The Emerald Isle - Part 2

 The first two days in Ireland were an adventure with the Hillary family.  The third day we struck out into the Irish countryside on our own.

Read 'The Emerald Isle - Part 1' to see what we did the first two days in Ireland.

Thursday morning we got up early and had a great breakfast prepared by our hosts, Bernie and Ollie, at the Lisdoon Lodge.  We walked into 'downtown' Lisdoonvarna ready to catch an early bus to the Cliffs of Moher.  Our plan was to take a bus to the Cliffs, spend a few hours there, and then take another bus to Doolin for the afternoon.  But we waited at the bus stop and the bus never came.

We figured out that the bus we were waiting for doesn't run after August 24th, just under 1 week before; and the next bus going to the Cliffs that stopped in Lisdoonvarna didn't arrive for another 2 hours.  You can walk through the entire town of Lisdoonvarna in a couple of minutes.  We knew there wasn't going to be enough to keep us entertained until the next bus arrived, so we decided to walk.  There were signs indicating our general direction and we had a map.  We figured the best idea would be to follow the route our bus had taken 2 days earlier when dropping us off in Lisdoonvarna.

The roads are about as wide as the average car is long.  Many roads are even more narrow.  When two cars come upon each other, one driver has to find a small spot to pull off the road and let the other driver pass.  It can get even trickier going around a blind corner if the cars are speeding.  Needless to say we stayed vigilant on our walk.  Along the way we came across a couple asses who seemed to take an interest in us.

We walked about 3 miles to The Tweed and Woollen Centre - a great stop if you are interested in authentic Irish sweaters, but be ready to pay for the authenticity.  Down the hill from The Tweed and Woollen Centre is the coastal town of Doolin.  (A 'JTB' for ya: The McGann's, O'Connor's, and McDermott's pubs in Doolin are known to have some of the best Irish music in Ireland).  And another 3 miles past the town of Doolin is the Doolin Cave.  It was a tiring walk, but as it was such a beautiful day, we were lucky to get some great photos.

We arrived at Doolin Cave and ordered some lunch in the cafe while we waited for the tour prior to ours to end.  When it was our turn, we felt so lucky because we were the only two people on our tour so it felt like a tour made just for the two of us.  Our tour guide, Jim, took us 250 feet below sea level to the base of the cave.  Before we went down into the cave, however, we were required to wear these hard hats for safety purposes:

 Once we had the required safety gear in place, Jim took us to the belly of the cave and it was pitch black.  We felt a bit like we were spelunking in the Bat Cave for a bit.  We knew we were in the open area of the cave but that was about all we knew.  Jim told us he was about to turn the lights on and we would see a magnificent sight - he was certainly right!  Hanging from the ceiling of the cave was what is know at "The Great Stalactite."  It is the largest free-hanging stalactite in the Northern Hemisphere, measuring 23 feet long.  It was so incredible to see!

      

Jim concluded our tour and we were all set to walk back to "downtown" Doolin when he told us that he did not have another tour for 30 minutes and that he would be more than happy to drive us into the bus stop in Doolin where we could catch the bus to the Cliffs of Moher.  We said that was not necessary but he insisted, advising it was the least he could do. We gladly accepted the offer and jumped into his car for the quick ride to the bus stop.  He dropped us off and made sure that the bus actually stopped there before heading back, as he said he did not want us to be stranded and have to walk even more.  We checked the time table and let him know that the next bus was coming in 35 minutes and he wished us well in our marriage (we told him we are engaged, getting married next summer), telling us we were very well matched.  We thanked him for his kindness and tried to pay him, but he refused to take anything.  We waved to him and he was back on his way towards the cave for his next tour.  We sat enjoying the beautiful day and the sunshine when no more than 10 minutes later, who comes driving back down the road but our tour guide Jim!  He rolled down his window, told us that his last tour of the day was cancelled and that he would drive us to the Cliffs.  We told him we did not want to inconvenience him at all but he assured us that it was on his way home, so we got back into his car.  It was such a great ride because he gave us a bit of history about the area on the ride, so not only was he a tour guide of the Doolin Cave, but our own personal local area tour guide as well.

