Terry and Sooz's Travels

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

September 17, 2019 - Dublin, Ireland

Wow! What a day we had playing tourists today! We walked over 7 miles in absolutely gorgeous weather. It was crystal clear and slightly cool, upper 50's lower 60's, all day.

First we had breakfast at a small cafe called the Metro Cafe. Eggs, bangers, cooked tomatoes, pancakes and coffee. Sooz had a breakfast sandwich on good Irish bread with eggs and bacon and a pot of tea. No pictures. We met a nice couple from London who were in Dublin for a funeral. The man was a graphic designer for film and amusement parks and spent a lot of time in Orlando working on the Harry Potter park.

We then went to the National Library and did some genealogical research on the Skehan (Susie's maiden name) and Clark clans. Didn't have much luck with Skehan but found my great grandfather Thomas Hurley who emigrated to the U.S. and died in Mercer County, Ohio. We couldn't find the Irish town or county he came from.

Next was the Dublin Southside Cafe for coffee, we started losing energy and needed a pick me up.

Then it was off to the National Museum of Archeology which was free and excellent. Below is a picture of a mummified partial corpse found in the bogs of western Ireland. There was also a large gold exhibit of jewelry and ornaments from 800-1,000 BC, I think.

We took a cab to the Kilmainham Goal (Jail) Museum built around 1890. Inmates have included petty criminals and Irish nationals arrested during the 1916 uprising and 1920 revolution. Some were also executed.

We walked by the huge Guinness brewery and bottling facility on our way to The Brazen Head, the oldest pub in Ireland, for dinner. I had Irish stew and Sooz had fish and chips.

For dessert we walked to Murphy's Ice Cream shop then back to our room.

Tomorrow morning we pick up the motorcycle and head north to Belfast, Northern Ireland.

For my planner friends, a redevelopment site

Typical downtown Dublin Street

Dinner of Irish stew and fish and chips

History of The Brazen Head pub

River Liffey

Wayfinding

Entry to Museum of Art

Kilmainham Gaol

Entry to Guinness

Irish Mummy

Partial Irish Mummy

Museum of Archeology

Dublin Southside Cafe

Historic Irish Urinal

Monday, September 16, 2019

September 16, 2019 - Dublin, Ireland

We arrived in Dublin around 8am local time which is 3am our time. Took a cab to our room and crashed for a few hours. We then walked to a nice pub for a meal and exlored some more before coming back to the room.

First impressions:
- the people really are nice and easy to chat
- our cab driver James Healy is a native Dubliner and gave us a nice narrated ride talking pretty much nonstop for the 40 minute ride
- look right before crossing the road
- no problems understanding the local accent so far, we'll see of that changes when we get out of the big city
- pub food lived up to its reputation

Tomorrow we are playing tourists in Dublin on foot. We pick up the bike Wednesday.

Nice used motorcycle shop

Dog Store Toy

Devitt's Pub

Our room in Dublin

Rajesh Neighborhood in Dublin where we are staying

Saturday, September 14, 2019

September 14, 2019 - Gainesville, FL

Tomorrow we leave Orlando around 9am and fly to Dublin. We arrive in Dublin around 9am local time. We had an exciting afternoon today when we received an email from British Airways telling us our flights to from Orland to Dublin had been canceled. So we had to get on the phone and reserve new flights. No real problems but it got the blood flowing.

We leave September 15 and return October 12, 2019.

I have set up a tracker so you can follow us as we move around Ireland and Scotland. The first 2 weeks we will be riding a rented BMW R1200GS motorcycle and touring the Scottish Highlands and then we will rent a car for touring Ireland. Should be fun. We are bringing our own helmets and renting the rest of our gear. In past trips we brought our own riding gear but this time we decided to rent everything but the helmets.

If you want to track us click HERE

Saturday, June 15, 2019

June 15, 2019 - Lebanon, TN

Today was rally day. We spent the day talking with vendors, sitting in on a couple of seminars and thinking about where we want to go next. We spoke with people about Mexico, Ecuador, New Zealand and Morocco. Don't know if we'll ever go but it's fun to think about it.

Time to head home early to deal with some family issues.

Friday, June 14, 2019

June 14, 2019 - Lebanon, TN

We had a glorious ride today from Chattanooga to the rally in Lebanon, TN. The temps were in 60s to 70s, full sun, very little traffic and we took some winding, back roads through beautiful rural areas. There is something special about the smell of fresh cut "northern" grass and hay. We got into some of the best twisties we've had in awhile, really fun on the bike.

We were able to meet up with my brother at the rally and see LOTS of BMW motorcycles and fellow riders. It's hard to get the full impression from the pictures but there are a lot of vendors also.

One of our pleasant suprises was arriving at our Airbnb outside Lebanon. It is a beautiful one bedroom apartment on about 15 acres. The property has a cool pool/pond that has a central area lined with concrete and is kept clean through an aeration waterfall system and algae all without chlorine. Not really sure how it works but I went swimming in it and it felt great.

The swimming pool/pond at our Airbnb

The GS resting at our Airbnb

Some classic BMWs at the rally

Vendor hall at the rally

Entrance to the rally

Thursday, June 13, 2019

June 13, 2019 - Chattanooga, TN

"From Old Rome To New Rome"

Most bios on Time's main drag had these plaques

It seems that Google stopped supporting Blogger so that it is very cumbersome to upload photos but I figured out a way to do it. Unfortunately, the postings may be a little clunky looking. I am going to catch up in posting pictures so hang on.

The picture of the female wolf was in front of the Rome, GA City Hall. It seemed really odd to me so I had to post it. Apparently the city got it from Benito Mussolini, the Duce of Fascism, which makes it even more weird to be in front of the City Hall.

We had a short ride today from Rome, GA to Chattanooga, TN. Beautiful weather.

I added a couple of pictures of pictures of Chattanooga on the north side of the Tennessee River. The North side feels younger with a bohemian vibe. Tattoo shops, craft beers, coffee shops, local retail. We were here a couple of years ago and in that short time it has grown is more active. The picture of the bridge was taken from the north side looking southeast. The bridge in the middle is a pedestrian bridge.