GoGo Years

After a wonderful wedding celebration on Friday night, we met Paul and Liz for breakfast Saturday morning. We were returning to Dun Laoghaire for 1 night (Paul and Liz) and 2 nights (us). Mary was returning with the newlyweds in the camper van, leaving us to travel in the comfortable rental car with Paul and Liz.  At breakfast, I asked whether there was anywhere we could stop along the way rather than just returning to Dun Laoghaire. Paul thought there was a town starting with K, and searching his memory banks, came up with Kildare. Liz googled and found that the Irish National Stud and Japanese Gardens were located in Kildare, and we were all game to check it out. Paul drove like a champ, driving on the left side of the road and encountering many traffic circles. Liz helped with the navigation. The Irish National Stud is where horses have been born and bred since 1900. The founder, who was into astrological signs, loved horses and horticulture, and created beautifully manicured Japane

 On August 11, 2023, which would’ve been my parents’ 72nd wedding anniversary, I was blessed to attend the wedding of my niece, Ciara, and her wonderful partner, Jack. The wedding took place at Cloughjordan, County Tipperary, Ireland, at a gorgeous venue called Cloughjordan House.  On the morning of the wedding, after a breakfast of French toast (me), granola (Nick), and avocado toast with poached egg (Paul and Liz), we ventured into the town of Nenagh. First we found an ATM to be able to repay a loan we needed to get back to the hotel last night. We stopped in a sporting goods store to find gear for our upcoming trip to the Rugby World Cup. We visited a castle - all that remains is a tower that Paul and Liz climbed. Report: very windy at the top. We saw a church where there was a funeral happening and another church less than a block away. (We later learned the big one was the Catholic Church and the other a Reform church.) I found navigating the town rather disconcerting - loads of t

 Some faithful readers have noted the abrupt end of the blog. Unfortunately I experienced some illness in Ireland and was not up for writing. Possibly this was a mild case of food poisoning from fresh seafood at a restaurant in Bermeo or a reaction to fairly new blood pressure medication I went on right before leaving. The scariest symptoms have subsided and a visit to the doc has revised those meds, so fingers crossed for the upcoming trip to France.  The malaise did not affect our good times though we probably had earlier nights than we might have. On Wednesday evening, after our boat ride to Howth, we went to Mary’s for pizza. She had invited a fun and eclectic group of friends to her beautiful condo, and we truly enjoyed a night of conversation about books, beers (Nick does not agree that English bitters is sweet) and Irish politics. There was a beautiful sunset that we watched from her deck. We got reacquainted with Mary Flaherty and met Alma; both will be at the wedding. We walke

 After a two-hour plane ride, we landed in Dublin where Mary collected us from the airport. We drove to Dun Laoghaire and checked into the Haddington House  where we had stayed on our last trip. Our room overlooks the sea and is very comfortable. We drove to Mary’s lovely apartment where her friend Francois had prepared a salmon dinner. We shared a bottle of Txotoly we had bought in Getaria, which went great with the fish. We had a wonderful visit.   Wednesday morning we took showers and decided this room was not nearly as nice as our last one. It is a large step over the tub into the shower and then it feels like the sides are sloped. The water temperature kept cycling from hot to cold. Nick was not in favor of asking to change rooms. But when we come back to Dun Laoghaire after the wedding we will object if they try to give us this one again.  We had breakfast and then walked out on the breakwater all the way to the lighthouse. It’s a very popular walk. On our way back we noticed the

 After our fabulous day with Irene the tour operator, we rested at the hotel, packed for tomorrow and worked on the blog. Around 8:30 pm we headed out for a nearby restaurant that Irene had recommended. Nick has become quite good at navigating so we found it weird that we couldn’t find the street side tables shown at their website. We eventually found it but a sign in Spanish told us what we already surmised, it was closed. However, we were able to find our way to the sister restaurant, about 15 minutes away. Irene had predicted we would not need reservations but the only open tables were out on the street. No worries, that was fine with us. They specialize in seafood so we both ordered Hake. Mine was Hake with clams in green sauce and Nick’s was crab stuffed Hake which the waiter assured him he would love. We shared a bottle of Txakoli wine. My Hake was a large filet with a few shrimp in a light herbal sauce.  Nick’s was a deep fried spiny crab shell filled with crab in a cream sauce.

  Probably my favorite day in Basque Country started out a bit stressful. We were due to be picked up  at 9 am  for a full day tour of San Sebastián and wine tasting in Getaria. When I stepped out of the shower  at 7:30 am  there was a panicked email from the tour operator. Our guide was very sick and they wanted to know if we could go tomorrow. Since we fly to Dublin tomorrow, our answer had to be no. The tour operator gave us the option to cancel, have them rent us a taxi to take us to San Sebastián, or wait for the office person, Irene, take us which would entail her renting a car, and would mean  a 9:30  pickup. We quickly  opted for a tour with Irene.  She showed up at 9:15 and turned out to be the owner of the tour company. She was a fantastic guide - super personable and knowledgeable. We drove about an hour to San Sebastián. She chatted on the way about her background (business school, culinary school and sommelier school) and her venture into high end tours. She told us some d