Because we have 5 adult children and they all decided it’d be fun to see the Penn State opening football game being held in Dublin, Ireland in 2014, we decided to go there again, and visit places we hadn’t yet been to (see Combining Your Trip).
As you might imagine, since they all have their own schedules, everyone flew in to Ireland at different times. As we were planning on ending our journey on the western coast (and it was cheaper by $100 each), we booked our flight in to Shannon airport, and drove from Shannon to Dublin (about 3 hours) in order to join everyone. On the day that the last of us arrived, we decided it would be fun to meet up at a pub together for a pint.
We stopped at one pub that looked very large and fairly empty, but for some reason we had difficulty getting served, so we decided to go somewhere else. After walking around the Temple Bar district for bit, we finally landed on a pub that was quite busy, to the point that there was no place to sit and the only place congregate as a group was at the top of the stairs to their second floor bar.
As we were talking and having fun, the band arrived with their instruments. It was so crowded that we needed to move over to allow them to pass, and each one politely said excuse me as they passed by us. We all noted that they were pretty good and enjoyed their music.
Cliffs of Mohr – boat perspective
Fast forward one week. We were on the west coast and wanted to go to the Cliffs of Mohr, so we began looking at the tickets (one event that you can buy the day of – during the week, although on weekends timing is critical). Because Dianne had had double knee replacements only 7 months prior, we felt it best to do a combination tour of the smallest of the 3 Aran Islands and see the Cliffs of Mohr by boat (side note – seeing the cliffs from the water is different and actually really cool).
Biking is much easier on the knees!
The tour took us to the island first, where we rented bikes (apparently very easy on the knees) for the day. After a couple of hours of touring the island’s history by bike we stopped at one of the island’s 3 pubs for a bite to eat. Before the food arrived this group of people walk in. I immediately recognized them and stated “Are you following us around Ireland?”. The one gentleman had a puzzled look to which I followed up “We were the people at the top of the stairs in the bar in Dublin that you had to say ‘excuse me’ to so you could bring in your instruments”.
It was the same band from the week before, the Vinegar Creek Constituency!! Turns out they all live in the US as well, within 20 miles of where we live in the next county over.
Vinegar Creek violin player (left in Dogfish Head beer T-shirt) with local bartender (who was fantastic)
Small world indeed.
You just never know who you’re going to meet and how random things are.