Day Eight - Saturday, December 27, 2025
Today was our travel day and if my memory serves me well from our trip to Europe 11 years ago, those are the days of high stress. We were warned by Ryanair we needed to be at the airport three hours ahead of our flight so we planned to leave our Vauxhall flat by 9 am.
Typical Francesconi's not wanting any food to go to waste we ate the selection of leftover meats from our Christmas Day feast. Madelyn and Charlie didn't partake, but we did have some Belveta crackers, a few cold potatoes and some other scraps to make it a light breakfast.
Now was the tough part. Chazz couldn't get the Navy's approval to go to Ireland with us. So as we shut the door and headed to the Tube he threw his backpack on his back and headed for Sainsbury's to buy his nuclear engineering table British snacks. So sad to see him go, but grateful he could join the first half.
Our trip out to Stansted airport was flawless as we took the Tube to the train to the airport. Despite it's distance from London it couldn't be an easier commute. We arrived at the airport just over three hours before our flight. And while the airport was extremely crowded we easily checked our bags, cruised through security, and sat around the airport eating burritos, sipping Joe and the Juice and having another pint before taking off for Cork.
Our flight on Rynair to Cork was packed with families. Passengers walk on to the plane from the tarmac and board at the front and the back of the plane. I thought I ordered free waters with sparkle but everything has a charge to it. Seems to be a very efficient airline and everyone gets exactly what they expect.
After a quick 55 minute flight we head to pick up our rental car. This is where it gets a bit interesting. As a financial compromise we purchased the damage insurance to give Gary piece of mind driving throughout Ireland on the "wrong" side of the road, but to save a bit of money we went with a standard stick shift. Of course the one thing we forgot to factor with the stick was that Gary had to push it into gear with his left hand. So now he was driving on the right side of the road and shifting with his left hand. Ben was forced to be the navigator to Gary because he has great directional sense and the patience to guide Gary through the streets.
We made it out of the airport and through the city of Cork. Cork is the second largest city in Ireland after Dublin and our final destination was the Blarney Woolin Mills a quaint Best Western Inn just outside the Blarney Castle. It was light up for Christmas with a front facade decorated with snowflakes and lights. A digital Santa was projected on the front of the hotel. Inside our rooms were mini tea pots with the makings for tea and coffee. So we brewed a pot and snacked on shortbread and oat biscuits.
We wandered a few blocks over to the town of Blarney and stepped into the Muskerry Arms a traditional Irish pub for dinner. Our waitress Abbey was delightful. She proudly proclaimed that she loved where she lived and hoped to never leave. We agreed that it certainly was a magical place to live. She suggested several Irish dishes - Irish stew, Sheep's pie, roasted turkey and ham and bacon and Brussel sprouts. All arrived with mounds of potatoes and one came with potatoes and chips. It's a carb lovers paradise. We also began to dive into the different stout beers of Ireland. We drank Murphy's in lieu of Guinness and learned there was a third one to try Beamish.
The Muskerry Arms was starting to get crowded in the front and we were losing steam. We tried to walk around Blarney but it was dark and many gates were closed so we ended up back at the lobby of our hotel for more beers, whiskey and biscuits.
Tired but filled with our love for Ireland we headed to our rooms for bed.
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