12.9-12.16.12...IRELAND!!!

To end out the year of 2012, we went on a trip to Ireland! It was the Taste of Ireland tour, through Triple A. This turned out to be the trip of a lifetime! We arrived on 12.10 in Dublin, at Dublin Airport. At the airport, we met up with our tour guide and bus driver, Martin. He dropped us off at the Burlington Hotel so we could freshen up. Around two, we met in the lobby of the hotel and met the other 18 people who would be in our tour group for the rest of the week. We boarded the bus for our tour around Dublin, stopping at the statue of the Potato Famine on the harbor, and at Dublin Castle for a tour of the building, and at St Patrick's Cathedral, and finally a Statue of Oscar Wilde. At night they took us to the Merry Ploughboy Pub to see a traditional Irish Music Show. It was a lot of fun, and we got to know our tour mates better!

12.11.12 We left Dublin for Killarney. Today we stopped at the Rock of Cashel, the town of Cashel, and Blarney Castle. I loved the Blarney Castle,(I love all castles, I think they are mysterious and romantic!) even though it was treacherous to climb(in flip flops!) I wasn't about to kiss that Blarney Stone though! People in my tour group did, but no thanks! We also went to the Blarney Woollen Mills too. Dinner that night was at the Killarney Avenue Hotel.

12.12.12 We went on the Ring of Kerry today. We stopped at the Killarney Golf Course where we had a group picture taken. We also went to see Brendan Ferris, a sheepdog farmer, who did a demonstration of how his dogs herd sheep. We stopped over at the Skellig Experience, where the monks carved a home out of rock, as well as 650 steps to the top. We also went to the village of Sneem, which was a cute village with brightly painted houses. We also stopped at some points along the way for beautiful scenery. Dinner that night was also at the Killarney Avenue Hotel, and then we went to explore the village of Killarney.

12.13.12 We left Killarney today for Shannon. We crossed the River Shannon on a boat...the whole bus drove on to the boat for the ride over! We also went to a village in County Clare with a gorgeous church! We went to Spanish Point and to the Cliffs of Moher. At night, we had dinner at Bunratty Castle and medieval Christmas show. We stayed at the Bunratty Castle Hotel.

12.14.12 I begin my journey back from Shannon to Dublin. Before I left, I had some extra time to explore Bunratty, and the cemetery on the hotel property. I saw some nice scenery and clouds on my 5 hour bus ride back.

12.15.12. So I didn't make my flight. I was so incredibly sad to have another day in Dublin. I rebooked my hotel and went off to explore the city on foot. I went to Trinity College and saw the book of Kells, and then just walked around the city.

12.16.12 I finally got on my flight today and headed home. It was a long journey, and while I was happy to be back in the States, I loved Ireland and will definitely go back!

December 1, 2012-NYC Today was a Triple-Show day! We got to NYC pretty early(gotta love the express train they run at Christmas!) and we went straight to the booth theatre to get Kristin her Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Ticket. Then we went to Dylan's Candy Bar, where I had to stock up on my Red Velvet Cake Candy Bars! We had taken the long way to Dylan's, up the gorgeously decorated 5th Avenue, so it took us awhile! We left Dylan's at 11:15 am. I had tickets to the Rockettes @ 11:30. On my way to the Rockettes, I realized that I had brought my receipt for the ticket and not the actual ticket! The Rockettes staff was awesome though, they figured out where my seat was and I only missed the first 5 minutes The Rockettes were amazing, it was their 85th Anniversary show, and they had changed some things which I really liked! I will go back in 5 years probably. Maybe every 5 years is perfect! Though the Rockettes really put you in that Christmas Spirit, I was sad I didn't get to spend more time walking around 5th Avenue and seeing the Christmas Decorations! After the Rockettes, I went over to see the Rockefeller Tree and the skating, and of course the angels and toy soldiers they had set up. Gorgeous as always! I couldn't stay long though, because I had tickets at 2 to A Christmas Story. A Christmas Story was fantastic! This was a new Christmas show for the season, and they didn't disappoint! They followed the storyline impeccably, and the music was fun. The cast was extremely talented! They even had real hound dogs on the stage! One of the best scenes was the leg lamp dance. Hysterical! However, in the show, one of the patrons several rows ahead of me had a stroke. She apparently has TIA, but they had to escort her out of the theatre on a gurney. Scary!! I'd never seen that happen before! Of course, I had to take my picture with the pink bunny suit! Great show! After A Christmas Story, I went over to Macys to meet the Man of the Season himself, Santa Claus! The line wasn't bad, (Though this was Dec 1, at around 430 pm!) The Enchanted Village was wonderfully done, as always! And I got my traditional picture with Santa :) After seeing Santa, I met up again with Kristin for a very special Lion King Exhibit. Lion King is celebrating 15 years on Broadway, so they had set up a pop-up exhibit of costumes and props, and you could take pictures with everything. It was only up for two weeks, so we were lucky to catch it! And it was for free! :) After the Lion King exhibit, we went to the gorgeous Bryant Park to see the tree and skaters, and then we went to see Annie(My third and final show of the day!) Annie was phenomenal! I really enjoyed it! Katie Finneran was awesome as Miss Hannigan!Very good revival! After that we boarded the train to come home. Busy but fun day! And it flew by so incredibly fast!