From the Words of My Hunny--A Guest Posting
Today is a guest posting written by my husband---for me to share! He has put together this short summary along with 51 pages of pictures, formatted like a collage, for our own memory banks. It is amazing how quickly the details start to blur!! Enjoy!
Our trip to Ireland was three weeks and during that time we drove around
the entire island in a clockwise direction mostly following the coast but
occasionally cutting across country to shorten the route which would see
us put over 3,000 km on our little rental car, a Nissan Micra. Judi and I
flew into Dublin ( 2 million+…Ireland = 8 million again which equals the
pop prior to the historic potato famine) July 12, a Tuesday after being
“enroute” for 20+ hours including a five hour delay in Toronto which
dropped us in Dublin just before noon their time (+8 hours from ours…or
4am our time :( Although we had a car booked (push for an automatic-very
rare!…in case the big new city and wrong side drive isn’t enough for
you-you do NOT want to shift with your wrong hand) we took a cab to our
B&B right in Dublin and stayed two days in the downtown within walking
distance to everything, before going back to get the car.
One of ourhighlights, and pretty much one of the only things we pre-booked, was a
night at the Gaiety Theatre to see Riverdance from the third row. This was
nothing short of a world class presentation and F U N ! The theatre was
beautiful and very old and decorative with fantastic sound. The streets of
Dublin are bubbling with activity…buskers, music, colourful planters and
colourful doors, dd busses, statues; checkout Sweet Molly Mallone and The
Ballad of Molly Malone.
" In Dublin’s fair city, Where the girls are so pretty, I first set my eyes on
sweet Molly Malone,
She wheeled her wheel-barrow Through streets broad and
narrow, Crying cockles and muscles, alive, alive, oh!
-- And the people
shouted in chorus alive, alive, oh! Alive, alive, oh!..............."
There are lots of green spaces and a modern rail service for commuters. LOTS of “Euro money”
infused into upgrading tourism and historic sites. We could have spent a
week there…but once we picked up our vehicle we were off to the south
stopping along the coast to see an eastcoast beach before we got too far.
Judi braved the traffic for the first while until we got out of the city
and on our way. Our third night, or the first outside of Dublin, was at
Wexford. This was a beautiful B&B, Rosemount House, and we walked all over
the place exploring. After finding a really good place for dinner we
wandered down to an excellent pub, T. Morris Pub, to catch the best pub
music we were to see in all of Ireland! The three played traditional
instruments and used no sound system but the locals and the few tourists
were enraptured and many locals sang along and made requests. Definitely a
highlight of the trip!
When we left Wexford the next day we drove as far as Waterford, known for
its crystal and glassworks…which had stopped production just a few years
ago. The good news is that a few of the artisans who learned their trade
at the factory have opened an “artglass” studio and we were able to buy a
couple of wine goblets and have dragonflies engraved on them to
personalize them. We got to watch the artists work too and ask some
intelligent questions as I had a chance….35 years ago, to do some glass
blowing as a course offered in Surrey at Greenbarn studios with Stan and
Christy Clarke. From there we stopped at Barnstown church, the first of
many we would visit, and were impressed by the old doors, stained glass
windows and carved gravemarkers. Once we got driving we were ready to see
some wild stormy beaches as it was unseasonally cool and windy. Annestown
beach was the first beach and headland we explored and though every
Irishman we met kept apologizing for the weather we loved it and replied
that we had not come to Ireland for the weather :)
Secret little coves and nooks like Boatstrand, along the coast kept us busy and off the main
tourist tracks. We discovered early in our travels that there are many
excellent seafood chowders to be had as well as seafood from the Atlantic.
One of the most memorable chowders we had was in Bantry Bay in a pub. It
was excellent and if we had of known the size of the bowl that’s probably
the only thing we would have ordered. As it is we followed that starter
portion with a full lamb dinner and desserts with a very nice bottle of
wine. It was what the Irish refer to as an earlybird special for two at 60
Euros. “Earlybird” is any meal prior to 8 pm which is when the locals eat
followed by live music which often does not start until 10 pm.
