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.
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.
posted by The Celtic Contessa at
8:38 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home