Aer Lingus # 124
Chicago O'Hare International (ORD) to Dublin (DUB)
Departure (ORD): December 26, 7:15 PM CST (evening)
Arrival (DUB): December 27, 9:00 AM GMT (morning)
Seats: 15 FG HK window

American #335 AA record locator: BAIPFD
Chicago O'Hare International (ORD) to Austin-Bergstrom Int'l (AUS)
Departure (ORD): December 31, 5:45 PM CST (evening)
Arrival (AUS): December 31, 8:25 PM CST (evening)
Changed Nov. 6, Seats: 24 B,  D, E, F window

was
Aer Lingus # 6257 Operated by: UNITED -- UA 3674
Chicago O'Hare International (ORD) to Austin-Bergstrom Int'l (AUS)
Departure (ORD): December 31, 8:05 PM CST (evening)
Arrival (AUS): December 31, 10:52 PM CST (evening)
Flight Cancelled

Aer Lingus record locator: 26L5LS
Orbitz record locator: AP1101013P3DSMGZ
Airline ticket number(s): 0538697545713-716
United Mileage Plus #03073162873

Airport Transfer,
Suntransfers.com: 111121...Uz9 (SUNTR_AJ5540)

American #335
Chicago O'Hare International (ORD) to Austin-Bergstrom Int'l (AUS)
Departure (ORD): December 31, 5:45 PM CST (evening)
Arrival (AUS): December 31, 8:25 PM CST (evening)
Changed Nov. 6
Seat: 24B, 24D, 24E, 24F

9:00 am Left the house, stopping at Shipley's to get the girls donuts.
11:00 am Stopped by Gracie's apartment
11:30 am Arrived at Austin Airport Fast Park and Relax, spot G54
12:00 pm At the United desk to check in for our flight. The agent noticed we had to transfer in O'Hare, and gave us seats as close to the front of the plane as she could, right behind first class. We got our boarding passes and got through security in a decent time.
We had food from Waterloo ice House, Wok and Roll, and Ruta Maya as we waited at the gate.
2:35 pm Our plane had arrived on time, but as SkyWest, the operator of our flight had only one ground crew, it was stuck on the tarmac until the plane at the gate could sort out bumped customers and luggage in order to leave. So not only did our flight not depart on time, we couldn't even board by the departure time. Time issues were compounded as we had to gate check our carry on bags... the overhead bins wouldn't even hold our restrictive Aer Lingus sized luggage... 22x14x8.
3:15 pm In the regional jet's seats 4A, 4B, 3C, and 3D, our flight takes off about 40 minutes late... which is not a good thing when headed to O'Hare in Chicago.
5:15 pm Missed our gate arrival time; we were about to land... but wound up with a long taxi to the terminal

8:08 We landed almost an hour early, due to a great tailwind. We got through customs very easily, and arrived early in the arrivals hall, so we had to wait a bit for our driver.
9:05 The driver we arranged with Suntransfers.com arrives, and gets us to his Hyundai van, and off to the City Center.
9:50 Arrived at the Ripley Court hotel only to find that they had not yet opened after the holiday. But the driver pounded the door and we were let in and allowed to drop our luggage and use the rest rooms, which the Irish call toilets. We bundled up, and walked down Talbot to O'Connell, and up toward our first stop. We passed by the Bed and Breakfast we were originally scheduled to stay in, the Charles Stewart House, and decided providence had been on our side when they transferred our reservation to the higher ranked sister property Ripley Court.
10:14 Arrived at Dublin Writer's Museum. The house was as grand as the displays, and admission included a great audio tour. €29.00

The Dublin Writer's Museum opened in November 1991 at No 18, Parnell Square; the museum occupies an original eighteenth-century house, which accommodates the museum rooms, library, gallery and administration area. The annex behind it has a coffee shop and book shop on the ground floor and exhibition and lecture rooms on the floors above.

In the two Museum Rooms is presented a history of Irish literature from its beginnings up to recent times. The panels describe the various phases, movements and notable names, while the showcases and pictures illustrate the lives and works of individual writers. Room 1 takes the story through to the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the Literary Revival. Room 2 is entirely devoted to the great writers of the twentieth century.

At the top of the grand staircase is the Gorham Library with its Stapleton ceiling. Here is kept the Museum's reserve of books, including rare and first editions and critical works. There are also displays of volumes from special collections.

11:45 Walked across the street to Candy Cafe for Mince pies and drinks. €10.80
12:15 Walked back to the hotel and checked into room 238.

You had to follow an odd passage on the 2nd floor to a little stairway with the door at the top. And while the room faced the street, and the train trestle with regular trains and trams, it was a great room with one double and three single bed, kettle, hair dryer, and TV.
We all unpacked, and having been up for 30 some hours, we took took a 2 hour nap before loading on the coats and heading out again.
15:00 We walked the half mile (1 km) to O'Connell and boarded the bus to Christ Church. I was handing the driver a €5.00 note for the €4.80 fare but was told they only took coins... but he took pity on we 'lost yanks' and he told us to jump on anyway.
15:30 Arrived at Dublinia, a Viking exhibit housed in an old church that is an annex to Christ Church.
We visited Dublinia in 2007, but this is an area of interest to Gracie, so we went again, and enjoyed the exhibits. €29.00

After a bit, we arrived in Drogheda, passing an old battlement on a hill as we headed to see the head of St. Oliver Plunkett, enshrined in St. Peter's. But the church was closed, so off we went to Monasterboice.