As well as the excellent scenery and good hearty food we were surprised by
the silver jewelry with Celtic knots woven into many beautiful designs
which included horses and other animals. Of course we couldn’t drive
anywhere without seeing Guiness signs – some tourist attractions
themselves as they were over 100 years old and held catchy phrases like
“Guiness for Strength” illustrated by a farmer giving his horse a break by
pulling the cart himself with the horse inside for the ride… YES we both
tried it and if we say it is far better than beer but not something we
were willing to “develop a taste for” perhaps those of you with more
sophisticated tastebuds will forgive us :( The tourbus driver in Dublin
was quick to point out the chapel, read very large cathedral, built by
the Guiness family and there has to be something said regarding the
“..gives strength” aspect as the patriarch of the brewery dynasty did have
twenty-three children by his one wife and the brewery still takes up 60+
hectares of downtown Dublin real estate today!!! The plant life also
held a few surprises including red fushia shrubs lining the roads and
lanes mixed in with blackberry and ivy. We even tracked down and followed
a logging truck driving through one of the “mountain” passes, Canadian
smirk :) We didn’t see a mill anywhere and the lumberyard workers told us
they got their lumber from….Poland, which is part of the EU!
Another fun aspect of the trip was shopping though most everything we paid
Euros for we could buy for dollars in Canada which we figured out was
about fourty (Irish spelling) percent more. The exceptions were locally
grown foods and dairy and ALL clothing which even has long enough arm
length w/o ordering them in tall sizes because they are made in Ireland
not Asia! So all that ratioinalizing brings me to some of our major
purchases like a couple of Aran knit sweaters for Judi, an Aran knit
sweater and a leather jacket for me and sweaters and other clothing for
many family members including some ultra cool surfing t-shirts for Morgan
from a westcoast surf mecca called Lehinch. One of the greatest things of
being in Ireland is realizing you don’t have to watch darts or bowling
just because hockey is over! They have their own sports like GAA which is
an interesting soccer crossed with football game which is very quick,
another game called Hurling which must be a dentist’s dream the way they
hit the ball with a bat that is a cross between lacrosse and a baseball
bat. Of course they watch FIFA soccer and international rugby and EVERY
town has betting houses (read “Bookmaker” which was interesting to
discover had nothing to do with the publishing business) and many a day’s
wages don’t make it home on payday. As far as NA news about the only thing
we heard was that the US was facing an economic crisis! Hard to believe a
whole country can ignore NA, drive on the wrong side of the road, watch
sports we have never heard of, have buildings that have been in place for
a thousand years and be so beautiful. It was good for me as a NA-centric
teacher to realize the Irish are doing quite well w/o us thank you very
much! A real eye-opener for me and I have to say I really fell in love
with what I saw of Ireland and I think Judi did too!
About a week into our travels we stopped to do laundry and “connect” at an
internet café in Listowel. We could have spent four days there not just
the four hours we stopped. As well as the usual three beautiful stone
churches and locally restored castles (sorry by this point we were getting
a little jaded by the mind boggling array and variety of ways the Irish
can stack rock into beautiful architecturally unique landmarks…even at
that more than half of the two thousand plus photos I didn’t cull were of
theses beauties) we also stopped at a museum with many walls dedicated to
illustrated quotes from several world renown poets, novelists and literary
giants from Ireland. I’m glad the tourguide took his time starting the
tour because by the time we decided we had to go back for our laundry we
have become acquainted with examples from James Joyce “Mistakes are the
portals of discovery”, William Butler Yeats “Education is not filling a
bucket, but lighting a fire”, Oliver Goldsmith and George Bernard Shaw “A
happy family is but an earlier heaven”, Samuel Beckett “We are all born
mad. Some remain so.” written on the walls of the entry room to the
museum.
Most of the really goods quotes I recorded from this trip however were
from anonymous sources or insignificant authors. For example from downtown
Belfast at the corner of ….and Montgomery I found written a verse that
would be meaningful anywhere on the planet but is central to the
contemporary psyches of all Belfasters. It goes like this……….
“A nation that keeps
One eye on the past
Is wise.
A nation that keeps
Two eyes on the past
Is blind”…Anon
And on a park bench, an Epitaph….
“Some of us die physically on the way
some emotionally, spiritually,
creatively.
Nevertheless it’s a journey
back to the spawning grounds,
distinctively drawn back to the
womb’s safety,
love and nurture.
This is my journey.”
Pat Bracken artist & stone carver.