Along the way to the Cliffs, he pointed out the tower below and told us the story that it was once part of a castle and that the coast below was where the Spanish Armada was wrecked.  The 10-15 sailors/soldiers that survived the shipwreck went to the tower where they were captured by Queen Elizabeth I and then were marched to Lisdoonvarna (the town where we were staying) where they were hanged.  It was such a surreal story and especially surreal knowing that the grounds we stood on were a very rich part of history.

Shortly after stopping for those photos, Jim dropped us off at the Cliffs.  We again thanked him for his kindness and generosity and wished him well.  He is definitely someone we will never forget.  If any of you ever go to the Doolin Cave, ask for Jim to be your tour guide and send him our well wishes.

When we arrived at the Cliffs, we were immediately awestruck.  The Cliffs of Moher are such an incredible place that even these photos below will not do it justice.  The Cliffs stand about 650 feet above sea level and on a clear day such as the day we went, you can see for miles and miles.  We were so lucky and blessed with such beautiful weather that day.

There is a wall which you can climb over to walk along the edge of the cliffs with no gate to prevent you from falling.  Also, Jim told us on our ride to the Cliffs that taxis are not permitted to take anyone to the Cliffs alone after sunset.  This was very saddening to hear, and seeing these signs made us really realize how lucky we are to be so blessed in our lives, and also reminded us to be very careful.

That being said, we were very careful when taking these photos:

The Cliffs of Moher were probably one of the most magnificent natural wonders we will ever see in our lives.  As mentioned before, these photos really do not do them justice - they are absolutely breathtaking!

After we had walked along the edge of the Cliffs, we headed back and got some dinner in the cafe and then waited for our bus to take us back to our last evening in Lisdoonvarna.  We got back to the Lisdoon Lodge Guesthouse where we were able to speak with Bernie and Ollie about our check out time the next day.  As we were leaving quite early for Dublin the following morning, they allowed us to check out and pay in the evening and Bernie told us that they would wake up a bit early to make sure we had some breakfast before leaving.  We packed up that night and sure enough, when we were leaving in the morning, Bernie and Ollie were already up.  Bernie asked if we would have some light breakfast before we left and we told her we would love to, but we were running a few minutes late and had to catch the bus in town.  She told us to go ahead and sit down, that Ollie would drive us to the bus station since it was raining.  We obliged and when we left, thanked them profusely for their hospitality. They were amazing hosts and we would definitely recommend the Lisdoon Lodge Guesthouse for anyone staying in Co. Clare.

Well folks, this is where The Emerald Isle - Part 2 ends.  As we mentioned, there was so much to see and do and tell everyone about that we've had to split the blog into a few parts.

Stay tuned for Part 3 - DUBLIN!

We love you all and miss you very much!

The Emerald Isle - Part 1

It was such a great trip with so many interesting adventures that we split the blog into a couple parts.

The Emerald Isle - Part 1

About 3 days before we left for Ireland Dan's cousin gave him the email address of a relative who still lives in Ireland.  This relative had not heard from anyone in Dan's family for years and Dan didn't know if she even used that email address anymore.  Not really sure what kind of response he would get, if any, Dan emailed his relative in hopes that she would have information on the location of his great grandfather's home in Co. Clare.  Not more than 24 hours after emailing her he got a response in which she provided the names and phone numbers of several relatives who still live in Co. Clare.  One of those relatives was Breda Frawley, Dan's 3rd cousin.  It turned out they were just as eager to meet old relatives from the States as we were to meet them!

We arrived in Cork, Ireland on a Tuesday morning.  While waiting for our train from Cork to Ennis Dan called his cousin, Breda, who lives in Ennis, to see if she would like to meet us at some point during our stay in Co. Clare.  Breda was excited to meet us and offered to pick us up from the Ennis train stop and bring us back to her house for tea.  We weren't expecting such open hospitality from someone who had never even heard of us until 2 days earlier!

