Thursday, October 21, 2010

Irish Fancies

I sat at work today, with my iPod on shuffle and a familiar song came on. "Heave Away" by the Fables isn't known that well to many people, but it ever after we used it during our wedding for the Irish Dollar Dance, the song had etched itself into a favorite memory of mine. After spending our honeymoon in Ireland, the sound of Irish music brings me back to those magical days that Shawn and I spent there.  Here are a few of my favorites memories in no particular order: 


Favorite Memory #1: Arriving in Ireland to find that the rental car Shawn choose was smaller than my Mini Cooper! It actually worked perfectly for us because if Shawn had trouble parking, he could just pick it up and move it to where it needed to be! ... only kidding.


Favorite Memory #2: Taking a "Viking" tour of Dublin ... this included us screeeeeaaaming at a variety of people on the street a) those carrying coffee b) those holding a map [there were a TON of these!] and c) happy couples ... our driver would slowly sneak up behind people and give the signal and the whole bus would give our best Viking yell! ... 


Favorite Memory #3: Napping in St. Stephen's Green in the middle of Dublin. After a sleepless night on the plane, and a full morning of touring, we were exhausted and instead of going back to the B&B ... we decided to do as the locals did - and sleep in the park! Fabulous weather, beautiful view ... great sleep!


 Favorite Memory #4: Dublin in the evening. Every now and then I LOVE to be in the middle of a city, the vibrancy of a downtown like this is just beautiful! 


Favorite Memory #5: Irish Coffee with Berna. Our favorite B&B in Ireland was with the amazing Berna who made us Irish Coffee when we arrived, lit the fire and sat down with us to chat ... Irish hospitality! 


Favorite Memory #6: Carriage ride around Ross Castle. This experience is what I dreamed of when I thought of Ireland, and it didn't disappoint! We enjoy talking with our Irish guide as he drove us around the property and told us about his life in Killarney. 


Favorite Memory #7: Shawn. That's it - just Shawn. He is the best travel companion and always keeps me entertained - the honeymoon was no exception! 


Favorite Memory #8: Horse-back riding on the beach ... There were so many things I loved about this experience - seeing Shawn's face light up when he got on a horse for the first time is one of them! He was grinning and laughing for 2 hours straight on this trip! The views we saw were staggeringly beautiful, the water was a vivd teal and the seagrass that had washed up on the beach was a bold rust color ... everywhere we looked was mother nature in all her glory! 


Favorite Memory #9: An unplanned night in Ennis. After a long day, we decided not to go to the big banquet we had planned on and instead to enjoy a night alone together - what a FABuLOUS decision that was! We ventured into the amazing town of Ennis, where we found this inspiring restaurant called the Cloister ... delicious food, stunning ambience and since it was a weekday - GREAT service because we were one of the only ones there! So romantic! We capped the night with a Guinness in the pub next door and traditional music ... be still my heart! 


Favorite Memory #10: The Cliffs of Moher. This place was the single most beautiful site I've ever seen. Shawn and I spent 2 hours here, just staring at this 800 foot cliff and knowing that pictures would never do it justice. The natural beauty of this place is so powerful it's almost spiritual and truly undefinable. When we finally make it back to Ireland, we've promised ourselves to make a trip here. Can't wait! 

1 comment:

Joe and Melody said...

Found you, girl! You didn't get too far ... You know, I originally LOVED the honeymoon pictures on FB. Great colors. Great scenery. Two Irish lovebirds. But I love this blog post just a smidge more ... with the cute little stories tucked in underneath as captions. Hope your settling in nicely to married life. P.S. Found out the Avetts are doing a New Year's Eve show in Asheville this year. Just sayin'...