Ireland - Arrival in Dublin

Let's forget the fact it's now July & we took our trip to Ireland in March.  *Ahem*

We landed bright & early in Dublin at 5 a.m.  After getting our bearings with a map & picking up our (first) vehicle, I bit the bullet & started the drive.  Notice my look of panic/fear/"what the hell am I doing" look on my face.

 Glad we brought our GPS.

It began snowing as soon as we landed in Dublin...of course!  Weather cleared up (somewhat) but I was not excited to be driving in the icy slush snow.  According to the locals, it was the coldest March in 50 years.  Totally believable.

Drogheda was our first destination, en route to Donegal.

 Sheep!

 

 May we now show you our amazing first breakfast Ireland:

I kid you not.  According to the car rental agency employee, we'd have no trouble finding a place for breakfast in Drogheda.  After driving around for 45 minutes (following an icy 40 min drive from Dublin), we came to the very sad realization that Micky D's was our only option.  By the time they opened (8 a.m.), we were exhausted, cold, hungry, & very very jet lagged.  Although we were unable to enjoy a true Irish breakfast with a pint of Guinness for our first meal, McDonald's was warm, dry, staffed with extremely friendly employees & good, strong coffee...enough to make it worth our while.

 We loved all the beautiful farmhouses.

Our reason for stopping in Drogheda was to see Newgrange, a historic site highly recommended by a friend.  When we pulled into the parking lot, the car began making a terrible noise when making a left hand turn.  After a few calls back & forth to our car rental agency (I cannot say enough about the friendly & helpful employee I spoke with - she was awesome), they decided to send us a new car, free of charge.

This smile was a struggle.  May I remind you, we were delirious with exhaustion & not entirely excited with the start of the trip (first snow & then McDonald's?!), so the car issue almost made it too much.  Instead of taking the shuttle out to see the tomb (& risk missing the new car we were waiting on), Steve masterfully lined up the camera with a telescope in the visitor's center & snapped a pic.

It was time to move on & get to our B&B in Donegal.  Although it stayed cold & breezy during our trip in Ireland, the snow eventually stopped & we enjoyed an amazing vacation.