Montague Portlaoise

... man in the room has to come give you a birthday kiss on the cheek! It was so embarassing, but I have the interesting tale of being kissed my about 15-20 men old enough to be my grandfather. ha Anyways on my birthday I went to classes and David gave me a pretty gold chain because I had broken one my necklaces when I was over here. Then after class the girls helped me get ready and David took me out for a nice supper. It was good to eat ...

... looks much more impressive from the air because of its concentric grassy rings. From atop the hill one can see for miles! It was here that St. Patrick used the shamrock to explain the Trinity to the druid king Laoghaire. Tara was also the home of the high kings, and on it is the sacred Lia Fail or "Stone of Destiny". It is said that when the rightful king of Tara placed his hands on the stone, the stone would roar. We tramped about the fields, climbed the hills, and took a few ...

Founded in 1620 - best known for the family's contribution to astronomy. In 1845, the world's largest telescope at the time was built here. The 56 ft wooden tube is supported by two walls.<br><br>In the gardens, they apparently also have the world's largest hedge-row.<br>

After finishing the Ring of Dingle we pointed the GPS to Killarney. On the way we were in need of a rest, bathroom and a pint. So we stopped at a very interesting place, Inch Beach. Ironically the beach is a 3 miles long crescent of sand. Must be the old Irish sense of humor in play. <br>The beach reminded me a little of Wildwood, without the boardwalk. There was a lot of sand to traverse before reaching the water's edge. <br>It was ...

... long weekend. AJ was amazed to stand on the site where her relatives (on mother's side) had been burried. Following the mass we returned to Ballybrittas to continue the discussions and celebrations with the extended family. More food - roast beef sandwiches. GK concerned we aussies do not eat much but drink lots of tea!! We then went out to Portarlington for a beautiful meal, which the relatives insisted they ...

... the shop assistants like we did in Wicklow " oh the tourists have started". It is obvious that Ireland is not used to people trapsing all over their land, that is if it is not the main tourist spots. Today has been quite chilly and we have finally seen a little bit of the wet stuff - that is rain for those that do not know what we are referring to back there in OZ. We are having a crac of a time!

... I had never before imagined Ireland as the place to go for a beach holiday, but at that moment all I wanted to do was wade through the water and explore the small cliffs further out towards a grassy headland. It was just a pity that I hadn&#8217;t even given a thought to packing my bathers. <br> <br>We got back in the car and headed inland to Waterford and got some lunch from a supermarket, then hunted around for some time for a picnic area, park ...

... So she says, "If you do what I tell you, you won't die of TB". "And what's that?" he asked. "When you go home get two goats that are milking well and drink the milk every way you can, only don't drink any other milk only the goat's milk". Now don't ask me whether he did it for two or three years, but he was the only one of the family of 13 who didn't get TB. Can you believe that now? It was the goat's milk. My mother was born in this ...

... we made the turn toward the Sally Gap in the Wicklow Mountains. The abundance of heather and the windswept mountain scenery reminded me of Scotland (considering how much I love Scotland, that's a big compliment). We began descending from the Sally Gap and arrived above the valley of Glenmacnass. We stopped at the top of the waterfall on the edge of the valley to take a couple of pictures and then continued our descent. After a while, we arrived in ...

... teams outside of Co Dublin. I will be coming back every second weekend to play in Portlaoise in the wind and rain. I'm looking forward to it. I stayed three years in Ireland and during each summer of my three season with Laois Cricket Club I was down at Coolbanagher almost every weekend. I still remember catching the bus from outside Abracabara's restaurant in Dublin to go to Laois on a Friday night after work. There's not much in the county I haven't seen.