It's about 12:20AM in Ireland and I'm awake in this amazing massive lodge, listening to the sound of the wind batter the outside walls and whistle down the chimney.
Wait, Ireland? Oh yes, that's right. I'm in Ireland. :) I don't know if I mentioned it in any of my previous posts, but Sean and I have been planning for this trip for about 2 years.
We're here with 6 other people. Our friends Louis and Dee, their two kids, Dee's mother, and another friend Misty. The original group going to Ireland was actually quite large, but for many various reasons, several people had to bow out on coming.
We're here in Europe for a total of 16 days, 3 1/2 of those days will be spent in Brussels, Belgium and the surrounding areas with my sister Clarissa, who's family just moved overseas a couple months ago. I'm extremely giddy excited to see my sisters family (my nephews!) and Belgium too!
The excitement for this trip has been building and building for months and I'm as far from disappointed as I could be. It's beautiful here, stunning really, and heck, I've only seen an itsy bitsy part so far!
A synopsis of what's happened so far:
Our flight on Air Lingus left Boston, MA at 7pm. The flight was fairly uneventful, aside from a few very loud drunk men that were an aisle over from us. The biggest bother from them was the inability to get very much sleep, which we had all planned on trying to get.
We arrived 6 hours later in Shannon, Ireland, at 6am in the morning. Oh yes, that's right. 7pm - 6am in 6 hours. I feel like I time travelled something fierce! My lack of sleep at 12:20AM is proof of how well my body is adjusting to this so far. ;)
After landing getting through customs was very uneventful. It took less than 15 minutes to get through the line and done. I was asked two questions, "Are you here for vacation?" Yes. "How long are you staying?" 16 days. The gentleman stamped my passport (FIRST STAMP, WOO!), and off I went.
We then arranged for our rental cars, which unfortunately cost quite a bit more than originally expected, but I've found that to be true just about *every* time I've rented a car. The line to get our cars took *forever*. There were all of 2 people in front of us, but each one took about 20 minutes. After we got our cars, it was discovered that they gave Louis and Dee's family the wrong car and we had to get that all straightened out. All together from start to finish I think it took 1.5 hours, not too fun when you have 8 exhausted people.
The first area we're staying in on our trip is just outside of Killarney and so that's where we headed. The drive took just over an hour. Sean, Misty, and I are sharing a car and Sean drove. It was fun, interesting, and a bit scary to be driving on the 'wrong' side of the road.
The first part of the drive was fairly boring as it was still very dark and we couldn't see anything. As soon as it was daylight my sleepy eyes were everywhere they could be, trying to take it all in. First things I noticed: 1) It's very very green here; similar to WA State I've no doubt it's due to all the rain. 2) There's so much land!.. So much space! .. I love this. 3) There's tons of stone work. Walls that divide that pastures, that surround peoples homes and businesses, and then of course many of the buildings themselves. I love the stonework! 4) Holy cow, there are cows everywhere!!! Like, seriously, there are cows in pastures at least every mile I swear. It's quite amusing to me.
We stopped quickly at a store in Killarney but I don't remember much about that. I was so tired and admittedly pretty grumpy. I just stayed silent and kind of shuffled along. I wanted nothing more than a bed about this time.
About 30 minutes later we arrived at our lodge. I remember thinking that there's no way this entire building could be for us. It's ... massive. I originally guessed about 3000 sq ft, but was corrected that it was a bit closer to 4000 sq ft, and it's for just the 8 of us for the next week. I didn't see much of it right off, because Sean and I quickly found a bedroom and passed out for about 5 hours. :) However, once awake, we wandered through the lodge and explored it. I'll try to explain it the best I can. There are 4 different doors in and out of the lodge. Coming in the main front door theirs a large stairway that goes to the second floor and a good sized parlor area. To the right of the parlor, there's a massive kitchen / dining area with a large island for food prep and a table in the dining portion that seats 8. Off one side of the kitchen is a laundry room / pantry with a common room bathroom off of it. Off another side of the kitchen is a huge octagon room that I absolutely adore, it's where I'm sitting as I write this. :) The ceiling angles up and is probably about 25 feet at it's highest. There's a large mantle and fireplace on one side of the room. To the left of the parlor is a hallway that leads to the 6 bedrooms on the first floor. Each room is very large and each room has it's own bathroom! ..The bathrooms are what I'd consider borderline luxurious and all the same. They have a large standup shower and then a separate garden tub that is huge for one, or cozy for two. At the end of the hallway is a small octagon room that's super cute. It's all windows and has bench seats all along the walls. The room is probably about 10 feet across. If you go upstairs from the parlor there's a very large game room type common area and another 2 bedrooms. One of the bedrooms is similar to downstairs, but isn't currently setup for guests (beds were bare of sheets, etc). The other is like a large common bedroom. It's about twice the size of the other bedrooms but has 4 beds in it, instead of 1 or 2. There are 4 rooms (2 upstairs, 2 downstairs) that are locked and inaccessible, those I'm guessing are mostly storage closest sorts.
The grounds around the large are fairly expansive. There is a cement patio / walkway that goes around the entire building and is wide or narrow depending on the area. There is a large hill that runs down from the back of the lodge and a stone path that zigzags back and forth down to a very wide (and very full!) river. Electric fencing surrounds the majority of the property which I'm grateful for to make sure the kids are safe.
After our naps and exploring the lodge, we all went to town and did some much needed grocery shopping. Killarney is a super cute city / town. Fairly touristy. While walking around Sean and I both picked up the smell of fresh baked cookies which had us practically diving through the door of a local bakery. The smell of that little bakery was glorious! We got a huge chocolate chip cookie and split it between us as we continued walking. We only spent about an hour inside the town getting what we needed so I didn't see a whole lot, I've no doubt I'll have more to share about it later this week.
We came back to the lodge and Louis fixed dinner the first night. While he was cooking Sean and I wandered around outside and discovered a little something that makes this lodge even more perfect. An adorable little chestnut pony! .. She apparently is a bit of a resident pony that wanders a bit property to property. There were several 'pony piles' left over from times that she'd obviously been wandering through on the lodges grass. When we saw her she was on the other side of the electric fence but happily got close enough for me to feed her a few handfuls of grass. She was pretty reluctant at first and she stayed *just* far enough away so she could nibble the grass from my hand, but not allow me to touch her other than the very tip of her nose. Sean and I decided we'd call her "Josie". :) I greatly hope that we get a chance to see her again!
After dinner everyone hung out in the large octagon room for a bit and then slowly trickled off to bed. Sean and I went to bed about 8pm and I was able to sleep for about 3 hours before waking up. That brings me to now, sitting in the large octagon room, listening to the sound of the all famous Ireland wind battering the side of the lodge and occasionally whistling down the chimney. It's fairly chilly in the main rooms of the lodge and so I think it's about time to go climb back into bed with my dear husband to snuggle up and get warm.
