Céad Mile Fáilte!

My first trip to Ireland dropped me off in the 'prettiest village' in the country, Adare.  The village of Adare is found in Limerick County, Southern Ireland.

After a sleepless flight from San Francisco (apparently I was a tad excited) resulting in having not slept in 24 hours, the immediate need to learn how to drive on the left hand side of the road with steering wheel on right and a faulty GPS System-my boyfriend and I made our way from the Shannon Airport to Adare. My was that an experience!

Upon finally enterring into the town of Adare, we pulled off to what we thought was our place of stay for the next week, Adare Manor. We actually took an early left and pulled into the Adare Manor Golf Course parking lot. We quickly rolled down our window and asked a gentleman leaving the course if we were in the right place.

We told him we were headed to the Manor. The first thing he asked us was "What room are you staying in? Make sure you don't stay in Room 13, it's haunted". This man was absoloutely serious. It took a few seconds (both of us operating on fumes) for us to realize he was pulling our leg. My boyfriend said "You're just messing with us, right?". The man quickly broke and began chuckling loudly, he then proceeded to punch my boyfriend in the arm and say "I am, it's just up the road!". And there we were, our first encounter with a local Irish native - what a way to kick off the trip. The warm, jovial sense of humor and nature of the man set the tone for the remainder of our trip.

We pulled into the Manor grounds (800+ acres of land) and we were in awe. Lush green grounds, ruins along the property, a river nearby, championship golf course on site and one of the most incredible buildings that I've ever seen, the Adare Manor House.

WOOT WOOT, Ireland Adventure, here we come!

Well, after a 2 hour power nap that is..