Sweet Endings
Party Time!
Two Farewell Dinner Celebrations
The fun was not over yet!
Our two nights in Belfast each ended with a fun-filled group dinner. The first, at the Europa Hotel Piano Bar, included a rousing song and dance performance with a little Irish history thrown in.
Fun loving Ginger and Randy were nominated to join the performance, with a quick lesson in Ireland's famous "broom" dance.
The second night, we walked to the trendy Coco Restaurant for our farewell dinner and a big thank you to Paul for his leadership throughout our 14-day Rick Steves' Best of Ireland tour. Returning to our hotel, Paul gathered us around in the Piano Bar for a final nightcap and a chance to share favorite memories.
Epilogue
The tour ended after breakfast the next morning. We stayed on and did a bit of sightseeing. It was Saturday, so we walked down to St. George's Market. It was a busy and fun place with a mix of locals and tourists. Items for sale in the huge hall included handmade arts and crafts, prepared food, fish and produce.
In the afternoon, we took the two-hour Aircoach to the Dublin airport where we stayed overnight. With all of the chaos in airports this year, we were happy to be close for our morning flight. As it turned out, our flight to London was delayed, and we missed our connecting flight. We were very glad that we followed Rick Steves' advice:
Pack light and limit your travel gear to a carryon suitcase and a backpack!
St. George's Market
Some Final Thoughts
I hope that you have enjoyed "taking this tour" with us. Putting this website together really has brought back so many wonderful memories. Yes, there is a lot here, because there was so much to see and do each day!
As promised by Rick Steves, the tour truly was:
maximum thrills per mile, minute and dollar!
And each day we had some free time to "do our thing," relax and enjoy a wee glass of Guinness. Sláinte!
We left Ireland with a deep appreciation for its cosmopolitan cities, the traditions that are still a part of town and country life and Ireland's rich cultural heritage and complicated and fascinating history.
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"Go rabid math agat"
Thank you to all who made this such a memorable trip!
Note: The group photos in this scrapbook were taken and shared by our fabulous guide, Paul Corken.
He captured the WOW moments, including our fun bog jumping and Ginger and Randy's detour to Bushmills tasting center. Paul taught us how to freeze the action to get our great hawk shots. He created and sent us a video slide show to help us remember the many sights and fun events of the tour.
I took the dessert photos at the top of this page at The Blue Haven in Kinsale and Benners Hotel in Dingle. The desserts were "sweet endings" to every wonderful group dinner.