Ron had a business trip that included Ireland...so I had to go with him.
Sunday - We touched down in Ireland at 9:00 am got to the hotel around 10:00 am and the first thing on my list to do in Ireland...go to church. :) After church we went and got set up in our hotel room and then went walking around.
We walked down Grafton Street, it is a popular shopping area. We ate at a Japanese place and then walked around St. Stephen's Green. The tulips were in bloom.
A couple of days later it was real warm, for Ireland, and the green was full of people laying on the grass eating and just basking in the warm sun.
Across the street from St. Stephen's Green was our hotel. The Shelbourne.
It has some great history and many well known people have stayed there.
Many celebs and dignitaries. While we were there Daniel Craig was using the
Princess Grace Suite for a press junket. Ohh I so wanted to see
Daniel Craig - but I never got a glimpse of him.
Monday I hopped on and off the city bus tour that goes around the sites of the city. I hopped off at several places but two of my favorites were Trinity College to see the Books of Kells and to Kilmainham Gaol. Much history at both. It was amazing to find out the history of the Republic of Ireland and how young the country really is. While I was the there the 6th president died. He wasn't the current president but they have had under 10 presidents. wow!
Tuesday I took a tour down to the Cork area.
We visited the Blarney Castle - I kissed the Blarney Stone. We had a tour of the city of Cork and then we went down to Cob'h, Cove or in the old days Queenstown. I saw the dock that my ancestors took to get on the boat as well as the same dock that Titanic passengers took. I saw the White Star office that all the immigrants passed through. The JFK Memorial park and visited the Heritage Center Museum, which documented out the different d
ecades of what the immigrants went through in Ireland and on the boats. I saw the memorial to the 
Titanic, and one to Annie Moore the first immigrant to pass through Ellis Island.
It was a long train ride back after an event filled day.
We
dnesday - my plans were derailed a little and I ended up taking the Luas, the light-rail system to Ron's office and had lunch with him and Stephen. Then I took the light-rail back up to the hotel and caught a bus up to the mission office. Ron wanted a BOM and I need to get some information on some contacts down in the County Kerry area for my Friday adventure. So I didn't take any pictures of the day only of our dinner. We got dinner at Lemon. It is a crepe' and sandwich place. They were closing so we took it to go and ate it at the hotel. It was a little chilly so I stopped at a Starbucks to get some hot chocolate. The hotel kept us in constant supply of water. Simple dinner.
Thursday - I spent the morning completing my plans for Friday and then I took off for Howth. I walked up to
the closest DART station. I passed by Marion Square which has a statue of Oscar Wilde and grabbed a picture of that. Then I took the train up to H
owth for lunch down in the sea side town and a round of golf at the Deer Park Hotel Golf and Spa. The views were fantastic and the golf not bad. It wasn't a links course but the view and the cost made up for it. I had to walk up a long road uphill to get to it but
the road had so many picture moments. We had dinner that night with Stephen and his wife Julie. We ate at a place called Bleu. I had Crab Linguini, it was so good. My favorite place I have eaten at in Ireland. The company was good and the dessert was to die for. It was a great day!
Friday, April 18th My Birthday, Happy Birthday to ME!
Today was my special day.
I had an early start to the airport to board a prop plane to go to the other side of the island. There I rent
ed a car. Drove on the wrong side of the road. Got lost a couple of times. Drove through Killarney National Park and ended up on the Beare Peninsula. I drove down to where my ancestors 
had come from. A very rocky area where they were minors. O'Sullivans are all over the place and I was able to find stores with their names on it. I went
to the mining museum and had a great drive. I drove back up to the Kerry Airport and caught my plane back to Dublin. I got back and was real tired. Ro
n still wanted to take me out for my birthday so I went back to the restaurant Bleu and had the same thing, so good. I did get a different dessert and it was just as good as the day before.
Saturday - Ron left for India and I went on
a tour to the Cliffs of Moher. I went on a train to Limerick and met the tour there. It was a great little tour which had 32 people on it. Perfect. No big tour bus or
anything. First we went to the ruins of a ring fort. Then to a portal tomb that had remains from 3600 b.c. After that we went down to Galway bay. Due to a road rally race we detoured up corkscrew hill and then on to lunch at Gus O'Connor's pub. That was tasty. I had seafood chowder and a diet coke. Then on to the cliffs. This was a lovely
windy chilly day. It ended with a long ride back to Dublin. We had to get off of the train early because of wor
k on the rails and had to take a 45 min bus ride into Dublin. The hotel room was lonely with out Ron there but I was busy packing for my flight home early the next morning.
