Take a Vacation

[Bo Diddley]

Bo: Ukraine just bombed the s*** out of a Russian airbase. Here's an article about how this really escalates the war over there. Scary stuff.

Also Bo: Hey, if I plan a trip to a Europe a year from now, think they'll have enough electricity for me to charge my electric toothbrush?

[LiveCoug]

Going to Dublin tomorrow. Any recommendations?

[Donuthole]

Going to Dublin tomorrow. Any recommendations?

Sounds like it's somebody's turn for some free travel . . .

[LiveCoug]

Sounds like it's somebody's turn for some free travel . . .

I mean you're not wrong..

[PaloAltoCougar]

If you mean Dublin, California, let’s do lunch as it’s a couple of miles from my home. If you mean Dublin, Ireland, which is much cooler, then I have lots of suggestions—we visited there in 2017 at the start of one of our best trips ever.

Among our Dublin faves:

Trinity College—you can arrange for a walking tour led by a student (ours was an American PhD candidate). Founded by Queen Elizabeth (the first one), it’s rich with history. Don’t miss the Trinity Library, one of the most famous and beautiful libraries in the world. The Book of Kells alone (in the basement) is worth the visit.

A walking tour of Dublin, which is pretty compact, is also worthwhile.

We also did a musical pub crawl one evening (no pressure to buy anything, including alcohol). The music was a lot of fun.

We were fascinated by The National Museum, featuring millennia-old artifacts, including “bog bodies,” intact corpses that are occasionally discovered in peat bogs. My favorite was a red-haired fop whose ‘do had a pomade that had been imported from France a thousand years ago.

Several churches, including St. Patrick’s (final resting place of Jonathan Swift), and Christchurch Cathedral, where I posed next to the sarcophagus of Strongbow, who led the Norman conquest of Ireland in the 12^th Century. Our guide was overcome with reverent awe when I disclosed that I am a direct descendant of Strongbow.

Kilmainham Gaol. A lot of history here, as well as the filming location for many movies (e.g., Paddington 2, In the Name of the Father, The Italian Job, etc.).

I don’t have any strong dining recs, but we enjoyed a fun meal at The Brazen Head, Dublin’s oldest pub (est. 1198).

A couple of cool day trips (one hour to get to either) would be Trim Castle (where Braveheart was filmed) and Newgrange (also known as Bru Na Boinne), an elaborate and mysterious site involving the winter solstice that predates Stonehenge and the Pyramids by a thousand years.

If you’re going to be there for more than a few days, I have lots of Ireland recommendations. My wife’s very cool photo story book about our trip is the largest of the twenty or so she has put together.

[Northwestcoug]

I’m going to steal those recommendations PAC. Sounds awesome.

[LiveCoug]

Thanks PAC! You had me at Paddington 2...

[PaloAltoCougar]

Thanks PAC! You had me at Paddington 2...

It's always embarrassed me a little (although I really shouldn't care), but I was amazed how good that movie was, which I watched under duress.

[BigPiney]

It's always embarrassed me a little (although I really shouldn't care), but I was amazed how good that movie was, which I watched under duress.

[Northwestcoug]

We were going to Santa Fe during the third week of September, but the music festival we were interested in fell through. Still thinking about going there and Taos, but now I'm wondering about options. Would I be crazy to plan that Ireland trip for September? The inter webs say the Fall months are on the rainy side.

We went to the UK in June for 10 days, and not a drop of rain. Could we be similarly lucky with Ireland in September?

[Bo Diddley]

We were going to Santa Fe during the third week of September, but the music festival we were interested in fell through. Still thinking about going there and Taos, but now I'm wondering about options. Would I be crazy to plan that Ireland trip for September? The inter webs say the Fall months are on the rainy side.

We went to the UK in June for 10 days, and not a drop of rain. Could we be similarly lucky with Ireland in September?

Man, you made me think back on the first month & half of my mission in England. I arrived third week of August. Rain was hit & miss, but still a lot of sunshine. If it were me, I wouldn't let the prospect of rain deter me. Just pack a brolly in your rucksack, and you'll be fine.

[Northwestcoug]

Man, you made me think back on the first month & half of my mission in England. I arrived third week of August. Rain was hit & miss, but still a lot of sunshine. If it were me, I wouldn't let the prospect of rain deter me. Just pack a brolly in your rucksack, and you'll be fine.

Yeah, I’m just looking at the beautiful sunset pics on the island and wanting to maximize those days when I go. But with the euro what it is now, maybe we should just plan it and hope for as much sunshine as possible.

[Bo Diddley]

Yeah, I’m just looking at the beautiful sunset pics on the island and wanting to maximize those days when I go. But with the euro what it is now, maybe we should just plan it and hope for as much sunshine as possible.

Pull the trigger!

[Northwestcoug]

Pull the trigger!

Warming up to the idea. Even if I won’t be warm there!

[Bo Diddley]

Warming up to the idea. Even if I won’t be warm there!

Ireland is high on my list of places to go. If I didn't have a couple of trips planned stateside, I might consider pulling the trigger myself. Between Covid, supply chain issues, family dynamics, and now the war in Ukraine, it's been difficult to do as much traveling as I'd like.