Ireland Tour

05/12 Saturday, Philadelphia to Newark to Dublin

Penny drove us to Bill & Val's for our 3 PM trek to the airport. Bill drove us to the airport in their SUV with a moderate amount of traffic, but we were there in plenty of time for our 4:45 flight. There were no bars within a reasonable distance of the departure gate to relax for the few minutes we had available, so we just had a beer at the pizza stand near the gate and we were off for the half-hour jump to Newark.

There was a big weather change from the hot and sunny Philadelphia to the cooler and overcast Newark. We were surprised to see the Foot and Mouth Disease disinfectant mats here going out of the country, but they were all over Ireland. Looking for something to pass the 3-hour layover, Bill and Val got us in the "Continental President's Club" for a free drink and a query to the bartender brought a dinner recommendation. The four of us got on the monorail for a stop and then caught the shuttle to the Marriott and we had a nice dinner with a couple of bottles of wine.

We were worried about passing time for the 3 hour layover, but now we thought that we might be a little time-constrained! Not to worry though, the timing was perfect as we got back to the terminal about a half-hour before the departure time and were able to board right away. The flight was uneventful and dinner was served during the first movie, we guess because Ireland is a little closer than the destination of most of our other European trips. Bill and Val passed on the dinner, but Clay and Pat picked at theirs and had some white and red ordinary California wine. Pat slept somewhat and Clay dozed off a little during each of the two movies and we both missed the breakfast, although it wasn't that much anyway.

05/13 Sunday, Dublin

The landing in Dublin was uneventful and with a moderate wait for the luggage, we passed through Irish customs quickly and found the travel company's representatives. Our tour guide Alacoque took us to our bus and we made the trip from the airport just north of the city to our hotel in its center. One of the first things you notice is that they drive on the left side of the road and the second thing is that all the street signs (most of them green) are in English and Gaelic! The Mont Clare is an old-style hotel with moderately small rooms, but nicely refurbished with all the modern amenities. It is located near a big park and Dublin's River Liffey that runs through the center. Anyway, we're glad to have survived another overseas overnight flight, the 12th one!

We were lucky to get into our room right away, the Clarks had to wait a little for theirs to be made up. Pat went to 10 O'clock mass at St. Andrews church in the next block and Clay walked to the river a half-dozen blocks away. There was a tall ship docked there that is a training ship accommodating handicapped crew members! Dublin has no subway but we were told it has good busses and trains. There are frequently located electric signs on the streets in the center of the city indicating the number of parking spaces available at area parking garages, a nice touch! Back at the hotel, we took a short nap and showered and felt a little better although naturally still quite tired. We brought our laptop computer to keep this diary and also to use for E-mail. In Europe, you need a converter for the AC power, and we've done this before with (mostly) success, but this time we also have a telephone jack converter for both here and France. Although Clay had his doubts, it worked! There are three AOL access numbers for Ireland, and of course Dublin is one, so we only have to pay the hotel for the phone calls.

Since it was still only 1 PM, we decided to try and find something light to eat. The first likely looking prospect was Reillys Bar, a couple of blocks from the hotel. It was obvious that this was a good place, as already inside having drinks were the Clarks! Most pubs and even the nice places and hotels have about 10 taps with three of them Guinness, and sometimes two of them the American Budweiser (for the kids). We had always heard that the draft Guinness here is better than what we get at Sweeney's Saloon back home because it doesn't have to be pasteurized, and it is better! But the best part is that a pint of the black chocolate stuff runs between $2.50 and $3. Bill bought us one and the four of us decided to get something to eat, but had to go upstairs to the adjoining Foley's restaurant. Actually Reillys and Foleys are connected and the bartender directed us to a shortcut out the front door and back in up the adjacent staircase with our drinks in hand. Pat had the first of many vegetable soups that we will both order all over Ireland. It is not what we usually think of as vegetable soup, being pureed with no chunks, delicious in all its many variants, except for the couple of times we got too many celery strings!

Although English is used everywhere, we were told Gaelic is still seriously spoken in some areas and most of the people are bi-lingual to some degree. Visitors are often greeted with "you are very welcome", it sounds like we just said "thank you!" Clay and Pat walked through the beautifully landscaped Merrion Park and admired the street artists' paintings on the park's periphery before heading back to the hotel. We crashed for a couple of hours waiting for the 5:30 meeting in the hotel lounge with the other people on the tour.

The meeting room was packed, so we will have a full compliment on the bus tomorrow. Drinks were on the house, well on Grand European probably, and about equally split between wine and beer. Actually, the tour is known as Far and Wide, as they are the parent organization with many subsidiaries in different parts of the world, and in Europe it's Grand European. Alacoque discussed tomorrow's times, the seat rotation on the bus, and not to order fancy drinks when we get away from Dublin! Hey, no problem with that last one! We sat with the Clarks and Dick Demchak, who got here a day earlier to avoid the jet lag.

There are many places to eat near the hotel and Dick, Bill, and Pat took a taxi and Clay and Val walked to Rubicon, a half-dozen or so blocks away. All agreed that it was a great place and we all had a nice dinner with a few bottles of Orvieto. The waitress was extremely friendly, affirming that Ireland makes absolutely no wine and recommended a pub down the street for after dinner Irish Music.

Opening the recommended pub door produced a sea of people, so we went across the street to Foleys, which was downstairs from our lunch place. It was mildly busy and we got our own table near the door. There was a very good singer with a guitar and we recognized most of the songs. After a few drinks, it became very crowded within a very short time. The singer didn't know much of our requested "Seven Drunken Nights" or "Four Green Fields", so we settled for "Wild Rover" with our table being the only ones clapping, but nobody else in the packed pub noticed! There was quite a bit of smoke here, and in general there is more than in the US, but not from the people on our tour. It was a full day and we expect a good night's sleep!

05/14 Monday, Dublin

We did have a good night's sleep and went down for breakfast at 7:15, but were told that it doesn't open until 8. The regular restaurant opens at 7:15, but we have a room for just our tour. Anyway, we went down at exactly 8 and were promptly standing in the buffet line for a good 15 minutes. The breakfast was fine, but tomorrow we are going to have to strike a happy medium.

We boarded the bus for the city tour and as expected, it was full! The first stop was on the other side of Merrion Park/Square to view the "Dublin doors" from the bus. Three sides of the park have beautiful Georgian houses with ornate brightly-colored contrastingly painted doors. A little further on, we stopped at the still Private Fitzwilliam Square, where the surrounding residents all have keys to the wrought iron gates, to see the doors up close including Tom Cruise's, well one in which he filmed a scene here, but supposedly taking place in Boston!?

Trinity (non-sectarian!) College has the Book of Kells, the lavishly decorated four gospel books of the bible hand-written in Latin by monks over 1000 years ago. It also is a research library with the largest collection of manuscripts and printed books in Ireland, with copyright privileges that allow it to obtain a free copy of all British and Irish publications, and presently has nearly three million volumes! The long room on the second floor is a working library with marble busts down both sides. It is also a museum of printing with many different forms of printed material, including a page from a Guttenberg bible and one of the dozen or so copies of the Irish Declaration of Independence.

