a NOLA girl in a Big world

2024 Sabbatical
Spain and Italy

  • rugby is life 

    Oh Maggie! The owner of maggie O’s certainly loved us! She was certainly a talker and genuinely loved running a B&B. Our first full day in Killarney and we had a hike planned! If I could talk to 22 year old Lindsey and tell her I loved hiking and I chose to go hiking on my honeymoon rather than relax on a beach, she would laugh at me!! But I’m so glad that we chose to come to Ireland! This trip has been everything we dreamed of and more! 
    We made our way to Muckross House to start our hike. There was a tour we could have taken but we were so anxious to get on our hike we opted to skip the indoor tour and Wikipedia about it later (silly Americans). Our hike was about 7 1/2 miles and it was the perfect day! It was 55 degrees with sunshine! I truly wish everyday was felt like perfection, more people would be out and about working on their fitness. 
    About 2 miles into our hike and we found the Torc Waterfall. Breathtaking. I love hearing the abound of a waterfall, it’s calming and beautiful and is perfectly natural. We found ourselves just staring at the falls because it was a picturesque scene. We took advantage of the photo ops and climbed out into the falls. We then took some STEEP rock stairs for about 300 meters & let me tell you, I am my fathers daughter! It goes without saying that I am in the best shape of my adult life and hiking doesn’t get me winded UNLESS we are in high altitudes! Mid way up the stairs, 1/2 way up the mountain I just couldn’t breathe. I was breathing in harder than I have in my entire life but left like I was getting no oxygen. I was getting light headed and had to slow down and not try to keep up with super man Bowen. Once we got to the top of the waterfall I was able to stop for a minute and breathe. We continued on our way & let me tell ya, it was an exciting hike. Very steep hills means very sharp descents! I had a little fun and allowed gravity to take over and run down each descent – fastest I’ll ever be in my life (bowen took video so I have proof of my speed). 
    The hike was the perfect way to start the day and the fact that we finished in pretty good time meant that we could walk into town to catch the ireland vs. Scotland rugby match. 
    We went to city center & went to a bar called Sportsman’s. Ordered 2 Guiness and realized we just walked into bookie heaven! It’s amazing to see betting out in the open and so freely done in Ireland. Gentleman were making bets at the bar & at all of the tables. Not many people were watching the match but rather horse racing, so we decided to find a better atmosphere, and better atmosphere we found! Laurel’s was the place to be! It was packed with Irish fans! Loud! Obnoxious! Passionate Irish fans! Luckily we found a table right by the TV and joined in the fun. 
    Irish rugby fans reminded me LSU football fans. They expect nothing but perfection and when they don’t get perfection they yell & curse LOUDLY. The amount of F bombs that were thrown around in their lovely Irish accents made us laugh! Ireland ended up besting Scotland 40-10 but weren’t out of the clear yet. Since every team had at least one loss, Ireland needed England to lose by 26 points or win by less than 26 points. The ending of the England v. France game was wild. England was winning by 18 (I think) points with seconds left and all France had to do was kick the ball out of their “end zone” to end the game and have Ireland be crowned champs, BUT NO! They kept trying to run and pass, which could have given England an opportunity to score and get their 26 points. It was a nail biter but the Men in Green pulled out the win for the 2nd time in 2 years. The women also won the next day beating Scotland 73-10! Ireland is king of rugby! 
    I want to play rugby. I think I’d be good at rugby & plan to look into it when we get back to New Orleans. 
    We walked around city center some more & shopped. We bought ourselves a great coffee table book with some amazing photos of Ireland – you all must come over to see the amazing sights we got to see in person! 
    The hike and the excitement of rugby kind of took it out of us and we knew we had a long day of driving a head of us so we called it an early night. We loved Killarney and recommend it to anyone traveling Ireland. 
    Sláinte pronounced SL-aun-cha  

  • I washed my mouth a few hundred times 

    We didn’t want to leave Kilkenny! Our one gripe about this trip is that we were only given 1 day in kilkenny. We wanted more. We NEEDED a more. We had so many other tours/sights/walks to see OUTSIDE of the city that we didn’t have enough time to wander around like we enjoy.

    Our first stop was Kilkenny Castle. It’s a medieval castle that has been restored over the years by the office of public works. It was interesting to see how the royal families of Ireland lived. The grounds of the castle are now a park that locals use daily. It was a wonderful first stop to our long day of Irish History! 

