flying home on saturday - Goodbye Ireland - Goodbye Maureen

It is important to note at this time that Temple bar on a Friday night of a long weekend is crazy. Busy with people., loud with cars and people. I got my wake up call, got dressed and took my suitcase and one of Maureen's out to the elevator. I went back to the room to say good bye to Maureen as she was awake from all the noise on the street.

Early Early Morning - music, ambulances, crowds and Dennie off to the airport around 4 am. Party on Dubliners!

There were literally hundreds of cabs driving in circles around the block waiting to pick up people.

It was a New York moment.

The airport was already busy at 5 am. I checked in and got myself a cup of tea. the flight over to amsterdam was uneventful as I fell asleep again for most of the flight. I did wake up in time to see the harbour with the windmills and the golf course. I took some photos of the Airport taxi ways and the roads that run under them. Wild.

I considered buying cheese to take home but I had a 12 hour flight to Seattle coming up and a 2 hour flight after that so I wasn't sure how well the cheese would fare. I decided not to buy any cheese.

I decided to watch movies again and watched about three of them.

At one point I looked out the window and saw ice bergs down below. That was cool as they must have been very large as we were very high.

I did fall asleep for a moment but it was odd because we left Amsterdam at 9 am and arrived at Sea-Tac at around 930 am. We were always in that same sun frame of reference.

when we got to Seattle we found out the plane to take us to Edmonton was delayed for 5 hours. what a drag. I wandered around Sea-tac for a good portion of the time.

I bought some postcards, had something to eat, wrote postcards, had something to drink, wandered around. I was very tired by the time the plane got there and to say that I was over tired by the time we got to Edmonton would be on understatement.

It was a great trip, the best trip and one that I will remember for the rest of my life. Slainte

Our last night in Dublin

Earlier in the trip Maureen had bought a set of coasters showing the pubs of Ireland. It had turned into a kind of a mission of ours to try and find as many of those pubs as we could. There were three of them within walking distance of our hotel. First on the list was the bar Temple Bar in Temple Bar which was right across the street from our hotel. We wandered down and found it with very little trouble. It is a most interesting bar in that it is divided into several sections with some being open to the air but having awnings that can be drawn over if it rains or is too hot. It was crowded with young folks and tourists as it was a long weekend in Ireland,they call it a bank holiday there.

I ordered the cheese plate and Maureen had a sandwich.

We both ordered beer but this time we tried a Temple Brau which is a local beer and not bad at all.

Another mission of ours was to try as many Irish beers as we could, although not all at one sitting. we went back to the hotel and packed and repacked. Finished writing the last of my postcards and found that I still needed some stamps.

After that refreshing break we wandered up Grafton street and poked through shops. Grafton street is a pedestrian street which is nice and so we were surprised to see a bright pink car parked outside one store.

There was a new shop opening that was bright pink, the Barbie Store and the car was part of their grand opening gala.

Further up the street there was a young man building a dog out of sand on the sidewalk and a few buskers playing music and singing to try and earn a few dollars.

We went up and walked a bit through Marrion Square. After leaving that park we went one block down on the one street we had not been down when we had been in Dublin 10 days before and we found O'Donohughes, the next bar on our list of bars to visit before the night was over. It had a completely different character about it.

It was dark and had on quaint old feeling. There were lots of young folks in the one section that was outside in a kind of courtyard and inside it looked like it was from the 1800's. You could tell that there had been years of smoking going on in that place. We did stay for a beer there and then decided to find Foley's. Now before I say anything else I have to let you know that we have Foley's in our family tree too.

It was right across the street and was a beautiful bar with a light and clean atmosphere. We had a beer there too and then decided to eat upstairs as Foley's also had a

restaurant. Maureen tried the irish stew and said that it tasted just like irish stew. I had a salad, potatoes au gratin and veggies.

We went for a walk to Stephen's green which is a beautiful park right in the heart of Dublin.

There was a lake with a beautiful bridge over the water and swans too. We both took quite a few pictures there. It was a perfect summer evening.