We used some of the time before boarding the bus to go to an automatic teller down the street to get some more Irish Pounds, and we went into a bookstore and bought a Dublin Map. St. Patrick's Cathedral provided a photo stop, built in 1190 on the site of a 5th century church and reputedly used by St. Patrick. Continuing on past the adjacent other protestant Christ Church down to the River Liffey, the bus went up through Phoenix Park, an enormous grassy area near the center of Dublin, twice the size of New York's Central Park, and also containing the Dublin Zoo. It just went down the main road past the home of the US Ambassador and the President of Ireland and back out. From there, we went back toward the center of the city and down O'Connell Street, re-named in 1924 for Daniel "The Liberator" O'Connell, whose pock-marked statue is at the foot of the street. O'Connell was a popular Catholic lawyer elected to the British House of Commons in 1828, was also elected Mayor of (then Protestant) Dublin, and was influential in the early stages of Catholic emancipation. Here is the restored GPO (General Post Office), where the uprising leaders had their headquarters, the independence proclamation was read, and which was destroyed in the fighting. 2000 saw the erection in the center highway divider of the notoriously expensive sculpture of a reclining female figure, representing James Joyce's Anna Livia character, and affectionately renamed "The Floozie in the Jacuzzi."

The organized bus tour was over and the two of us got off on the other side of Trinity College from the hotel. Here is the Molly Malone sculpture, looking much like it is just there for the tourists who know the song, but what do you think we are? Dubliners call her "The Tart with the Cart!" We walked around and tried to find a place for lunch, walking into a few pubs, but the food was cafeteria style as a good many are, so we kept walking and looking. Finally, we ended up back near the park by the hotel and had to go a few more blocks on the other side as the park just has adjacent nice houses. We finally found Larry Murphy's, and had soup and drinks. There seemed to be a regular lunch crowd and one group of ladies gave us the impression that we were at their table! Darn tourists.

We got back to the hotel with a few minutes to spare before getting on the bus for the ride to Malahide Castle, a few miles North of Dublin. It was privately owned by the Talbot family for a thousand years before Ireland acquired it for back taxes. It was nice, with period furniture and family portraits, but we expected from its location (on the map!) that it would be a striking sight near the water. The last owner is still living and visits yearly from her home in Tasmania! The drive back was along Dublin Bay passing a golf course and into the city along the commercial shipping channel. Clay, Pat, Dick, and Val went down the street to the Ginger Pub and had a drink with some Sahara coated nuts.

We and the the Clarks went to the optional Irish singing/dancing/comedy show and dinner at one of the hotels on the other side of town. The food was tolerable and there were bottles of white and red wine on all the tables. We had to buy another bottle per couple and on the way out looked listfully at the nearly-full bottles on the adjacent tables! Clay bought a CD of the main female singer, Catherine Coates who autographed it for us. It has Crazy on it- we didn't know Willie Nelson was Irish! Back at the hotel, we had a drink at the bar before retiring for the night.

05/15 Tuesday, Dublin - Bundoran

The breakfast timing was much better today as we got there about 7:45 and had almost no wait. The seating on the bus today is crucial as we will be rotating seats, but not knowing how the rotation would be carried out, it probably doesn't matter. Anyway, we boarded just ahead of the Clarks about 15 minutes early with the bus 3/4 full from the front, and we sat down with the Clarks just across the aisle.

It started raining lightly as we headed west out of Dublin with a little traffic, but it didn't seem that bad considering the almost one million Dublin population. Ireland is beautiful with everything lush even for this early in the year, truly the "Emerald Isle". There are almost continuous farms all over with sheep in almost all of the green meadows. We got on a "Dual Carriageway" for a while, but there are mostly narrow two lane roads, even between the major cities. The morning activity was a stop at Carrigglas Manor, a restored Tudor-Gothic style manor house. Although Alacoque characterized it as somewhat run-down, we found it to be quite interesting and in
                   
not too bad shape, as our group split up into two and ours was shown through by the present owner Walter LeFroy. There is a lunch room at the bottom of the hill in what used to be the estate's stables and although they offered a good deal on soup, sandwich, and drink, we both had just the vegetable soup and a soft drink (!?) which was plenty.

Back on the road, we stopped for a photo opp at a former monastery at Boyle, actually only the walls of an obviously old structure, not that impressive without the accompanying history.

The Former Monastery At Boyle

After a quick couple of photos, there was a more lengthy stop a little further on at Drumcliff where there are some remains of another old monastery and the grave of the poet William Butler Yeats. After a short visit to the very comprehensive gift shop, we were back on the bus for another half-hour to our hotel in Bundoran, a resort town on the south side of Donegal Bay. There are a lot of stone walls in the countryside fields from old houses, churches, and whatever all over the country- they must not ever tear anything down. Maybe like us, they have a fanatical Hysterical (sic) Society.

Bundoran is a seaside town, and of course this is the off-season. After we pulled into the Allingham Arms hotel parking lot and waited on the bus, Alacoque went in to the hotel and came back with everyone's room numbers. We retrieved our key and after a trip through many corridors, arrived at our very fine room, got organized and headed down to dinner.

It was a typical European-Tour-Included-American-Dinner, i.e. what most Americans expect. It was perfectly adequate, but hardly what the locals eat. We got a couple of bottles of wine, and sitting with the Clarks, Dick, Tom, Jim & Kitty, had a good time.

Clay and Pat took a walk across to the bay side of the street and ran into Bill and Val. The beach right here is all rocks and seaweed, but since this is a summer resort, there must be a bathing beach somewhere nearby. We later learned that the beach was further North around the point. The town looks pretty much like a resort town, but is not very busy this time of the year, and since tomorrow's dinner is at the same place, we found an interesting looking restaurant that we will consider instead. There was a private party there, but also a few regular diners, so Pat asked if we needed reservations for tomorrow and what time they begin serving. They said we don't need reservations and to show up at 6 PM. A further walk shows the town to be like a resort area with the souvenir stores, a few video arcades, some with signs stating an age limit, suggesting (gasp) gambling.

We went down to the bar to check out the performer, with Dick already there, and Val entering shortly after. He played alternating Irish and American songs with the bartender commenting that he had an "American Accent"- we thought he has an Irish accent! He took a while between songs and we guess he wasn't that bad! He did do "The Irish Rover" with us again being the only ones to clap, but here there were mostly Americans on tours, so we didn't feel too out of place. Dick left after a few songs, Pat gave the singer a request selection which he ignored, and Clay left also after a few more. Pat and Val hung on for a few more songs and called it a night.

05/16 Wednesday, Bundoran

Again there was a "full Irish breakfast", but we weren't so sure initially. When we went into the dining room, there was only the cereal and juices out. Everyone was wondering, but the waitresses brought out plates of eggs, bacon, and sausages.