There were many places we would love to return to such as the Ring of
Kerry, Wexford, Waterford, Cobh (pronounced Cove), Molly Gallivan’s
tourist trap in some remote mountain pass, Kilrush, Waterford, Lehinch the
surfing town, the Cliffs of Moher, the Giant’s Causeway, spotting a real
Galway Hooker and a curragh, the ferry across the River Shannon, the
beautiful Aille River hostel at Doolin, the Burren and Galway, but I
don’t think anything will surpass the two days we spent on the Aran
Islands! Judi and I spent two very full days on the main island Inismor
leaving our rental car and most of our belongings behind and hoping on a
foot passenger ferry with just our stuffed daypacks. Once we got to the
island we walked 20 minutes up to our B&B An Realog, settled in, then went
exploring. The island has an Aran Sweater Market where the local knitters
display the widest array of sweaters in Ireland, and tell the story of how
the sweaters are made at every stage from shearing, washing and dyeing to
carding, spinning and knitting or weaving. They have beautiful displays
showing what each pattern means Ex. Tree of Life, Blackberry, etc. It is
said that the story on each sweater is unique and when a fisherman is
found washed overboard they would know by the story of the sweater who it
was. If there was one disappointment with these islands it was that there
are no sheep on the islands at this time as there was a disease that
killed them all off. After touring the local shops we took a taxi up to
the very old prehistoric fort, Dun Aonghus which is believed to be one of
the oldest forts in Western Europe. It is built at the highpoint of the
island and it is possible to see all the way to the Cliffs of Moher. It
was fun getting around on the island watching the many bikes, horsedrawn
carts and taxis navigate the very narrow roads tightly lined with rock
walls. There is one place on the island to rent horses, more accurately
they were Connemarra ponies Judi said, to ride and on the second day Judi
and I rode with our guide for two hours along the coast road past the
airport, along the beach stopping at a beachside graveyard with dozens of
Celtic Crosses marking the grave sites and a small rock church building
which had lost its roof a couple of hundred years ago. Again we enjoyed
some of the best seafood on the planet, met wonderful people along the way
and completely forgot what day of the week or date it was! How do you say
“vacation” ? For me that is one of the ways I know I have finally relaxed
and vacated reality and everyday life! Truly therapeutic ! We also
attended a special musical presentation on the islands which was
advertised as the story of the Aran Islands in music. It did not
disappoint us. The two ladies doing the presentation presented film clips
of early life there, large winter waves sweeping over the lowlands which
make up half of the island, fishing, making thatched roofs, and of course
knitting. Between the two ladies they played the flute, guitar, accordion
and both sang enchanting songs and they had the audience up learning the
local dance steps.
When we left the islands we stayed in Clifden which was beautiful, then
back to Galway for one night before carrying on to the northernmost tip
of the island Malin Head. Somewhere along the way we stopped at Sligo to
check email and and see what was new and our darling daughter surprised us
by emailing us a closeup of her left hand…………..as a way of telling us she
and her love were engaged!!!!!! I was able to talk Judi into waiting a few
hours before we phoned them to say congratulations as it was 4am their
time when we got the email! Exciting….no more details yet though re
wedding date, place etc.