After a 2 hour train ride we arrived in Ennis and Breda was at the station waiting to greet us.  She drove us back to her house where we talked, ate, sipped tea, and learned about each other and the Hillary family.  We also met her husband Pat, a retired mason, who is helping one of their sons cover a cement wall in traditional Irish stone. (A 'Juicy Tid Bit' for ya: Government laws state that exterior cement walls must be covered in traditional stone so as to preserve the historic look/feel of Ireland...at least in the area where Breda and Pat live this is the law).  Before we left Breda and Pat, one of their sons, David, stopped by.  He heard that a cousin of his was in town and he wanted to meet us.  After a few hours spent with distant family who made us feel like long lost siblings, Breda drove us to the Bus station and we got on a bus towards Lisdoonvarna.

We spoke with the bus driver a little bit on the way, making sure that we knew which stop would be Lisdoonvarna so that we didn't miss it.  He asked where in Lisdoonvarna we were headed and we told him Lisdoon Lodge Guesthouse, a small B&B just outside town.  It was a bit rainy and he offered to drive a little bit out of his way in order to bring us closer to the B&B so that we wouldn't have to walk as far in the rain.  We thanked him for his kindness and after a short walk from where he dropped us off we arrived at our lodging.

Lisdoon Lodge Guesthouse

The Irish countryside view from our room

The next morning Breda picked us up from Lisdoon Lodge and drove us to Kilfenora.  Kilfenora is the town where the Hillary family went to church for generations.  We saw the original church of Kilfenora Parish; where Dan's great grandfather, William Hillary, was baptized.  Next to the old church is a cemetery where Dan's great great grandparents, Joseph and Anne Hillary are buried along with Dan's great Aunt Mary Kelly (Hillary).  (A 'JTB' for ya: it is common in small towns/Parishes like Kilfenora for the family to own one burial plot where several family members get buried.  When a person dies, they place the coffin on top of the coffin(s) of the people buried before them; one coffin collapses into another and family members are buried on top of one another.)

The old church of Kilfenora Parish and cemetery where Dan's great great grandparents are buried

The gravestone of Joseph and Anne Hillary

The headstone reads:

Erected by 

Jeremiah Hillary, Doon 

In loving memory of his father 

Joseph who died 13th March 

1929 aged 80 years Also 

his mother Anne who 

died 20th Feb 1924 aged 

84 years

R I P

Next, we met a couple more of Dan's family members in a pub near the church.  We met Joe Carroll, who would be Dan's grandpa Hillary's first cousin, and Joe's daughter Noreen.  Joe is 84 and still sharp as a tack with an impeccable memory.  Joe told us all about the Hillary family origins: how the Hillarys came to live in Co. Clare, how they became Bog farmers, and what became of the brothers and sisters of William Hillary (Dan's great grandpa) who stayed in Ireland.  We even got Joe on videotape, which was a really big deal for the family.  Joe is known for his memory and for telling stories of the family history, but he refuses to speak on videotape.  Joe's brother, Father John Carroll, once tried to get him to talk about the family history on tape, but as soon as Father John pulled out a video camera Joe wouldn't speak and actually left the room.  Lucky for us, Joe thought we were taking pictures of him instead of videotaping.  We didn't intentionally deceive him.  We actually didn't know about his aversion to being videotaped, and we thought he knew what we were doing.  Afterward we found out that we were the first people to get him on tape, but his kids were happy to have a recording of him so we didn't feel too bad about the misunderstanding.  After some tea, apple pie and a nice chat about the Hillary family history it was off to see the old Hillary property.

Joe brought us to the land where the Hillarys farmed Bog and raised their family for generations.  We saw the house where Dan's great great grandpa, Joseph Hillary, was born; also where his great grandpa, William Hillary, was born and raised until he was 23 when he left home for America.  The original house has since been redone, but we were able to go to the exact spot where the house stood.  The house is located in an area called Doon and sits atop a hill that overlooks Lake Lickeen and hundreds of acres of rolling Irish farmland.  (A 'JTB' for ya: Lake Lickeen provides drinking water for all of Co. Clare.)  The Hillary family may have been poor Bog farmers, but they had a million dollar view from their front porch!

