An Irish Honeymoon (photos)

[saltyveruca]

So we've been back for a while now but I'm just getting around to collecting our honeymoon photos. This afternoon I cleaned off our point and shoot camera, and pulled all of our honeymoon photos off of it. I am still waiting for Mr. salty to give me access to the ones he took with our professional camera. I will probably have them for our anniversary because he is totally freaking busy with other peoples' wedding photos.

ANYWAY! These are photos from our honeymoon in Ireland. It was about a week and a half at the very end of April/early May. Colder than you think, but we had a great time. These are most of our touristy shots...the good ones are locked away on my husband's computer to be worked on.

They are all on my Flickr site (http://www.flickr.com/photos/12698507@N08/sets/72157607012932254/), but these are a handful of my favorites.

When you go to Dublin, you have to go to Guinness. I think it might be an international tourist law. So we did.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3050/2809747444_a189e6c758.jpg?v=0

Outside of the Jameson distillery in Midleton, County Cork
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3168/2809770618_c57df4aa97.jpg?v=0

Waiting to go on the tour at Jameson. He looks like a kid in a candy store, doesn't he?
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3264/2809778492_77b37438ef.jpg?v=0

We kissed the Blarney Stone. He actually got video of me doing it, but I wasn't smart enough to do it for him, so I just took this photo.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3226/2808926303_1fd66b8b6b.jpg?v=0

By the way, I didn't realize it until I got up there, but it's pretty freaking dangerous to kiss the stone. There's not a whole lot except one thin bar and a strong Irish man holding on to your shirt to keep you from plunging to your death. But it was fun and we did it anyway!

[saltyveruca]

We went on this thing called the Skellig Rock Tour and I really didn't know what I was getting myself into. We had to wake up early, drive down to a port, and ride in a tiny boat for about an hour. We got totally wet because it's kind of a crazy ride out there. We found out that neither of us get sea sick because if we were...we would have been! Once we got there we had to grab onto a rope and climb up some slippery stairs while trying not to fall into the rocky water. So I was thinking, wow, that's my adventure for the day. But I was NOT EVEN CLOSE.

This is where I was sure I was going to meet my death. Pretty, isn't it?
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3141/2809780750_cb46ee6ac4.jpg?v=0

The highlight of the Skelligs is climbing a few hundred or so ancient steps to the top of the rock island, and viewing some monastic ruins. It was totally windy and I am not kidding when I say I was scared for my life the entire time because I thought I was just going to fall off a cliff or something. It was so windy that we have video of a seagull (or some sort of sea bird) that literally could not land because it was so windy! But I am so, so glad we did it because I'll never forget it.

This is us getting close to the top:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3263/2808915537_d9a4e3a320.jpg?v=0
I totally forgot to bring something to put my hair up with...that was a bad idea! I was also wearing Converse. Not wise.

The ride back was really fun and a lot more calm than the way out. We spent the entire time at the back of the boat riding the waves together and watching everything go by. We stayed to have lunch in the little port town (Portmagee) and got these Skelligs Coffees. They're basically an Irish Coffee with Irish Mist instead of whiskey. And they had cute shamrocks on top!
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3160/2808936689_f3bdb39f86.jpg?v=0

That same day, we drove all the way to Bunratty Castle for a feast/performance thing. It was really fun and we got some attention for being newlyweds. The next day we walked around and enjoyed the grounds of Bunratty. It was one of the most beautiful days there. The weather was perfect!
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3295/2808914321_68354259be.jpg?v=0

[saltyveruca]

I almost forgot, we saw these seals on the boat ride back from the Skellig island:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3057/2808935839_d730f28d0d.jpg?v=0

Anyway, we stopped by Durty Nelly's, which is right next to Bunratty Castle.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3119/2808940201_4b4fe1c512.jpg?v=0

My husband, enjoying a beer in front of the castle:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3286/2808941593_da35e5c33d.jpg?v=0

Me, also enjoying a beer and trying to figure out directions for where we needed to go next.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3196/2809760164_6a31bfeff2.jpg?v=0

[Dani]

I wanna go! Ireland has the most beautiful screnery! Thanks for sharing the pics! About what was the temp like?

[saltyveruca]

We had these oysters, but I kept on getting shell! I don't know what my problem was-so I just had JD pull them out for me and they were OK.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3168/2809789714_db3a196413.jpg?v=0

We had my dad say a version of this blessing at our wedding ceremony, so it was really special for us to stumble upon it here!
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3241/2809785832_56ecbab2f9.jpg?v=0

We saw the Cliffs of Moher (I had to hold on to my hat!)
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3185/2809756580_d3db5ddbd8.jpg?v=0

And we toured the oldest distillery in Ireland.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2202/2808905699_805a8e50c1.jpg?v=0

There are about...a million things I don't have pictures of.