We had been to Monasterboice in 2007, but it was well worth a return trip.

Monasterboice was founded in the late 5th century by Saint Buithe.
The site houses two churches built in the 14th century and an earlier round tower, but it is most famous for its 10th century high crosses.

The round tower is about 120 feet tall, but over time layers of earth accumulated so now the doorway is almost at ground level.

The 18 foot Muiredach's High Cross is regarded as the finest high cross in the whole of Ireland, named after an abbot, Muiredach mac Domhnaill, who died in 923 and features biblical carvings of both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible.

Portal tombs date from around 3000 BC, and were built by Neolithic farming communities. Burials, usually cremated, were placed in the tomb and often accompanied by flint and stone implements, bone beads and pins, and fragments of coarse hand-made pottery. It is now considered good luck if you can land a stone on the top of the dolmen... and Gracie managed to do it.

Different sources give different estimations for the weight of the capstone, from 30 to 46 tons, and experts are still at a loss to explain how the ancients moved such a huge stone into position. While not as large as Stonehenge, it was worth the 40 minute round trip hike across a golf course (!) to get to it. Again it is not huge, but the age and mystery of moving such large stones was interesting.

Image from http://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/publicart/default2.aspx?id=89

After returning to the Tourist Information center near Trinity College and the former Parliament (now the Bank of Ireland), we walked to O'Brien's for a Toasy or four. €29.00

Then we walked to the SuperValu store on Talbot to get food for breakfast... as we had a really early start the next day.
Then onto the hotel for snacks and tele.

The Rock of Cashel closed at 16:30, so we boarded the bus and headed across the bogs to Dublin.

18:30 Arrived in Dublin, and as we got off the bus near the Tourist Center, we noticed they were projecting 3D images on Trinity College, probably in advance of some New Years Eve bash.

Very odd sight seeing the white College now red, with gears turning and giant birds flying against the building.

19:00 Into Alikaboba for Donner kabobs €11.60

19:30 A quick stop at Tesco on the way back to the hotel, and we watched the tele and had snack as we wound down.

8:35 board the big tour bus, driven by Joe. Michael was our guide.

We made several stops working our way south, picking up passengers at other stops.

9:15 We were headed out of town, toward County Wicklow, the garden county of Ireland.

Our next stop was Glendalough, literally glen of two lakes, a beautiful area.

There was heather and bog everywhere, and the rain had started... a bog is soil over granite, so it cannot drain... so waterfalls were erupting everywhere.

The trees were covered with moss, and the mist made it seem like Brigadoon, with an old village appearing out of time... in this case founded in the 6th century. In the 10th and 12 century, they added a round tower, and the ancient St. Kevin's kitchen, still there to today..

We were soaking wet, so we headed into the hotel and the girls had hot drinks.

After loading the bus, it was off into the changing countryside to Kilkenny. Kilkenny is situated on both banks of the River Nore in the province of Leinster, in the south-east of Ireland.

Kilkenny's heritage is evident in the city including the historic buildings such as Kilkenny Castle, Black Abbey, and the Kilkenny Town Hall.

Kilkenny began in the early sixth century; following Norman invasion of Ireland, Kilkenny Castle and a series of walls were built to protect the burghers of what became a Norman merchant town. William Marshall, Lord of Leinster, gave Kilkenny a charter as a town in 1207.

Cromwell knocked down one wall of Kilkenny Castle in the 1640's; since then galleries have been added on the inside for more living and entertaining space, but it still is missing one drum tower and that wall.

We then headed back to the center, past old butcher shops down the winding streets, where we joined the guide at the Castle. He took us past the Parade Cross through the streets, past the Court House that used to be a jail, the City Hall, Market Cross, and then down the Butter Slip. In the days of the old market, this alley was shaded, and was a better route to move butter during the hotter seasons.

We passed through one of the old city gates and visited the Black Abbey, home of the largest Stained Glass windows in Ireland. Our guide then left us to our own devices, and we wandered the streets, finally heading back to the Castle; once there some of us watched a video on the castle, and others went shopping.

Kilkenny Castle is now in the hands of the Office of Public Works, and it is slowly regaining it's former glory.

The moat used to be connected to the river... it is mostly filled in by gardens but there are a few places where it still exists.

Black Abbey

16:00 The bus left Kilkenny, heading for Dublin. Each bus tour ended the same way, an hour or three drive back to the city, and to pass the time they all played Irish pub music. By now, we were a bit tire of the same songs being played over and over..

17:45 Back in Dublin. We stopped to get a few more souvenirs at Carroll's, and had pizzas at Toto's on Talbot. €36.55

One last stop at Tesco, and we packed as had snacks and watched the tele.

We didn't have a lot of options on the TV, so our favorite shows at night were the game shows.