Day 14, September 23, Tuesday, Kinsale, Ireland

Our first stop today was to Blarney Castle.  The castle is the best ruins we have visited.  We climbed to the top, and while we did not kiss the stone, we observed others doing so.  It hurt my back just watching how they bent over backwards to kiss an old rock.  At least the castle had a crew cleaning the stone between each kiss.  We walked around the property and tried to view the walled garden only to find it closed.  Next we visited Fort Charles, an English fort completed in 1682 with star shaped walls 176 meters high.  Next a surprise visit to the Kinsale 9/11 Garden of Remembrance.  Kathleen Murphy was a Kinsale native who worked as a nurse in NYC  for over 30 years and was assigned to tend to the 9/11 injured NYFD firefighters.  When she retired she returned to Kinsale she bought a property with a beautiful view and created a memorial to the 343 firefighters that lost their lives in 9/11.  After she died, the locals get together to maintain the memorial.  In Kinsale, we went on an afternoon food tour.  Our food guide, Adrian, took us to 2 restaurants for appetizers, then a place for dinner and one for dessert.  Adrian gave us a nice history of Kinsale and the food was good and filling.  Dinner included a pint of beer.  There were 3 stouts offered.  I did not want a Guinness so I asked for a taste of the other 2 stouts and ended up with a half pint of each, Murphys and Beamish.  I preferred the Murphys but I think both beat Guinness.  Dessert was another chocolate factory.  The samples were good but we have plenty of chocolate on hand so did not make a purchase.

Day 15, September 24, Wednesday, Dublin, Ireland

On our last day in Ireland we visited one of my must dos, the Midelton Distillery.  We had a very good guided tour of the distillery and learned the distillery’s history beginning 200 years ago in 1825.  From 89 Irish distilleries in the 1920's only 5 where still in existence by the 1960's.  So Midleton, Jameson and Powers merged in 1966 to survive and now thrive.  In fact a new distillery building is planned to help keep up with demand.  We had a sampling of 3 whiskeys, a Jameson, a Green Spot and a 10 year old Redbreast.  I barely had time to finish the 3 (and not enough time to finish Rosemary’s) when we were escorted into the next room where we were offered one drink each of 2 choices.  One was a mixed drink with gingerale and the other was a 12 year old Red Breast.  Easy choice as we each got the Redbreast. Rosemary had a sip and I handled the rest.  Afterward, I was feeling no pain.  I did not realize how much I drank until I noticed on our drive I had double vision.  Definitely a first time for me.  By the time of our next stop to the Rock of Cashel I was seeing fine.  The Rock is a very large cathedral ruin which began in the 13th century.  Our next stop was to the Irish National Stud and Garden.  We first viewed the Japanese Garden which was beautiful and even had structures with stone steps to climb and tunnels to go through. Then we had a guided tour of the stud farm.  The stud farm is a government run race horse breeding ground.  We returned to Brooks Hotel in Dublin and had dinner of salad and pizza at Nolita. 

Day 16, September 25, Thursday, Edinburgh, Scotland

After a great time in Ireland, today we departed for Scotland.  After an uneventful Aer Lingus flight and a bus ride to the Roseate Edinburgh Hotel, we checked in about 2:00.  We then hiked the Water of Leith Walkway, a very pleasant path along a narrow river with many ancient and interesting buildings along the way.  We walked around the Stockbridge area with many shops along the main road.  We then hiked to Dishoom Edinburgh, an Indian restaurant, for dinner.  The place was packed and we had to wait in the bar for an hour to get a table.  We spent that hour trying to interpret the menu.  Once we got a table our waiter was very good at explaining the menu.  We ordered the Dishoom House Chaat appetizer, Goan Monkfish Curry, Chicken Berry Britannia (a biryani), Raita and Naan.  It was probably the best Indian food I have ever had.  The curry had some heat but I washed it down with a Kingfisher Lager.  Great meal and a thanks to my son Aaron for recommending it.  A 35 minute walk back to the hotel capped off a great start to our time in Scotland.