Our Trip to Ireland - Chapter 7

Next we found ourselves at the B & B owned by a very nice older couple named Mr. & Mrs. Hayes. The house was beautiful and reminded me more of a nice boarding house than someone’s former residence. Our bedroom was very nice. We had our own bathroom once again which was wonderful. I got a double-bed, and Greg had a nice twin bed. The room was very clean. The living room parlor was very warm and friendly as were the Hayes. There were awards on the walls that they had won for being excellent B & B owners. They lived up to their name. Mrs. Hayes prepared a nice dinner for us. Greg really needed to get rest to get over his cold, so we stayed in. He went to bed shortly after dinner. I got into my pajamas and into bed. I had brought along the book, “Son of Harpo Speaks”. It was a very good read. I finished it shortly after I got back home from our trip. I hadn’t read a book all the way through for quite awhile, so it was good to be able to focus in on one again.

The next morning we got up and had breakfast with the Hayes providing more excellent service. They talked with us the night before at dinner. We felt they were the best hosts during our trip. Mr. Hayes was a retired maintenance worker. Their children’s wedding pictures were scattered around on the walls. They talked with us about their family at breakfast time. They took a group picture of all of us in their greenhouse room. The New York ladies, Bryan, and the Mexican lady and her daughter, Anna stayed with us at the Hayes House as well. Bryan went out to a pub with the New York ladies but didn’t stay out as late with them as he had with us the night before. Mr. Hayes called a taxi for all of them. A taxi cost one passenger 20 Euros, so the only way to get a good deal was to split the cost by getting other people to go along. Greg and I stayed in, so he could get well by getting more rest. The rest did wonders for Greg as he felt much better the next morning.

Tony picked us up and took us to the Waterford Crystal Factory. This was truly an impressive place to visit. When we walked inside the front entrance there was a pretty young woman to greet us. She took us around the factory and explained everything to us. The workers were all dressed in casual clothes. They wore eye protection but no gloves. The glass they worked with was removed from a firey furnace and in a molten state. They hung onto the glass with long metal hollow tubes. The tubes were attached to the botton of each glass piece. The worker would blow into one end of the tubes to make a pitcher or whatever kind of piece they were working on. They showed us how another piece of molten glass was pulled out of the furnace and added to the original pice to make a handle. We got to see all the wooden forms and other tools used to shape the glass. All the workers are required to attend an art school in addition to learning their trade. There are no “seconds”. If there is any flaw found in the piece, the product is thrown in the trash which is melted down again to make another product. There was only one woman working in the plant that day. All the other workers were men. Indian ink is used to mark the glass pieces then another worker uses a cutting wheel to carve the lines in. The glass fragments are washed away as water is on the cutting wheel when it is going around. Some cuts in the glass are not clear while other pieces are dipped in acid after cutting to make the cuts in the glass transparent. Each product is marked with a seahorse to let the buyer know that this product is indeed Waterford crystal. The trophies for the famous golf tournaments and tennis tournaments like Wimbleton are designed and created by Waterford, so there are pictures and replicas of these pieces throughout the factory. Waterford makes three pieces for a particular event. The first is the one given for the event. The second copy is on display at the Waterford Crystal Factory, and the third copy is made just in case the original breaks! I bought a small crystal harp in the gift shoppe that costs 40 Euros! That was all I could afford. I wanted to take home something from there! (Later when we were making our way through airport security at Dublin International the security guard had to remove the harp from my carry-on luggage. I had packed it in there because I was afraid it would break while getting thrown around by airport personnel handling my larger suitcase. The security guard kept asking me if it was a statue of “Mother Mary”. That must have been what it looked like when it went through X-Ray. She took my piece out of the carry-on bag then smiled and waved me through.)

Greg got to see a Cinderella story statue that was made and valued at about 2,000 Euro. I got to see a statue made in memory of the priest and firemen who carried him out of the Twin Towers on 9/11. It was a beautiful statue and a very fitting tribute. I appreciated the fact that this factory in Ireland would design such a tribute. Wine glasses went for 80 Euros apiece and higher. I was a little discouraged, but in the end I was happy to have the harp to bring home and display in the hutch where I keep my other fine china.