      
    We walked across town to St. Canice’s Cathedral. We took the self guided tour and learned about the church of Ireland & the cathedrals history. The history of the church dates back to the 6th century. One of its “claims to fame” is that the burning of witches was believed to have started by the bishop & spread quickly around the world – including Salem, Ma. It was a short little tour that ended our time in Kilkenny. We dropped into a bakery called slice of heaven, ordered 2 cupcakes then hit the road to the Rock of Cashel. 
    The Rock of Cashel is known as the “keeper of the faith.” Originally made to be a castle but was later gifted to the church. It had been used as a place of worship for the church of Ireland since that time. Unfortunately when the bubonic plague hit Ireland, it whipped out more than 1/3 of the population and the Castle/fort/chapel fell into decay. The office of Public Works has taken on the project of restoring/salvaging what it can of the structure. The scenery around the Rock is breathtaking. It’s at the top of the hill and the view goes on for kilometers. The weather was great so we hung around to soak in as much sun and view as possible before we jumped back in the car to head to Co. Cork & the Blarney Castle. 
      
    Word to the wise – Ireland has horrible street signage! There are no signs on street but rather on buildings – if you’re lucky. Hopefully you’re on the right hand of God if you plan to drive through a town or GET LOST like we did! Long story short, the directions we had gave MAJOR roadways NAMES rather than the NUMBERS the department of transportation uses as indicators!! 
    I.e. Our Directions: turn right on western parkway 
    Ireland Road signs: N20, N27, N39
    Drive around looking for WESTERN PARKWAY. 
    30 min later – NO WPkwy! 
    Finally, we pulled into a McDonalds, connected to WiFi & learned that N20 was in fact Western parkway! 
    Now before you go and judge us & say we aren’t very good at reading directions. The directions we had were just words no pictures to at least assist us on where we could be! But, we are both on the RIGHT SIDE & it all worked out and we headed towards Blarney Castle! 
    If only we wouldn’t have gotten lost because we certainly needed more time to take in all that is Blarney Castle! We toured the castle and kissed the stone (more to come on that) but the grounds themselves were acres on acres on acres! The walk around the compound takes 1.5hrs. We got there an hour before close so we had to hit the big spots. 
    The castle was by far my favorite castle we have visited thus far. The way the explained the castle history and the stone had a twist of humor that kept you engaged and wanting to learn more. My favorite part was when the tour began, you read about the famous people who came before you to visit and kiss the stone and told you not to worry by how narrow the halls and staircases were, that at least we weren’t Winston Churchill & Oliver Hardy going up together (see cartoon). So the stairs were incredibly small and narrow, they weren’t lying. The castle itself is a bit run down but not as bad as the others we have seen. When we finally reached the top we were greeted with astounding views of the grounds and surround city. After a few selfies high above the world we made our way to the Blarney Stone! 
    Now, legend has it that anyone who kisses the stone would be given the gift of eloquent speech. I headed towards the spot, was told by an 18 year old kid to lay back, grab onto 2 iron rods and drop my body off the side of this huge castle! YEA OK! Naturally, I said no and made Bowen go first! He did! He lived! And that’s when I realized they had bars underneath where you lean over to catch anyone if in fact they fell. Bars I hadn’t seen prior to that instance. I immediately lay down, lean back and SMOOOOOCH! I can now say I have scratched another number off my Bucket List -#27
    Once we purchased the proof that we kissed the stone, we decided to not waste a single minute of the grounds being open. We walked the waterfalls, caves and gardens. We stumbled across the “poison garden” full of plants believed to have harmful side affects. Some of the plants in the garden were Tobacco, hydrangea, deadly nightshade, cannabis & poison ivy. At the end of the garden there was a sign that stated while these plants aren’t dangerous in their natural state (other than poison ivy) it’s when WE tamper with them that make them dangerous. It was very PSA of them. 
      

     

    The day ended with an hour drive to our last stop for the night in Killarney. We checked into Maggie O’s b&b, walked to dinner then crashed! Both our brain and body got a workout that day & we loved it! 
    Sláinte!  

