Last night in Ireland

 




Had an excellent dinner at one of Mary’s favorite restaurants in Dun Laoghaire called Purty Kitchen, a seafood restaurant near Mary’s old house and close to the Sea. The wonderful Mary Flaherty joined us; she is a retired Member who had hosted us in a wonderful tour of the Irish Parliament House last fall. Mary F and Nick both had the trout special with little potatoes and herbs; Julie had mussels; Mary had seafood chowder and Sue had a roasted cauliflower steak which was served over hummus. We all cleaned our plates. The wine list featured a white from Frescobaldi, one of the few wines Sue has memorized, thanks to a recommendation from travel writer and friend Andy Herbach many years ago. Nick related how we enjoyed a glass of Frescobaldi in Florence so much that when we returned a few years later, he made a reservation at their restaurant. Sue and Mary F shared a bottle of Frescobaldi while Mary and Julie had a glass of Malbec, and Nick had a local beer, Wicklow Wolf, that he enjoyed. We hope to visit this restaurant again next time we visit Mary. 

Too excited to end the evening, we headed for Mary’s where we enjoyed some good conversation and planned our taxi ride to the airport. Sue and Nick walked back to the Royal Marine hotel, which is closer to Mary’s than the Haddington where we stayed in August. 

This morning we awoke bright and early; Sue’s jet lag app suggested 6 am, but it was closer to 7. Nick went to fetch coffee from the cafe in the hotel; he had been told it was open at 7. But the same staff member who gave him that information now told him 8 am, so he ventured to a local coffee shop and returned with Cafe Americanos. Meanwhile Sue tried the shower, which was not stand-alone as requested. But the climb over the tub was not too bad, and she rated the shower a 6 on the scale of 10. The room itself is large with a view of the Sea and a balcony. It will be interesting to compare the hotel rooms in France.

This afternoon we will fly to Amsterdam then to Bordeaux to begin our tour. We are excited to meet our group - a total of 40 - and begin our adventure. 

Photo is Mary (with her trefoil nails), Mary F and Julie after dinner at Purty’s and the Frescobaldi bottle. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Welcome to the GoGo Years Blog

Image
 As Nick and I prepare to embark on an adventure in Spain and Ireland, I’ve decided to create a new blog. Whether photos will be possible is iffy as it requires transferring the photos to Google, and only Julie is good at that.  First on the program is a trip to Bilbao, Spain, home of a famous Guggenheim Museum, tapas (called pinxtos) and Basque culture. We were delighted to discover that the 2023 Tour de France started in Bilbao. (Also delighted that the Dutch team won it this year.) We have several tours pre-booked and hope to add other adventures.  Next Tuesday we fly to Dublin and on Friday night will celebrate the wedding of the intrepid Ciara and Jack. We very much look forward to seeing our Irish family especially Seamie who is about 9 months old now. The wedding festivities are in County Tipperary (I’ve never been) so we’re excited to see a new part of beautiful Ireland.  Even though it’s over 24 hours till we fly, we seem to be pretty organized. And that’s a...
Read more

On to Saint-Emilion

Image
 We left Bordeaux on our coach at 9:45 am. Nick had managed to pack Sue’s and his carry-ons into his one big suitcase. At least managing one huge bag is easier than balancing a small one on top of it. As we drove toward Saint-Emilion, Maria gave us an idea of our day, which consists of a wine tour, lunch and scenic walk at Chateau de Pressac and then a short drive to our next hotel near Saint-Emilion. We then heard remarks from Donal concerning the first weekend’s matches. It was very interesting to hear his take. He was not shy about criticizing the referee in the Wales Fiji game. He thought the fact that Johnny Sexton, Ireland’s 38-year old captain, played so well was a very good sign. He fielded questions about what the next game against Tonga may entail.  Maria gave us some info about Saint-Emilion, a medieval village named for a monk who performed a miracle here. She said all the religious orders were represented, and they all made wine. The town is a UNESCO World Heritag...
Read more

Cognac and Oysters

Image
  We had our last breakfast and boarded the bus for Cognac bright and early. It was a two-hour drive through some pretty countryside. Maria told us a bit about Cognac on the way. The special brandy is distilled from white grapes that are too acidic and low in alcohol to make good wine. Hennessy, where we will visit was founded by an Irish soldier from the Hundred Years War. We later learned Hennessy is the largest producer in the world.  We were split into groups and our group started 30 minutes later. We were told to go exploring. We walked up some cobblestone streets and along the River, where swans were swimming. We didn’t make it too far when it was time to return for our tour.  Yanna was our tour guide, and the tour was a mix of slick videos and her presentation. We took a short boat ride to the cellars across the Charente River. She told us the town had gotten rich in the salt trade and built walls to protect all the riches. Some of the gates are still standing. Kin...
Read more