Munich/Ireland: September 2017
Yes, we went back to Oktoberfest. It was fun, but the shock value was gone, and we didn’t get amazing weather like the last time. Jon went on a rollercoaster, so that was a plus.
The square, Karlsplatz Stachus, by the main train station is a great place to have some great eats and sip some wine outside. We had really great, fresh made donuts nearby, and Jon said the coffee was good too.
Ireland! Highlight of our trip. We rented a car from the airport, hung out in Dublin, met up with our friends for dinner/drinks/a rager, got late night Chinese and headed home to their place about 20 minutes from the central area. I made Jon park our car where it was fine to stay until 7:30am, and my bright idea was for us to run back in the AM. One of us did that. And I slept in.
We headed to Cliffs of Moher the next day, on our way to Galway. Super windy day but pretty awesome. I like that you have to walk a bit to get up there.
Lunch – Linnane’s Lobster Bar. Go. It was super hard to find (funny story there), but it exists, and it’s delicious. We had a cold seafood platter, seafood soup, and of course, beer.
We had booked a bnb in Salthill by the Sea – highly, highly recommend staying with Edel, who runs a lovely bnb out of her home. Yes, you’re staying in someone else’s house, but it’s a super cute, clean, welcoming home. Edel made us tea and gave us cookies upon arrival, all delivered to our room, and she made a great breakfast (small, but I imagine it was the right size for normal eaters – I eat… a lot). The kicker – she saw that I was cold and brought over a space heater. Edel, I heart you.
Saltill is cool – stop by the very old bar at the top of the hill for a drink (O’Connor’s). It’s crazy in there. There are restaurants too, and Edel and her husband said it’s changed and developed quite a bit. We only had one night, so we headed to Galway next. The taxi took about 10 minutes and was 8 euro.
Go to Oscars for dinner – make a reservation and don’t get there too late. Same for Tigh Neacthain, a pub with traditional Irish music – they don’t play super late. We of course stopped at the Jack Taylor bar and had some whiskey. We also walked around – felt safe, and we pretended we were in one of the show’s episodes (not really, but it was cool to see some of the settings from the show). Stop at Monroe’s for some verrry drunk people and great live music. It’s open super late.
The next day was my favorite of the trip. We started with a run around Salthill and got lost trying to run over to Galway – it was fun, and the promenade is nice to run along. We had that great breakfast of Edel’s and headed out.
We headed to Connemara first and stopped for lunch at O’Dowd’s of Roundstone. Oh my. Sooo good. We had the seafood soup, crab claws, and mussels, both in a butter sauce and the mussels with bread crumbs. With a cold Guiness pint to complement this insanely fresh and tasty seafood, we were in heaven.
Next stop, M. Moran’s, for oysters galore. We had perfect weather and sat outside to slurp our oysters and wine. One of my favorite moments of the trip.
We headed back to Dublin, did Johnny Fox’s for dinner, which was fun, and then hit a little bar by where our friends live, keeping them out way too late on a Sunday night. We left crazy early on Monday and headed back to Chi.
Update: Tara and Brian are getting married in October 2018, Ireland, here we come! Hoping to do Sligo to visit with a friend’s family this time around.