Our Trip to Ireland - Chapter 6

Visiting the Blarney Castle was one thing that Greg really wanted to do more than anything on this tour. Now he would finally get his chance. We walked up countless steps inside the castle to get to the top. The owner of the castle, Cormac McCarthy found a witch flailing in the river just outside the castle at night-time. He fished her out then took her to the castle to get her dried out. In return for his aide and hospitality she told him that anyone who touched the stone she gave him as a gift would have the “gift of gab”. Legend also has it that some of the local townsfolk thought McCarthy was someone who couldn’t be trusted to tell the straight truth about things—thus the term, “full of Blarney”! We climbed all the stairs inside to get to the top of the castle. I looked down and knew we were pretty high up there. Greg was thrilled! We waited in “cue” (waiting line) to get our turn to lay down as an elderly man held onto us and shoved us into position to bend our head back and kiss the Blarney Stone. The stone is located in the wall, but the wall has a hole in it directly underneath the stone. When you bend you head backwards you get to see once again just how high up you are. The man called to me that it was my turn then said, “Scoot down, Love”! He noticed what I had done in a hurry to get done with this high up experience and said, “Love, you’ve kissed the wall”! He helped me to get bent back farther, I closed my eyes, and kissed the stone! I got up quick and moved on! We laughed and laughed about it afterwards. Surprisingly, this stone is also called the “Stone of Eloquence”! We walked all over the grounds and got a lot of photographs. It was such a beautiful place. We stopped at yet another gift shoppe called the Blarney Woollen Mills which were within walking distance of the Castle. There were some smaller gift shoppes scattered around in a Mall type setting. We went inside and grabbed a sandwich and Cokes for lunch. Jessica and John shared their table. There was a water-wheel operating inside the restaurant and a stage with heavy curtains closed in back of the stage.

We got back onto the bus and made our way to Cork to the port town of Cobh pronounced “Cove”. Another man met us when we reached this town. We got out of the bus and walked down the road aways across from this dock. Our guide’s name was Mr. Martin. Greg purchased a book afterwards that Mr. Martin had written telling all about the research he had done about this famous launching and receiving port. This was the last port of call for the passengers of the Titanic. Mr. Martin showed us what was left of the dock where the peasants lined up on that fateful day to board the Titanic. The upper-class passengers walked into a much better setting. They walked up a wooden ramp that led to a restaurant all run by the White Star Line. The restaurant is still there on the second floor, but it was closed that day. We couldn’t go in, so we were a bit disappointed. Greg and I had our picture taken on the steps that led to the door the original passengers passed through. It was strange standing there even for a little while knowing that back in l916 other people stood where we stood, boarded a ship, and were never heard from again.

Mr. Martin told us the story about Mary Rice, a Irishwoman who got on the Titanic with her five children. Her husband stayed behind. She had taken a prescription medicine with her the day she left. Her body could only be identified because the medicine bottle was still in her pocket. The workers retrieved her body in Nova Scotia where the ship hit the ice berg. They were able to trace the medicine back to the pharmacy where she went, and her name was on the body. This way she was able to have a tombstone made. Her 5 children were never found!

The Lusitania also went down in this port. Irish rescue workers went out to the ocean to retrieve whatever survivors they could find. Mr. Martin reminded us that this tragic incident was not what brought America into the war as we came into the war a year later. He also said without hesitation that this was an act of terrorism on the part of the Germans. They were responsible for torpedoeing this famous ship. There is a statue erected to honor the rescue workers who worked hard to help the victims to be recovered. Surprisingly, a hotel run by Germans that was located across the street from the dock was the one that provided aide and comfort to the survivors!

There is a Cathedral located in back that towers over the row of buildings. The name of the Cathedral is St. Coleman’s. This Cathedral has a cemetery beside it. There are several victims from the Lusitania sinking that were buried in this cemetery. This cemetery also has a huge pipe organ. The keys of the organ are played using the player’s elbows. Every summer this organ plays all kinds of different music during a festival. One year the organ played, “The Dance of the Cuckoos” in honor of a famous pair of comedians who had come to visit Ireland at that dock! Mr. Martin asked if anyone knew the name of this pair. I said, “Laurel & Hardy”. Mr. Martin said I was right, and everyone smiled at me! I love my movies!