One of the most beautiful places we stayed was Donegal. Everything about
the town is intriguing and worthy of spending a week not just the one
night we stayed…this became a bit of a theme in our travels. Maybe next
time we’ll go for the whole summer! As it was we were hemorrhaging money
for three weeks and will be paying it off for months but it was definately
worth it, in every way! Highlights of Donegal include “the pub incident”,
a beautiful B&B and the Donegal Castle. The last two are fairly easy to
figure out on your own…the former needs a bit of explaining. In our
continuing quest for traditional Irish music we realized we had to get to
the pub after 10 to see the groups perform. Prior to that was still
considered dinner time. So we ate at a really nice restaurant which
specialized in seafood, took our time then wandered down to the pub which
we had been told of. It was a bit after 10 and already crowded although
the band was just setting up. The only place I could find seats were in
an archway with one seat in front of the other. This worked great
because if I sat behind Judi and screamed loudly enough in her ear she
could still hear me…could hardly wait for the band to start. There was a
mom on the keyboard, pa on an accordion and a 10 year old on
banjo…interesting and not the traditional instruments we saw in Wexford
but still fun. As soon as the band started up a couple in their sixties
started to dance like their hair was on fire. That old boy had moves that
Travolta would be envious of - he had her spinning round and bopping while
everyone sang along and cheered them on. A few even joined them on the
dance floor periodically. Judi said she had never seen anyone play the
banjo as well as that ten year old boy. While we watched I was massaging
Judi’s back and shoulders and having a great laugh watching the whole
spectrum of festivities. At some point here it was time to change places
and we would switch and she was supposed to rub my back..shoulders. So as
planned between songs we switched she rubbed my shoulders then leaned
forward to whisper something in my ear…I obviously missed her say she was
just stepping out to the washroom. Unbeknown to me she did but I didn’t
notice and sat back to continue enjoying my backrub which went on for
another five minutes until I heard laughter behind me and turned to ask
Judi what was up. Judi was in the bathroom alright but this nice Irish
lady had picked up the shoulder massage w/o skipping a beat from where
Judi had left off!!!!!!!! The laughter was her and her three friends who
must have dared her so we all had a good laugh as she didn’t say a thing
just got up and returned to where her friends were sitting. Judi
reappeared about thirty seconds later oblivious to the whole thing and
rested her warm hands on my shoulders. I leaned back to fill her in on the
incident and she laughed then turned around to show the ladies her rings
and mouth “ HE’S TAKEN!” We both thoroughly enjoyed the music which also
included a birthday celebration for an 85 year old patron and a young
singer who joined the group later who had a beautiful tenor voice. Irish
hospitality at its finest?
Also in our top ten experiences in Ireland was stumbling upon the Folk
Village / museum ,Glencolmcille on their official reopening day. They had
many locals in period costumes playing the fiddle, spinning wool and
demonstrating how the fishermen made nets. There are eight separate
buildings all with thatched roofs, several had turf fires burning and
there was a tearoom and snack areas as well as a garden. It was beautiful.
Directly across the road is one of the nicest beaches we were to see in
all of Ireland also.
Once we completed the solo part of our travels which took up more than two
weeks, we crossed over to N.Ireland part of the UK and not part of the
EU…big difference and money switched from Euros to Pounds Sterling. We
spent one night at a B&B north of Belfast then worked our way inland to
Markethill to meet up with Judi’s cousins for the last part of our stay.
These cousins had visited Canada twenty-five years earlier for Expo 86
and Judi and I with our young oldest child and weeeeeeeee baby girl had come down
from the north to visit and had taken them around some of the sites in
Vancouver including Stanley Park, Whytecliff Park and Gastown. Now they
each had their own families and we would spend time with both. We stayed
with the older sister and her husband with their kids and her lovely mother on the
family farm which had been in the family for four hundred years.
The husband had recently completed some beautiful work on the place. Judi had
her 50th birthday while there and this cousin had arranged a great buffet
dinner and about thirty people for the celebration including her sister and
her family; hubby , oldest son , 2 daughters, ….and many of their friends ranging from 16 to twenties.
We would later get a chance to visit this younger cousin and husband's home and walk
around their farm in Castleblaney. After leaving the farm
place we caught up with the other family in Castleblaney again to see the
local agricultural fair that their whole family was involved in.
Our last night in Ireand we got a B&B in Sword about 15 minutes from the Dublin
airport and toured that town in the evening on foot. We had to check out
at 6am the last morning, drop the car off, clear customs and go through
all the preboarding agenda. Our flight(S = 3) back was uneventful and
about twenty hours later Jillian picked us up at the Smithers airport
where we drank in the clean cool alpine air.
Obviously, this trip had quite an impact on both of us, perhaps for some different reasons and for some that are similar. But the memories will be held dear and for this, I am so very grateful!
Our trip to Ireland was three weeks and during that time we drove around
the entire island in a clockwise direction mostly following the coast but
occasionally cutting across country to shorten the route which would see
us put over 3,000 km on our little rental car, a Nissan Micra. Judi and I
flew into Dublin ( 2 million+…Ireland = 8 million again which equals the
pop prior to the historic potato famine) July 12, a Tuesday after being
“enroute” for 20+ hours including a five hour delay in Toronto which
dropped us in Dublin just before noon their time (+8 hours from ours…or
4am our time :( Although we had a car booked (push for an automatic-very
rare!…in case the big new city and wrong side drive isn’t enough for
you-you do NOT want to shift with your wrong hand) we took a cab to our
B&B right in Dublin and stayed two days in the downtown within walking
distance to everything, before going back to get the car.