The (now re-modeled) house where the Hillary family farmed Bog for generations

Dan's cousins (left to right): Noreen Talty, Breda Frawley, Joe Carroll, Dan Hillary

The view from the old Hillary farm.

After seeing the old Hillary home, Joe brought us back to their farm in Miltown Malbay.  The Carroll farm sits just 300 meters from the Atlantic ocean and has been in the family for more than 300 years.  We met Joe's wife Nellie, their son Michael, and Michael's children Joseph, Geraldine, and Nuala.  Joe and Nellie are retired and their son Michael now runs the farm.

While we talked, Michael called up his sister Frances who owns a B&B in Killarney.  Frances has a fairly extensive written history of the Hillary family, especially of William Hillary.  Frances was able to tell Michael who Dan's grandpa Hillary married and who Dan's Dad married and what number great grandchild Dan is (he is the 125th great grandchild of William and Margaret Hillary).  Dan was really excited about all of the Hillary history Frances had and she offered to mail us copies of everything.  The Carrolls also had a picture of Dan's great grandpa on their mantle.  It was a picture taken in 1972, which was the last time William Hillary, at age 92, visited Ireland before his death in 1977.  This was the first time Dan had seen a picture of his great grandpa.  It was pretty special.  (A 'JTB' for ya: August 22, 1972 was declared "William Francis Hillary Day" in Grand Rapids, MI in honor of his service to the city.)  After a wonderful day spent with the Hillary family it was time to go back to Lisdoonvarna.

Left to Right: Noreen Talty, Dan Hillary, Joe Carroll, Joseph Carroll, Nellie Carroll, Michael Carroll

That night we went into 'downtown' Lisdoonvarna and watched a local Irish band, The Coelan Band.  It was a quiet night in town and we were the only people in the bar for the first hour they were on stage.  We think our waitress told the band we were from the States because the first 5 songs they played were about leaving Ireland to travel to America; then again, in this part of Ireland a huge piece of history involves emigration to the States. (A 'JTB' for ya: over 112,000 Irish men and women left Co. Clare between 1850 and 1880 in search of a better life.  For a comparison, the current population of Co. Clare is just over 90,000).  The band was great and we wanted to stay later, but we had a big day planned the next day so we called it a night.

Downtown Lisdoonvarna.  Don't drive too fast you might miss it!

11 months out of the year Lisdoonvarna is a sleepy town in the hills of Co. Clare.  But during September the 'legendary' Lisdoonvarna Match-Making Festival draws thousands of singles from around the world in hopes of meeting their perfect match.

Hundreds of years before the Match-Making festival, Lisdoonvarna was famous for its mineral waters which were said to have healing powers due to the naturally high levels of Iron, Calcium, Magnesium and Sulfur.  You could smell the sulphur near this spa.

The next day we went to Doolin Cave and the Cliffs of Moher, but that will be in the next post...

Stay tuned!

Love,

Abby and Dan

IRELAND - T MINUS 1 WEEK!

The title again says it all - 1 week from today we will be in Ireland!  We are so excited for this trip and it will be great to see the country that was home to so many of our ancestors.  The first few days of our trip will be spent on the west coast of the country in County Clare.  We will be staying at a cute little B&B in a small town called Lisdoonvarna.  The plan is to rent some bikes and explore the countryside.  Our main destination to explore on this leg of the trip is to find the former home of Dan's Great Grandfather.  We know about where it is so fingers crossed we will be able to find it!  We also want to make sure we see the Cliffs of Moher.  After a few days spent in County Clare, we are taking a train to Dublin where will be staying at an old castle turned B&B.  Notre Dame plays Navy on that Saturday and we have a request in to a friend of my Dad for tickets.  My best friend and Matron of Honor Michelle Morrow and the Gary family will be in Dublin for the game so we plan on meeting up with them as well.  We likely will not know until the last minute if we will have the tickets, but there is a chance we will be able to go!!!!

