As per my previous blog, we decided to stay in Ireland this year, seeing some of the sigths and beautiful country side, instead of cruising off to far away bounty beaches, mojitos and sun.
- Well, the bank man probably would agree with another overdraft on the MasterCard anyway.
Day: Sunday 26th of July
Temperature: shite weather, with a high probability of rain
Sun: haven't seen that fecker for a few days now
Saddle up, the first leg of the Family Vacation (Danish, Chilean/Irish edition) has been kicked off. I always loved the Griswald movies with Chevy Chase, travelling across the US.
We were heading towards the Irish version of the Great Pyramid of Gaza, to be more precise, Newgrange. In fact, Newgrange was built 500 years before the pyramids, but it's not like the Irish to brag?!
The car was packed with the bare essentials, for a one-day trip to North of Dublin, so rain gear, diapers, long-sleeved shirts, hats and comfortable working shoes/boots. The location of Newgrange was punched into the GPS and we started the journey - totally relying on an American designed device and based on somewhat accurate maps of Ireland.
It took us less than an hour to get to Newgrange, despite the GPS trying to direct down suspicious country lanes, which would fit a car and a horse passing each other. So, we followed the road signs most of the way and amused ourselves every time the GPS female voice said "recalculating route". The kids didn't even get time to give out, so all in all, it was a painless out journey.
We arrived at Newgrange just before lunch and went straight to the visitor centre. For out-of-towners, you can only visit the site by purchasing a ticket in the visitor centre, which only costs €6 per adult and our kids were free -excellent.
IT was quickly decide that, based on the time and our experience with our son, to get something to eat. IT would be too painful for our fellow explorers, to see our son eat parts of the bus and rip out my eyeballs, all because he was hungry.
My god, this is where Newgrange makes its money. We had, what we thought, a light lunch. Keep in mind; this is a tourist attraction restaurant, so not exactly Michelin stars. Sit back; take a deep breath...
...a few cents less than €70 for the food!!!! - 2 portions of lasagne, 1 baked potato, one slice of bread with Salmon, 2 juices, a tea and a coffee. So glad I didn't go wild and ordered a Latte.
Anyway, after our lavish lunch, we headed towards the bus, which takes tourists from the visitor centre to the Newgrange site. It said a few minutes, but in all reality it was more like a mile+ to the bus - but, the weather was nice, so it didn't matter, and the scenery is beautiful.
The bus driver, a retired Dublin bus driver, quickly asserted himself as the Man and drove 70-80 km/hour down the narrow country lanes (see above for details), heading towards the site. 24 seconds later, we arrived at the location, all with slight concussions and tears running down the face from the fear of dying.
We saw the Newgrange, and this was an amazing site. It sounds really boring, as it is "only" a bump on a field, but it was actually amazing. How did they build such a feature 6000 years ago? The tour guide was very good and brought out several laughs, even from the American tourists who might not fully understand the Irish humour.
He took us inside the sacred bump, which was probably a bit weird, as it was only 20 meters in and then a few alcoves with carved symbols. He turned off the light to simulate the sun hitting the front on the shortest days of the year, which was cool.
That was it, the tour over, sight seen and back to the car! But, we had to venture on the bus again, back to the visitor centre.
It was in all fairness a nice sight, and well worth seeing.
We jumped in the car and headed towards Slane Castle. Again, the GPS lady guided us to Slane village, but we could for the love of God find the bloody entrance to the Castle. It was my wife who spotted it, as we were going 80 km/hour around a bend. James Bond kicked into my veins and I flung the old SUV around and in through the gate. So far so good - but that wasn't going to last.
Slane Castle was imprinted in our brains as this fantastic castle, place in stunning surroundings. But, that was when we saw U2 at Slane in 2001 - slightly intoxicated and in a happy place back then! Anyway, this was VERY disappointing. Nothing to see or do. Well, you could attend a tour of the castle, but nothing else. Even the Castle Park was boring and run down. In fact, the entire place was poorly kept. Not recommended.
On the way back through Slane village, we stopped at the Mills Restaurant. This was located behind, its coming, the mill. You wouldn't normally go down that road, as it was something out of the horror movie the Hostel, but behind the Eastern European factory buildings, was this little restaurant. There we had scones, tea and ice cream. The staff was very friendly and service in top class. They said kids would be their customers in a few years, so they'd better treat them nicely, which they certainly did. So, thanks for a wonderful afternoon tea and scones atmosphere.
