The Emerald Isle

Not a bad sleep, considering there were 7 of us in one room on bunk beds that squeaked with any slight movement.  I woke up early wondering just how we were going to pack all the sopping wet clothes from the night before when it dawned on me that I thought I had read about laundry facilities.  Sure enough we were in luck.   After a flurry of activity we managed to repack around each other in such a way that we were confident Ryanair couldn't charge us extra and off we went in cabs to the airport in the rain.  Surprisingly the Edinburgh airport is quite small with only one terminal and so we had no difficulty finding our way and our bags were all under the weight restrictions (we were so proud of our packing and had been told by many how impressed they were with our lack of luggage - 4 of us had carry-on sized suitcases for a 3 week trip! - we had to get them all in one van and on to Ryanair!).

The 45 minute flight was smooth.  Cael managed the landing without being sick thanks to either the "Joy Ride" medicine (isn't that a great name?)  or Aidan and I crossing our fingers for the last 20 minutes for him :)  Cael was thrilled and no longer dreading the 2 flights still ahead of us to get home.

Dublin airport is a much bigger airport, but easy to navigate.  Our bags all arrived, we breezed through customs, withdrew some euros and were on the shuttle to pick up a rental van in no time.  Now the van is another story.  We hadn't book a GPS but decided it was pretty handy and were able to get one.  With that and some maps we were ready to go.  The Mercedes in Scotland was not anything fancy, but compared to this Ford Transit, it was a dream.  For most of us the seats hit you awkwardly in the back of the head and were not adjustable at all and the middle row was quite narrow, meaning 2 of us had to be in the very back.  We knew it was a standard and Dave did well with that - the hardest thing for him to get used to besides shifting with his left hand was trying to signal and shift at the same time.   It was when we hit 80km/hour and a piece of molding from around the passenger side of the windshield started flapping like mad, creating a high pitched squealing noise that we were really not impressed.  That and the discovery that the GPS was not updated with the new 4 lane Motorways we were a little grumpy.  But it is all an adventure and we had good maps and took a page from MacGivor and added some duct tape detailing and all was well again.

Our destination was Castlepollard, the village that Janet's Mom was born and lived until she was 7 and emigrated to Canada.  It was about a 1 1/2 hour journey through beautiful rolling, green farmland that reminded us quite a lot of home (including Esso and Texaco gas stations - gas was about 1.3 euros/litre here and 1.4 pounds/litre in Scotland) except for the narrow windy roads.  The speed limits on these roads were a little slower than in Scotland and were in kilometres/hour.  Hotel Castlepollard was easy to find in the village square, just a stones through away from the church that Janet's grandfather had been the minister.  We were greeted by a very charming Irishman who not only checked us in, but at supper  seated us in the pub's snug, served drinks, took orders, served food and cleared everything away.  We asked if he cooked too - he laughed and made a funny comment that.  The meal was fabulous - freshly caught fish, chips, new potatoes and VEGETABLE salad!!  They don't seem to eat veggies in Scotland - I have never before missed veggies!  When Janet expressed her delight at having new potatoes, he quickly ran and got her 3 more, which she felt compelled to have at least a few bites even though she was already stuffed!  It was a great meal which we enjoyed with much laughter and banter.

The boys were done and headed up to the room to hang out and play on their DS's while we went out for a walk to check out the village square.  It is a very pretty place, with brightly painted buildings, tidy yards and store fronts and very friendly people who drink a lot of guiness (judging by the 5 guiness signs I could see standing on one corner of the square).  Almost every person you make eye contact with at the very least says hello, but more often than not would strike up a conversation.  It was very welcoming.