We rode through the coastal towns of Youghal and Dungarven until we got to Waterford to find the B & B where we would be staying the next night! As we made our way towards Waterford "Nick the Click" was standing nearby and got on the bus to join us. He had the pictures of all of us (the group shot) that he had taken earlier. They were in nice cardboard covers now and ready to be purchased! I bought one for Greg and I. After he distributed the pictures, he sat down on the “left” side next to Tony, our driver. As they were driving through town we could hear the two men talking. I laughed from time to time because I think the locals start talking in Gaelic sometimes when they see us coming! Sometimes they just talk quickly, and you can’t understand very well. Other times they talk in Gaelic to each other, and you can’t understand at all! A young boy stepped out in front of the bus. "Nick the Click" was truly surprised and immediately asked Tony if he saw the kid. There was an urgency in his voice as if he was afraid that Tony hadn’t seen the boy and was afraid Tony was going to hit him. I knew what was coming next. Sure enough Tony said, “Jay-sus”. "Nick the Click" said, “Do you see him—the little bast...”, but he didn’t finish it. I laughed and laughed. Tony said, “Nick, you would never make it as a bus driver”!

Our Trip to Ireland - Chapter 5

We visited the little congested town of Sneem which was undergoing a lot of construction work to improve it. We stopped to grab a bite to eat and do some more shopping for souvenirs in Moll’s Gap. We laughed as we looked up a hill to see a sheep mooning us! He just stood there on top that hill with his rearend to us!

We started back to continue our ride on the “Ring”. A big truck came along and was driving on the road at a time he shouldn’t have been. That was the only time I was concerned about our bus being pinned up against a mountainside. Thank God for being able to drive on the left side of the road in Ireland! Everyone in back of the truck looked concerned. Tony opened the window on the right-hand side of the bus and yelled to the driver of the truck, “You are going the wrong way”! “You are supposed to be going on the Ring counter-clockwise”. In Ireland the Garda are the police. They are not allowed to carry guns! The military police will come in if things get too violent for the Garda to handle. Garda in Gaelic means “Keepers of the peace”. We were told later on after we got through this traffic jam that the Garda had to come and help the truck get turned around.

While on the “Ring” we saw so much of the countryside and listened to many legends. I could tell that our driver, Tony, was a big fan of Daniel O’Connell otherwise known as the “Liberator” or the “Emancipator”. He was a barrister (lawyer) who lived from 1775 to 1847. He became a defender of Catholic tenants and small-landowners.

We also talked with him about the movie, “The Matchmaker” which I had seen before leaving home. He said the “Matchmaker Festival” is real! This is a week-long event held in every year. Single women and single men come from all over the world to go to this festival for fun and for finding a mate. Irishmen often married later in life because as the oldest or surviving son they had to stay at home to help their parents with the farming. In the words of Barry Fitzgerald in the “Quiet Man”—“What woman would come into the house with another woman in it”? If the man’s mother was still around, he wouldn’t feel comfortable marrying. Some men married well into their 30’s or even older.

We also drove by through a town called Killorglin where the annual Puck Festival is held every year. Under the watchful eye of a veterinarian a goat is chosen to become King Puck. The goat is placed in a cage up high on a pedestal where the townsfolk can admire him during the Festival. A Queen Puck is crowned and other fun activities are planned. Legend has it that goats took flight and warned the townsfolk of this village that the “Roundhead” (Cromwell’s men) were headed towards them to do them harm.

We headed back to our B & B (the Egan’s house). Mrs. Egan prepared a nice dinner for us which was served to us shortly after we arrived and got freshened up. We had potatoes and some type of mashed potato dish which had a pastry crust on it. We also had pie for dessert. We didn’t have a lot of talk interaction with the Egans. They seemed to want to serve us then leave us to ourselves. Perhaps, they thought that is what we wanted?? The other guests complained amongst themselves because they wanted to interact more with the Egans. The woman from Germany was talking about dinner later on and said the meal was “non-descriptive”. I had no problem talking with the Egans whenever they were available. I don’t think they had been in the B & B business for very long, and not everyone is a gourmet cook or even a good one. I thought the meal was fine, myself.

