The Best of Ireland
Mike and Judy Henderson
May 26 - June 8, 2018
I'm going to leave the map at the beginning of each web page so you have a reference as to where we are.
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8/6/2018 (Wednesday) Today, we drive from Killarney to Kilkenny - to the Mount Juliet Estate. On the way, we'll stop at the Jameson Distillery for the Jameson Distillery Experience.
We left Aghadoe Heights Hotel about 8:30 on the way to Midleton where we stopped at the Jameson Distillery.
We're ready for the introductory video.
Our guide was Brian, the very essence of an Irishman.
I won't try to take you through the tour - I couldn't - but after the tour we had a whiskey tasting, comparing the Jameson to Scotch (Johnny Walker Black) and Bourbon (Jack Daniels).
Jameson is in the middle, Johnny Walker on the left and Jack Daniels on the right.
Here's part of our group at the whisky tasting. We all agree that Jameson was the best. (What a surprise.)
Then we had lunch at the Jameson restaurant.
After lunch, it was back on the bus to continue our trip to Mount Juliet. There are two "sections" to Mount Juliet - a new section called "Hunter's Yard" and the original mansion house. We were to stay in Hunter's Yard. It's brand-new (renovation) and it has air conditioning and good Internet access - my two requirements for a hotel:-) Here's a view of the entrance to Hunter's Yard, originally the stables for the mansion.
The original mansion is a bit further back on the property. We walked over to see it, and it's beautiful. But there's no air conditioning in the building (not permitted to be added to a listed historical property), and staying there in the warm weather would be uncomfortable.
We joined Bob and Barbara in the hotel restaurant that evening.
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6/7/2018 (Thursday) This is our last full day on the tour. The scheduled event for today is a tour of Jerpoint Abbey and a walking tour of the medieval mile of Kilkenny. Judy and I, and another couple on the tour, decided to skip the tour and play golf on the Mount Juliet golf course. We started a bit before 9 and the course was deserted.
Here's Judy on the first tee. The course was not too hard - it was fairly flat - and it was in good condition. We didn't have anyone in front of us so we were able to move along quickly. We finished about 12:45.
We spent a delightful afternoon talking with Aoife Barry, who lives in Thomastown (an 8 minute drive from our hotel). We connected through a mutual friend who had met her in Italy, and luckily we were able to spend some time together. She is a veterinarian, but currently works with a prestigious firm called Connelly's Red Mills Feed and Grain, a major world supplier of high quality animal feed, including that fed to some of the most expensive race horses in the world. She is charming and intelligent, and lots of fun.
Most of the rest of the group went to Jerpoint Abbey, which was constructed about 1180. Michael Sullivan gave me some pictures of the tour but I'm at a disadvantage in describing it since I was not part of the tour. Here's the tour guide Deirdre. Several people commented to me about how much they enjoyed her.
And here are a couple of pictures of the abbey.
Kilkenny has a medieval section known as the Medieval Mile. The group had a guided walking tour of that area, also, but I don't have any pictures of it. Here's a map of the Medieval Mile.
After the morning tour, Tauck offered some activities at Mount Juliet, one of which was falconry. Bob Wright took this close-up picture during that small group session. It's a small owl and is very rare in the wild.
Our Farewell Dinner that evening was in the hotel. Here we are at the gathering. Having an early limo pickup in the morning, we didn't stay late. Tomorrow we fly from the Dublin Airport to Heathrow and then to LAX.
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6/8/2018 (Friday) We fly home today. We were up at 4:30 for suitcase pickup at 6. The driver was waiting for us when we came to the lobby, and we went out to the car.
The trip to the airport was somewhat long - about 90 minutes - but uneventful. We checked in with British Airways and cleared security without problems. We had a couple of hours to wait before our flight to Heathrow.
We had time to shop in the Duty-Free shops. I bought a bottle of Jameson Irish whiskey as a gift for a friend. They put it in a sealed bag and as long as you don't open that bag, the contents will be passed through security in Heathrow. I'm sure it would have been more expensive at the Jameson distillery because taxes would have been added. You can get the taxes refunded, but that's a hassle. We priced the same Jameson whiskey in the Heathrow duty-free and it was quite a bit more expensive there.
After shopping, we went to the airline lounge to wait for the flight.
The flight to Heathrow was smooth. We had several hours wait for our flight to LAX and were able to use the lounge in Heathrow.
Finally, the time came for us to board the flight - a Boeing 777.
The flight to LAX was uneventful but long - about 11 hours. We left about 4:15pm and arrived about 7:30pm so it was daylight for the entire trip. But both Judy and I managed to sleep a few hours.
We flew over Greenland and were able to take a few pictures. This picture is of the eastern edge of Greenland. As we flew west, the clouds got thicker until you couldn't see the ground any more.
When we arrived at LAX our driver was waiting for us. It was about 8:15pm by then (speedy customs clearance thanks to Global Entry).
We got home about 9:15, did a bit of unpacking and then fell into bed. Woke up about 4am, however.
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6/9/2018 (Saturday) No trip is complete until we pick up Skipper, the Spoiled Wonder Dog.
And that was the end of our trip to England and Ireland. Between the two (England and Ireland) I enjoyed the England tour more than the Ireland tour.
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