It has some great history and many well known people have stayed there.
Many celebs and dignitaries. While we were there Daniel Craig was using the
Princess Grace Suite for a press junket. Ohh I so wanted to see
Daniel Craig - but I never got a glimpse of him.
Monday I hopped on and off the city bus tour that goes around the sites of the city. I hopped off at several places but two of my favorites were Trinity College to see the Books of Kells and to Kilmainham Gaol. Much history at both. It was amazing to find out the history of the Republic of Ireland and how young the country really is. While I was the there the 6th president died. He wasn't the current president but they have had under 10 presidents. wow!Tuesday I took a tour down to the Cork area.
We visited the Blarney Castle - I kissed the Blarney Stone. We had a tour of the city of Cork and then we went down to Cob'h, Cove or in the old days Queenstown. I saw the dock that my ancestors took to get on the boat as well as the same dock that Titanic passengers took. I saw the White Star office that all the immigrants passed through. The JFK Memorial park and visited the Heritage Center Museum, which documented out the different d
ecades of what the immigrants went through in Ireland and on the boats. I saw the memorial to the 
Titanic, and one to Annie Moore the first immigrant to pass through Ellis Island.It was a long train ride back after an event filled day.
We
dnesday - my plans were derailed a little and I ended up taking the Luas, the light-rail system to Ron's office and had lunch with him and Stephen. Then I took the light-rail back up to the hotel and caught a bus up to the mission office. Ron wanted a BOM and I need to get some information on some contacts down in the County Kerry area for my Friday adventure. So I didn't take any pictures of the day only of our dinner. We got dinner at Lemon. It is a crepe' and sandwich place. They were closing so we took it to go and ate it at the hotel. It was a little chilly so I stopped at a Starbucks to get some hot chocolate. The hotel kept us in constant supply of water. Simple dinner.Thursday - I spent the morning completing my plans for Friday and then I took off for Howth. I walked up to
the closest DART station. I passed by Marion Square which has a statue of Oscar Wilde and grabbed a picture of that. Then I took the train up to H
owth for lunch down in the sea side town and a round of golf at the Deer Park Hotel Golf and Spa. The views were fantastic and the golf not bad. It wasn't a links course but the view and the cost made up for it. I had to walk up a long road uphill to get to it but
the road had so many picture moments. We had dinner that night with Stephen and his wife Julie. We ate at a place called Bleu. I had Crab Linguini, it was so good. My favorite place I have eaten at in Ireland. The company was good and the dessert was to die for. It was a great day!Friday, April 18th My Birthday, Happy Birthday to ME!
Today was my special day.I had an early start to the airport to board a prop plane to go to the other side of the island. There I rent
ed a car. Drove on the wrong side of the road. Got lost a couple of times. Drove through Killarney National Park and ended up on the Beare Peninsula. I drove down to where my ancestors 
had come from. A very rocky area where they were minors. O'Sullivans are all over the place and I was able to find stores with their names on it. I went
to the mining museum and had a great drive. I drove back up to the Kerry Airport and caught my plane back to Dublin. I got back and was real tired. Ro
n still wanted to take me out for my birthday so I went back to the restaurant Bleu and had the same thing, so good. I did get a different dessert and it was just as good as the day before.Saturday - Ron left for India and I went on
a tour to the Cliffs of Moher. I went on a train to Limerick and met the tour there. It was a great little tour which had 32 people on it. Perfect. No big tour bus or
anything. First we went to the ruins of a ring fort. Then to a portal tomb that had remains from 3600 b.c. After that we went down to Galway bay. Due to a road rally race we detoured up corkscrew hill and then on to lunch at Gus O'Connor's pub. That was tasty. I had seafood chowder and a diet coke. Then on to the cliffs. This was a lovely
windy chilly day. It ended with a long ride back to Dublin. We had to get off of the train early because of wor
k on the rails and had to take a 45 min bus ride into Dublin. The hotel room was lonely with out Ron there but I was busy packing for my flight home early the next morning.