Tony told us that if anyone was interested we could go into town and go to Danny Mann’s Tavern. Mr. Egan provided Bryan, Greg, and myself with a ride to the tavern at 5 Euros a head for a round trip. Jessica, John, Bryan, Greg, and I had a fun time there listening to traditional Irish tunes (once again the “Black Velvet Band” was performed) played by a trio. They asked if there were any Americans and heard all of us yell and cheer. They responded, “You can always tell when they’re here”! We looked around to find most of the 46 people on our tour in the same place we were. Jessica suggested that Greg try a new drink that night. He had his first “Jager Bomb” which he enjoyed. We all laughed as he jugged it down. He only had one. After that he had a Coke. He knew I didn’t want him to overdo and get sick on top of having a cold now to contend with. Through it all, he laughed and enjoyed himself to spite the cold. One of the members of the band had a round, Irish, jovial face. I watched him play the Bohdran and was fascinated by the fact that he held the drum on with a chain around his neck. The chain didn’t look very comfortable, but he didn’t seem to mind?? The three men sang wonderfully, and one whistled another tune. He was the best whistler I have heard for a long time--if not the best ever!

Mr. Egan came to pick us up at 11:30 as we requested him to do earlier. Mrs. Egan had gotten us the “Night Nurse” cold medicine which I paid her for the next day. She was wonderful to do this for us as I had been very concerned about Greg. He was upset because he wasn’t feeling well when we were riding for a long period of time on the bus. I felt helpless not being home and being able to doctor him properly. He got a good night’s rest, though, and felt somewhat better the next morning. We had a nice breakfast in the morning then left to do make out way to Blarney Castle.

Our Trip to Ireland - Chapter Four

Tony, our driver, came back by and picked up all 46 of the folks on our tour. The other folks were divided up among other houses. I was so happy to be able to stay at the B&B that was chosen for us as the other B & B’s where the other guests were dropped off made me wonder too much. There was some construction going on outside of one and a dog with a muzzle around his mouth in front of another. The other houses and ours looked very nice. The houses in Ireland look pretty much the same as California houses. There are two levels usually with an upstairs and downstairs. There is usually a big window similar to a big bay window in front on a lot of the houses with no drapes to let the sunshine in. Most of the windows that do have curtains have lace curtains (long shears) that made me think of the old expression Father Suver used back home when referring to the upper-class Irish in the US—“lace curtain Irish”!

Tony picked all of us up and took us to Kate Kearney’s Cottage (pronounced “karney”). “Nick the Click” Moriarty came through to take a group shot of our entire touring group. The next day he caught up with us on the bus and sold them to us for a small fee.

Once inside Kate’s Cottage we could see that the place really did look like a cottage with an old wooden floor and rustic walls with old signs similar to such places back home. We got a drink at the bar. Greg was thrilled to be able to go up to the bar and order a drink without being ID’d or considered illegal! In Ireland the legal drinking age is 18 and over. I drank more Guinness on our vacation tour than I ever have! We sat down to a delicious dinner. I ordered salmon which was served with potatoes and Julienned carrots (carrots were never sliced over there—only Julienned). We had pie for dessert. Next, a trio of musicians came out to perform for us. They played traditional Irish music for us. They took requests, so I asked them to play “The Black Velvet Band”. The singer smiled at me and said, “I was just thinking of that tune”! Two young girls came out to dance for us. When the one girl danced in her hard shoes I was sure that she would go right through the old wood floor which I could see bending under the weight of the jumps. Outside there was a mountain climbers' rescue truck as this particular area is a popular area with mountain climbers—mostly young fellows who were off from school for their Easter holiday break this week and next. We made our way home to stay our first night with our B&B host and hostess.

In the morning our hosts worked together to prepare our breakfast which was pretty much the standard Irish breakfast fare like we had before. The New York ladies started complaining about how their shower curtain wouldn’t close all the way and how they didn’t have any hot water. I figured that the house probably didn’t have adequate hot water tanks, but I couldn’t complain as we always had enough hot water.

