The Cliffs of Moher

We rolled out of our rather tiny beds at McGann's pub and took a look around.

Our BMW rental chariot.

Today was fun because I feel like we really took advantage of the fact we had a rental car and near complete freedom over our destiny. On our way to Doolin I saw a sign pointing to the Cliffs of Moher. That sounded awfully familiar, and sure enough, it was an awesome place that wasn't far away at all.

It was especially sweet because we got there so early that there was no one manning the ticket booth and we just strolled on in.

We poked around in the gift shop there a bit first.

This was amusing because there's a restaurant in St. Louis called Three Kings that serves a sandwich called the "pog mo thoin" and I never knew what it meant until today.

There was a visitor center next to the gift shop with some amusing exhibits. This was a very outdated looking attempt at a virtual tour of the cliffs. Plus the cliffs are just outside so... why do I need to imagine what they look like with rough Sega Saturn graphics?

This is a pretty crazy video about how the continents formed and moved around on earth to get to the present day.

There were signs with very specific rules at the cliffs. No walking through fires when birds are watching is an important one.

No kicking monster truck tires.

It was a tad bit windy.

The Cliffs of Moher stood in as the Cliffs of Insanity in The Princess Bride, had a scene in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and Maroon 5's "Runaway" video might as well be a Cliffs of Moher tourism advertisement.

In Ireland old castles are about as common as old barns are in Illinois.

We came to some especially narrow roads and did a lot of reversing.

We spent some looking around another ruined monastery called the very fun to say Clonmacnoise.

I found a little gem in the guide book while we were driving that we just couldn't afford to miss: Sean's Bar in Athlone. It's only the oldest pub in Ireland! According to its website "Sean's Bar has been researched thoroughly by the Guinness Book of Records and proudly holds the record for "The Oldest Pub in Ireland" with an official dating of 900AD. Research is ongoing into the title of "The Oldest Pub in the World"; so far, nothing older has been found." Boom.

The floors were covered in saw dust. Or maybe it had hard wood floors but after 1000 years of people river dancing on it the dust is all that's left?

I had an awesome conversation with a local about whiskey.

We had lunch around the corner from the pub. Mom was trying to be safe by ordering a ham and cheese sandwich but ended up with this crazy modern art piece on her plate.

Whining about taxes seems to translate well.

When we stopped for gas I grabbed a bag of my favorite Englishy candy.

We made it back to Dublin in one piece and checked in to the swanky Conrad Dublin.

I don't know who keeps encouraging Lydia to try on all of these ridiculous hats.

Stephen's Green Shopping Centre looks awesome inside.

We were back at the hotel and it was raining again so Lydia and I just gave up and ordered a pizza. I mean, sure it was Dominoes but the option to add potato wedges really gave the experience that Irish pizzazz.