  • Fairies don’t exist

    Guest post – the groom. Our first stop on the day in saying goodbye to Dublin was Kilmainham Gaol. It was initially created as a ‘new age’ prison, the first to house prisoners in cells rather than one big room. But during the many Irish revolutions for independence it was used for political prisoners by the British. Unfortunately for us the most photographed portion of the jail, the west wing was under renovation so our tour was shorter than originally planned. This was really our first stop where we were exposed to the darker part of Irish history. We learned of executions that occurred, how minor some of the crimes were that landed these people in jail (sometimes 6 months for stealing bread), and how the Irish were willing to go to any length to gain freedom from England.
     

    prison sell, execution sight, front of gaol

     

    Moving out of Dublin we arrived at our first hike, the fairy castle and Wicklow way. A truly awesome drive through golf courses and extremely wealthy neighborhoods, we parked the car and were faced with our first challenge… The altitude. Nothing could prepare us for the change from New Orleans to Dublin. The total distance was around 6 miles and although we got a bit turned around we still made it in about 3 hours. Oh yea, and be warned… There’s no such thing as the fairy castle. We learned that after finishing the hike. We did visit a location called the three stones that left us with a 360 degree view of Dublin and the Irish countryside – truly amazing. What we thought was the fairy castle was in fact a cairn… Whether this cairn was meant as a marker for the valley or a tomb we’re still unsure but to think people traveled all the way up this mountain to deliver the stones necessary for this cairn was impressive to say the least. The fairy castle is actually the highest point in the area.

     

    bowen hiking, the long road up, the woods, us at the top


    The way down is always the easiest, on the legs and the lungs! We drove to Kilkenny for the night where we stayed at the Zuni hotel – pretty cool name. They put us up in a wing of our own of the hotel with huge chandeliers and a big tv, curtesy of our honeymoon arrangements through Macs. We ate at a baller Italian restaurant – ristorante rinuccini. Great food, great staff, family owned for over 25 years and noted as the best in Kilkenny. They actually took us down to the wine cellar when they heard it was our honeymoon. Very cool people. I’ll try to post again but I’m not nearly as entertaining as the wifey

      

  • The Dubliners

    Yesterday was our last full day in Dublin, and we made the most of our time. We made ourselves get an early start, 10am! Hey, it’s our honeymoon we are allowed to sleep late! So let’s talk about the guest at our hotel – the Irish national rugby team was at breakfast & they were pretty massive guys, similar to football but in way better shape! They were amazing to see in person and the wait staff in “aww” as they were serving them. Our hotel is next to Aviva Stadium, so rugby is alive and well in the area.

    Because we were told we “MUST SEE THE BEACH by the hotel,” we walked about 1/2 mile east & It’s not Bahama’s let me tell you. It’s the east most part of the country and about a football fields length of sand by the water. The park that accompanied the beach was a sight – fields for rugby, soccer and polo – but the beach not so much. The neighborhood across the street from the beach was perfect! Our favorite neighborhood thus far. Very quiet, clean but homely – the national school for boys was in the area. We allotted ourselves plenty of time at the beach but ended up not spending more then 10 minutes before we decided to start our day earlier! 
    We walked to the DART station and caught the train into the city. We could have easily walked into the city from our hotel but we enjoy taking public transportation – fun people watching. 
    Our first stop was trinity college. This place is gorgeous! Everything you think an old European university looks like – all stone buildings, statues everywhere, iron gates around the perimeter. I’m not sure if I would have enjoyed going to school where hundreds of tourist visited daily, but apparently the students are used to visitors. Our friends told us not to miss the Book of Kells and the Long Room at the university. Soo …. The book of Kells (in layman’s terms) is just the 4 Gospels (the 4 books of the Bible -Matthew, Mark, Luke and John for you non-Christian folk) written in Latin and made to look fancy! The books (4 in total) were all written on vellum (calf hide) and with colored ink made from stone dust, fruit and other natural ingredients. I’m glad my 4 years of Latin kicked in, because I was able to read a few lines when I could figure out what certain ornate letters were (See picture). The university keeps 2 books open on hand for people to observe, no photos are allowed in that room, but it’s just like it sounds – a big book, 2 magazines wide but DOUBLE the thickest text book you ever had in college! Above the book of Kells museum is the Long Room. The Long Room is exactly that – a LONG ROOM filled with books! Books, on books, on books! Remember Beauty and the Beast’s library!? This room was bigger! It holds over 200,000 of the world oldest books! We weren’t allowed to touch any but students continuously work to restore them throughout the year. It holds one of the last remaining copies of the 1916 Proclamation of the Irish Republic. My only confusion about the Long Room was the upstairs level. It was added on in the mid/late 1800’s but there seems to be no access point to the upstairs chambers.  I concluded that one had to scale a post, jump over the rail to get a book! Not only are the Trinity students smart but they are dare Devils! 