We boarded the bus! Today we would be touring the Ring of Kerry which I didn’t truly understand before?? I have to admit I didn’t understand just exactly what the Ring of Kerry was until that day! Before our trip I thought of the Ring of Kerry as some type of actual geographical ring! I didn’t understand that the Ring of Kerry is a 100 mile ring road to drive upon!

We got to hear a lot of stories about people who had lived throughout the countryside who fought for the IRA. We saw the signs that read “Gael Tacht” which means Gaelic is spoken by the locals of that particular town. This was started long ago as a form of resistance to the British as they tried to break the Irish people for years by restricting them from speaking Irish and restricting them from attending Mass. During the famine Tony told us that the British landlords said they would help those who were starving if they would turn away from Catholicism and become Protestants. Many did just that to keep their children from starving to death. Tony let us know that he was Irish-Catholic in short time. He said, “We have a love/hate relationship with the British”. “They love us” then his sentence ended!

We crossed a bridge that took us over to a little seaside town called, Valencia. We went into a restaurant run by the Kennedy family—no not “the” Kennedys we know back here but probably relatives?? We enjoyed a delicious meal of Irish-style fish and chips! It was delicious! Afterwards, we went to the Skelligs Visitor Center. We viewed a movie about the Skellig Experience which told how a group of early Christian monks built their monastery completely out of stones stacked up that looked like stone igloos. They built these structures and lived on an island close to the shore. We didn’t get to visit the island, but we got to learn a lot about it and see the film. These monks lived happily on this island devoting their whole time to carving out steps to climb up the mountains, building their houses, and doing fishing and farming to sustain themselves. They would only come into town to trade the natural resources they had for tools to work with on their island. Everything was going fine until the Vikings showed up and ruined everything!

Our Trip to Ireland - Chapter Three

We slept very well during the night. It just wasn’t long enough! We needed to be downstairs by 8 A.M. to have our breakfast then get on the bus to begin our journey to the Ring of Kerry! We enjoyed a delicious breakfast of Canadian bacon, scrambled eggs, a slice of tomato (always served with Irish breakfasts everywhere we went), link sausage, and white or black pudding (which looks like tan or black sausage slices). The coffee was delicious as was everything we had on our plate!

Before we started out on our journey to the Cliffs of Moher we stopped off at a gift shoppe run by the Moriarty Family in Killarney which is a short drive up the road from Bunratty Castle. We went inside this highly recommended shoppe. I believe that our touring company has agreements with several establishments along the way, so that is why we stopped at gift shoppes, pubs, and restaurants that were well-known to them. We all laughed and said that our driver, Tony, must get some kind of kick-back from these places! He would always nod his head whenever we said this. He didn’t deny or admit to it, though.

We weren’t in Moriarty’s for very long when all the lights went out! I said to all who were standing close enough to hear me, “Okay, what American is playing around with the light switches again”? After trying to figure out the light switches at the Bunratty Castle Hotel, I had to laugh and say that it was surely our fault the power went out! The store clerk was quick to assure me that everything was alright. “The generator will have everything back up and going shortly”, she said. I found some t-shirts for friends back home. Again, most of the gifts were rather pricey. Our American dollar doesn’t stretch as far over in Ireland as it “tries to do” back here! I had hoped to buy an Aran sweater, but the price was too dear. Greg managed to buy a new jacket for himself which he was happy to be able to find. It was a vintage green jacket with Ireland in letters on the front of it.

When we looked outside the window we saw two young fellows riding in “jaunting cars” just like the one Maureen O’Hara rode in “The Quiet Man” movie. The area reminded me of Tennessee. There were tons of sheep wandering around in the fields. The farmer marks the girl sheep with a pink paint spot on her rump while the boys have a blue spot on theirs. This paint washes out, so it doesn’t damage the wool. I thought to myself, “With all these sheep running around why can’t I get a decent price on an Aran sweater”??

