Added pictures, ran spell check and tried to catch most grammatical/wrong word errors.
It's Tuesday night and I'm back in Hanau, preparing to come back to the States. We only had access to an i-cafe on our first day in Ireland so I couldn't post anything over the weekend. I'll review what has happened since my last post on Friday in this posting. I've added pictures to the Neuschanstein castle and Eagle's Nest posts. Also, I've added a link to Ed and Shelly's blog. Their blog is pretty much the gold standard of blogs. They have some alternate viewpoints to my visit. The link is on the right side of my blog.
So Wednesday I hit the Eagle's Nest which was, without a doubt, the high point of the Munich adventure. I think the Munich leg worked out perfectly. The Munich time combined with the day trips was a great combo. The hostel deal was the right choice since I was flying solo. I was hardly there except to sleep and hang out at the bar late at night. It was a very transient clientele in the hostel. Most roommates didn't stay for more than 2 nights. The 2 cuties from Monday night only stayed for 2 nights. One of them had a boyfriend, who was also in the room. The other one, I hardly saw. There was one guy that was in the room the whole time I was there. He was kind of weird because he spent so much time in the room.
Every time I showed up at the room, he was there. Nice enough guy, but I'm not sure why he didn't want to see Munich. The other thing about the guy is that had a major case of B.O. Every time you go to the room, you're welcomed by a nice dose of European B.O. It was around Wednesday that I noticed the place smelled a little better. He must have taken a shower or washed his clothes.
Thursday
Thursday was my last day in Munich. I was to catch a train around 5-6 pm, putting me back in Hanua between 8-9pm. I just took it easy that day. Slept in. Ate breakfast at the hostel, then walked downtown to take a final look around. I decided to rent a bike to take a look at the outer perimeter of the downtown area. I pretty much had seen the historic center of the city multiple times, so I wanted to take a look outside of that area. The ride took me through the suburbs to Schloss Nymphenberg which is another of Ludwig II's castles. Next it was up to Olympistadt park, which was central area for the 72 Olympics. They turned it into a nice park area. Next rolled back over to the Englischer Garden and through what I would call the artsy/college area. This is a pretty cool area. There's basically a whole new city here that is very different from downtown Munich. Finally I rode for a while down the Isar river which runs down the east side of the city. The whole ride took about 3 hours. Weather cooperated until the end, when it started to rain. Got my last beer in Munich then caught the train to Hanau
Ireland
Shelly, Ed and I were heading to Ireland for a long weekend. We were flying from outside of Frankfurt around noon on Friday and coming back noon on Monday. Ed's sister, Tracy, who lives in Holland just over the German border with her husband Chris and family, was keeping Madison while we rolled to Ireland. Our plan for the Ireland trip was to tour the southwest area of Ireland which is suppose to be a very scenic area with classic Irish landscapes.
Friday
We needed to leave the house by 8am to get to the airport on time, so the day started early. All went fine with the flight over. Our arrival in Ireland was at Kerry county airport at noon. We rented the car and hit the ground running. First destination was the Dingle peninsula which is on the southwest corner of the country. This area was within an hour of the airport. Now remember, in Ireland, they drive on the left side of the road and the steering wheel is on the right side of the car. I started off as the driver. The left side of the road thing took a little getting used to, especially on right turns. Second thing, the roads in Ireland are terrible. They're generally two lane roads that are really sized for 1 1/2 cars. So that gets kind of interesting. When you start off, you have a tendency to stay extra close to the left side of the road, I guess because you think you're going hit oncoming traffic. Anyway, Ed and Shelly had a few good laughs at my expense when we first started out because I cut it close on the left side multiple times. Hit some bushes, came close to hitting a wall or two. Think I hit a cone in a construction area. So they're giving me this hard time and damned if at the first overlook do we see this car with the left side mirror shattered (wrapped with duct tape), a huge scratch\dent running down the whole left side of the car. I'm like "guys look at this.., give me a break !!!!". This was a common sight on cars the whole weekend.
So we're basically going to do a loop around the Dingle peninsula, check various scenic areas and possibly do some hiking.
