A Trip to...Ireland (part two)

In case you missed part one you can check it out HERE and since it was sooooooo long ago that I wrote part one, even if you did read it you may want a little refresher. My instagram is telling me that we went to Ireland 11 weeks ago, so bear with me if the details are a little less than fresh. In part one I took you along on our travels to Dublin and Kilkenny with the help of a million pictures of rolling green hills, a few sheep and a few drinks. Let's pick up where we left off and I'll show you the rest of our trip to see the Rock of Cashel, Killarney, Valentia Island, Waterford & Wexford and the Hook Peninsula.

From our home away from home (our beautiful guest cottage) in Urlingford we made day trips to all these locations. The only exception was our overnight stay on Valentia Island. It was "grand" to come back to our own space with a kitchenette and a lit wood stove (our friend's parent's are the best)!  First up, the Rock of Cashel:

Our next stop was Killarney National Park. The highlight for me was seeing Muckross House. This nineteenth century Victorian mansion is like being transported back in time, complete with original furniture and decor and the grounds of the house are absolutely stunning -right on the shores of Muckross Lake. Here's a little history lesson I got on our guided tour (via):

Muckross House was built for Henry Arthur Herbert and his wife, the water-colourist Mary Balfour Herbert. This was actually the fourth house that successive generations of the Herbert family had occupied at Muckross over a period of almost two hundred years. William Burn, the well-known Scottish architect, was responsible for its design. Building commenced in 1839 and was completed in 1843.      

        

Originally it was intended that Muckross House should be a larger, more ornate, structure. The plans for a bigger servants' wing, stable block, orangery and summer-house, are believed to have been altered at Mary's request. Today the principal rooms are furnished in period style and portray the elegant lifestyle of the nineteenth century landowning class. 

The significance of the history lies in the amount of respect that was given to Queen Victoria. Despite her stay of only a few days, major renovations took place and were a burden on the owners even amidst their wealth. The Queen’s visit in 1861 is only one of four visits to Ireland, but it seems that each visit to Ireland was quite warm and welcome despite the animosity occurring between English and Irish. Lastly, the preservation of the estate displays historically how such wealthy people lived and the contrite contrast between the wealthy and poor, which we still see today. One should be reminded that the home was finished two years prior to the potato famine, which had devastating effects on Ireland, specifically those of the lower class.

We accidentally parked near the horse and carriage station (you can drive around the grounds and park in style) but it made for a lovely walk as we passed the lake, the abbey and then came upon the grand entrance to the house.

After we gathered tonnes of inspiration from the kitchen (okay maybe just me) we strolled around the gardens which very nearly looked fake they were so green.

After touring the Muckross House we continued driving along the coast in a day of perfect sunshine and spectacular views (the oohing and aahing continued). We planned to spend the night on Valentia Island as our friend's parent's had become friends with the owners of a little B&B called Atlantic Villa. This little house was well worth the drive and ferry ride, it was perfectly quaint, had the best bedding, the most comfortable bed I've ever slept in and you got a gourmet breakfast.

Here's a little blurb from their site that is 100% true!

Atlantic Villa is right in the heart of Knightstown yet secluded within its own private organic gardens. Run by Jackie and Brian Morgan, the house itself is a spacious period residence built in 1873, overlooking the sea. The house was built for the cable master at the time of the trans-Atlantic cable that was laid from Valentia Island to Hearts Content, Newfoundland and Canada. Brian & Jackie have put their hearts into renovating this fabulous house and it shows!!

“Our guests tell us that they enjoy the breakfasts made using fresh ingredients from our own organically grown gardens, the homemade jams, breads and muffins. The free range hens (and ducks on the way) provide our eggs. We have bee hives and we  harvested our first crop of honey last year”.

The island is also home to Skellig Michael- A UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is a remote hermitage perched on a rock and is one of the most spectacularly situated of all the early medieval Irish monastic sites. Unfortunately it was a day of true Irish rain and climbing the steep rocky terrain was out of the question.

Now I may have this out of order again, but at some point in our trip we also visited the Waterford & Wexford area. Our friend took us on this lovely hike to work up an appetite for fish & chips. 