In other news, it is now less than 1 year until our wedding and we've decided to start working out some more to be fit for that.  In the process, we're coming to realize that we really enjoy running!  It was unseasonably warm this weekend (90 degrees Fahrenheit) and very humid, but we stuck to our plan and got in a short run both days.  Yesterday, we officially signed up for an 8k run at the end of October to benefit cancer, so we will definitely keep everyone updated on our progress with that.

So much for promising to update more often!

Well, the title of this post says it all...apologies for not updating sooner.  The time just gets away from us and before we know it, a month has gone by since we updated the blog!

Since we've been back in Amsterdam after our amazing trip home, we've been keeping ourselves busy with our day-to-day stuff, along with planning trips and exploring the city more.  About 1-2 weeks after we got back here, we decided to bite the bullet so to speak and we bought bikes!  We are now "official Amsterdamers."  The bikes here are by no means fancy - we both have pretty much the same bike.  They have 1 gear, no hand breaks and we sit pretty upright on them.  When we got them, Dan told me that all he could think of was the music from The Wizard of Oz as Mrs. Gulch - aka the Wicked Witch of the West - bikes along.  The only thing missing is the basket on the front!  We haven't taken pictures of the bikes yet (sorry, this post will also be a bit lacking on photos), but when we do, we will make sure to post them.

For Dan's birthday we went to the Ziggo Dome for the Paul Simon Graceland concert.  One word: AMAZING.  It was such an incredible concert and we had an amazing time!  Our seats were in the front row of the 2nd ring, so we could see very well.  It was such an awesome experience, and when Lady Smith Black Mambazo from South Africa came out, it was breathtaking!

We also had a visit from my dear friend from Aquinas, Clara Yee and her friend Deb who works in the Peace Corps.  While we only got to see them for 1 day, it was great to be able to visit, as I hadn't seen Clara is probably about 5 years!  We took a walk around the shopping areas with them for an afternoon, and luckily the rain held off that day.

Our trip to Ireland is coming up at the end of August, which we are VERY excited for.  We will try to find the house where Dan's great-grandfather grew up and then for the 2nd half of the trip we will head over to Dublin and hopefully catch up with the Gary family - Michelle (Gary) Morrow is my Matron of Honor and best friend, so that will be amazing.  Notre Dame plays in Dublin the Saturday we are there.  Unfortunately we were not able to get tickets, but we hope to maybe tailgate and then will probably try to find a pub that is showing the game on television.

In other travel news, we have booked our flights for our trip at Christmas!  Destination: BERLIN!  We've heard so much about all that Berlin has to offer and have researched the "Christmas Markets" that will be all over the city while we are there.  We figured if we are not able to come home for Christmas, we might as well take a nice vacation!

To all of our Weatherhead family - we missed you all SOOOOOO much this past week at reunion!  We will be watching for photos and hope everyone had a blast.  It was rather sad this weekend knowing that we were missing all of the festivities.  However, Dan made a good point that at this time next year, we will be home for reunion and then our wedding will be right around the corner!

Well, that is all for now...we love and miss you all and are always open for any visitors!

Home Sweet Home

A HUGE thank-you to all of those who made our trip home so special!   We have arrived back in Amsterdam safely and are getting back into our routines again.

We had such an amazing vacation back home - family, friends, fun and lots of beautiful weather!  Our 2 weeks were very busy and went by far too fast.  We had a fantastic time at Abby's cousin Jill's wedding and were so lucky to be a part of Jill and Derek's special day and wish them lots of love as their married life begins.  It was a great opportunity to see as many of the Weatherheads as we could as well.

Speaking of weddings, we were able to get quite a bit done for our own wedding while we were home (many people have asked, so we figured we'd give an update).  We are starting to get more excited for our big day, even though it is still more than 1 year away.  We have been so blessed with help from our moms especially, but also for the willingness of our friends and family to help with the planning, since there is only so much we can do while abroad.

A few fun things from when we were home aside from the above mentioned wedding (which was a BLAST):

-Dan had his first experience driving a riding lawn mower while mowing the LaVoies' yard and loved each minute of it:

-We got to visit with all of our Grandparents - many thanks to all of them for everything they have done and for all of their support!  We wouldn't be where we are now without all of their prayers.