It's Tuesday night and I'm back in Hanau, preparing to come back to the States. We only had access to an i-cafe on our first day in Ireland so I couldn't post anything over the weekend. I'll review what has happened since my last post on Friday in this posting. I've added pictures to the Neuschanstein castle and Eagle's Nest posts. Also, I've added a link to Ed and Shelly's blog. Their blog is pretty much the gold standard of blogs. They have some alternate viewpoints to my visit. The link is on the right side of my blog.
So Wednesday I hit the Eagle's Nest which was, without a doubt, the high point of the Munich adventure. I think the Munich leg worked out perfectly. The Munich time combined with the day trips was a great combo. The hostel deal was the right choice since I was flying solo. I was hardly there except to sleep and hang out at the bar late at night. It was a very transient clientele in the hostel. Most roommates didn't stay for more than 2 nights. The 2 cuties from Monday night only stayed for 2 nights. One of them had a boyfriend, who was also in the room. The other one, I hardly saw. There was one guy that was in the room the whole time I was there. He was kind of weird because he spent so much time in the room.
Every time I showed up at the room, he was there. Nice enough guy, but I'm not sure why he didn't want to see Munich. The other thing about the guy is that had a major case of B.O. Every time you go to the room, you're welcomed by a nice dose of European B.O. It was around Wednesday that I noticed the place smelled a little better. He must have taken a shower or washed his clothes. Thursday
Thursday was my last day in Munich. I was to catch a train around 5-6 pm, putting me back in Hanua between 8-9pm. I just took it easy that day. Slept in. Ate breakfast at the hostel, then walked downtown to take a final look around. I decided to rent a bike to take a look at the outer perimeter of the downtown area. I pretty much had seen the historic center of the city multiple times, so I wanted to take a look outside of that area. The ride took me through the suburbs to Schloss Nymphenberg which is another of Ludwig II's castles. Next it was up to Olympistadt park, which was central area for the 72 Olympics. They turned it into a nice park area. Next rolled back over to the Englischer Garden and through what I would call the artsy/college area. This is a pretty cool area. There's basically a whole new city here that is very different from downtown Munich. Finally I rode for a while down the Isar river which runs down the east side of the city. The whole ride took about 3 hours. Weather cooperated until the end, when it started to rain. Got my last beer in Munich then caught the train to Hanau
Ireland
Shelly, Ed and I were heading to Ireland for a long weekend. We were flying from outside of Frankfurt around noon on Friday and coming back noon on Monday. Ed's sister, Tracy, who lives in Holland just over the German border with her husband Chris and family, was keeping Madison while we rolled to Ireland. Our plan for the Ireland trip was to tour the southwest area of Ireland which is suppose to be a very scenic area with classic Irish landscapes.
Friday
We needed to leave the house by 8am to get to the airport on time, so the day started early. All went fine with the flight over. Our arrival in Ireland was at Kerry county airport at noon. We rented the car and hit the ground running. First destination was the Dingle peninsula which is on the southwest corner of the country. This area was within an hour of the airport. Now remember, in Ireland, they drive on the left side of the road and the steering wheel is on the right side of the car. I started off as the driver. The left side of the road thing took a little getting used to, especially on right turns. Second thing, the roads in Ireland are terrible. They're generally two lane roads that are really sized for 1 1/2 cars. So that gets kind of interesting. When you start off, you have a tendency to stay extra close to the left side of the road, I guess because you think you're going hit oncoming traffic. Anyway, Ed and Shelly had a few good laughs at my expense when we first started out because I cut it close on the left side multiple times. Hit some bushes, came close to hitting a wall or two. Think I hit a cone in a construction area. So they're giving me this hard time and damned if at the first overlook do we see this car with the left side mirror shattered (wrapped with duct tape), a huge scratch\dent running down the whole left side of the car. I'm like "guys look at this.., give me a break !!!!". This was a common sight on cars the whole weekend.
So we're basically going to do a loop around the Dingle peninsula, check various scenic areas and possibly do some hiking.