We headed off to the Cliffs of Moher. I had been told earlier by my penfriend, Fridolin, that a young mother took her 3-year-old and jumped off these cliffs to commit suicide a few weeks before we arrived. It seems there was much local controversy in building this exhibition center, but plans went forward. The center is built into the side of a green mountainside. The windows of the restaurant come out of the mountainside to reveal a wonderful view of the grounds. We went inside the Visitor Center to view a film on the Cliffs of Moher first. We went through the gift shoppe, ofcourse, and spent considerable time there. We bought ourselves a Coke. (Pepsi has not been accepted in Ireland as of yet!) We went outside and walked around to see this geographical wonder! The Cliffs rise to almost 700 feet above the Atlantic Ocean and stretch along the coast for 5 miles. We took pictures from several angles and did a lot of walking around. We got a lot of exercise during our trip even though we did a considerable amount of riding in our tour bus as well. Tony told everyone, “Be careful”! “If you crawl over the stone slab safety wall, you will get a bird’s eye view”. “And that view will be the last one you ever have”!

Our bus driver delivered us to one port of the Shannon River to take bus and all on the ferry boat that would take us to the other side to a town called Listowel. We got out and walked around awhile then grabbed a bite to eat. We got back into the tour bus then headed off to Killarney to meet our first Irish family who would be our host and hostess for the next two nights. The Egans were a very nice couple. Mr. Egan said he came from what New Yorkers would call the “Upper Manhattan” part of Ireland. Mrs. Egan was British by birth. They had two daughters, but we never got to meet them. We could see them back in the kitchen when their mom was getting our meals ready for us. Mr. & Mrs. Egan were a young couple probably in their late 30’s?? We talked with them briefly in their living room. Mrs. Egan served us tea and cake. We went upstairs to our bedrooms to get settled in. Greg and I had a very nice bedroom. It looked as if the Egans had moved out of the house for us, but they assured us that wasn’t the case at all. Mr. Egan said they turned their garage into bedrooms for their daughters who enjoyed that arrangement very much. The girls were on their Easter holiday break as well and were enjoying themselves with a couple of their friends out there. The living room and dining room and bedrooms were all used for guests. The kitchen and other rooms downstairs and in the garage were reserved for their private residence. I don’t think the Egans had been in the B & B business for very long. I could tell that they were doing the best they could, though. Mr. Egan had a regular job in town while Mrs. Egan stayed home to raise the children and run the B & B. The B & B’s we stayed at are on the national touring register of homes to be used. Each house used is marked with a “green shamrock” sign on a post in front of the house. The “shamrock” is never to be confused with the word, “clover” which Tony quickly pointed out.

There was a man named, Bryan, and four women traveling together from New York (from the Bronx and Queens, I believe) who stayed in the other bedrooms. We managed to meet another couple who stayed in another B & B whose company we enjoyed—a young couple named Jessica and John who hailed from D.C.. We went out with Bryan and this other couple the second night we stayed with the Egans. There was also a woman who came from Germany and met her daughter, Anna, who came from Mexico City. They spoke Spanish to each other but spoke perfect English to us. They knew several languages as a matter of fact. The older woman was plain to see as a businesswoman who was probably single. Her daughter was single as well. They laughed a lot. When we were at the Cliffs earlier Anna and Bryan got to talking about baseball. Bryan was a White Sox fan while Anna was a Yankees fan. Her mother was trying to explain to me what they were talking about, but she kept pronouncing the team name as “jankees”, so it took me awhile to figure out what she meant. And all the time they “yaffed and yaffed”!

The New York ladies complained about everything! After awhile it got to be really annoying to be around them, so I did my best to avoid them. They could be friendly, but they had a look about them that they, no doubt, use when they are walking down the tough streets of New York. Until you engaged them in conversation they still had that cold look about them. Once you engaged them in conversation the talk started out well then they would start complaining again about something they didn’t like about the Egans style of serving our needs. Greg and I had plenty of hot water. We were lucky! Mrs. Egan even went to the grocery store for us to get Ireland’s version of Nyquil for Greg called, “Night Nurse”! He had developed a sore throat and nagging cough that he got off of his sister right before we left—Terra’s last revenge?? Who knows the answers to these mysteries? Anwyay, he was pretty miserable for a couple days then after getting more rest and medicine down him he started to recover.