We boarded the bus (in our rotated seats) and headed around to the north side of Donegal Bay to Killeybegs, a typical fishing village. The countryside is beautiful, rural and especially striking is gorse, a spiny, tough weed with a bright yellow-orange flower. Most of the boats based here unload their catch on the mainland coast of Europe. There were quite a few real big fishing boats and our bus driver suggested that they were all in port because of a storm
       
there the night before. We had about a half hour and took a picture of the ships, but it was not a day for strolling around being windy and cold, so went headed to the Bay View Hotel for the bathrooms. While waiting, Clay had a half Guinness in the bar, although we don't think they minded us using the facilities. We then went to the gift shop and bought an Irish Pub Song Book.

The bus went further north, passing a couple of thatched-roof houses. It's not that they can't
       
afford anything better, but it seems to be a historic thing as they have all of the other modern conveniences. The bus stopped at Adara, a little town with the family owned and run Triana Tweed Factory. There was a demonstration on an old loom that was operable, but looked like it was purposely made to look crude with its ropes full of knots and the whole contraption looking like it would fall apart at any minute. Still, the demonstration was nice and the operator seemed to be making something useable. We didn't buy anything, but Val purchased two sweaters, one for a gift. Although still raining, Clay and Pat went up to St. Teresa's, a church just across the street with a multi-colored Celtic tombstone graveyard. We never realized that Ireland was so far north, and when we were looking at the graveyard, that was probably the farthest north we have ever been, being much farther than the North tip of Maine, about even with Northern Quebec! Another geographical note- the Northern tip of County Donegal is further North than all of Northern Ireland! It does stay light longer than we have ever seen, until almost 10 O'clock, and we thought that is mostly because we are next to a time zone border, but it is light early in the morning also, so it is the latitude that makes the day an hour longer! It would be great when you have a late tee time!

The Bus headed back on a very secondary and bumpy road to the main square in the center of the town of Donegal. Bill, Val, Dick, Clay and Pat went to McGroartys for lunch. Another group from our tour came in and got a table next to ours. While most of the pubs in Dublin have cafeteria type food, more pubs in the smaller towns have table service. Although a typical Irish pub, it had a no-smoking section! We noticed that there is more smoking here than in the United States, but probably not as much as most of Europe. We all walked around the town square looking in the stores, and buying a few souvenirs.

From Donegal we proceeded a little East to Belleek in Northern Ireland to the Belleek Pottery Factory. They gave a very nice tour walking among the people working who were prepared to answer questions and we saw the way the pottery is made from the molds to the finished product. There were two observations that almost everyone made, all the workers were very young and that nobody wore face masks in the obviously dusty factory. Pat bought a Christmas tree ornament of a colorful Dublin door.

Another half hour and we were back at our Bundoran Hotel where Alacoque held court in the lobby for payment of the side trips. There was a long line, so we went up to the room for a while. When we went back down, we tried to use the internet device in the lobby to do E-mail. Pat was only mildly successful with the touch-screen mouse being very difficult to use and the keyboard having to be struck real hard in the center of the key. Clay paid up and we said that we would not be going to the hotel dinner, and Alacoque was very grateful for the notice. Clay and Pat went next door to the Bird's Nest for a drink before heading back to the room where we got packed for tomorrows ride to Galway.

Clay and Pat walked to the restaurant in town that we found the previous day and Bill, Val, and Dick followed in a Taxi, but the restaurant was locked up tight. A car with three people drove up and we thought they were running the place but they were local customers and were surprised to find the place closed also. This gave us a warm feeling as the other three probably will not cut us any slack for picking a place that is closed! Finally Bill, Val, and Dick appeared in their taxi and we gave them the sad news. The taxi driver suggested The Marlboro, on the other side of the small town, took the other three there, and told us to wait five minutes. The same guy came back and took us there too. It was a nice place and we had a great time, although they didn't have our first two wine selections. Clay and Pat had a local fish we had never heard of- Plaise, and it was pretty good.

We called the taxi company after dinner and they sent the same guy to take us back in the same single car. It is a small resort town in the off season, maybe they only have one Taxi! Dick was paying the bill with his credit card, so Bill, Val, and Pat went and he came back for Dick and Clay. We went into the hotel bar expecting the singer to be there again, but wasn't performing that night. It was no problem though because our driver Liam was there and we had a great time with him. He introduced us to the owner and one round was on the house. Hey Liam, what are you doing tomorrow night in Galway?

05/17 Thursday, Bundoran - Galway

It was an early rise today as the hotel breakfast was at 7 and we were on the road at 8, so it was a pretty long and sleepy ride to Knock where the apparition of the Virgin Mary, St. John, and St. Joseph appeared in 1879. There were 15(!) official witnesses, men, women, and children of various ages for two hours in the pouring rain. The witnesses were examined six weeks later and found to be trustworthy and satisfactory. Another commission was set up in 1939 to examine the three surviving witnesses and the verdict again was favorable so it was finally recognized by the church in 1979 during a visit by Pope John Paul II. We visited the church on the site of the apparition, the adjacent apparition chapel, and the ultra-modern spacious Basilica. The surrounding grounds were sizeable, but smaller than some other shrines that we've been to such as Fatima and Czestochowa. Since we were there early in the morning, we had the place virtually to ourselves and we covered the sites in good time. This was the origin of the rosary that a lady gave our great granddaughter Alyssa back home, and Pat bought rosaries in an adjacent gift shop.

The bus wound further Southwest and we saw more fields of peat turf cut in bricks and set out to dry. It is still used for home heating, but we guess that it mostly supplements more conventional heating fuels, and is used in reconstructed historical tourist houses. It was still windy and cold although the rain had almost stopped, as we made a photo stop approaching Lough Corrib. Continuing further East through spectacular valleys with high hills containing meadows full of sheep of all sizes and with the yellow Gorse all over the place we went through the town of Cong on the Mayo-Galway border. This was the setting for the film "Quiet Man", and we went by Cohan's Pub ("We call it Co´-hans over here") where Barry Fitzgerald's horse automatically stops in the movie! There is a re-created house for tourists like the one in the movie. The bus went along Ireland's only fiord at Killery Harbour and arrived at Kylemore Abbey, in the shadow of
                the surrounding mountains right next to a lake. It provides a spectacular sight and was a private home built like a castle, but it became the present day exclusive girl's school. Pat bought a pair of earrings at the Connemara Marble Factory stop back on the road to Galway. One of the owners gave a short talk on the different kinds of marble they use to make the jewelry products available in their store. Being right on the way and with a mini-museum and toilet facilities right across the street, it was a natural place to stop. We are starting to see a little more cattle and horses and a few less sheep as the land gets flatter.

Alacoque said that since the hotel was out of town and we are only staying here one night, the bus went through Galway (Pronounced Gaulway!) for a glimpse of the town. When arriving at the hotel, she said that it was a 10 minute walk to the center, but the desk said it was a half hour. Clay, Pat, and Val set out mostly downhill trailing two other couples from our group, and with help from a trio of men, we found the center of town. There is one main pedestrian mall-type street with all the tourists and we covered it, up and down and had a drink at the Kings Head. The Taxi back took only about 5 minutes, but it was all uphill, so well worth it.