Below was the Hook Head Lighthouse at Hook Peninsula. We found out that apparently this area is the reason for the saying "By Hook or By Crook". It is claimed that the phrase is derived from a vow to take Waterford by Hook (on the Wexford side of the Waterford Estuary) or by Crook (a village on the Waterford side) made by Oliver Cromwell. Well that solves that one then. We had a bit of tea to ponder this.

We also stopped in to Dunbrody Country House Hotel to have a drink and sit in their gardens.

The bartender told us about Luftus Hall 'The Most Haunted House in Ireland' which is just down the road. It was sadly closed but I would recommend trying to see it as it did look like it lived up to it's name.

I don't want to wrap this up with an image of a haunted house, so here's one more of rolling green hills and a few sheep...

How I'll actually wrap this up is by telling you about our nightmare trip back home, thanks to Aeroplan tickets. Who doesn't love to make a million stops and criss-cross their way through Europe to get home-thanks Aeroplan! The only blessing in disguise was the fact that we stayed overnight in the Goteborg airport in Sweden. Design wise, I now feel like the Swedes can do no wrong. We slept on a couch with pillows, in dimmed light and then had the best breakfast ever. I also could have bought up the entire gift shop. 

So thank you Ireland and thank you Swedish airport, we had an amazing time. Now I'm convinced I want to go and visit Sweden properly and maybe steel some of those airport lights! If you made it this far thanks for following along on my two part recap. Now I can dive into sharing the plans for the new house-stay tuned! 

A Trip to... Ireland (part one)

I guess I should stop saying I'm going to post again and then never write anything. I've been working on sharing a post about our trip to Ireland for a few weeks now but keep getting distracted with projects...damn you house that won't sell! I wanted to share this because it was a trip that I didn't really plan for, or have any great expectations of, and we ended up having such a lovely time-a real shock for this type A planner. We wandered, we drove, we stopped in pubs and I got my fill of shopping at all the European stores I usually have to pay ridiculous duty on. 

An Irish friend of ours was back in Ireland and invited us to stay at her family home along with her long-distance boyfriend. There's nothing more Chad and I like to do then ruin a romantic trip for someone, so of course we said yes! Her and her family were absolutely the best hosts and their home was something that looked right out of a tourist brochure. Bucolic scenery, farm animals, a thatched roof, a guest cottage, ruins, and miles and miles of green.

I will apologize in advance for the number of photos. I'm going to spread this over two posts because I just had so many gorgeous snaps of rolling green hills. Trust me, this was a trip where we spent a lot of time saying things like: "well isn't this stunning", "this is so quaint", and yes, the cheesy "fifty shades of green" was mentioned a few times, but can you blame us. 

Our first stop was Dublin where we stayed at the Clarence Hotel owned by Bono and the Edge of U2. This was not the main draw for me, it was definitely more the great location and the simple Arts & Crafts style interior that drew me in. 

The only guide that I used for the whole trip, mostly because our friend was such a superb one, was the Design Sponge Dublin City Guide. I used that to pick the hotel and then mainly for shopping recommendations. I'm not going to go into detail about what to see in Dublin in terms of tourist attractions. We mainly wandered around, checked out Trinity College, St. Stephen's Green and the streets around Temple Bar. It was the day of the historic gay marriage vote so the streets were packed with people celebrating. A few of my recommendations are:

• A meal or drinks at the rooftop restaurant of The Dean (or just a peek at their lobby)
• Popping into Folkster to pick up stylish new and vintage clothes and home wares
• Having a to-die-for-burger at Bunsen 
• Visiting the Powers Court Centre a huge Georgian building turned shopping arcade to check out Article and vintage jewelry

After a day and half in Dublin we set out in our rental car for our temporary home base in Urlingford, about a half hour away from the city of Kilkenny. This was about the time that all those cheesy phrases about just how green everything was started. 

How about that house, could you ask for anything more idyllic? Our jaws literally dropped when we drove up the long gravel lane way. A highlight for Chad was finally seeing the aga stove he had heard so much about from our host's Mom when she visited Montreal. I obviously had to take a picture of him in front of it. Just because I can, here's a little photo montage of all of Chad's favourite things in Ireland. 