We had a long layover in Paris on the way to Dublin, so we took a bus in to the city. I really didn't like Paris. It was a pretty bad day to visit-cold, rainy, and miserable. But we saw L'Arc de Triomphe (misspelled, I am sure, despite taking French in college) and the Eiffel Tower. The Eiffel was nice because we had a great view of the city. I was dressed inappropriately-wearing a comfy dress for the plane that liked to fly up whenever it was windy (it was always windy), so I had to wrap the blanket that I took from the airplane around my waist in order to avoid flashing the city. That was fun...

We had our first Guinness in Ireland on the first night, and it really was about 100 times better over there.

We spent a lot of time on Grafton Street in Dublin. Spent wayyyy too much money and drank lots and lots of beer.

Got lost looking for our rental car and happened to find St. Patrick's Cathedral along the way.

Visited the Waterford factory and bought a little seahorse! We took a lot of video there.

JD got to do an extended sampling at the Jameson distillery-they pulled out six different whiskeys to try and compare. He even got a cute little diploma thing.

We met some hooligans at a pub right near Blarney Castle and had fun hanging out with them. One of them shaved his legs for a local charity, so that was the big joke that night.

We got lost, a lot. At least once every day.

We ate a LOT of Magnum bars. They are these ice cream bars that you can't find over here that JD used to eat when he lived in Malaysia, so he gobbled them up while we still could in Ireland.

We went down the Dingle peninsula and stumbled upon a festival with street performers and bands that took over the entire little town.

Also in Dingle, we went walking through some coastal farm land to find a dolphin that likes to show off to people. A dog found us and showed us the way-he was like our tour guide, and he stayed with us the whole time! We saw the dolphin, too.

We drove to the westernmost part of Ireland (and Europe) and I had to pee sooooo bad, and there was NOTHING around us, so I did it on the side of the road. JD took a picture of that on our other camera...and he showed it to my mother in law and my family!!

We visited a tinytinytiny brewery called Galway Hooker. There are only two guys that own and run the place, and they only make one beer. We stopped by and hung out with one of them for an hour or so and just talked about beer and Ireland. We are beer geeks, so that was totally fun.

On our last night in Ireland, we stayed at a castle outside of Dublin. They upgraded our room to the nicest suite in the castle and it was AWESOME.

There's still way too much to tell. I kept a journal and wrote in it every night, and I'm sooo glad I did that because there were about a million fun things that happened. We have to go back some time again in our lives.

[saltyveruca]

I wanna go! Ireland has the most beautiful screnery! Thanks for sharing the pics! About what was the temp like?

Ireland really is gorgeous. It was pretty cold for me, though! I'd say the temperatures ranged from mild winter to early spring (it was all Celsius!). I was cold most of the time, but the last few days we were there were PERFECT.

[snowflakebride]

You guys did a lot over there! You're right, he does look like a kid in a candy store. I don't like beer, so I don't think I'd be allowed to ever go ;).

[KMS]

We saw the Cliffs of Moher (I had to hold on to my hat!)
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3185/2809756580_d3db5ddbd8.jpg?v=0



Whatever. You just wanted to show off your bling. ;)

Wow, those pictures are fantastic and I loved hearing all of the random little stories! I officially really really want to to go Ireland now!

[WebLady]

Great pics; great story :)

I would not have been doing the dangerous things you guys did though ;)

[Nekochanpurr]

That looks like SO much fun!! *^^* You'll never forget that vacation!

[Goin2thechapel]

I stared at the picture of the blarney stone...Can you explain this a little more? How is this picture taken? from above? I have no idea what I'm looking at...LOL :bbredface:
What are the black bars?

[saltyveruca]

Haha. I am on his right taking the picture, and he is bent over backwards kissing the stone. There's an Irish dude hanging on to his shirt and he's holding on to the black bars for balance.

[Goin2thechapel]

is there a gap between the rock and a platform??

[WebLady]

Haha. I am on his right taking the picture, and he is bent over backwards kissing the stone. There's an Irish dude hanging on to his shirt and he's holding on to the black bars for balance.
I was trying to figure out why he was bent over backwards; is that some "thing" you do when kissing the stone?

[saltyveruca]

is there a gap between the rock and a platform??

Yep, there is. Probably built into the castle to facilitate dumping of hot oil on ne'er do wells or something. :winktongue:

I am not really sure why you bend over backwards. I imagine it's for safety because it's easier to get back up that way.

[val24]

your pictures are awesome! now i really want to go there. we are hoping to save enough money to go one day :)

[SerendipityCrafts]

Your pics are gorgeous! I am so VERY VERY VERY seriously jealous - you have no idea!!!!