Brought my family over to the Emerald Isle for vacation (or "holiday" as everyone here calls it). This is the first hotel we've stayed at that had a computer with internet access available for guests; all other places provided the access but not the computer. I'm beginning to wish I had bought a Netbook to bring with.

The "Giant's Causeway" is a national park on the northern coast where, millions of years ago, lava cooled the rocks located here into 6-sided shapes. Imagine an area of the coastline with hundreds of thousands of rocks, all 6 sided, averaging 2 - 3 feet across, and some of them are flush to the ground while others may be anywhere from 3 to over 25 feet high. Think of them as pillars which may or may not be buried. Anyway, people can climb all over them like walking on sand dunes along the rocky shoreline. Actually, there's not much of a shore here: you're walking underneath cliffs that top out at over 100 meters high.

This is the first time in years that I've taken the kids to see something natural and heard them utter the word "cool" to describe it.

Just a few kilometers away is the town of Bushmills. Can you guess what they make there? Right ... Bushmills Irish Whisky. After a tour of the distillery (at £6 per adult - they don't use Euros in Norther Ireland) you get a free sample of one of the different types of whisky that they make. I went for the "Distillery Reserve" which they started selling last year for their 400th anniversary being licensed to make whisky. DAMN GOOOOOD!!! Sadly, you can't buy it anywhere in the world - it's only sold at the plant; you can't even buy it in the liquor store down the street.

Belfast: went to "The Crown" tavern because it's decorated with wood, tile and timbers recovered from the Britainnic, sister ship to the Titanic, which shared the same fate as its more famous sibling. Unfortunately, they do a piss-poor job of promoting this fact in the pub, so there was nothing to take pictures of, let alone give us reason to stay and eat dinner there. The rest of the city reminds me of Gary, Indiana, only bigger. It's just as old and rundown-looking.

Today's plan is to hit downtown Dublin and then onto the ultimate tourist's destination: Blarney Castle. Tomorrow night we have a reservation to stay in a castle on the southwest coast. If I can get access to a computer there I'll give another update.

Almost forgot: rented a car and have experienced a few dozen roundabouts. They're not as bad as I expected, but almost got crushed by a small oil tanker truck who wanted to take the second exit from the inner lane while I was trying to get to the third exit from the outer lane. Other than that, no bad experiences while driving. And, NO I haven't screwed up and driven on the "American" side of the road - I've remembered to drive on the left side cause that's how they do it over here.

Later, gang!

Went to Trinity College to see the "Book of Kells". There are actually 4 of them on display - they are the 4 books of the New Testament written in in ancient Celtic language and have magnificent illustrations.

Here's a little about them: http://www.tcd.ie/Li...eritage/kells.php

Afterwards walked around downtown south and west of the college; there were people everywhere! It was like walking around an American college campus on a friday afternoon where every student was hurrying to get to the nearest bar. Dozens of pubs were maxed out, with overflows onto the roped-off sidewalk patios. Plenty of them had tables for roadside dining that had lines waiting for a spot. The whole area was just VIBRANT! It had life, it had energy, it just felt great.

Before that I dragged everyone to take a tour of the Guinness Brewery. At the end you get a complementary beer if you're of legal age. So I enjoyed a glass. My wife doesn't drink beer, so I enjoyed her complementary beer. My mother-in-law doesn't drink beer, so I enjoyed her complementary beer. THAT'S how to enjoy a Friday afternoon!

Tomorrow it's Blarney Castle to be typical American tourists and then onto the castle on the SW coast for an overnight stay.

Oh, and here's a link to the Giant's Causeway that we saw two days ago: http://www.northantr...useway_stones.htm

Flew over the ocean yesterday, although I was flying higher than the plane. See, since the wife works for the airline the employees take care of one another, and since the availability was there, the gate agent upgraded the whole family to FIRST CLASS!

WOW! Talk about the only way to fly: wide leather seats that recline like a La-Z-Boy chair, get a free toiletry travel kit, warm towels to wash your hands, a menu so you can order real food to eat, steel utensils, bread rolls, fruit, ice cream sundaes for dessert - and free alcoholic drinks!

Life was good! Correction: IT WAS GREAT!