    
    college/ text/materials/drawing
    

    We then made our way to the North side of Dublin to shop & sightsee. We went to a shopping mall were Bowen bought me a beautiful dress form an Irish store. We bought some hiking essentials for our hikes this week and walked around, poking our heads in and out of shops and cafes. We then went to the Jameson Distillery to take a tour. We had an hour to kill so we headed to a local Burger joint! Bowen and I consider ourselves burger snobs because we have been spoiled at home by the best burger joint in the state – nay the country – company Burger. But this place gives them a run for their money! Bowen had the Lamb, which he said was Better than CoBu – sorry joe! – and I had the burger with apple, smoked cheese and Jo-burger relish! (See picture) I was in heaven! I will be trying to recreate this burger as soon as I get home! The atmosphere was chill & hip (they were playing the new Drake album from start to finish while we were in there). 

    
    The Jameson tour started & it did not disappoint. In fact It introduced me to my new favorite drink – Jameson & Ginger ale! Since we have been on multiple distillery tours before (Scotland last year) we knew how it all worked, but it was interesting to hear the differences between all the whiskeys. American whiskey is distilled once because we revolutionized the distillation process to make it quicker, Scotch (whisky made in Scotland) is distilled twice & with smoke producing coal that gives it a smokey taste, and Jameson is distilled 3 times, with a gas to give it a smoother flavor. We sampled all 3 and were able to tell the differences instantly. We received certificates that states we are expect whiskey drinkers and went on our way. 
    
    We headed to Christ Church and St. Patrick’s. Both are stunning and equally grand! Both taking up a few blocks. We didn’t get to spend much time in either because services were going on at the time. 
    With time to spare we decided to just wander around the city. We made our way to the oldest pub in the world – brazen head! A quant pub filled with locals and visitors alike. We walked down Temple Bar (it’s a street not just a bar – post from before) and it looked completely different from the night before. It was less crowded and the pubs were easily accessible. All the walking made us hungry again (shocker) so we decided to go to a place I had wanted to go to since Day 1 – CRACKBIRD! Low and behold, it’s the brainchild of the Jo-burger creators and it was the BEST FRIED CHICKEN I HAVE EVER HAD – Bowen as well! These owners were 2 for 2 & we later found out they have a steak restaurant and a pizza joint! I have no doubt that those 2 places would have changed my mind on the best pizza & would have probably made me love steak! It was on another level good! Bowen ate a whole chicken … WHOLE! We licked our plates dry and headed to the elusive bar from Tuesday – Gogarty’s! 
    
    Gogarty’s usually has a musical pub crawl every night but of course the day after st. Patrick’s day they took a break. But it was a blessing in disguise  because we were able to hear 3 local Irish musicians & sang along & drank for a few hours. It was the perfect end to the perfect day – one of eight seeing, great food & tons of whiskey! 

  • Who’s your paddy? 

    It’s everything you thought it would be & then some! 

    

    everything irish

    The city is full of locals and visitors alike all looking to have a good time. We started the day around 10am and walked through shops and all the streets downtown before We found a spot to watch the parade. The atmosphere was similar to Mardi Gras except there is no drinking on the street so fewer drunk people out and about. I was shocked to see no ladders with seats on top! NOLA could certainly help the parade goers here with our amazing invention!

    parade goers by trinity college
    

    We hung around awhile until we decided to go to a bar & that was the best decision we could have made. We walked into the Temple Bar & our eyes lit up!!! 450 types of whiskey & 5 actual bars to order from! This place was huge! At first it wasn’t packed and we found ourselves a spot at the end of the bar and watched the end of the parade from the TV. The parade is NOTHING LIKE MARDI GRAS! It is more artsy & mostly walkers. No throwing things. It was a bit underwhelming, but still pretty fun to see everyone in a festive mood. Tons of bands and dancers. It would have been cool to have Been here last year to see LSU March. All in all the parade was cool – glad we got to see it. 