-We had our engagement photos taken.  It was a great experience!  However, it was a very windy night and the gale force winds caused the sand on the beach to put a bit of a damper on our comfort level.  On the bright side, we are sure the photos will turn out great AND we were nicely exfoliated by the sand pelting our skin!

- We were able to spend a few days at Dan's parents' boat in Grand Haven.  There's something so comforting and relaxing about sitting on the boat and feeling the rocking of the waves during the day and while sleeping.  After being away from the boat for so long, it did take a few hours to get our "sea legs" back though!

- Finally, many thanks to all of the below people for making the time to see us during our visit (aside from those previously mentioned):

     *Our welcoming crew at the airport: Grandma Rita, Aunt Sarah, Aunt Denise

     *Denise and Blair Dame

     *Mary and Chris Overbeek

     *Meg and Mike Novi

     *Mark and Jodi Richhart

     *Michelle and Chad (and Baby Brayden) Morrow

     *Aly and Nick Dondzila

     *Our colleagues from the Booking.com Grand Rapids office (special thanks to Kim Dryer and Ken LaRoche for organizing)

Last - but certainly NOT least - major thanks to our parents and immediate families for making our stays so great (and also for giving us places to stay!)  We are so blessed to call you family and you all made this vacation so incredibly memorable.  Words cannot express our gratitude for all the support each and every one of you has shown!  We love you all! 

LaVoies (Mom & Dad, Nate, Molly and Neil): 

Feel free to make up your own story of what is going on in this picture...

Hillarys (Mom & Dad, Monica & Bryan): 

This photo was taken for a campaign brochure for Dan's dad, who is running for re-election for Kent County Probate Court...RE-ELECT JUDGE HILLARY!

No comment necessary.

Thanks again to everyone!  We'll keep you all updated on our journey and are so glad so many of you are able to follow us.  Keep the comment coming - we love them!

"We are Family"

We had an absolutely MARVELOUS time last weekend, as Abby's sister Molly and Molly's boyfriend Nick were in town for a long weekend visit!  Words cannot express how nice it was to have someone from back "home" at our new home here on the other side of the world.  Yes, we are able to Skype with our families now and then, but it is a completely different thing actually have family with us.

Molly and Nick had a great time exploring the city while we were both at work last Thursday.  They were able to visit the Anne Frank House, go on a canal cruise, and take a tour of the Heineken Brewery (this was a huge hit with those two).  After they had a fun-filled day doing that, they met Abby for dinner and drinks since Dan had to work late.

On Friday, Abby had the day off of work and took Molly and Nick to go visit the Rembrandt House and Museum.  What a cool place!  The house is very much in it's original condition.  Here are a few shots of how Rembrandt's studio looked and some of the tools he used:

After a few hours in the Rembrandt House, we got lunch at a small restaurant right next door and walked around the city for a few hours until Dan got out of work.  At that point, we all met for drinks and dinner.  It was very cool for us to be able to introduce our colleagues to Molly and Nick, and also very cool for them to be able to meet people from all over the world.

Saturday was an absolutely beautiful day weather-wise (shocking!).  Molly and Nick actually lucked out, as the weather was mostly sunny during the time they were here.  The four of us went out the Keukenhof Gardens, about an hour's commute from where we live.  Keukenhof is a massive area outside of the city with flowers of all kinds everywhere you look.  It was absolutely beautiful.  Flower lovers, brace yourselves!  Here is just a sampling of what we experienced:

Naturally, we had to try on the giant wooden shoes!

Given the beautiful scenery, we couldn't resist snapping a few other photos:

Sadly, Molly and Nick left us early Sunday morning.  They had had a long European trip (they were in Spain and France before coming to Holland!) and we were so lucky to be able to be a part of their trip! We are hoping that perhaps they will be making a similar trip some time again (hint hint!).  

That is all for now; we are looking forward to our 2 weeks home in June very much. We will be arriving the afternoon of June 9 and are so very excited to see all of our family and friends in just a few short weeks!

Thanks again for all your love, prayers and support!