Time to head back home to the dogs. Kids were wrecked (yahoo), so they fell asleep quickly. My wife and I had a light dinner, and relaxed in front of the TV with a movie.
Day: Sunday 26th of July
Temperature: shite weather, with a high probability of rain
Sun: haven't seen that fecker for a few days now
Saddle up, the first leg of the Family Vacation (Danish, Chilean/Irish edition) has been kicked off. I always loved the Griswald movies with Chevy Chase, travelling across the US.
We were heading towards the Irish version of the Great Pyramid of Gaza, to be more precise, Newgrange. In fact, Newgrange was built 500 years before the pyramids, but it's not like the Irish to brag?!
The car was packed with the bare essentials, for a one-day trip to North of Dublin, so rain gear, diapers, long-sleeved shirts, hats and comfortable working shoes/boots. The location of Newgrange was punched into the GPS and we started the journey - totally relying on an American designed device and based on somewhat accurate maps of Ireland.
It took us less than an hour to get to Newgrange, despite the GPS trying to direct down suspicious country lanes, which would fit a car and a horse passing each other. So, we followed the road signs most of the way and amused ourselves every time the GPS female voice said "recalculating route". The kids didn't even get time to give out, so all in all, it was a painless out journey.
We arrived at Newgrange just before lunch and went straight to the visitor centre. For out-of-towners, you can only visit the site by purchasing a ticket in the visitor centre, which only costs €6 per adult and our kids were free -excellent.
IT was quickly decide that, based on the time and our experience with our son, to get something to eat. IT would be too painful for our fellow explorers, to see our son eat parts of the bus and rip out my eyeballs, all because he was hungry.
My god, this is where Newgrange makes its money. We had, what we thought, a light lunch. Keep in mind; this is a tourist attraction restaurant, so not exactly Michelin stars. Sit back; take a deep breath...
...a few cents less than €70 for the food!!!! - 2 portions of lasagne, 1 baked potato, one slice of bread with Salmon, 2 juices, a tea and a coffee. So glad I didn't go wild and ordered a Latte.
Anyway, after our lavish lunch, we headed towards the bus, which takes tourists from the visitor centre to the Newgrange site. It said a few minutes, but in all reality it was more like a mile+ to the bus - but, the weather was nice, so it didn't matter, and the scenery is beautiful.
The bus driver, a retired Dublin bus driver, quickly asserted himself as the Man and drove 70-80 km/hour down the narrow country lanes (see above for details), heading towards the site. 24 seconds later, we arrived at the location, all with slight concussions and tears running down the face from the fear of dying.
We saw the Newgrange, and this was an amazing site. It sounds really boring, as it is "only" a bump on a field, but it was actually amazing. How did they build such a feature 6000 years ago? The tour guide was very good and brought out several laughs, even from the American tourists who might not fully understand the Irish humour.
He took us inside the sacred bump, which was probably a bit weird, as it was only 20 meters in and then a few alcoves with carved symbols. He turned off the light to simulate the sun hitting the front on the shortest days of the year, which was cool.
That was it, the tour over, sight seen and back to the car! But, we had to venture on the bus again, back to the visitor centre.
It was in all fairness a nice sight, and well worth seeing.
We jumped in the car and headed towards Slane Castle. Again, the GPS lady guided us to Slane village, but we could for the love of God find the bloody entrance to the Castle. It was my wife who spotted it, as we were going 80 km/hour around a bend. James Bond kicked into my veins and I flung the old SUV around and in through the gate. So far so good - but that wasn't going to last.
Slane Castle was imprinted in our brains as this fantastic castle, place in stunning surroundings. But, that was when we saw U2 at Slane in 2001 - slightly intoxicated and in a happy place back then! Anyway, this was VERY disappointing. Nothing to see or do. Well, you could attend a tour of the castle, but nothing else. Even the Castle Park was boring and run down. In fact, the entire place was poorly kept. Not recommended.
On the way back through Slane village, we stopped at the Mills Restaurant. This was located behind, its coming, the mill. You wouldn't normally go down that road, as it was something out of the horror movie the Hostel, but behind the Eastern European factory buildings, was this little restaurant. There we had scones, tea and ice cream. The staff was very friendly and service in top class. They said kids would be their customers in a few years, so they'd better treat them nicely, which they certainly did. So, thanks for a wonderful afternoon tea and scones atmosphere.
Time to head back home to the dogs. Kids were wrecked (yahoo), so they fell asleep quickly. My wife and I had a light dinner, and relaxed in front of the TV with a movie.
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