The O Family

5.29.2012

Glendalough, Wicklow Ireland

During our stay in Wicklow one of the places near us that we visited was Glendalough. Glendalough, or the Glen of two Lakes, is one of the most important sites of maonastic ruins in Ireland. It is also known as the city of the seven Churches. Fourteen centuries have passed since the death of its founder, St. Kevin, when the valley was part of Ireland's Golden Age. How did I miss this place on my previous trips to Ireland? I loved loved loved this place. It's gorgeous. Has tons of hiking (not always fun with a 4 year old and no stroller...), however we did get to see some of the sites and snap off a few pics. To learn more about Glendalough and how deep it's history goes visit http://www.glendalough.connect.ie/pages/monastic/monastic.html, FASCINATING! Here are some pictures of one of the Cathedrals, the Monks tower, hiking trails and the beautiful cemetary. Some of the headstones are so old you can't even read the markings on them anymore.

5.22.2012

Dungarvan & The Gold Coast

Mid-Week we left Dublin and head to Dungarvan to visit the Gold Coast. We drove along the coast and visited about 8 different beaches/coves that Jon had mapped out for us on the GPS. The tide was out and it would make for these really fun areas to walk in. There were lots of rocks to climb in and the scenery was quite beautiful. We ended the Gold coast drive in a little seaside town of Tramore (means Big Beach) and was the beach big! However we got there as the tide was coming back in. We stopped for dinner before heading back to Dungarvan where our hotel was.

Don't let the picture of Bree and I fool you, there was a serious cliff drop off right behind us. We took this crazy cliff trail and ended up on top of the world

On the way driving to Dungarvan we stopped in this little town to grab some coffee and lunch and there was this huge old church called St. Mary's church (I can't remember the name of the little town we were in), it was getting cold and rainy but we wandered up to it because I oh so love old churches.

View from our hotel room in Dungarvan, the sea was right there, it was awesome!

A nice ending to our day-Tramore and dinner at a pub called O'Shea's. Fish and chips of course. :)

5.18.2012

Ireland - the first few days.....

We have returned from the green mossy land that is Ireland. Another trip down, many memories. We made it after a 6 hour delay (stuck ON THE PLANE! Although they did let us off around the 4th hour to walk around the terminal since we never left the gate.). Due to lightning and hail we were stuck and finally after about 6 hours we lifted off for another 7 hours of flight UGH. But we finally made it, got checked into our hotel and were pretty zombiefied for the next 4 days. They don't lie when they talk about getting older, traveling is getting harder, what's up with that? The first 5 nights we stayed in Dun Laoghaire which is about 5 or 6 miles south of Dublin city and was in close proximity to where Jon's dad lives. Friday we just chilled out and tried to sleep, went swimming in the hotel pool, etc. Saturday night we had a great barbeque at Jon's dads house with lots of family over. It was great to see everyone. Sunday night we headed up to Leeson St. (Jon's grandmother owns a large multi unit type home within walking distance to St. Stephen's Green and downtown!) and had dinner with Jon's mom, sister and step dad at a great little restaurant right across the street. Monday night we went up to Leeson St. again and had dinner in Leeson St. this time. So overall the first few days were spent relaxing and hanging out with family. Here are some pictures from the first couple of days and Jon's dads house. More to follow in a later post.