Our last day into town was very strategically planned. John had found what claimed to be one of the best cafes in the world according to international cafe rating standards. He wanted to go try it. I wanted to visit Marsh’s Library, since I’d never been there before and I like visiting libraries. Robert wanted to go to the Central Bank to exchange about 3 old Irish Pounds for Euro – there is a back story to how his uncle obtained the punts but we never really got the details. Liam had fond memories of a ginger ale he had…

After dropping Liam and Robert off at Pier Gates, we drove to Powerscourt Gardens and met Phyllis, Isabelle, Issac and James for a really fun afternoon. We climbed to the top of the pepper pot. Wow, six out of eight eyes are closed! Methinks there was a plot… Look how big this plant is! James is in there both for fun and for scale. We found a fun grove of trees to play in. Here are Issac and James: James and his pet pine cone. He has a brilliant imagination! Oh those estate-owners, they really knew what they were doing.…

Cndkmen hasn’t explored parallel universes before, but what the heck. It’s probably time for some narrative experimentation! Another trip we took from Dublin was 3 days/ 2 nights in Wicklow. Liam and Robert walked along the Wicklow Way, while Miles, John and I stayed in B&Bs and did shorter trips also in Wicklow. So these two posts will run parallel… first Liam and Robert’s Universe. They did 3 days of walks along the Wicklow Way. Here’s one of their map pages: And excellent waymarking signs along the path: We dropped them off on the first day at Pier Gates. Miles…

We’ve been to Torr Head in all weather conditions now! Usually it’s really stormy and windy, spitting rain. This trip, we had another beautiful day there. We climbed up to the little concrete bunker structure at the top of the hill by the coast, and then followed Robert, who found a way to a very cool place behind there where we’d never been before. I was skeptical because the way to get to this new area involved going down the worst staircase in the world. Seriously, I would enter it in a “worst stairs” competition. But the reward once we…

I used to get the nearby towns of Cushendall and Cushendun confused, but since we stayed overnight in Cushendall this time it’s now easier to remember. Cushendall is much larger (still charming and small though!) and after our night watching the World Cup match in the pub, we got up the next morning for a lovely breakfast at our B&B and then set out to explore the area a bit. We took a walk out of Cushendall toward the coast and then took a small, marked trail up to an old church and graveyard. It was picturesque in its ramshackle…

Earlier in the summer, the apparently famous but new-to-me bicycle race, the Giro d’Italia, started in Belfast and wove through Northern Ireland ultimately to Dublin before heading to Italy for the bulk of the ride. More about the Giro here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Giro_d’Italia. Lots of the little towns we went through were still decorated for the event, and after the intense politics of street banners, murals and other decorations in some Belfast areas and in towns like Bushmills, it was lovely to see a town united over something as delightful and joyous as an Italian bike ride. We stayed right across from…

We got up the next day still somewhat shocked by the Germany – Brazil match, but ready to tackle our goals for the day: see some Game of Thrones filming sites, see the Giant’s Causeway and walk part of the Antrim Coast from there to the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge, and wind our way through the rest of the coastal area to our B&B at Cushendall. Spoiler alert: all missions accomplished! First, Game of Thrones. Oh Ygrette, you Free Folk heroine with complicated feelings toward Jon Snow… we did not go on the official tour where I’m sure the discussion would…

We took a couple of nights trip to Northern Ireland to show Robert the sights, visit some old favorites, and see some new things. First, we went to the new Titanic museum experience, which was really amazing. I don’t have any photos of that but we do highly recommend it! Then we drove into the city center to our hotel, where this head was mounted on the exterior wall. Peace, that’ll be a theme that I’ll come back to as we go through the rest of the evening! We decided to go on a Black Cab Tour of Belfast, which…

Some unrelated tidbits… last week was the last week of regular session summer camp, and as per tradition, the counselors and junior counselors do a dance for all the parents and campers. That’s Miles in the back row on the lower left, wearing a gray hoodie. http://youtu.be/fNX9qy988Nk On Sunday Liam went to Lollapalooza, a three day music fest in Grant Park. It’s a huge festival, with 300,000 people attending over the three days, including Malia Obama! Liam didn’t see her though, too bad or they could have talked about the old days playing soccer together at UIC. Liam’s shoes got…

We visited Dublin Castle Justice, at the gates of Dublin Castle And Fortitude, on the other gate And another day, visited Kilmainham Gaol with Phyllis, Isabelle, Isaac, and James. The image below shows the “new” jail, with an innovative design that allowed one guard to see everywhere in the jail from any point. It also brought sunlight in to the prisoner’s lives, which was an important improvement from the old jails at the time. Our guide also mentioned that the design is quite like our current shopping malls. Discuss! Our guide was very good. The last stop on the tour…