We went in search of a phone place where Maureen could finally use her phone card. if there was one thing frustrating about our trip it was that phone card. It didn't work anywhere but this one place in Dublin, but in the end she did get to talk to her family back in Canada using the card.

The stagshead pub was going to be putting on live traditional music that night and so we decided to go and check it out. We had heard great traditional music in Cape Clear and had enjoyed it very much. It did not start until 9 so we popped into O'Brien' s and had a 1/2 pint there. The music they played was loud and more modern music, well the 80's and 90's.

When we asked if they were going to have live traditional they said no. Too bad. We went to the Stagshead bar and found out that the traditional music was played downstairs. So we went and got a table.

It filled up fast and there was standing room only after a while. The music was very good but I was so tired from all of our activities to say nothing of the beer that by 1030 I was ready to go. Maureen I think would have loved to stay out later but I was a party pooper. arranged for a cab and a wakeup call at 4 am the next morning and said our goodbyes in case I got up and left the room without waking Maureen.

Our Drive Back to Dublin on Friday

We passed Adare Castle and headed out on the N21 to Limerick. The roads were getting better and Maureen was going 110. It is amazing what 10 days of driving can do for you.

This is the cleanest country. We realized that we had not seen hardly any garbage, no bags or cans or anything along the roads.

We liked the interior of Ireland and we decided that we could live at the cloister in Adare before we could live at the monastery on Skellig Michael.

We passed the Brian Boru Heritage Center but we missed the turnoff as we didn't see the sign.

What is it with the signs in Ireland? The sun came out and it turned into a glorious day.We went through a couple of traffic circles that were pretty good with good signage and then we came to a circle that was under construction. It was like a test, there was an uneven surface ahead and signs that we had to see through the construction.

We put in the Traditional Irish music Cd at 1059 am and we passed Toomevara, another little town with a big church. We were 147 Km to Dublin and wondering if we would we make it by our noon deadline?

There are towns about every five or ten minutes in Ireland or at least there are signs to leave the highway.

We went through Moneygall which had a wide street for such a tiny town.

We were back in the country again. The sun was shining and we were listening to Irish music. Maureen had the car window down and every once and a while we got a whiff of bovine contentment. We knew we were in cow country.

As we went through Roscrea we were listening to Irish lullaby's and enjoyed the aromas of brunch, bacon and sausages.

It seemed that for each song that we heard there was a totally new scene spread before us as we drove through

the Irish country side.

Before we got into Dublin proper we

pulled into a gas station and got good directions to hertz. Amazingly they were good directions and we did get there alive and safe. BIG HIGH FIVE!

Maureen went into let them know we had survived with car intact and I took my one suitcase and my one purse out of the car .

Then I took out Maureen's two suitcases, 8 bags and a pillow out of the car. There was a fellow in the next stall who asked me if I knew how to drive a standard. I told him to go back inside and get an automatic or take the bus cause he was going to die out there. Maureen talked with him too but he seemed determined to try.

We took a taxi back to our hotel. It was like coming home. Archie was there to greet us and show us how to get the lights to work again. We sighed a big sigh of relief and made plans for lunch and the rest of the day.

Friday Morning in Adare

Woke up at 510 am two sparrows were quarreling,

Bad birds, bad birds. I had slept really well on my little cot until then. Went down to the parlour of the 1850's Georgian manor house and made myself a cup of tea. Ahhh. I explored the house, as I was the only one awake. I checked on my clothes in the drying closet. I had hung them up last night as they were soaking from the boat ride. They were almost dry but not my runners. They were still quite damp.

I went up stairs and down stairs and found hallways in the oddest paces. before staying there, I had no idea how many rooms these old houses had, and staircases too.

The outside walls are quite thick but I can still hear the N21. We are even back from the highway quite a ways.

Then I explored the outside. This is a working farm bed and breakfast.

It is the neatest farm I have ever seen. The yard in back is all paved and clean. They have cattle, a horse and last night I heard chickens and a dog. There were lots of crows in the trees around the old walled kitchen garden. Went back inside for another cup of tea.

