Monday, October 3, 2011
Caught the tour to the Wicklow Mountains and Glendalough first thing this morning. We were quite relieved as the weather looked promising. 
There were 23 people on the tour, and they were from all over: Italy, Germany, Holland, Korea, England, and US. Half spoke little or no English.
Our driver/guide, Joe, was very Irish and very funny. He told jokes (groaners) and sang songs throughout. He pointed out locations where several movies were filmed (Braveheart, Excalibur, Michael Collins), and we stopped at one of the settings for P.S I Love You.
Although we didn’t get to see his house, we did see the pub where Daniel Day Lewis comes down for a pint.
We stopped at the Guinness Valley for pictures. One of the Guinness daughters was given this two mile valley as a wedding gift. It has two lakes on it. One of the sons now lives in the estate.
Then, on to Glendalough, the monastic ruins where St. Kevin had his church. Many stone buildings and a 30 meter tower are still standing, as well as lots of graves and Celtic Crosses. It is a lovely area; we spent an hour there looking around and walking from the lower to the upper lake.
We went to Avoca for lunch at the Fitzgerald’s Pub. Evidently, a popular TV show, Ballykissangels was filmed there. We ate lunch in the pub where some of it took place.
Next, on to the first weaving mill in Ireland. It was actually rather interesting, and we only had to spend a half hour there.
Our driver said the tourist bureau had done studies and found that by the time people get done with a tour, they only remember 38% of what the guide has told them, then after a day, it goes down to 3%. So, he quizzed us going back into Dublin. That was quite fun.
When we got back to Dublin, we walked through St. Stephen’s Green, which is a large park. Then, we went to Temple Bar for a last ice cream at Botticelli’s. The waitress remarked that we were becoming regulars – and she was right about that! We were there every day.
And… today is the first day in a month that we haven’t been rained on!!!
pinchontheroad 