Tapas in Tampa

I'm back in Tampa for the new year so I had to hit Ceviche for some (drum roll please) ceviche! I suppose there could be worse places to travel for work. The food here is good, sun is always shining, and its in the upper 60's in January!

Surrealism & Paella

We made it to the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg after work today. Its home of a great little collection of a variety of Dali's work and at $5 it was well worth the visit. After Dali we hit Columbia Restaurant, the oldest Spanish restaurant in Florida, and home of the best paella I have had in my entire 30 years of life! Every bite was perfection! The ambiance was spot on, and so was the 1905 martini complete with Cabrales cheese stuffed olives. Great night!

Pink Flamingo Madness!

Apparently I have a weird obsession with pink flamingos?! They make me smile so its a good thing they are all over Busch Gardens, which has to be one of the best amusement parks ever! The Tampa Bay aquarium was pretty sweet too, great sea horse exhibit!

3rd Favorite Team!

Florida has been a pleasant surprise so far! We went to the Tampa Bay Lightning game tonight and they killed the Maple Leafs! Tampa's goalie is amazing. So far the food here has been one chain after another. Had TGIFriday's tonight, never again! Can't wait to see what's next...

Jail, Jameson, and the Book of Kells

We woke up at the crack 'o dawn to check out the Kilmainham Gaol (jail). It was home to many famous political dissenters in the early 1900's. Very historical, but our troll of a tour guide was hung over or something! It was almost comical! After that we walked about 2 miles to the Jameson Distillery. We learned about the process of making Jameson, but it was just a bunch of exhibits, we didn't see anything "real" apart from the glass of Jameson they poured us at the end! The best, the very BEST, thing we did in Dublin was the Trinity College tour and the Book of Kells! This overcast picture is of the bell tower that holds a bell (they still ring once a day) from the 12th century! The picture is interesting because the tree on the side is 250 year old maple imported from Oregon! The Book of Kells, a 9th century illuminated Latin text of the new testament (housed in the campus library), was really very impressive!

Kilkenny to Dublin

We made it to Dublin in one piece! The area known as Temple Bar will be home for our last two days. Because its Sunday we did what all good catholic girls do and we went to church! St. Patrick's Cathedral was incredible! After church it was "time for a pint" so we went on a tour of the Guinness brewery. The main building is 7 huge stories in the shape of a pint glass! At the top they pour you a fresh pint (nothing they serve is older than 10 days) and you have a 360 view of the city. Barley, hops, water, and yeast never tasted so good!

Better than the Blarney Stone!

We went from Kinsale to Cashel to Kilkenny. Our B&B in Kinsale was "epic" as the Brits would say! If you ever find yourself in Kinsale you stay at the Perryville House! Truly top notch! Andrew the innkeeper keeps bees so there is real honeycomb at breakfast! After an assortment of fresh oysters, crab, and shrimp for lunch we hit the road to Kilkenny. Rick Steves advised us to skip the Blarney Castle (tourist trap!) so instead we stopped at the Rock of Cashel. St. Patrick baptized the King of Munster at this beautiful 12th century castle/cathedral. We were in and out of Cashel and on to Kilkenny, which I'm really enjoying. Its probably around the same size as Killarney, but it seems less touristy. We went on a phenomenal Irish music pub crawl and learned some really cool tidbits about Irish musical history. Angie plans to take up the fiddle as soon as we get back!