Ireland - A Snazzy Finish

On our next-to-last day in Ireland we rushed about Dublin as reported in the last post, and took a rollicking ride over the bogs of Wicklow to the ancient monastery of St. Kevin at Glendalough. Glendalough is a lush valley which is almost a perfect image of the scenic beauty of Ireland. St. Kevin founded a monastic community there in the sixth century. For more details, I will refer you once again to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glendalough.

We did not have time to explore Glendalough fully as the valley is quite large with two lakes and many sites, but we did see the main site associated with St. Kevin and early Irish monasticism.

A view of the valley with St. Kevin's Church

The Round Tower - the entrance was about 10 feet off the ground. They used a ladder which was pulled up in case of attack.

A video Michelle made of a pretty brook at Glendalough

The yellow flowers you see in many of our Ireland photos is a plant called "furze" in Ireland and known as "gorse" in England and Scotland. It grows wild and every so often farmers will burn it back to keep it from overunning their fields.

Furze up close

There was a cemetery near the ruins - even to this day people choose to be interred there because it is considered a sacred site.

Now for something spooky. Remember in the last post, Michelle looked up her grandmother's family name "Fanning"? Michelle took the picture above just randomly because of the mood it evoked of Ireland. When we got home and looked closely at the photo on our computer monitor, we discovered that the large gravestone on the far left commemorated - you guessed it - people named Fanning. If you click the picture you may be able to read the actual names on the stone. No idea if these are distant relatives or what, but it's kind of eerie anyway.

After Glendalough, we headed for our final accomodation of the trip: the Ritz Carlton Powerscourt. This place was amazing. When you consider that it was included as one night on our fairly cheap tour package and the rooms normally have a rate of like $500 a night, I can only assume that with the world economy the way it is, the hotel's business must be hurting.

Oh well, we certainly enjoyed our one night there. I would have to say that this was without a doubt the most luxurious hotel we have ever stayed at - and we have stayed at some pretty nice ones over the years.

The Ritz Carlton Powerscourt

To start with, Michelle and I were personally guided to our multi-room suite by on of the staff who proceeded to show us how to work all of switches and gizmos. The suite was larger than some apartments I have lived in. It consisted of a living/dining area, a kitchen with it's own separate butler's entrance, a large bedroom with king-size bed, and two bathrooms. One bathroom was a half-bath off the living room while the master bath off the bedroom/dressing room was a huge affair with a jacuzzi, a tiled stall shower, and a separate room with the john and a bidet. The tile floors in the bathroom were heated (so you shouldn't get cold feet) and inset into the bathroom mirror was a tv set (you could wake up in the morning and if you were still half-asleep look in the mirror to shave and think you had turned into Regis Philbin). The room also had a full terrace complete with an outdoor table and chairs. Whew! Some place!

Abe and Roz were given similar quarters.

The living room of our suite

The view from the terrace


The bedroom

This is one of the bedside tables. The shiny thing is a touch screen which controls the whole suite -all the lights, the TVs, the drapes etc. there was another one on the other side of the bed.

After relaxing for a bit we met for drinks in one of the lounges and then ate in their "pub". The food was quite good and not overly expensive considering where we were. Finally, we sat down in their lovely lobby for some Irish coffee and dessert.

Roz in the Ritz Carlton lobby

Since we had to be up at oh-dark-hundred the next morning to drive to the other side of Dublin to drop our rental car and catch our plane, we decided to call it a night.

The next morning Michelle and I were served Eggs Benedict by room service at 5:30 A.M. This was our last "Irish Breakfast" and probably the best of the bunch. Then it was off to the airport and home to New Jersey.