There was one hitch in the plan..... the rain. When we started out, it was a little overcast, but it looked like we were going to be okay, but as the day wore on, the weather deteriorated. In fact it seemed like every time we got out of the car, the weather would take a turn. Like one of our first stops on the Connor pass. We pull up to this scenic overlook area, look around, and take some pictures. We see some people hiking up the mountain, so we decide to try it ourselves. We do some hiking/mild climbing up a little rock area and discover a somewhat hidden lake tucked within the mountains. It was pretty cool. The view was impressive. But then the rain...and wind started. We kept thinking it was going to blow over, but it didn't. So we got some pics and made our way back to the car. Anyway, the day continued on like this. We saw some great scenery, but weren't able to get the best shots because of the weather. It was a fun day, we kind of laughed at the weather. We stayed in Dingle on Friday night in a B&B. Great little town. Had you're classic Irish pubs. Drank Guinness, Harp, Carlsberg and Smithwicks. 
Saturday 
Saturday we planned to do the Ring of Kerry, which is basically a route around another peninsula, only larger than the Dingle peninsula. As we made it around the peninsula, we veered off the normal Ring of Kerry route and went to an island on the coast called Valencia Island. There was an old slate mine here that had an massive grotto. Also on this island were some fossilized dinosaur tracks that were discovered on the rocks near the water, which was pretty neat. Beautiful scenery on this island. The weather was on and off. It was very windy at times. We did not make it all the way around the Ring of Kerry on Sat. We stayed in a little town called Sneem which was on the Kerry peninsula. Just one note that I can't emphasize enough, the people of Ireland are the nicest people you'll ever meet. There always very helpful and warm. We stayed at a B&B in Sneem. The B&B owner set us up with a nice dinner at Pub/Restaurant called the Blue Bull. Very good. Forgot to mention that it was Shelly's birthday on Saturday. She's 29! Again... ;-)
Saturday we planned to do the Ring of Kerry, which is basically a route around another peninsula, only larger than the Dingle peninsula. As we made it around the peninsula, we veered off the normal Ring of Kerry route and went to an island on the coast called Valencia Island. There was an old slate mine here that had an massive grotto. Also on this island were some fossilized dinosaur tracks that were discovered on the rocks near the water, which was pretty neat. Beautiful scenery on this island. The weather was on and off. It was very windy at times. We did not make it all the way around the Ring of Kerry on Sat. We stayed in a little town called Sneem which was on the Kerry peninsula. Just one note that I can't emphasize enough, the people of Ireland are the nicest people you'll ever meet. There always very helpful and warm. We stayed at a B&B in Sneem. The B&B owner set us up with a nice dinner at Pub/Restaurant called the Blue Bull. Very good. Forgot to mention that it was Shelly's birthday on Saturday. She's 29! Again... ;-)
Sunday
The plan for Sunday was to finish the Ring of Kerry, and play it by ear if we had additional time. The weather cooperated the most on Sunday. We finished the Ring of Kerry which kind of ends up in a town called Kenmare. We grabbed some lunch and decided to go ahead an book our B&B, actually the place we ate lunch, so we could have the rest of the day without having to worry about that. For the afternoon we decided to do a hike in a nearby park- Gleninchaquin Park. The park had a magnificent waterfall. Our hike trail took us below the waterfall, up the side then around the back and down the other side. It was a great hike. The weather cooperated. Behind the waterfall were two hidden lakes which were magnificent.
The plan for Sunday was to finish the Ring of Kerry, and play it by ear if we had additional time. The weather cooperated the most on Sunday. We finished the Ring of Kerry which kind of ends up in a town called Kenmare. We grabbed some lunch and decided to go ahead an book our B&B, actually the place we ate lunch, so we could have the rest of the day without having to worry about that. For the afternoon we decided to do a hike in a nearby park- Gleninchaquin Park. The park had a magnificent waterfall. Our hike trail took us below the waterfall, up the side then around the back and down the other side. It was a great hike. The weather cooperated. Behind the waterfall were two hidden lakes which were magnificent.