One of ourhighlights, and pretty much one of the only things we pre-booked, was a
night at the Gaiety Theatre to see Riverdance from the third row. This was
nothing short of a world class presentation and F U N ! The theatre was
beautiful and very old and decorative with fantastic sound. The streets of
Dublin are bubbling with activity…buskers, music, colourful planters and
colourful doors, dd busses, statues; checkout Sweet Molly Mallone and The
Ballad of Molly Malone.
" In Dublin’s fair city, Where the girls are so pretty, I first set my eyes on
sweet Molly Malone,
She wheeled her wheel-barrow Through streets broad and
narrow, Crying cockles and muscles, alive, alive, oh!
-- And the people
shouted in chorus alive, alive, oh! Alive, alive, oh!..............."
There are lots of green spaces and a modern rail service for commuters. LOTS of “Euro money”
infused into upgrading tourism and historic sites. We could have spent a
week there…but once we picked up our vehicle we were off to the south
stopping along the coast to see an eastcoast beach before we got too far.
Judi braved the traffic for the first while until we got out of the city
and on our way. Our third night, or the first outside of Dublin, was at
Wexford. This was a beautiful B&B, Rosemount House, and we walked all over
the place exploring. After finding a really good place for dinner we
wandered down to an excellent pub, T. Morris Pub, to catch the best pub
music we were to see in all of Ireland! The three played traditional
instruments and used no sound system but the locals and the few tourists
were enraptured and many locals sang along and made requests. Definitely a
highlight of the trip!
When we left Wexford the next day we drove as far as Waterford, known for
its crystal and glassworks…which had stopped production just a few years
ago. The good news is that a few of the artisans who learned their trade
at the factory have opened an “artglass” studio and we were able to buy a
couple of wine goblets and have dragonflies engraved on them to
personalize them. We got to watch the artists work too and ask some
intelligent questions as I had a chance….35 years ago, to do some glass
blowing as a course offered in Surrey at Greenbarn studios with Stan and
Christy Clarke. From there we stopped at Barnstown church, the first of
many we would visit, and were impressed by the old doors, stained glass
windows and carved gravemarkers. Once we got driving we were ready to see
some wild stormy beaches as it was unseasonally cool and windy. Annestown
beach was the first beach and headland we explored and though every
Irishman we met kept apologizing for the weather we loved it and replied
that we had not come to Ireland for the weather :)
Secret little coves and nooks like Boatstrand, along the coast kept us busy and off the main
tourist tracks. We discovered early in our travels that there are many
excellent seafood chowders to be had as well as seafood from the Atlantic.
One of the most memorable chowders we had was in Bantry Bay in a pub. It
was excellent and if we had of known the size of the bowl that’s probably
the only thing we would have ordered. As it is we followed that starter
portion with a full lamb dinner and desserts with a very nice bottle of
wine. It was what the Irish refer to as an earlybird special for two at 60
Euros. “Earlybird” is any meal prior to 8 pm which is when the locals eat
followed by live music which often does not start until 10 pm.
As well as the excellent scenery and good hearty food we were surprised by
the silver jewelry with Celtic knots woven into many beautiful designs
which included horses and other animals. Of course we couldn’t drive
anywhere without seeing Guiness signs – some tourist attractions
themselves as they were over 100 years old and held catchy phrases like
“Guiness for Strength” illustrated by a farmer giving his horse a break by
pulling the cart himself with the horse inside for the ride… YES we both
tried it and if we say it is far better than beer but not something we
were willing to “develop a taste for” perhaps those of you with more
sophisticated tastebuds will forgive us :( The tourbus driver in Dublin
was quick to point out the chapel, read very large cathedral, built by
the Guiness family and there has to be something said regarding the
“..gives strength” aspect as the patriarch of the brewery dynasty did have
twenty-three children by his one wife and the brewery still takes up 60+
hectares of downtown Dublin real estate today!!! The plant life also
held a few surprises including red fushia shrubs lining the roads and
lanes mixed in with blackberry and ivy. We even tracked down and followed
a logging truck driving through one of the “mountain” passes, Canadian
smirk :) We didn’t see a mill anywhere and the lumberyard workers told us
they got their lumber from….Poland, which is part of the EU!