Dinner was in the hotel and there we were really rushed as they had other tour groups to take care of, but the food was pretty good. It also was a little difficult to get the wine list (and wine), but we persevered. For a hotel the food wasn't too bad, Clay especially liked the lamb, but that meal didn't do too much to deplete the sheep population! After dinner, Clay and Pat went for a swim in the hotel pool. They say it was an Olympic sized pool (long!), and we also went into the spacious hot tub between the two laps. We met the Clarks for a drink in the Hotel bar before calling it a relatively early evening.

05/18 Friday, Galway - Killarney

We had another early rise today with breakfast at 7 and on the road at 8 again. The weather alternated between sun and rain while making our way along the south coast of Galway Bay with snaking roads providing great bay vistas. When we got to the Cliffs of Moher along the Atlantic Coast, near the mouth of Galway Bay, we were glad to see a little clearing. The Cliffs are a spectacular sight with bird-infested shear sides rising 230 meters with an observation point straight from the parking lot and a walkway parallel to the cliffs taking you to the highest point. An eccentric local landlord Cornelius O'Brian built a lookout tower at the top so he and his guests could see the cliffs in comfort! It was horribly windy which made the visit quite uncomfortable, but still breathtaking. With the conditions there, it there was plenty of time to see them thoroughly, and nobody was unhappy to get back on the bus.

We went directly South still along the coast for the most part with spectacular views on scary coastal roads. There are B & B signs all over the place with someone mentioning one of them (actually all of them once you begin to notice) had a trailing "en suite" phrase, and Pat said that all of our stays have been "en suite". Alacoque said that it just means you have a private bathroom! We got in line to wait for the ferry to take us across the River Shannon as it was about half way across, and coming back to us. It looked like there was a pretty sizeable line of cars, and the ferry didn't look that big, so we were worried that there wouldn't be room and we'd have to wait for it to take another trip. The group was worried, what about Alacoque? But we only filled it about half full. It was only a 15 minute crossing and we just had time to go potty and to go upstairs for a quick peek at the view, before having to get back on the bus. There was a nice view, but we've become use to great scenery and this was ordinary by our new standards!

Continuing onto the town of Listowel for a lunch stop, there was nothing spectacular. It was a nice little town built around a town square (maybe it was a triangle) with an old church in the center. The five of us went into The Maid of Erin where there was a cafeteria food line. We sat a while before we realized that and ordered drinks from the bar and finally got soup and sandwiches. There was a literary theme to the pub, and in fact to the entire town with quotes from various (we assume Irish) authors embedded in the town square stone pavement.
       
After lunch, we went further south through Tralee and then west on the Dingle Peninsula to take in the views of Tralee Bay on the North and Dingle Bay on the South. It is very nice with the mountains of the peninsula contrasting with the Bays. Being hilly, there again are a lot of sheep in the fields. Alacoque also mentioned that there are surviving "poitin" stills making a moonshine from potatoes, and now they are harder to catch because they use propane tanks for fuel instead of a smoky peat or wood fire. Continuing on to Killarney, we passed through the town of Castlemain, prominent in the pub song "Wild Colonial Boy". The song makes it seem bigger than it is! Alacoque held a drawing and Bill won a bottle of wine which he promptly disposed of (with our help) after dinner.

We took a short walk before dinner and looked through the souvenir stores nearby. We are right in the center of Killarney with stores (and pubs) all over. Dinner in the hotel was pretty good despite being a buffet. On the way in, we ordered wine from the bar although it wasn't necessary to do that, but we're paranoid from being rushed in the Galway hotel the previous night.

It was an early dinner and since the music in the hotel bar didn't start until 9:30, we headed out to find a pub that had music earlier. The best we could find was 9:00, so we went back to the Clarks' room and had some wine and snacks, including the bottle that he had won in the drawing earlier in the day. We got to the packed hotel bar about 10 and the musicians hadn't started yet, but did right after we got our drinks. They were just what we wanted with the four of them playing the same kind of songs that we liked, including Pat's "Mermaid Song" request. The bar got very packed initially and thinned out after the first set, but was still quite full when we called it a night.

05/19 Saturday, Killarney

We went back about 20 miles in the direction that we came from yesterday to see the "Kerry The Kingdom" presentation in Tralee. We had passed by the museum yesterday on the way to our hotel in Killarney. It is in a sizeable museum, and consisted of a slide show, dioramas, artifacts, and stories from the area and Ireland. The featured exhibit is on the ground floor, where you board carts (Alacoque aptly called them "tubs") that rode around to view exhibits of history of life in the area. The exhibits were good, but we thought the entire museum visit was just so-so, with the rides more suitable for the kids, and maybe we should have gone directly to the Ring of Kerry. We were almost as interested in what was propelling the carts as the exhibits. They were on strips level with the floor and must have been operated by magnetism. Maybe our subdued interest was due to the fact that the audio in our cart stopped about halfway through. We told the attendant, and she thought we were complaining and said we could have another ride, but the offer was declined of course and we told her that we just wanted to report the problem for the next riders.

The bus then took us south and then west on the Ring of Kerry peninsula with gorgeous vistas of the bays on each side and the Atlantic Ocean at the end. We had a number of photo and viewing stops along the way. The peninsula is mountainous and provides great vantage points with the mountains going steeply into the water.

We stopped for lunch at the Scarriff Inn on the tip with a dining room affording great views of the ocean and offshore islands and rocks. The food line was cafeteria style with some dishes being brought to the table after we were seated. As outside, there were terrific views from the spacious windowed dining room. After lunch, the bus continued the circle on the south side with more views of the same, then ran inland through Killarney National Park in between the mountains with its lakes and back to our hotel in Killarney.

They took a group picture back at the hotel in the lobby and Pat went to an Internet cafe to check on her E-mail (and our GE stock!). We had to eat early because of the folk show, and Val checked out a couple of restaurants that Liam had recommended and thought that Gabis looked the best. Pat and Clay walked there and Bill, Val, and Dick followed in a Taxi. When we met the other three they said that Gabis didn't open until 6:30, so we went in Foleys next door. There was nobody in the restaurant, so we had a drink and they seated us in the bar area and gave us menus. Well, this must be the way they do it in nice Irish restaurants, because they did the same thing in Bundoran. So we ordered and they let us sit there while other people were being seated! We had a little bit of a time constraint, and since our table was designated, we finally got up and sat at the table, still not sure about the ordering before being seated bit- we just wanted to break the code! With all that, the meal was very nice. Clay had a local fish "John Dory" which was very good.

However, the meal took quite a while and we had to hustle to make the bus for the ride to Tralee and the San Am Fadó folk show. Presented by The National Folk Theater of Ireland, it was very well done, showing Irish countryside life with four acts, one for each season of the year, and an intermission after the second. The mime, dancing, and singing (in Gaelic) illustrated life as it was in olden times. We had a program with a few short paragraphs on each one of the seasons, and the performers were very good, but we felt that it lost something because the Gaelic singing can't be understood! It was a long day, and we dozed on the bus ride back to the hotel and turned in for the night.