The parlor was an interesting room it had high ceilings with a picture rail and pale yellow walls the fireplace had a dark wood mantle with flower tile accents on the side of an old electric fireplace.. There was a piano in the corner. The parlour was quite large and could easily seat 16 comfortably. I sketched the cows in the front pasture and that kept me busy for a while.

Most of the places we have stayed at do not have clocks but in that room there were two. One across from each other in the room. They ticked in an offset manner from each other with one having a lower tone. It was an interesting exercise in mindfulness.

Went up to the room and had a shower, my face is still red but not as bad as last night.

Kathleen made our breakfasts and we chatted with the other quests. There was a young girl who wanted to use the phone and when she was done we went and tried Maureen’s phone card. Again, no luck. We checked out the village walks card #22 for Adare and made our plans for the morning.

After saying goodbye to Kathleen we headed off and drove through Adare. the weather had turned grey and cloudy and the warm summer air of last night was only a memory.

We went to the 13 th century priory which is part of Holy Trinity Church .

It was gorgeous. Carved stone and walkways in the cloister with climbing roses that were in bloom in the courtyard. It was really a magical place. Connected to this was the curch that was built in the 1700's. It was really a lovely church.

After the church we headed back to dublin as we had to get the car back to the rental agency by noon and it was 930 already.

Off to Adare on Thursday

We planned our trip to Adare in the Bridge Park parking lot in Port Magee.

Ok, back up the Ring of Kerry the way we came yesterday, the N70 to Tralee but not all the way to Tralee. After Milltown take the R561 to Farranfore then the N23 to Limerick.

We were on our way again. We passed a vehicle that was doing 70. Maureen was turning into an Irish driver.

Went back through pretty Cahersiveen. We were moving along nicely when suddenly a really big tractor pulled out in front of us. Maureen said ‘Just bury me now’ and I laughed at the situation.

The sun was trying to come out and it was gorgeous on the bay. We were back to the zig-zag road and the narrow bridge.

We stopped in Glenbeigh and walked on the beach. There was a spit of sand that went out into the bay and there were people riding horses and walking their dogs. It was great. Up near the entry to the beach the rocks were green.

When we got back out onto the road we came up to this fellow who was pulling a boat. Now we had already passed this fellow once but he must have gotten ahead of us while we were on the beach.

We got to Kilorglin at around 7 pm and followed the boat as he was still in front of us.

Went through Milltown and had to maneuver around a bus and a huge truck that were coming toward us. It was a nerve wracking moment again. Took the R561 to Farranfore. We saw crash repair signs and laughed. We were sure that those guys were busy.

At 745 we went through Castle Island but we never saw a castle. It did however have really wide roads with angle parking. The first time we had seen that in Ireland. The N21 to limerick seemed to be flat land with a good road.

But Maureen pointed out that we were actually going uphill. It was an optical illusion. It was such a gentle incline that I really thought that we were on flat land. There were even two lanes for us folks that were going uphill. Downright civilized. A beautiful view of the valley and castle Island opened up before us. There was the sign for Crag Cave. Know we knew where it was. Going down after that with a single lane for us on a very gentle incline with forests and views of big valleys and bigger hills.

We were hitting speeds of 110 and not keeping up with the locals. That was a nice road and it had shoulders too. After Abbyfeale we saw three windmills up on a hill. Very pretty.

We played Van Morrison – It’s a marvelous night for a Moondance.

This stretch of road is pretty, pretty, pretty.

We went through a tiny town, Templeglentan ,with a tiny church built in 1843 at around 8pm. It seemed to be more cattle country now. The road was fairly wide and it seemed to be green with read shoulders. I have never seen so many different coloured roads. V.M. Have I told you lately.

When we went through Newcastle West we were listening to Brown eyed Girl again . at the inevitable traffic circle we could not see the sign for Killarney as it was covered by a tree branch. Maureen says KillDenny. So which way do we go?

We guessed right and saw the sign for Adare in 24 Km.

