[Ciaran]

Well I have to say that coming back to work after a 3 week vacation kinda sucks. But all in all I had an awsome vacation! As you know we got married and then went to Ireland. Here's a few pix...

The happy couple...

Prepping the reception area...

They even put me in a tux!

The veiw from the deck where the ceremony was held...

They even made me dance!

The removing of the garter...

All in all it was a really fun wedding. Weather was great, and the relatives all behaved! We went home on sunday and on Monday we left for IRELAND!

 

[stinkyboy]

Did you serve turkey legs?

Congrats!

 

[Ciaran]

Ireland was a blast! We stayed in an apartment not too far from the city center in a place called LANSDOWNE. Turns out it was very close to where Narlus lived at one point. And thanks to Narlus for some excellent suggestions! They worked out very well.

first thing I did was to get a Guinness...

There is no shortage of pubs in Dublin. This was a nice one where we started the Literary Pub Crawl...

Dublin is crowded!

While on the pub crawl we met up with a nice couple from San Francisco. They were heading to a different pub so that she could play with the band. We followed and ended up closing the pub.

We went to the Jamison Distillery where we took the tour and Kimberly got to do a whiskey tasting...

Of course no trip to Dublin is complete without a trip to the Guinness Storehouse! (We went twice!)

Free Guinness!!!

The bar is at the top of the building, 7 floors up and is a circular bar with glass walls. You get a 360degree view of Dublin...

There really is a St. James Gate...

After Dublin we hit the road in a rental car. (I trashed that sucker!) We hit many of the tourist spots and a ton of the medieval spots. No set plans, we just broke out the map and said let's go here!

Thatched roof house...

Clonmacnois...

Galway...

 

[narlus]

sweet! those lush green fields are making me a bit nostalgic for the olde country.

 

[N8 v2.0]

Nice! Congrat's!

 

[Ciaran]

Ireland has many, many cows...

While in Galway we took a boat to the Aran Islands which are beautiful!

Temple Ciaran on the Aran islands...

The cliffs of the Aran Islands as seen from Dun Aonghos, an ancient Celtic site

Looking over the cliffs...

Athlone is in the center of the country and the Shannon runs through it...

Best indian food in Athlone and the sign of the times in Ireland... the crane. Ireland is booming, there is new construction EVERYWHERE...

One of the best places we stopped was Glendalough (as recommended by Narlus). it was the site of a medieval monestary and in just beautiful...

We had an amazing time. It was my first international trip but not my last! If you have the means, I highly recommend going to Ireland. All in all we took over 1000 photos (Yes, literally!) As I resize them I am posting them here ---> http://www.blackrune.com/wedding/photos/index.php

 

[stinkyboy]

first thing I did was to get a Guinness...

And then sign some autographs?

 

[Konabumm]

nice pics/congrates

 

[TN]

suh-weet! looks like a great time.

 

[SkaredShtles]

Awesome, Sharon! Brings back some memories........

The Aran Islands are indeed nice. Good music - nice pubs out there. That's where we discovered English people who like to drink Bud.

 

[partsbara]

The Aran Islands are indeed nice. Good music - nice pubs out there. That's where we discovered English people who like to drink Bud.

yeah, theres a few hermans over here like that... i think we need to file them all under the tab 'no idea'...

yeah, great photos... i loved livin in ireland for the bit i was there... glendlough is awesome... kinda spooky...

wish i got out to the aran islands... we had mad surf all over ireland and the north, but i hear the islands can hold some pretty decent size waves...

good luck to the new couple

 

[TreeSaw]

Great pics and Congratulations!!!

 

[Ciaran]

Awesome, Sharon! Brings back some memories........

The Aran Islands are indeed nice. Good music - nice pubs out there. That's where we discovered English people who like to drink Bud.

I was utterly amazed to see Irish people drinking Bud, Miller and Coors light. It's sad really. Though the Bud Miller and Coors over there all have a higher alcohol content then they do here. Thankfully those drinking the swill were in the minority. Most everyone was drinking Guinness.

We had a fabulous time. I would do it again or move there in a heartbeat.

 

[enkidu]

Welcome back! And Congrats!! Could you visit some of the old famous libraries at monasteries? Stone structures are beautiful against misty verdant background. Thanks for sharing the pics.

 

[konabiker]

Looks like you had a good time. I was at basically all of those places when I was in Ireland this last summer.

 

[Skookum]

Coolness man, great pics, looks like you had a great time, and many happy years to you and yours.

 

[Toshi]

Awesome, Sharon!

congrats on the marriage, ciaran/anothermike/sharon. that last woodsy photo is quite nice btw.

 

[JRB]

Congrats.

I see you bumped into skaredshthead while you were there. I didn't know he wasn't in CO.

 

[PatBranch]

That looks like a fun country to go to to. Were there any mtbers? (i had to ask) Those pictures are cool.

This one looks kind of spooky, could become a cool haloween picture for something. It looks cool. That would be a cool backround for the desktop. ]

 

[hooples3]

welcome back... those are some great looking pics!!! lots of luck

 

[SkaredShtles]

<snip>Thankfully those drinking the swill were in the minority. Most everyone was drinking Guinness.

Probably all the tourists.

We had a fabulous time. I would do it again or move there in a heartbeat.

I'd move there for a bit given the chance. I don't know about all that rain, though.......

 

[blt2ride]

Congratulations! It looks like you had a really good time, thanks for posting some pics...

 

[narlus]

Probably all the tourists.

actually, it's sizeable amount of the youth...either they don't want to wait 10 min for a proper pint o'black, or they have been inundated w/ ads so much that they think bud/MGD/coors light is actually a decent beer.

I'd move there for a bit given the chance. I don't know about all that rain, though.......

it's not the rain, more the cloud cover. days of constant rain were few and far between, but variability (at least in dublin) was constant. the weather could change at a moment's notice, several times in one day. the wind can get a bit on yr nerves too. the lack of warm, sunny days was what i missed most.

 

[Ciaran]

actually, it's sizeable amount of the youth...either they don't want to wait 10 min for a proper pint o'black, or they have been inundated w/ ads so much that they think bud/MGD/coors light is actually a decent beer.

You should see the ads they have for miller... two guys holding miller, looking at a hot girl all framed by a big yellow zipper that's opening. I can only hope that the ad campaigns fail.

it's not the rain, more the cloud cover. days of constant rain were few and far between, but variability (at least in dublin) was constant. the weather could change at a moment's notice, several times in one day. the wind can get a bit on yr nerves too. the lack of warm, sunny days was what i missed most.

We did notice that the weather changed alot. Raining? Wait five minutes and it'll stop. We loved the cloud cover though. Living in L.A. we tend to get tired of the sun beating down on us everyday. We only had a couple of days of hard rain while we were there, and a few days of sunshine.

So how did you get to work/live in Ireland anyway? I looked at some info online and it doesn't look easy unless you are an EU citizen or have a parent who is an Irish citizen.

 

[narlus]

So how did you get to work/live in Ireland anyway? I looked at some info online and it doesn't look easy unless you are an EU citizen or have a parent who is an Irish citizen.

you are right, it's not easy if you aren't either of the above mentioned...i was sponsored by my company, and the two HR offices (stateside and irish) had to write letters basically petitioning the govt for a work visa of X duration. trying to do it by yrself, if you are not an irish citizen, is very very difficult. a couple of people i knew on the job who were american had to contract via Jacobs Engineering (who have a dublin office), rather than being hired on straightaway on their own.