Our Trip to Ireland - Chapter Two

The bus driver brought our suitcases and placed them outside our hotel room door. Our tour company's various groups must have taken over the hotel! We had a little free time before dinner, so I tried to rest awhile. That didn’t work out so well as we were too wound up with anticipation of adventures to come and traveling so much. Greg went swimming in the hotel pool. Everyone (even the men) had to wear bathing caps on their head. It was funny to see the men wearing bathing caps, too. Afterwards, Greg and I went exploring outside. We grabbed a panini sandwich and a Coke at a little eatery above the Blarney Woollen Shop. We walked around to see Durdy Nellie’s--a popular pub at Bunratty. We just looked around, though, as we knew we would be meeting up with everyone else soon back at the hotel for the "Welcome Drink". I finally figured out how to use our complimentary calling card in a nearby Eirecom telephone booth and gave Bob a call to let him know we had made it there.

We went to a very nice room downstairs and met with our fellow travelers on the same tour (ours was the "Irish Welcome" tour). Greg was allowed to have his first beer as 18 is the legal drinking age in Ireland. Unfortunately, Greg was developing a sore throat like the one his sister had earlier in the week. For a few days during our trip I had to doctor him for the sore throat, coughing, and cold which resulted. His sister had these cold symptoms before we left, and that’s what sisters and brothers are for! Fortunately, we had a very nice lady at one B & B who went out and shopped for night-time cold medicine for Greg which truly helped him to feel much better as time went on. NyQuil is not sold in Ireland under that name. The similar product sold in Ireland is called “Night Nurse”. I laughed at the name but was very grateful to Mrs. Egan for her help! More about her later.

We went on to the Bunratty Castle and walked through it. We went up 42 steps to get upstairs to see huge deer antlers displayed inside this medieval castle. The workers/entertainers inside were all dressed in medieval gowns or male costumes. They explained to us about the history of this castle. They chose one couple from the crowd to be the king and queen for the night. We drank a cup of “mead” which is a drink made of wine and honey. This drink was traditionally drank by wedding couples. Couples married during the evenings of the full moon drank mead. Thus the name, “honeymoon”! Greg found the drink rather strong, so we all laughed about that. We then went back downstairs to the banquet room. We enjoyed a meal of spare ribs, chicken, brown bread, and vegetables followed by dessert. We truly did eat like kings and queens! I felt stuffed afterwards. My penfriend had told me earlier that the food portions in Ireland are smaller than what we are used to in America. She had never come to Bunratty Castle!! We were given knives but no forks or spoons to eat our feast with!

Singers came onstage and sang classical music selections. I was not familiar with the songs. At one point a man was chosen from the crowd. He was thrown into the dungeon room for some silly charge just for fun. When he was allowed to return he was invited to sing a song for all of us. The song could be of his own choosing, so he led all of us in the song, “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” which we all sang to our hosts and hostesses. Everyone laughed and had a great time!

A young woman played the harp while an older gentleman played a guitar. Another young man played the violin with great skill. He struck me as someone who is painfully shy! He played with great intensity and total concentration. I could tell he enjoyed playing, though. Whenever we would clap for him after his solo numbers he would smile but hide his face away as if he was truly shy. Someone told me later on that he was educated at Julliard.

We returned to our hotel room for a much needed rest.

