Ireland Day 1 ~

Day 1 ~

Day one started out at 3:30 in the morning as we dressed and drove to San Francisco . . . we were lucky enough to get Matt to take us. We then flew to Philadelphia and from there to Dublin. We arrived the following day in Dublin around 9:00 am. When we tried to rent our car, we found out the insurance we purchased online was not sufficient and had to buy a new policy that cost three times as much! Driving on the left hand side of the road is definitely a new experience for me. There were times I thought we might not make it back to tell the story. . . the roads are crazy as well with no street signs to help with directions. By the end of the day we were frazzled because we got lost and it took us 3 hours to get to a place that was 20 minutes away. Ugh! (Dublin was absolutely crazy!!! Traffic was nuts and we couldn’t find our way anywhere! Very frustrating!) The roads are also very poor. . . at times they go town to a narrow one lane road filled with potholes. . . other times they are multilane highways. Hmph. . who knew? There are also signs that say “reduce speed now” with a sign directly behind it reading “100 km/hr” LOL!


We did get to see Malahide Castle though!! It was beautiful! When it first came into sight I almost started crying. . . the castle is one of the oldest castles in Ireland, built in 1185, and occupied by the same family, the Talbot family, for over 800 years!

I attempted to see the hill of Tara, where the ancient kings of Ireland ruled, but then we had the 3 hour mess-up with directions and street signs. Needless to say, we made it to our Bed and Breakfast, the Moat Lodge, over an hour late and decided not to stray too far from it that night. It was a delightful little cottage within walking distance from the city of Lucan, where we visited an old cemetery.

Lucan Lodge B&B

Lucan Cemetery

We mapped out our adventures for the following day while eating a calzone in the room before crashing into a well deserved sleep.