As in most European countries, soccer on TV is a great sleep aid, but here you also have Hurling and Gaelic Football! Hurling looks like soccer, except you carry a sawed-off canoe paddle and hit the crap out of a baseball-sized ball or bounce it on the paddle while you run. Gaelic Football looks like Rugby, and probably has some rules, but we didn't see enough of that to figure any out!

05/20 Sunday, Killarney - Dundrum

We were up a little early, and there was both a phone and the TV wake-up call. Clay tried one of the "peat bricks", a dark shredded wheat-looking biscuit that seems to be available at all of the hotels. It wasn't the shredded wheat that we are used to and got very soggy in the milk, but it was something new! Alacoque later said that it was wheat. The bus seat rotation scheme puts us in the front seat on the left, behind Alacoque. Again we had a nice ride on (again) narrow roads passing roadside stones, some with elaborate figures such as fish and a unicorn. The land here is real flat and the animals are now mostly cows, dairy and beef. We made our way into the parking lot for Blarney Castle.
               
With our front row seats, we were first off the bus and followed Alacoque up to the kiosk while she paid for our admission, although by then there were a number of the other people who had caught up to us, and we waited for Val there. It is a little bit of a walk and there are 118 steps in the castle, so Bill and Dick stayed in the bus area. The grounds are very nice and we made our way up to the castle which was a pretty good climb in itself. It was still early, and we had nobody in front of us as we climbed the narrow circular stone steps. There were a dozen or so ahead of us in line, but it only takes a minute or so for each. It isn't that you have to hang over the edge, but you have to arch your back because the face of the stone you kiss is vertical and in back of you, not horizontal over your head as we expected.

The walk down is even tougher in some respects as the passageway is narrower and a tighter circle and there is no room for a railing and just a rope down the center attached to the stone. As we have lots of time, the three of us decided to walk around the grounds and look at the foliage, pausing at a tree where a horizontal limb has grown into another limb. After getting some postcards at the entrance, we walked back to the parking area. Bill and Dick had plenty to do there because there is the Blarney Woolen Mills, a huge store with many separate areas that could pass as a mall without walls.

We cruised through the entire store(s), with the usual souvenirs, Irish trinkets, tee shirts, etc. But there are sections with fine clothing, jewelry, Waterford and other Irish Crystal, Beleek Pottery, Guinness Rugby and Soccer jerseys, etc. Pat finished the shopping for the family, bought a Lamb's Fleece jacket and eight red and eight white Waterford Crystal wine glasses and had them shipped. We are going to Waterford tomorrow, but Alacoque mentioned that the crystal is the same price all over Ireland. Hmmm! Dick and Clay had a Murphy's Stout in Christys, the adjoining pub, this area favoring Murphy's, although Guinness is available all over. The five of us then went over to the adjacent Mill Restaurant cafeteria for a light lunch with drinks, Clay trying another Stout, this time a Beamish. Murphy's and Beamish are popular in this area with both of those breweries located in the nearby city of Cork.

The bus filled up on time- It was amazing, disgusting even, everyone was on time, almost all the time, even when people got comfortable with each other! It kind made you not want to be the first one late! Here there are almost no sheep, but still a lot of cattle and a few more horses. A quandary- all of the breakfasts feature thin slices of ham (they call it bacon), but you never see any pigs. We found out that they are kept indoors all their lives, and we wonder if there is an Irish SPCA! The bus stopped at Paddy and Margaret Fenton's dairy farm, in Paddy's family for many generations. Paddy was very good at holding court in the old homestead, built in 1684, where he and his progenitors were born, but fixed up very nice as far as we could see. It was
     
a difficult time squeezing everybody inside, with Bill, Val, and Dick only in the doorway. Paddy gave a half humorous, half serious talk about the farm being run by his family for many generations. Outside, he discussed farming and how it has changed over time to the modern methods that they use today. The group then went in to the main house, very nice, obviously newer than the other, but still pretty old, for tea/coffee and scones. Scone aficionado Dick said "Scones? Well twist my arm, will ya!" But even we thought these were great!

We continued on to our hotel at The Dundrum House, a very old building on a modern golf course. The building was a forested estate built in 1730 and was used for various religious groups starting in 1909 and also as a domestic college. After undergoing extensive renovation and restoration, it was opened as a hotel in 1981. However, the AC voltage converter for the PC works like it should as soon as you plug it in! At most of the other Ireland stops, it would have to be plugged in for a long time before working. We even inquired about purchasing another back in Killarney, but they weren't available, and that didn't seem to be the problem so it was just as well! Clay, Pat, and Val walked around the grounds visiting the pro shop, golf club bar, and fitness center. The three of us then met Dick and Bill for a drink in the cozy hotel bar.

We had our own table for dinner in the hotel dining room. There was a limited menu especially for us, but it was very good with a better wine list than what was available from it! We looked for a desert wine, but there was nothing (even on the list), so we all had Irish Coffees. The five of us then met for some wine and snacks in our room with Irish music played from CDs on our laptop (including Charlie Zahm's and Catherine Coates' from the Dublin Irish show.) It was a good thing that the people in the room next weren't on our tour!

05/21 Monday, Dundrum

The itinerary stated that we were going to the Rock of Cashel, but Alacoque said that we were going to visit that when we go back to Dublin and we would just be going by it on the way to Kilkenny Castle. We had a very nice guided tour of the castle, originally built in the 12th century, but most of the present day structure is only a few centuries old! The reception hall is on the ground floor, and everybody climbed the stairs to the second floor and saw the bedrooms. We continued into the drawing room with the portraits. All the little boys in the portraits were dressed in girl's clothes because boys would be kidnapped. Hey, we would be comfy with that! The group then went down to the ground floor to the dining room, an extremely long room with many tapestries and portraits. It was pointed out that the makers of the tapestries purposely put imperfections in them because only God is perfect. An example of this is the six toes on one of the figures.

In most of the public attractions, we have had to walk across a disinfectant mat because of the foot and mouth disease, but this one was so spongy and wet that people in sandals had to walk on the grass to keep their bare feet from getting wet! This is the first place that we were unable to buy postcards of the attraction.

The bus took us to the Waterford Crystal visitor's reception area, and we all went into the cafeteria restaurant for a small lunch. We were first in line and got a bottle of wine for us and the Clarks and Dick who came shortly after. The museum was very nice with pieces that were awards to famous people and photos of the presentations. The adjacent large retail area was very busy with many different kinds of crystal in a jewelry store setting. We then got back on the bus for the short ride to the factory where we were split into two groups and were shown a slide show of the globe used at the millennium new year in New York and proceeded on to a wonderful guided tour of the glass blowing, cutting, and engraving functions, although it was little noisy and difficult to hear. There is usually an apprenticeship of 5 years starting at age 16, and then a number of years of experience before becoming a "master". It takes more experience for a master cutter that does the smooth surfacing than there is for the faceted. We walked back to the visitor's center and bought a copy of the picture they take of all five of us. Surprise- there are postcards for sale, but not of the factory, showroom or museum!