We were accosted with an aroma what was it? Farming? Bucolic? The road got better. We found a B&B just 4 Km outside of Adare. Smithfield House was an 18^th century manor house that was also a working farm with horses and cows and ducks and dogs.

Kathleen greeted us like she was expecting us and when we said we didn’t have reservations she told us that she had been waiting for another group but she did have a room for us. We brought our things on and I looked in the mirror.

My face was beet red. And so salty. Between the wind, the salt and sun it is no wonder fishermen have weathered faces, their faces don’t stand a chance. I washed the salt off and hoped it was dark enough that no one would notice I was burned to a crisp.

We went into Adare and after taking a picture of the house with the tree growing out of its chimney wandered around the park and the street with the thatched cottages. We decided to have dinner at the blue door restaurant.

We had a lovely dinner and then wandered back through the gardens and main street in the moonlight.

It was like a summer evening, warm with no wind and a clear sky. There is a Golf resort right in town .

Our room was ready for us and was very comfortable. I got the cot and it was asleep in less than 4 minutes.

The Wilds of Ballinskellig

We got off the boat at around 430 in the afternoon. Did you know there are holes in boats to let the water out.

Well those holes also let the water in before they let it out. Needless to say I was wet through from sitting outside on the little boat along with just about everyone else too.

On the boat Maureen had gotten good directions to the chocolate factory which closed at five but I had to use the washroom. There was moment of conflict. Maureen said there will be a washroom at the chocolate place and she had gotten really good directions. So we headed up past the hostel and into the wilds of Ballinskellig.

Now up until that time we thought that we had been on some bad roads, some scary roads, some narrow roads. I’m here to tell you that you have not driven a road until you drive through the hills of Ballinskellig. Although I still think the Caha Pass was scarier but not by much We drove up hills and down the other side on roads that were steeper than the one Cape Clear. We drove down lane ways that literally were only wide enough for one car with the hedges brushing the mirrors on both sides.

I was in such a state that I had forgotten that I had to go at all and Maureen was mad as her great directions were for naught and we were not going to get to the chocolate factory before it closed.

We came head to head with another vehicle who looked very surprised to see us but was patient and pulled over into this little bit of a wider area and let us pass. We came to a T-junction and asked a fellow where we could find some good roads and he looked positively shocked. Why the roads are all tarred! Both ways. Did we want to go to Port Magee? No! we wanted to go to the chocolate factory.

So we headed off up the road and wound going over the mountain and down into Port Magee.

Well, My bladder remembered that it had a mission and we went into the first pub that we saw.

The Bridge Bar as it was next to the giant bridge across the bay. I had grabbed some dry clothes out of my bag and brought those with me. Relief and dry clothes made me in a much better mood and after we ordered something warm to eat I Went for a little walk down the street.

There was a gift shop about two doors down from the pub and guess what it sold - yes - Ballinskellig chocolates. Well I just about burst out laughing. God knew that Maureen wanted this chocolate and he knew that we were not going to make it to the factory so he gave us the scenic route to Port Magee and Ballinskellig Chocolate. I went back into the pub and told Maureen. Her sense of humour still had not returned completely but she did I believe smile a little. I just hoped that who ever she gave that chocolate to, they appreciated the effort it took to get it.

After we ate and warmed up we went to the gift shop picked up some postcards and a few little gifts and then across the street to another shop do the same again.

An adventure - The Skellig Islands

We got to the wharf in time for our loading to be a casual and organized affair. Climbing down the ladder onto the boat was a good exercise in itself. The skipper said that the sea was moderate and so they would be going. If the sea had been rough they would not have gone out at all. He told us that it was a 40 minute ride to the first island which was a bird sanctuary. Gannets. We would not stop there though just go around it and then continue on to the big island Skellig Michael.We headed out and the water seemed very calm to me. Then I realized that we were still in the bay. Once we had left the bay the water turned into what I would refer to as a roller coaster ride. Not a big roller coaster but not a little one either. Maureen had told me that she always sat outside as she preferred the wind in her face. I had started out inside the small boat but as soon as we hit the open water I moved myself outside also. I am prone to motion sickness and recognize those feelings very well. Outside with the wind and the salt spray in my face I was fine.

