Highlights of my RS tour had to include the drive around the Dingle Peninsula. The weather was ideal, and the sun actually came out for a bit! BTW, temperature highs were in the 60s and lows in the 50s the entire time. During our walking tour of Dingle the day before, we encountered pouring rain; kudos to our tour guide and the local guide who got us out of the rain and into St Marys Church and then the ex-convent behind it to view incredible stained glass windows. Another highlight was the Rock of Cashel later in the trip. Description of that day indicated it was a steep climb to the top, but it was paved all the way and not very far. Our visit to Glendalough on our way to Dublin was also very interesting. We managed to tour Kilmainham Gaol upon arrival in Dublin. Incredible stories of what happened there, and I highly recommend you try to get a tour there when you're in Dublin. The walking tour of Dublin concluding with the Book of Kells Experience was also very nice.
I mentioned in part one of my report that one of my goals was to hear trad music. I'm glad I managed to get to the Crane Bar in Galway, certainly the best of my experience. The next night in Ennis there was trad music at the Old Ground Hotel where we were staying, and that was good too; as in Galway, the musicians gathered around a table facing each other. On our first night in Dingle the tour brought in a couple of musicians playing the uillean pipes and a concertina, respectively. Nice session. The next night when were on our own I went in search of trad music and found a session at Foxy John's, combination of hardware store and pub. Alas it was very noisy there and I could hardly hear the musicians, despite one of them being the guy who played the uillean pipes the night before. After awhile I left the pub and went down the street looking for more music; found some at the Dingle Pub where I heard a guitarist and fife player (is that the right term?) playing. Not exactly trad music, but okay. Perhaps there was more trad music playing later in the evening....
After the tour ended, I took a train to Belfast to spend a day. The train arrived at Grand Central Station in Belfast, not at Lanyon Station as described in the RS guidebook. I had booked a black taxi tour of the Troubles at 1 so had time to walk around the downtown area first. The taxi tour was quite interesting and I heard lots of stories from my guide. I was dropped off at the Titanic Museum. I had time before my timed entry to walk along the harbor all the way to the Pump House and back. The museum itself was a delight. Then I had to walk back to the train station, and didn't have time for dinner. But I wasn't hungry anyway because of the big breakfast I'd had in Dublin, so I just stopped at the Crown Saloon for a pint of Guiness; even at 6 it was extra crowded.
Sunday was devoted to Bru na Boinne burial mounds, which I had booked a timed entry to. Took the same train as the day before to Drogheda then summoned an Uber ride to the visitors center (previous reports indicated there were posts for taxis at the train station there but I didn't see any). The tour first went to Knowth and then Newgrange where you can go inside. Incredible architecture for something that ancient.
That evening I went on a literary pub crawl in Dublin, starting at the Duke Pub and ending at Davy Byrnes, where Leopold Bloom had lunch in James Joyce's Ulysses. Inside in the back is a display case of a first edition of Ulysses. Interesting narration and music! Nice pubs just off busy Grafton Street.