Our trip to Ireland - April, 2007

Our trip to Ireland – April 1 – 7, 2007 - Chapter One

We went through a travel agency in Ireland and did an escorted tour through the southern part of Ireland. This particular company operates throughout Ireland and Scotland. This was our first trip to Ireland. Our journey started with our flight out of the Greater Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky airport on Saturday, March 31. The weather was fantastic! We checked our bags and got our boarding passes. We then
had to go through Security which meant we had to remove our shoes,
put all lose items in a plastic bin, and run our carry-on bag and toiletries bag (zip lock sandwich bag)through the X-ray-ers. When we stepped inside the metal detector streams of air were shot at us which always takes one by surprise, I think. We landed in Chicago at the O’Hare Airport. Illinois is one hour behind Ohio—
something I was not aware of ahead-of-time. When we got off the
airplane in Chicago, therefore, I got all flustered as I was worried that
we should hurry to get to our airplane for fear of missing it! We
hurried along the airport hallways using the moving floor (flat
escalator) then going outside and catching a tram which took us to the
correct terminal. It was really humid, and I felt sweaty in my clothing
and out of breath after running around that much! We finally made it
to the correct terminal then to the correct gate to catch our flight.
When we arrived at the correct gate we found a lot of people waiting to
get on the plane to go to Bangalore. All I could think of was George
Harrison’s song, “Bangledesh”. I didn’t want to get on that airplane by
mistake! Several of us sat on the floor waiting for our chance to hear
the announcement about loading. I felt as if I were already in Europe
somewhere waiting to board a cattle train! The announcement finally
came over the loud speaker to board the Aer Lingus plane. We boarded
the plane that would take us to Shannon, Ireland (at least that’s what I thought). Up until now we have been riding on pretty cheap airlines which shall remain nameless. The first airplane which took us from Cincinnati to Chicago had a few First Class passengers on it. This meant they got a can of soda, and we didn’t! Aer Lingus was truly much classier! We enjoyed in-flight movies. We had a delicious meal and were served beverages. All of us were treated like we were in First Class! It was wonderful! We landed in Dublin Airport then stayed on the airplane as the same plane took us on to Shannon. That was a surprise to me, but I didn’t mind.

When we landed in Shannon Airport in Shannon, Ireland we went quickly through the Customs gate without problems as we didn’t have anything to declare, so no one cared! We got our luggage off the carousel. We then proceeded to the CIE desk where we were met by two of their representatives. They took our suitcases and treated us like special visitors. I had watched the movie, “The Matchmaker” earlier. In that movie Shannon Airport was featured, but I didn’t see a gigantic mosaic of President Kennedy on display anywhere at the airport as was shown in the movie. Again we learn about Hollywood’s way of depicting things “in the movies”! Later on I asked our guide about that picture. He told me that the picture I am talking about is located in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, but I didn’t see it there either?? Oh well! The only thing in Ireland I saw that resembled what I saw in that movie was the front of the Shannon Airport!

We boarded a bus and headed off for our first stop for the night—Bunratty Castle. This was the nicest hotel we stayed at during our entire trip. The location was beautiful. We did have to laugh about the light switches. We couldn’t figure them out for anything. I had to call the desk clerk and ask them about how to operate the lights in our room! I couldn’t find any switches on the lamps. I found wall switches but couldn’t figure out how to turn things on. When I was able to get ahold of the hotel desk clerk I was told that I would have to put our door key in a slot and keep it in there in order to use all the lights. I tried that then was able to make ALL the lights turn on at once. I still couldn’t figure out how to turn the lamps off. When you pulled the card out of the slot ALL the lights went out. It was truly fun trying to get up in the darkness to go to the bathroom late at night without being able to see to find the door key. I knew even if I found the door key and put it in the slot all the lights would come on then I would worry about shining the bright lights in Greg’s eyes while he was trying to sleep. Later on after we went to bed I had to get up and ended up looking like a blind woman walking around our hotel room trying to get to the bathroom only to find my rear-end sitting on a cool porcelain seat as Greg was the last one to go and had left the seat up!

We had a towel warmer in the bathroom which was wonderful after taking showers! We had a magnified and lighted mirror that swung out from the wall. I thought to myself, “Now these are things I want for back home! I could actually see to pluck my eyebrows!

When we first got to our hotel I tried to rest up a bit. Ireland is 5 hours ahead of our time in the USA. Illinois is 1 hour behind us in Ohio. Even though the airline stewardesses on Aer Lingus are the best in the world I had truly had enough of flying after 12 hours of sitting in airplanes to get to Ireland. In fact, before we got off the Aer Lingus airplane I told one of the stewardesses how much I had enjoyed riding with them. The stewardess asked me to explain why. They were so nice to us, the service was wonderful, and the airplane had so many nice amenities and was clean to boot! She gave me 2 medium sized bottles of champagne wrapped up in bags and said, “Take these to celebrate your first night in Ireland”!


Look for Chapter Two!