The ride back to the hotel was uneventful, and Alacoque mentioned that it was only a 5 minute walk into the town of Dundrum. Clay, Pat, and Val set out for the 25 minute walk to town and found The Olde Kitchen and Berties Pub around the corner from each other. We chose Berties and met Fred and Nell Connolly from our tour, and a couple from Canada in the tiny pub. After a couple of drinks, we went out the side door (which was The Olde Kitchen!) and walked back to the hotel. Again we had a marvelous dinner and afterwards, the five of us went into The Venue, the bar in the modern building attached to the golf course for drinks before going to bed.

05/22 Tuesday, Dundrum

     
Pat and Dick played the attached golf course with Dick having the round of his life and trouncing Pat badly. The golf course is not a "links" course as would be expected; it is very similar to an American style course with the rough not very thick. The greens varied in size from very small to medium and were very fast. There was a lot of sand and some tricky water to hit over with only three par threes and two fives.

Clay went on the optional tour to Bunratty Castle and Folk Park with Bill and Val. There were 43 people, just missing Pat and Dick and the other three men golfers. The bus started out on the road to Tipperary but there was construction right in the part of town that we needed, so we followed the "Diverted Traffic" signs behind a big tractor trailer over many back roads until we ended on the main road on the other side of Tipperary. So today at least, "It's a Long Way to Tipperary". We continued on into Limerick and had a Frank McCourt tour ("Angela's Ashes" author) seeing the street that he grew up on, his school, church, and the docks where he foraged for dropped coal. We continued on to Bunratty just a couple of kilometers before Shannon Airport. The bus let us off in the parking lot adjacent to the park and we went in with Alacoque.

When we were all in, the group with Clay and Val followed Alacoque to the castle with Bill hanging behind since he was here on his last Ireland trip. There was a guide showing the two main rooms, The Main Guard and the Great Hall. Clay and Val climbed up to see some of the other rooms and ended up at the top where there were some good views of the surrounding countryside and the River Shannon. Val went to find Bill, and Clay looked around at most of the buildings in the folk park. They range from the landless laborer's one-roomer to other farmhouses, and the landed gentry's mansion. Part of the park consists of a reconstructed village schoolhouse, doctor's office, a Church, a Pub, and stores. There was also a vertical (conventional) waterwheel and a horizontal waterwheel, with the latter not requiring a complicated gearing mechanism to turn the millstone.

Clay hooked up with Bill and Val at Durty Nellies, just outside the castle and the park area, billing itself as the oldest Pub in Ireland (another one!) We all had a pint of Guinness and then Clay and Val went across the highway to a gift shop in the adjacent Blarney Woolen Mills shopping area. Clay and Val picked up Bill and we made our way back across the street and down to the bus. Along the way, Marlene Swan fell and scraped her hand and twisted her knee and had to be pushed on the next day's tour in a wheelchair. The bus went to Kathleen's Irish Pub in the adjacent Bunratty hotel for the included lunch, although the drinks were certainly not included!

On the ride back, the bus went by King John's Castle right in the middle of Limerick, built in 1197. Alacoque also pointed out a couple of "traveler" settlements, itinerants living off the dole with large families, getting subsidies and apparently sanctioned by the government, but not too popular with the other residents. We heard about "travelers" in the same tone from a number of the natives! Liam got off the main road before the traffic problem in Tipperary and took
             
some back roads to the hotel. We were having a pre-dinner drink in the bar and Dick came down and was congratulated on his great round of golf today. Bill and Val also came in a while before we went into the hotel dining room for another great dinner with a free glass of wine. After dinner there was music in the bar for our group. There was a guitar and keyboard and with two guest singers, one the hotel owner Austin Crowe, and the other Vicki from our group. Both of them were pretty good, with Austin doing the Irish Ballads! Since we had heard only a couple of Irish songs, after the American National Anthem, Clay figured that was the end to the Irish songs and he went up to the room. Pat and Val hung in there and there were many more Irish songs.

05/23 Wednesday, Dundrum - Dublin

We got news at breakfast that the bus will be getting off a little late because Rose Barrett had a stroke coming down the stairs of the hotel and is to be taken to a hospital in an ambulance. Clay and Val saw her fall in Bunratty Castle yesterday and the guide came to her aid, but she said she was OK. We learned later today that she had a very serious stroke and will be hospitalized for at least 10 days! The entire group wishes her well.

We were only about 20 minutes late leaving and back tracked to visit the Rock of Cashel, a high ground fortification. It is a very imposing high hill sitting right next to the town of Cashel, the name being the anglicized version of the Celtic Caiseal, meaning "Fortress." A guide gave a short talk on its history in an out-building used as a museum and gift shop. It was first used in the 4th century and had numerous occupying clans. The most prominent building is the 13th century ceiling-less gothic cathedral with 16th century tombs, and a round tower on one corner that was built with precisely cut stones and no mortar. Clay took a walk outside the grounds and got a good view of the remains of the 13th Century Hope Abbey, a typical roofless stone structure in the center of the lush farmland.

The next stop was the Irish National Stud in Kildare. We had thought that this may be cancelled because of the foot and mouth disease, but they have really been on top of it and in addition to the people mats, busses and cars frequently pass over them also, and vehicles are stopped and sprayed on the road. The reception area has a restaurant and both serve both the Stud ("farm" is understood!) and the adjacent Japanese Gardens. The five of us went through the cafeteria line for a light lunch and some wine. The wine generally available can come from anywhere and is usually quite acceptable, but here the red was a California Blossom Hill (Gallo) non-varietal, and was terrible!

Our guide set a pretty good pace and showed us around the farm. He had a good sense of timing and provided the expected one-liners at the proper times! We first saw a couple of small horses that looked like ponies, but we were assured that they were the smallest horses in existence and were full grown, assuming that he meant that the breed was the smallest in existence, not any individual horse! One of them was obviously pregnant- they don't call it the Irish National Stud Farm for nothing. Then we walked briskly to see some (full size) mares and their colts running in fenced fields. He explained that no artificial insemination is allowed of course, and nature still does the best job. We also saw the stallions in their fields, one per field as each of the 10 or so thinks that he owns the place and all of the mares! He also mentioned that they take a mare that they think might be ready for mating past the stall of an ordinary "teaser" horse to see the mare's reaction! Then if she reacts properly (!?), the mare and stallion would be put through the delicate procedure to determine if mating is possible, pointing out the kick board that is kept between them so the mare doesn't kick the stallion in his leg and they have to cash in his insurance policy. He also showed us Indian Ridge, the stallion that commands the highest stud fee, and is insured at 20 million dollars! Also on the grounds are the remains of the Black Abbey built in 1169. ABC! (Another Bloody Castle!) We took a quick look in the Japanese gardens and had Alacoque and Liam pose with us before the bus got loaded.

