After Paris, we hopped on a plane to Dublin. Goodbye Paris heat, hello Irish…perfect weather? Yep. The whole time we were there, the weather was awesome. Everyone we met made a point to tell us how lucky we were with the weather.

“It’s rained for the last three weeks straight, and it’s perfect the days you’re here.”

Weather, karma, I guess.

Let’s Start with Dublin

And in Dublin, let’s start with The Brazen Head.

Oldest pub in Ireland. Opened it’s doors in 1198. The crusades were still going strong at that time. The Magna Carta hadn’t even been published. And yet, here was The Brazen Head, open for business. Wild.

We, of course, stopped in for lunch. The doorways are low, the walkways narrow, but the entire place makes you feel like you’re walking into that romanticized vision you’ve had of Ireland. The Ireland pub you remember from Darby O’Gill And The Little People—Sean Connery and Janet Munro could be sitting at the next table.

I was served the best Irish stew I’ve ever had—and I ate Irish stew the whole trip. Melty chucks of meat, thick potatoes, gravy-soaked carrots. Just what you’d expect, but about 1,000 times better. I guess after 800 years, they’ve nailed the recipe. If you’re in Dublin, go to Brazen Head. Get the stew. Your tummy will thank you.

The Book of Kells at Trinity College

The trip to Trinity College is worth it. I felt both smarter and dumber just stepping on campus. 1592. That’s when it opened. Our kids were most impressed with Fellows’ Square, a middle section of grass surrounded by history perfect for playing tag and really bugging the other tourists and students enjoying the rare Irish sunshine.

It’s here, in the Old Library, that you find the Book of Kells. According to some (of my kids), it’s just a really old book that you can’t read anyway and why do we have to pay to go through this whole history section before we even see the book and that’s it? I have nicer books at home.

Yes, it’s a masterpiece of ancient medieval art and a treasure, but it’s boring as all get out for the kids. Still worth visiting, for sure, but don’t think the wee lads and lassies are going to love it. The helicopter seeds out on the green lawn of Fellows’ Square were more exciting.

The Cliffs of Moher

Pretty cool. We visited on a particularly sunny day with not too many tourists, a few musicians playing Irish staples while happily busking for Euros, and one really nice Englishwoman who stopped me and told me all about this website—eu.2tall.com—where the British can find clothes for tall people. Her son is 6’9” and played volleyball, professionally. He gets all his clothes from this website. She really was lovely.

The Ring of Kerry

We didn’t hit every stop on the ring—only about half. It’s a lot to try and do in a day and we were tired. I was stressed. I was driving a stick shift with my left hand on the right side on narrow roads that often had oncoming traffic that required one of us to back up to a spot where were could pull off the road an extra 6 inches in an attempt to get by without obliterating our sideview mirrors, or worse. I found it harrowing, and the rest in my car couldn’t understand why, at each stop, I breathed a huge sigh of relief.

Kissing The Blarney

We had to stop in Cork and visit Blarney Castle. What made it even better was meeting up with friends who live in Cork. Susan volunteers in the gardens at Blarney Castle and knows the area, how to navigate, etc. She and Blake joined us for the hike up to the top of the castle and could not have been kinder, more helpful, and lovely.

Beanie was worried we’d all get herpes from kissing the same Blarney Stone without disinfecting it first, and voiced her concern loudly.

Monica pulled out Clorox wipes to clean the stone, but the two men helping kissers get into stone-kissing-position weren’t pleased. At all. Like, at all. The positive was that we were able to explain to our kids what they meant by “feckin eejits.” And if Susan and Blake were entirely offended and mortified by our family’s antics, they didn’t show it. Class acts all the way.