Roadtrip!

Well Clodagh seemed to bring the sunny weather with her to Ireland so she was able to enjoy a good few days in Dublin wandering around and getting to know the city that her big sister lives in.

However, the Saturday that we had planned a big roadtrip encompassing two bars and a crystal factory on our way down to Cork, it poured from the heavens! Bummer!

Ah well, we went ahead with it anyway though and took off early in the morning (about 8.30am) so that we would manage to do everything that we had planned in enough time.

You see, for those who haven't realised, Clodagh is an unusual name in New Zealand. In fact, most people have never even seen the name before hence Clodagh has grown up with people constantly mispronouncing her name. In contrast, being an Irish name, Clodagh is a very name common over here and therefore many people know how to pronounce it. So, while Clodagh was here, she thought that it would be a great idea to visit the two bars she could find online that were called 'The Clodagh' and have a drink in each one (as well as a photo or two). That is how we found ourselves in little Borrisoleigh in Co. Tipperary having a pint and a game of pool at midday last Saturday week. And then again in even smaller Portlaw, Co. Waterford for an orange juice in the afternoon.



We even had time to drop by a place called 'Emo' which for some reason Clodagh found hilarious.... something to do with a nickname for emotional teenagers???



Oh yeah and my surprise from Clodagh was an Ace of Base CD! Now before you groan and exclaim at my bad music taste you have to understand that this had sentimental value to me - when I was in Ireland way back in 1994 with my family, the Ace of Base tape was the only tape that we had while we were travelling back and forth between Dublin and Cork with the four of us kids crammed in the back of a Ford Escort so in the end all of us knew every song off by heart! So needless to say I sang my heart out to the songs as we drove! Ha ha!

Just before we drove the last little bit from Waterford to Cork we thought that we would take the opportunity to visit the Waterford Crystal Factory and take the tour to see how this hugely renowned and beautiful crystal is made (unfortunately we couldn't afford to buy any of our own though!).



In Cork we visited the Walsh's for a BBQ to which the Glynn's (mine and Clodagh's uncle Conor, aunt Hilary and little cousins Conor and Ellie) were invited. It was a great night with all four kids (Conor and Keiran Walsh plus the two Glynn kids) getting along famously and the rest of us 'adults' having a brilliant catch up over a couple of bottles of wine. Oh and the Walsh's gave Johnny a Hurley for his birthday which he is very pleased with! Thanks guys!

The next day we headed over to mine and Clodagh's grandparent's house for lunch before Johnny and I drove back up to Dublin in time for the Football World Cup Final, leaving Clodagh behind to spend some time with our rellies down there. Thankfully the weather came right again on Sunday so it wasn't too bad driving back up!