After getting used to driving on the right hand side of the car and road he absolutely loved all the tiny roads and hairpin turns. I was freaked out by the lack of shoulder and the way the trees and hedges almost made a canopy over the road. 

We also spent a day in Kilkenny, Chad visiting the Smithwick's brewery and me shopping. I wandered into the Kilkenny Design Centre to buy some gifts and then found the beautiful gardens of the Butler House behind. We met up to tour the castle, walk through some of the narrow streets and of course grab a pint. 

Is that enough pictures for you to look through in one sitting? Don't worry I still have a part two coming, where you can see more rolling green hills and probably a few more pictures of Chad. I'll also tell you about two of my favourite attractions on the trip. Not surprisingly, both of them were historic houses where I wanted to take home the entire kitchen of one and steal a few decor pieces from the other. 

A Trip to Quebec City

As promised last week I've compiled my photos from our trip to Quebec City with Chad's parents. If you don't like slide shows of 'My Summer Vacation' turn back now ( I won't blame you) but if you're not exactly ready to start Monday and would like to day dream about visiting the 'Europe of North America', let's take a little trip to a city right in my backyard. 

Quebec City is the capital of the province of Quebec and about a 3 hour drive from Montreal. The city is actually listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Treasure. I had forgotten since my last trip in high school just how charming the city really is. In my defense the legal drinking age in Quebec was lower and let's just say a bit more lenient than in Ontario-so we weren't actually excited about sightseeing). While it is touristy in certain areas there are also many out of the way quiet moments to be had and lots of inspiration in the old stone buildings and streets.

We spent two days just strolling around, so my pictures are in mostly in the order that we walked. I only found this after but if you're interested in a walking tour Frommers has two for Upper and Lower Town here. Or you could download an itunes one here. Or you could be like us and just stand near English speaking tour groups for more information. 

We stayed at the ChâteauFleur de Lys, which was a small boutique hotel right next the Château Frontenac. It had soaring ceilings, beautiful moldings and a marble fireplace in our room. The designer in me was itching to make some changes in order to really make it shine but the view alone was worth it. 

Chad and his Dad enjoying the view

The Fairmont Le Château Frontenac is one of the cities landmarks and has recently been restored to blend historic and modern features. I would recommend having a drink at the hotel's 1608 Wine and Cheese Bar overlooking the St. Lawrence river. 

The restored lobby- I love the blue coffered ceiling

The lobby bathrooms were also gorgeous. Nothing like marble on marble on marble with a side of herringbone pattern. I think everyone in the bathroom thought I was crazy (Chad's Mom did ask me what I was doing) but I feel obliged to document a beautiful bathroom when I see one. You're welcome.

Sitting area outside the bathroom-Gold AND fur! 

Rue du Tresor-outdoor street gallery

Obligatory tourist shot

Listening in to tour groups

Feeling like I could be in Europe

The city of Quebec has a semi-permanent public art exhibition running until the middle of October called Passages Insolites or Unusual Passages. Delirious Frites (above) is one of six city-mandated public art installations on display in Quebec City's Quartier Création.

The artists say they chose pool noodles as their medium to encourage people to touch and interact with the exhibit.  You can read more about it here. 

Our final stop on the first day, Place Royal -the oldest stone church in North America. Just add some gelato and you can almost pretend you're in Italy (almost).

View from the Citadelle

More drool-worthy homes and maybe yet another paint colour option for our cottage?

Walking around the Citadelle

Touring a military exhibition as part of the Citadelle and  Royal 22e Régiment and look-it's the same Emergency Drinking Water we have!

Our last stop before heading home was Montmorency Falls . The falls are suppose to be 30m higher than Niagara Falls and if you're into strenuous hiking you can walk up all those stairs - or you can park near the top, cross the suspension bridge, turn around and make fun of the people climbing.

So that was our trip - congrats if you've made it all the way to the end and weren't planning your own trip in the near future. That being said, if you aren't planning your own trip you should be! Unless you're European - I'm still confused as to why there were so many European tourists. Maybe it's like visiting a frontier town for you? As your reward for looking at all my pictures, here is one more photo of Chad and I looking serious and dapper.