardate 67283.3

23:50 - We landed in Ireland on a bed of fog beneath and a blanket of storms above us. We had been traveling all night to get here at 04:00, and our adventure was just beginning. We were going to rent a car and travel about Ireland's country side exploring the ruins, landscapes and pubs. We were just missing one thing when we landed: sleep.

There was not much time to sleep. We got in our car, hurriedly drove on the wrong side of the road (their right side of the road, confused yet?), and got ourselves lost in Dublin. Dublin was our first town to visit, but we were not staying there long. Like many towns in Ireland, Dublin suffers from a distinct lack of signage and a devotion to changing the street name every few blocks. We ended up at a gas station in a random part of town to sleep, wait for the sun, and buy a Dublin map.

Our business in Dublin consisted of seeing the famous Book of Kells and the Trinity College Library that housed it. We had our tour booked, and we were not going to skip it. The Book of Kells is an intricate manuscript containing the four gospels of the New Testament. This book was made in the early 800s by four monks.Check it out, because we were not allowed to take pictures. We did get to take pictures of the famous Trinity College Library, which houses the Book of Kells and other famous objects of Irish heritage. Fun fact, Focus Foxies, this library provided the basis for the Jedi Archives in the Attack of the Clones.

Our next goal was to get lost again. I am just joking, but we managed to do it nonetheless. We finally stopped ourselves in a parking lot and again slept for a few hours. Luckily it was a parking lot for a restaurant. I took advantage of that and some time to figure out how to get us to some back roads. You see, Focus Foxies, this was my aim all along. I had purchased a back roads book, and it had this awesome drive through the Wicklow Mountains. And who wouldn't want to do that? Well, when you hadn't slept well in a really long time, it starts to look silly. Luckily, Rob got a great power nap in, and we powered on. I think he knew I had my heart set on going through the mountains.

The Wicklow Mountains did not disappoint. We drove through this unearthly terrain full of the fabled Irish landscape and colors. The colors were just starting to turn to fall hues, but the lushness of Spring and Summer remained. We could not take our eyes off of it. We passed through valleys and waterfalls, while we wound our way around cloud covered mountains. We passed tree farms and wandering sheep on small and narrow roads. It was worth every penny to get over here.

Through the Wicklow Mountains, there lies a small area named 'Glendalough' or the glen of two lakes. Glendalough has a very famous reputation of being home to mainly saints, chiefly St. Kevin. After being ordained a priest, St. Kevin left to a then remote part of Ireland to avoid his followers and live as a hermit. However, word got around that he was a holy man living off the land, so people came around pretty quickly. St. Kevin eventually established a small community of monks and a church where St. Kieran once lived.

St Kevin's Church and Round Tower

Round Tower Art Shot

The whole area of Glendalough has seven churches and/or holy sites.  One of the non-holy sites is the Round Tower, which impressively sits 30 meters high. The tower was used as a store room, partially for protection, and partially for my odd attempts at artsy picture taking.

We meandered our way to the main highway as the sun started to set. Our hotel room was in Kilkenny, but the only catch is that we had no where to stop for dinner nor did we know where the hotel was in Kilkenny. The first challenge was finding the hotel, and thankfully a man at a convenience store was able to give us the most confusing directions to it. Our second concern, our stomachs proved to be a a much more difficult task. We could have stayed in the hotel and slept because at this point we were at 48 hours with very little sleep. But we did not. We (I) were hungry, and gosh darnit, Focus Foxies, we were on a mission. A mission from God.

It turns out this mission was most likely from St. Kevin because he did not eat too often, and we waited a while to eat as well. We found a parking spot in Kilkenny and proceeded to walk all around town to find out that everywhere stops serving at 21:00. EVERYWHERE.
Not even a sad face could make it better. We ended up getting lost trying to find an ice cream shop we had seen before. Instead, we found ourselves lost in the suburbs. We officially threw in the towel and went in to ask someone how to get back to the car and again found ourselves in strange territory. We walked into this strange little low key pub (we alter found out it was named the David Campion's Lounge Bar) with maybe five or so people in it. You know, Focus Foxies, in those old western movies where people walk into the saloon and others immediately give them a look because they are not from around those parts? This was nothing like that. They were happy to give up seats for new people. We knew we could not immediately ask for directions, so we asked for two Smithwicks.

Let me tell you, Focus Foxies, that was the best Smithwicks I have ever tasted! I do not know if it was the day or the place or just because it is better in Ireland, but it was better. It is having a completely different beer. We got to talking to the locals. This being a local bar and a Friday night, they had started quite a bit earlier. They were all curious about where we were going and where we should go. They even unknowingly told us how to get back to town. So we tipped out hats after the beer, and left.

This story does not end badly or in any state of hunger. We ended up finding a SuperMacs, which is the only saving grace for Kilkenny's late night eating.

Cathedral at Glendalough