I went to Ireland in 2005, and relived that experience last week. There were a few differences, such as taking a regular tour rather than winging it, and taking a spouse rather than going alone.

There were several common elements between the two trips: Dining and imbibing at Nancy Hands pub in Dublin. Exploring the ancient site of Glendalough. Seeing the 19th-century splendor of Kylemore Abbey. And of course a visit to the Guinness Storehouse

And there was plenty of new: Waterford Crystal. Multiple Irish Whiskey tours. Clonmacnoise, another ancient monastic site. A sheep dog.

We planned a six-day stop in Iceland on the way home, but as the trip approached I just wasn't feeling up to it. It got trimmed to an overnight stay in Reykjavik, which left just enough time for a stroll along the shore and dinner. In June, it does not get completely dark at night in Reykjavik.

The guided portion of the trip was with CIE Tours, which does a lot of tours in western Europe. With one exception, we spent two nights in each hotel, so we didn't have to pack every night. The hotels were nice and the provided meals were usually pretty good.

Here is the complete day-by-day:

• Wednesday (May 28): Arrived in Dublin after an overnight flight from Denver with a connection in Reykjavik. Went to Nancy Hands for dinner. Stayed at the Ashling Hotel.
• Thursday: The tour officially started with a city bus tour, with a stop at the EPIC Irish Emigration Museum. Met our fellow travelers for an introductory drink at the Ashling.
• Friday: Left Dublin for Glendalough and Johnstown Castle. We had our only one-night stay at the Whites of Wexford Hotel. There was no AC, so we had the window cracked open and were able to hear wedding revelers until the wee hours of the morning.
• Saturday: Toured Waterford Crystal and Midleton Distillery. First of two nights at the Rose Hotel in Tralee.
• Sunday: Took a Jaunting Car ride through Killarney National Park, toured Ross Castle, drove the Rink of Kerry, browsed through Kenmare before returning to Tralee. There was a big motorcycle gathering in Kenmare that slowed traffic down quite a bit.
• Monday: Crossed the Shannon Estuary by ferry on our way to the Cliffs of Moher, stayed at the Radisson Red in Galway.
• Tuesday: Toured Connemara and Kylemore Abbey, had a sheepdog demonstration, returned to Galway for the Trad on the Prom show of Irish music and dancing. See a one-minute video of this experience.
• Wednesday: Saw Clonmacnoise and other sights along the way back to Dublin. Had another night of Irish music and dancing (more subdued) in Howth. Traffic getting to the venue was a nightmare. Stayed at Grand Canal Hotel in Dublin for the next three nights.
• Thursday: The tour officially ended with breakfast, but we had vouchers for two days for the Hop On, Hop Off bus, the original Jameson Distillery, and the Guinness Storehouse. We went to the House of Names in Dublin to find out about some Irish names, then toured Jameson. We saved the Guinness voucher for Friday.
• Friday: We had an early time slot at Guinness, so took a taxi rather than the very slow bus. There were two distilleries near Guinness, Pearse Lyons and Roe & Co., so we stopped at them.
• Saturday: Took a taxi to the airport and caught our flight to Reykjavik. After two crowded bus rides from the airport, we arrived at the Fosshotel Baron. We had enough time to stroll the shore and find a place for dinner.
• Sunday (June 8): We took an expensive taxi back to the airport rather than ride the bus again, caught our flight back to Denver, and started the drive back to Montana.

Click on one of the images to start the slide show. The images are in chronological order.


Glendalough, similar to a 2005 photo.


Rock walls in the west.


Whiskey