    

    whiskey on tap
    

    Temple bar was made famous because U2 got their start playing shows there. I was grateful however that they didn’t continuously play U2 all night! We met some states people (college kids studying abroad), Serbians, Swedes and this drunk French girl in the restroom who I think everyone at the bar ended up meeting. The crowd was awesome. Everyone was dancing, singing & having a great time! There were no issues or fights & that was a blessing! While we were at the bar a couple stopped us and said “we were an attractive couple & Bowen was the most attractive man at the bar!” The Irish certainly love them some Bowen. After multiple Guinness (we lost count … Hey when in Rome) we tried to make it to Gogarty’s but they were at capacity. We checked back 2 hours later – still at capacity. We took a picture and kept on our way! 

    

    THE PLACE TO BE

    

    We stopped at murphy’s ice cream at the recommendation of a friend & it didn’t disappoint. They make their famous sea salt ice cream by going down to the sea & getting the salt themselves.

    

    We then took our travels east and headed to the whiskey and beer festival. We were immidiately greeted with sounds of Irish folk music and rows of beer and whiskey stands. It was glorious! We sampled many beers, ciders & whiskey! Had some local cheese, sausage and cookies. There was a band called Scoops playing that we Jammed out to for a while. Lucky the festival was close to our hotel & we were able to walk back. 

    

    the festival

    

    The day was amazing! Since we aren’t the biggest of drinkers, having all of those Guinness (lost count after 6) the day caught up with us! We weren’t the biggest fan of all the TWEENS in the city. They don’t understand personal space. The city was full of 13-15 year olds, unaccompanied by adults! But we made it work and the day was perfect! It won’t be a once in a lifetime experience for us! We plan to come back. 

    

    Sláinte! 

  • 6 steps to a perfect Guinness 

    What a start to our trip! Flight delays and crazy turbulence – it made for an eventful 6 hours. We are staying at the Sandymount hotel – known as the Rugby Hotel around here. It’s gorgeous and quiet & of course we got a room upgrade! Speaking of upgrades, we are driving around town in a brand new left side of the street car, being married has its perks! 

    

    
    We freshened up a bit and headed into city center to tour the Guinness storehouse (the brewery). While waiting in line we were noticed 2 things: Europeans/Tourist like to roll & smoke their own cigarettes & Americans stand out! 
    Come to find out, today is the busy day of the year at the brewery. While we were there, our guide told us there were roughly 9 thousand were taking the tour at the same time! The building was huge – 6 floors as well as a huge skyline bar at the top. The tour took awhile because we took part in every event they had  – learned the correct way to drink Guinness, saw the advertising over the years & even passed the “perfect pour” academy!  If you ever need a perfectly poured Guinness, give us a call! 
    

    

    We then headed to dinner at Fire, President Clinton ate there the last time he was in town.  It was amazing and while the food hit the spot, the highlight of the night was our server asking Bowen if “he was that american actor?!?” He couldn’t think of the name  & when I said he gets that a lot, the waiter said MATT DAMON! The server kept looking at Bowen during dinner with strange glances & now we know why, he thought Bowen was Matt Damon. While I do love me some Matt Damon – I’m glad I’ve got Bowen Dennis!! 
    Calling it an early night so we are ready for the big day tomorrow – St. Patrick’s day festival! 
    So far we love the city & the people! 
    Missing you all at home! 
    Cheers! 

  • Seats 40 A & 40 B 

    Our flight is delayed and hour & we are in the last row on our flight – but nothing can make this trip “bad” because we are MARRIED! We are still on cloud 9 from last night. We keep reminding each other of the little crazy moments that happened last night & are so grateful for the wonderful night!!! 

    Now it’s times to take some sleeping aid, watch a movie and sleep! In 6 hours we will be in Dublin! 

    Cheers & Irish Blessings

  • Next Stop: Ireland

     

     

    Dublin Marked on Map

     

    Since we loved Scotland so much, we decided to spend out honeymoon in Ireland! The Plan is to spend 2 weeks hiking, sightseeing, climbing and drinking! We will be documenting our travels as we go and sharing tons of photos and videos.

  • Nola to Albany.

    I’m going to try and blog while in Albany. Just to keep my thoughts together and memories organized! Excited about this new journey but def. Sad about leaving everyone at home.

    Time to geaux to the sneaux!

  • Do we really have to leave

    So we are about to board! I apologize that the blog hasn’t been as up to date as I originally planned. But little wifi access & having the time of our lives kind of hindered my blog willingness! Thanks for reading & keep up with us. We have had the time of our lives! We will def be back, because Scotland – def. has a piece of my heart! Until next time! Cheers! – Lindsey!