Getting back on the road, we went slowly past a fuel inspection point where there were officials siphoning and testing diesel fuel from cars to make sure that they were not using the much cheaper (no import duty) agricultural fuel. We also went past an army base, and Alacoque mentioned that they only have an army of about 18,000 and are used mostly in far away trouble sports for peace-keeping duties. She also said that there is no draft, and there is a 3-year waiting list to get in! It was a short ride to our hotel in Dublin, the same one as we were in when we arrived in Ireland. Liam said that we went 1580 miles. We said goodbye then to Alacoque and Liam as we are staying on for two more days and won't see them in the morning. We've been on a few tours, and they did a great job!

We went up to our room on the other side of the hotel from where we were at the beginning of the trip, unpacked, checked the E-mail, and found out that our good friend and former neighbor Si George died. Pat called Eileen and expressed our sympathies- she was very grateful, but is still having a hard time. We then went down to the bar to have a drink with Bill and Val and Dick and decide where to go for dinner. Bob and Louise Ritchey joined the five of us for the drink with Dick and Kathy Johnson and Don and Marlene Swan at an adjacent table. Kathy had a card to send to Rose in the hospital and we all signed it. Finally leaving to find dinner, Clay mentioned to Don that he went to Penn and Don being a Princeton man (and a Basketball player to boot!) made us natural enemies!

We went to Kennedy's, a substantial looking pub near the hotel, but they didn't serve food, so we went to the also nearby Ginger Pub that we were in at the start of the trip stay. It was pretty crowded, almost a happy hour and Val was probably the fifth oldest person there! They only had pub grub, but they are also a brew pub with two beers brewed- a typical bland lager and an inoffensive ale. We ordered some food and the place got even more crowded. Bill wasn't feeling too well and he and Val left to go back to the hotel. Right after that, Dick and Kathy Johnson and Don and Marlene Swan came in and were happy to get our table.

Back at the hotel, we inquired about the Ballykissangel train tour, mentioned in the brochure, for Friday, as we are going with Dick to Belfast tomorrow, but the concierge suggested that we do the bus tour instead, so we put a deposit on that. He also mentioned that they film a TV show there, but of course we have seen about a hundred episodes back home and that is how we heard of it and the reason that they have such a tour in the first place! We got a couple of wines at the hotel bar to take to our room and called it a night.

05/24 Thursday, Dublin

We got up early and skipped the hotel breakfast to get a 6:30 taxi to the Connely Railroad Station for our day trip to Belfast with Dick. We said goodbye to Bill and Val waiting just outside the hotel for the bus to the airport for their early flight home. Out taxi got us to the station quickly and were had more than an hour to kill. The ticket office wasn't open yet, and people were purchasing tickets at the gate, so Clay inquired and was told to wait for the ticket office to open! So we found a place to lean (This seems like mostly a commuter station!) It finally opened, and we got our round trip tickets and boarded the train. It left the station right on time, and we had an nice uneventful 5 stop ride and arrived in Belfast on time. A cart came through and we got Coffee/Tea and Danish. We were looking for the line that separates Northern Ireland but must have missed it, and we thought that at least the grass would be orange! We had heard that Northern Ireland is more prosperous than The Republic, and it's difficult to form an impression from this one train ride, but the part of Northern Ireland that we saw seemed to be a very close, certainly not any nicer!

We expected a Grand Central type train station in Belfast, but it was similar to the one in Dublin, also looking like a commuter station, and we had hoped to get a city tour right from there. Despite being named "Belfast Central", the station was not quite in the center of town, so with a few inquiries we boarded a shuttle bus included with our train ticket(!) for a mile or so to the center right by city hall. The city center seemed very nice, and with a few more inquiries, including a "Welcoming Committee" of young people whose job is to help tourists to make the most of their visit, we finally found a city bus tour. Now we have a little time before the tour, so we looked for a pub for lunch. We had the ideal place, but they didn't serve until "half eleven" and we needed to eat at 11 to be ready for the bus tour. Since that seemed to be the norm for decent restaurants, we ended up purchasing wine at one cafeteria still serving only breakfast, and taking it to a drink-free one serving lunch! Hey, are we adaptable, or what?

The bus tour was wonderful, couldn't ask for any more! We started out in the center and crossed Belfast's River Lagan a few times, seeing the usual city buildings, a brand new sports complex, other historic sights, pubs, statues, the shipyard where the Titanic was built, the Grand Opera house, and Belfast's smallest house. The tour seemed to have done all it could of that nature and there was still a lot of time left, so we were wondering what the rest of the tour would entail. The bus then continued into the Northwest section of the city and we saw some areas that are (religiously) integrated, and past some Protestant political murals, which were sanitized recently, still making their statements, but taking out violent parts- especially guns! We then drove along the Protestant side of the "peace wall", a 10-foot high heavy corrugated steel wall separating the Protestant and Catholic sections. A portion of the wall also has some nice murals, but a substantial part is covered with inner-city type graffiti with the usual English 4-letter words in abundance.

We went on a good-sized road through one of a few massive gates in the wall, which can be closed right over the road quickly by the police if there is trouble! On the Catholic side, we saw houses that faced the street next to the wall with steel mesh over their windows, and some with no windows at all on the street side. This is done because when there was trouble, even with the gates closed, rocks would be hurled at them from the other side of the wall. Things have quieted down substantially, but some people still live in fear. Driving through a Catholic neighborhood, we saw many murals stating the Republican view, including a poignant one for about a dozen children that were killed with improperly-aimed rubber bullets. Naturally, Bobby Sands is prominent in many murals, and there are numerous posters promoting Gerry Adams for reelection as the Sinn Fein head. It was only a small sampling, but the Catholic houses seemed to be very small, closely packed, and the streets very littered. There was a cemetery on the outskirts where the guide pointed out that there are walls separating the Protestant and Catholic sections, except that you can't see them! Hah, they are completely underground, so there is no chance that Catholic and Protestant bodies could decompose all over each other! The guide said that with the exception of a few bombings as attention getters where the news media congregated, the main part of the city with the government buildings, nice shops, and restaurants remained calm through all of the troubles, it was the residential areas where the people had to live next to each other that was (and still is somewhat) the problem.

We were dropped off back at the starting point and wanted to be sure of making an early train, so we decided to forgo the free shuttle and hailed a neat looking taxi for the short ride back to the train station, where we quickly found the proper train. It was very easy to find the correct (and be sure of it!) train both ways, for our destination at least. The train left on time, stopped at the same stations as on the way up, but must have had a speed restriction as we were about 20 minutes late (with numerous apologies over the public address system) without any unscheduled stops. Clay and Dick walked up to the bar coach, it seeming like halfway to Dublin, but only about 5 cars to the front, and brought a bottle of wine back to our seats.

Clearing the rush hour station area was brutal on the taxi ride back to the hotel, but after the immediate area it was smooth sailing. We went to the Kennedy (a picture on the wall of Jack and Bobby) Pub on the corner by our hotel for a drink, while Dick went back to his room.