It was a real adventure.

As we pulled closer to the bird sanctuary there were gannets skimming the water. They were amazing. How they didn't crash into the waves that seemed to be everywhere was a wonder to me. once we got up to the bird sanctuary you could see hundreds if not thousands of birds. We did not go around the island at that time as the skipper said that we would do that on the way back.

The big Skellig Michael island was about another 15 minutes away and it got more impressive the closer we got.

A huge triangle of rock coming out of the water.

The dock on the island is in a little natural break in the rocks called the blindmans cove. Getting off the boat was an adventure all in itself. The skipper ran a rope from the bow of the boat around a pole on the small dock and his deck hand ran a rope from the stern of the boat to another pole on the dock. As each wave came in and raised the boat up to the level of the landing a passenger would step/jump off with the assistance of a third deck hand on the landing and then make their way up the steep stairs to the wharf area. The skipper and the second deck hand managed the ropes by either pulling them tight or giving them slack to keep the boat from pulling too far away from the dock.

I did get some photos with my waterproof camera.

Then we went for a walk up a wide walled pathway.

It felt very secure.

There were spectacular views all the way around the island.

the sides of the island were so steep that this path must

have been cut into the island.

At one point there was a cover built up to keep falling rocks from landing on you as you followed the path. It didn't look to me like it could keep anything big from just going right through it but maybe it could deflect the smaller stones.

There were birds everywhere. I saw puffins.

This was exciting as I had never seen live puffins before. They are marvelous birds. There were kitty-wakes and gannets too, also very lovely.

I had somehow gotten ahead of Maureen on the path so turned and got a picture of her coming up.

After a time we came to the more dangerous part of the walk. There was a large sign with lots of warnings about the hazards and how the government was not responsible for anything that happened as it was your choice to do it or not. Fair warning.

We watched as others went up the very steep stone steps, switchbacking up to about 50 feet above us and thought well that is why we were there. Both Maureen and I suffer from a degree of vertigo. We had decided that we would go as far as we could go and then come back down. We made it to just above the Wailing Woman's Cross a natural stone formation about halfway up to the monastery.

If we had continued about another 50 yards, we found out later, we would have found ourselves on a wide set of stairs in the center of the island instead of on the rather narrow stone steps with no hand rails to comfort us, only the openness of the steep stone slope and the sea crashing on the rocks far below. OK, I exaggerate a bit, but, there were no handrails and if we had fallen we could have serioulsy hurt ourselves.

Just a few weeks before we got there an older man had been walking back down from the summit where the monks had built their domed huts and he slipped and fell about 50 feet onto the wide pathway. He had died.

On the island there is a helicopter pad for emergencies. It is placed further up the pathway, rather precariously,

I thought, on a platform mounted onto the wall of the island. It had been used that day.

We sat by the Wailing Woman's Cross for a bit and then slowly worked our way back down the steep stone staircases to the wide path to have our small lunch and talk to the other people who had also not been able to go up to the top. Even though we did not see the beehive huts of the monks that lived on the island 600 hundred years ago, it was still a very cool experience.

As we walked back to the boat we ran across a woman who was having a hard time of it. She got real sea sick and did not want to go on the boat again. I felt real bad for her.

While we were on the island our boat pulled out of the dock and anchored in the waters off the island. We all gathered to wait for our boat,

the Flying Horse and when it came in we got on in pretty much the same way we got off,

waiting for the boat to rise to the level of the platform so we could step/ jump onto it. the ride back was much calmer. the Bird sanctuary was so cool. The boat pulled in very close the the island and we saw seals, gannetts, puffins, kitty-wakes and those little dark sea birds.

It was great.

The ride back seemed longer than the ride out and when we pulled into the harbour we had to go very slow as the tide had gone out a bit and there were rocks we had to avoid. At one point we could see the bottom and we did scrape a rock. Seems there is this sand bar that needs to be dredged. By the time we got on shore I was soaked from head to foot and really had to find a washroom.