The hike was probably the high point of the Ireland trip which was only fitting since was our last day. We had another good dinner that night in Kenmare. The food the whole time was great. We generally stuck with traditional Irish food and it was always good. Shepherd's pie, fish-n-chips, etc. In the pubs, we stuck with Irish brewed beers, Guinness, Harp, Carlsberg, Smithwicks, etc. We gained a new appreciation for Guinness served in Ireland. It is very different than Guinness served in the States or even in Germany according to Ed. Basically, the Guinness served in Ireland has the consistency of a freaking milkshake. When the bartender pours it out of the tap, they fill the glass about 80% full, then set the glass aside to let the beer settle. You can literally see the foam/head settle in the beer. Once the beer has settled they top off the beer and hand it off to the patron. When you initially drink it, it is very thick and has a strong but smooth taste. As you get to the bottom of the glass, the beer taste different than it did at the start. Little more bitter, but still good. Drinking a Guinness is an experience. It's very good, but I couldn't drink it all night. It would be like drinking milkshakes all night.
It was a great trip with Ed and Shelly. We saw some great scenery, ate great food, drank great beer and met a lot of nice people. What more could you ask for? We laughed a lot at the weather and my driving. I ended up driving the whole time because I pretty much had the hang of things on Saturday. Which reminds me, when we returned the car to Avis on Monday, there were cars all over the parking lot with torn up left sides, missing bumpers, you name it. It was kind of funny. The lady at Avis said they get like two cars a day that are just trashed.
Monday
We woke up, had breakfast, caught some scenery at the Killarney National Park on our way to the airport. When we got back to Germany, the plan was to drive back to Hanau to drop Shelly off since she had to work on Tuesday. Then Ed and I would roll up to Holland (~3hrs) to Tracy and Chris' to pick up Madison. Spend the night and head back to Hanau on Tues.---Ed and I got to Holland around 8pm. We were able to catch up with Tracy and Chris for a while. I had met them at Ed and Shelly's wedding, but wasn't able to talk with them much, so it was great to get to know them a little. They have 3 kids and are very busy with and dedicated to family life. Chris is in the Air Force, stationed in Holland on a stint with NATO. Tracy and Chris are both good cooksas well. Had some of Tracy's great potato soup on Monday night, then one of Chris' omelets Tues morning.
Tuesday
Ed and I hung out a little with Tracy in the morning as we got Madison prepared for the trip to Hanau. We left around 11am. On the way home, we stopped of in Koln to see the
cathedral. This thing is enormous, like no church or cathedral I have ever seen. Ed had recommended stopping to see it since it was on the home. Good call.
Monday
We woke up, had breakfast, caught some scenery at the Killarney National Park on our way to the airport. When we got back to Germany, the plan was to drive back to Hanau to drop Shelly off since she had to work on Tuesday. Then Ed and I would roll up to Holland (~3hrs) to Tracy and Chris' to pick up Madison. Spend the night and head back to Hanau on Tues.---Ed and I got to Holland around 8pm. We were able to catch up with Tracy and Chris for a while. I had met them at Ed and Shelly's wedding, but wasn't able to talk with them much, so it was great to get to know them a little. They have 3 kids and are very busy with and dedicated to family life. Chris is in the Air Force, stationed in Holland on a stint with NATO. Tracy and Chris are both good cooksas well. Had some of Tracy's great potato soup on Monday night, then one of Chris' omelets Tues morning.
Tuesday
Ed and I hung out a little with Tracy in the morning as we got Madison prepared for the trip to Hanau. We left around 11am. On the way home, we stopped of in Koln to see the
cathedral. This thing is enormous, like no church or cathedral I have ever seen. Ed had recommended stopping to see it since it was on the home. Good call.
It's now Wed as I finish this entry. Leaving for the airport in like hour. It's been a great trip. I can't thank Ed and Shelly enough for everything they've done. I'm so thankful I got over when they were here. First, because I got to see them while I was here, but secondly, they've added so much to the experience. I loved everything, but it's been all the better to share and experience it with them.
Well, that's it. See you back in the States!!!!!!
Well, that's it. See you back in the States!!!!!!
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