The three of us got a taxi to the Brazen Head Inn, another "Oldest Irish Pub", this time the 12th century, and named after a red-headed girl. The present building was built in 1754. We walked downhill at the entrance, illustrating how much the street has been built up over the years. Dick thought we could eat downstairs, as he saw people eating there on an earlier drink visit, but that is probably only for lunch, as the bartender shooed us upstairs after ordering a drink. The room was sparsely populated when we sat down, but soon filled up. All three of us all agreed that the food was great and we shared a bottle of wine. Dick suggested an Irish Coffee for desert, but it was agreed that we do that back at the hotel bar. We got a taxi and did just that, after we said tentative goodbuys and Pat phoned Penny from the hotel lobby, and we called it a night after a long day!

05/25 Friday, Dublin

We were the first in the regular dining room for breakfast, we think the breakfast comes with the hotel room! It did, but was a little disappointing with the tomato juice being sour and Pat getting a hard soft boiled egg! We walked down to the shopping area near Trinity College again for Pat to get an Irish charm (a harp!), and an Ireland Golf shirt. Clay took off in the middle and walked to Dublin Castle, once the seat of British power in Ireland, and now used as a site to inaugurate the Irish President. It is a minor tourist site, with most of the castle being rebuilt in 1775, but there is a 1204 tower. Clay then walked back to the hotel along the River Liffey.

We went across the street to the Davenport Hotel for the "Ballykissangel Tour", and we were picked up on time. After a few more stops, there were only 11 people on a full sized bus, and the driver/guide said that we didn't have enough and asked who wanted to spend the rest of the day in an Irish pub. There were a few votes for that(!), but of course he was only joking, although we think the tour company probably lost money on this trip. The route was through heavy traffic along Dublin Bay and Dún Laoghaire (pronounced Dun Leary and meaning Leary's Fort) with its ferry terminal before getting on the main road South. Along the way, there was a big pile of dirt along the side of the road with dozens of flower bouquets on it. The driver said that a dump truck filled with sand tipped over and killed a little girl in the back of a car a few days ago. The driver talks constantly alternating between tour guide information (although he has a head microphone that didn't work too well, and with the Irish accent was pretty difficult to understand) and very bad jokes. One was "If Jesus came through your door, what would you do?". The answer was "I would hand him the bible and say 'This is Your Life!'" It went quickly down hill from there! He also showed a couple of places where "travelers" had to be removed, obviously in sync with Alacoque on that issue!

There was quite a bit of construction to widen the road, and the driver said that this work was supposed to be done eight years ago, but got held up for the preservation of eight trees that were finally moved! We finally got to Avoca, where the TV series "Ballykissangel" is filmed. He zipped through the town and pulled into the Avoca Woolen Mills parking lot a quarter mile away and suggested that we eat there and then if we wanted, walk back into the town. He said he could pick us up there, and since that was why we went on the tour in the first place, we immediately walked back into the town as did many of the group. We went into Fitzgeralds Pub, where a good portion of the show is filmed and ordered a couple of pints. There was no food served at all, so Clay went next door and got sandwiches. Gee, when Asumpta Fitzgerald ran the place on TV, she would get you something to eat! We only had an hour, just enough time to eat and look around the town, although there wasn't much else relating to the TV show, before the bus picked up everybody in front of Fitzgeralds. Since the trip was marketed as a "Ballykissangel Tour", we were disappointed at the time allotted. The driver also told us that the tour would be discontinued soon, as the bookings have decreased lately.

It was a two-activity tour and we stopped at Powerscourt Gardens, a mansion of an aristocratic family with gorgeous grounds, flowers, and sculptures. Although we signed up for this tour based on the Ballykissangel stop, this was a pleasant surprise. We also spent an hour here walking around the grounds. The gardens are adjacent to a golf course and there was a mob on the driving range obviously not golfers, with their clothes and swings. We guess that whatever tour they were on, it included a bucket of balls, what a novel idea! Clay mentioned to a lady watching that he didn't see any Tiger Woods there, but she was probably part of a German tour group, and didn't reply. At the appointed time, one young couple was missing and the ticked off guide had to go look for them, and we had to wait 15 minutes for them, and with us trying to make a tour at the Guinness Brewery when we get back.

The traffic was brutal in rush hour Dublin and our stop at the brewery was now last after the other hotels. The brochure said they were open until 7 PM, but the guard said they closed at 6 and we were less than 5 minutes late! We pleaded, but he made a phone call (maybe) and replied that the last tour goes off at 6. O well, we can now catch a reasonably timed dinner and so we started walking in the direction of our hotel. After dismissing numerous pubs and other ethnic eateries, we decided on The Cedar Tree, a basement Lebanese restaurant about half way back to our hotel. Although we would have preferred something Irish in a nice restaurant, this was very good with a bottle of Lebanese red wine.

After walking back to the hotel, we decided to have an after dinner drink at the Davenport Hotel across the street from ours. It seems a little more upscale than the Mont Clare in the bar area at least, with the Davenport being more like an upscale American hotel lounge and ours definitely an Irish pub. Even though they had some nice photos of American celebrities on the walls, we'll take the Mont Clare! There seemed to be a lot of women in the lounge, and we surmise that there must be some women's function in the city.

05/26 Saturday, Dublin - Paris

We have a noon flight to Paris, so we got up leisurely, packed and had breakfast. After a long wait for the elevator because they were moving another tour's bags, the taxi driver was right on time and there was little traffic on the 25 minute ride to the airport. He was very friendly, being a golfer, and in fact had a little trouble with our luggage as he had his golf clubs in the taxi's trunk! We talked a lot about golf and his opinion of women golfers contested a little with Pat's. He also felt strongly about the election coming in two weeks that will determine each country's EU influence based on the country's population, and he feels that Ireland will lose with a yes vote, so he will vote no. He couldn't come up with any benefit as to why anyone would vote yes, but there must be some! We asked him about the "L" signs that we have been seeing on the windshields and back windows of some cars. He said that they are for "Learners" and they don't need a licensed driver with them, so you give them a little more space.

We got checked in plenty early, and we both had a last pint of Guinness in the airport pub. Pat tried the internet on a "smartphone" but couldn't work it out. We bought a few things with most of our remaining phunts, plopped our last few coins in the charity box, and took off about 15 minutes late for Paris.

We visited 25 of Ireland's and Northern Ireland's 32 counties. Here is a table of the counties that we visited in order of visit, and the 7 that we will visit next time:

COUNTIES THAT WE WERE IN COUNTY PROVINCE COUNTRY 1 Dublin Leinster Republic 2 Kildare 3 Meath 4 Westmeath 5 Longford 6 Leitrim Connaught 7 Roscommon 8 Sligo 9 Donegal Ulster 10 Fermanagh Northern 11 Mayo Connaught Republic 12 Galway 13 Clare Munster 14 Limerick 15 Kerry 16 Cork 17 Tipperary 18 Kilkenny Leinster 19 Waterford Munster 20 Laois Leinster 21 Louth 22 Armagh Ulster Northern 23 Down 24 Antrim 25 Wicklow Leinster Republic

COUNTIES THAT WE WISH WE WERE IN COUNTY PROVINCE COUNTRY 26 Offaly Leinster Republic 27 Carlow 28 Wexford 29 Cavan Ulster 30 Monaghan 31 Londonderry Northern 32 Tyrone

Look at our following week's Paris Trip.

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