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Friday, April 15, 2011

Ireland - Part 5 Special Dinners

Sunda Scoop

When we first got to Ireland, we part of a small group "gold club" and were treated to a very special dinner.

It was held at The Mustard Seed at Echo Lodge.

Ballingarry, Adare

Here's a better picture that I found.

source

During cocktails we were invited to tour the gorgeous grounds of this 10 acre estate.

You can stay here too!

Wouldn't it be (another) beautiful wedding spot?

Dinner was truly special and we were entertained by some Irish musicians (flute and violin) that were the perfect touch to an amazing night.

The next day we were on our own while the other part of our group arrived but that evening was the full group reception dinner at the Carriage House on the grounds of Adare.

More shots of the lovely grounds of Adare...

As we walked over we first heard, then saw this:

and this...

More entertainment! Irish dancers!!

My Manx (that's Isle of Man) pen pal of 30+ years met us over there after dinner and we all headed down to the Tack Room at the Manor.

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I don't even know if I can do this place justice. It's the most fun pub/bar in the cellar of Adare where nightly you will be entertained by the resident piano player. I can't hear all those Irish songs without thinking of the nights we spent in the Tack Room with our friends.

Stay tuned to hear about Killarney...

To catch up on the rest of our trip, click here.

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Thursday, April 14, 2011

Ireland - Part 4 Cobh, Queenstown, Blarney Castle

Just another perfect day in Ireland.

This is a restored Victorian train station that is now a restaurant and shops.

Here we are visiting Queenstown and Cobh (pronounced Cork). Cobh was the single most important point of emigration from Ireland. It's also where the Titanic embarked on it's maiden voyage.

The statue is of Annie Moore and her brothers. Annie was the first Irish emigrant to be processed in the newly opened Ellis Island. If you want to learn more about this place click here.

Our next stop was the Jameson Heritage Centre.

I think this is an old mash still.

Hitting the shops. Unfortunately the tweed cap did not come home with us.

We got a tour of the distillery and got to see the way Jameson is produced. I don't remember much but you can read all about wort, bourbon butts, mashing, milling and malting here.

Then it was time for a whiskey tasting.

We really did like Jameson the best. (We're not whiskey drinkers but it was still fun)

You can print out your own mat here and try it yourself.

We were treated to a delicious lunch after the whiskey tasting.

The.best.shepherds.pie.ever.

We were probably feeling kind of sleepy but off we went to Blarney Castle (in a tour bus!)

Some views of and from Blarney.

It was built over 600 years ago.

Your turrets are showing.

You have to buy tickets to climb all the way up and of course that is where you can kiss the Blarney Stone (as my husband is bravely doing). It looks scary..your head falls down through an opening with nothing below it (and you are up very high) and you're being held by a burly worker as you grab the bars and kiss the stone. It's not like you're going to fall through but...I was too chicken to try it.

I also have neck issues and that looked like it might aggravate them.

If you kiss someone who has kissed the blarney stone you also get the gift of gab (or eloquence) so I wasn't left out.