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Ireland 2024 Log - Day 6

Weather: Good weather today — partially cloudy and less wind.

Map showing two driving routes in County Clare and Limerick Ireland, from Ballybunion to Adare Manor in 1 hr 5 min and onward to Doolin in 1 hr 18 min.

Jump to day 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 or see Ireland 2024 Collection.

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Sunset over a field outside of Doolin.

Sunset over a green meadow near Doolin with a low stone wall in the foreground and ocean visible on the horizon.
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We walked from our cottage to McGann’s Pub in Doolin for dinner, Guinness, and music. All of it was delightful!

McGann's Pub and Restaurant in Doolin Ireland, a white building with green signage, seen from a road junction with a directional sign in the foregroundPint of Guinness with a thick creamy head on a wooden pub table, people in flannel shirts seated in the background.

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Checking in at the Cottage at Doonagore Castle for our stay near Doolin, Ireland.

Family of four smiling together in front of a whitewashed stone cottage with a dark slate roof in Doolin Ireland
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Tammy modeling her new Ireland made Jack Murphy coat found at Adare Manor.

Woman in a navy quilted coat with denim trim leans against a stone building, hands in pockets, looking to the side.
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This would be the perfect spot for a Kubb pitch at Adare Manor!

Manicured rectangular lawn set in stone paving within a grand grey stone manor courtyard with Gothic-style windows and iron railings
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Afternoon Tea at Adare Manor

Today we had a special event — Afternoon Tea at Adare Manor. The last time Mazie and I went to an Afternoon Tea she was three and it was in London. Tammy and Mazie have done a couple of them in Minneapolis but not as grand. It was Tyler’s first tea experience.

We had the 1 PM seating at the Manor in the Great Hall. The room lived up to its name completely. Both Tammy and I added an Earl Grey Bellini (Earl Grey & Apricot infused Peach Liqueur, Champagne) to our experience. We started with the special 1832 Blend that is custom to Adare Manor. I thought it was amazing. Maybe better than my favorite Earl Grey.

Grand hall dining room with vaulted dark-wood ceiling, crystal chandelier, large tapestries, set tables with pink upholstered chairs, and staff attending guests Elegant afternoon tea table set with silver teapots, a cup of brewed tea on a striped saucer, an Earl Grey Bellini in a champagne flute, and water glasses with lemon slices on white linen.

For the sandwiches we had: Baked Limerick Ham with wholegrain mustard; Free Range Egg Mayonnaise with asparagus, quail egg, brioche; Duncannon Smoked Salmon with caperberry, lemon gel; St. Tola Goat Cheese & Cucumber with goat cheese & cucumber roll, candied walnuts. I was the only one that tried them all and they were good.

Two-tier silver cake stand holding elegant finger sandwiches and open-faced canapés on blue-striped plates, set in a wood-panelled library dining room

Tyler got the “kids tea” (technically he was too old for it but they didn’t care). His tea included varieties of Hot Chocolate. HIs sandwiches included Nutella and Peanut Butter, Ham, Sausage Roll, and Chicken Arancini.

For the scones course we switched to Earl Grey Darjeeling. The scones were amazing. Mazie enjoyed the lemon curd so much that she made all of it go away. Mazie liked the Earl Gray a bit better than the 1832 Blend. Tammy thought both of the first two teas were okay, but found the white tea that we had as a digestif to be more her liking.

Silver tiered afternoon tea stand holding blue and white striped condiment pots on top and scones wrapped in a white linen napkin below

Deserts were amazing and included: Lemon cake, vanilla cream cheese, strawberry gel; Chocolate Guinness sponge, cherry, chocolate coating; Coconut mousse, sponge, lime curd, lime sable; Mango crémeux, mango jelly, apple compôte, mascarpone vanilla Chantilly cream, choux pastry; Raspberry cranberry mousse & confit, pound cake, almond sable.

Two-tier silver cake stand holding elegant petit fours including a pink glazed cube, striped cylinder, choux pastry, and chocolate truffle cake on blue-rimmed plates

For desert I tried a third and final tea — Tom Crean Vanilla. Tammy had the White Ginger Pear.

We had a fabulous time. The entire experience was incredible and very memorable. By far our favorite of the limited tea experiences that we have ever had.

Family of four seated at a white-clothed table with a three-tier afternoon tea stand in an ornate wood-panelled room with stained glass windows and bookshelves
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Last beach walk this morning in Ballybunion during low tide.

Footprints trail across a wide sandy beach at low tide, with green cliffs and a seawall in the background under overcast skies.Person in a purple helmet riding a dark horse along a sandy beach at low tide, rocky shoreline and overcast sea in the background.

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I am excited to see sync improvements to OmniFocus 4.3 for Apple Watch. The new watchOS app is very good but sync is always behind and makes it very difficult to use. Smart to use the iOS app as a sync speed up!

  • Sync – When a paired iPhone is nearby, the watch app will now download recent changes from that iPhone prior to syncing with the sync server. This makes syncing faster and more reliable when the watch doesn’t have a fast connection to the sync server.
  • Sync – The watch app now attempts to sync automatically whenever it detects that the iPhone app has newer data.
  • Sync – Sync errors are now automatically resolved by the watch app.
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It didn’t occurr to me that Ireland was going to have much longer days. We are used to Minnesota at 45 °N. Ireland is at 53 °N with over an hour of additional light. Still a far cry from Iceland at 62 °N and yet 5 more hours of light, but super noticeable with light well past 10 PM.