Another fun aspect of the trip was shopping though most everything we paid
Euros for we could buy for dollars in Canada which we figured out was
about fourty (Irish spelling) percent more. The exceptions were locally
grown foods and dairy and ALL clothing which even has long enough arm
length w/o ordering them in tall sizes because they are made in Ireland
not Asia! So all that ratioinalizing brings me to some of our major
purchases like a couple of Aran knit sweaters for Judi, an Aran knit
sweater and a leather jacket for me and sweaters and other clothing for
many family members including some ultra cool surfing t-shirts for Morgan
from a westcoast surf mecca called Lehinch. One of the greatest things of
being in Ireland is realizing you don’t have to watch darts or bowling
just because hockey is over! They have their own sports like GAA which is
an interesting soccer crossed with football game which is very quick,
another game called Hurling which must be a dentist’s dream the way they
hit the ball with a bat that is a cross between lacrosse and a baseball
bat. Of course they watch FIFA soccer and international rugby and EVERY
town has betting houses (read “Bookmaker” which was interesting to
discover had nothing to do with the publishing business) and many a day’s
wages don’t make it home on payday. As far as NA news about the only thing
we heard was that the US was facing an economic crisis! Hard to believe a
whole country can ignore NA, drive on the wrong side of the road, watch
sports we have never heard of, have buildings that have been in place for
a thousand years and be so beautiful. It was good for me as a NA-centric
teacher to realize the Irish are doing quite well w/o us thank you very
much! A real eye-opener for me and I have to say I really fell in love
with what I saw of Ireland and I think Judi did too!
About a week into our travels we stopped to do laundry and “connect” at an
internet café in Listowel. We could have spent four days there not just
the four hours we stopped. As well as the usual three beautiful stone
churches and locally restored castles (sorry by this point we were getting
a little jaded by the mind boggling array and variety of ways the Irish
can stack rock into beautiful architecturally unique landmarks…even at
that more than half of the two thousand plus photos I didn’t cull were of
theses beauties) we also stopped at a museum with many walls dedicated to
illustrated quotes from several world renown poets, novelists and literary
giants from Ireland. I’m glad the tourguide took his time starting the
tour because by the time we decided we had to go back for our laundry we
have become acquainted with examples from James Joyce “Mistakes are the
portals of discovery”, William Butler Yeats “Education is not filling a
bucket, but lighting a fire”, Oliver Goldsmith and George Bernard Shaw “A
happy family is but an earlier heaven”, Samuel Beckett “We are all born
mad. Some remain so.” written on the walls of the entry room to the
museum.
Most of the really goods quotes I recorded from this trip however were
from anonymous sources or insignificant authors. For example from downtown
Belfast at the corner of ….and Montgomery I found written a verse that
would be meaningful anywhere on the planet but is central to the
contemporary psyches of all Belfasters. It goes like this……….
“A nation that keeps
One eye on the past
Is wise.
A nation that keeps
Two eyes on the past
Is blind”…Anon
And on a park bench, an Epitaph….
“Some of us die physically on the way
some emotionally, spiritually,
creatively.
Nevertheless it’s a journey
back to the spawning grounds,
distinctively drawn back to the
womb’s safety,
love and nurture.
This is my journey.”
Pat Bracken artist & stone carver.
There were many places we would love to return to such as the Ring of
Kerry, Wexford, Waterford, Cobh (pronounced Cove), Molly Gallivan’s
tourist trap in some remote mountain pass, Kilrush, Waterford, Lehinch the
surfing town, the Cliffs of Moher, the Giant’s Causeway, spotting a real
Galway Hooker and a curragh, the ferry across the River Shannon, the
beautiful Aille River hostel at Doolin, the Burren and Galway, but I
don’t think anything will surpass the two days we spent on the Aran
Islands! Judi and I spent two very full days on the main island Inismor
leaving our rental car and most of our belongings behind and hoping on a
foot passenger ferry with just our stuffed daypacks. Once we got to the
island we walked 20 minutes up to our B&B An Realog, settled in, then went
exploring. The island has an Aran Sweater Market where the local knitters
display the widest array of sweaters in Ireland, and tell the story of how
the sweaters are made at every stage from shearing, washing and dyeing to
carding, spinning and knitting or weaving. They have beautiful displays
showing what each pattern means Ex. Tree of Life, Blackberry, etc. It is
said that the story on each sweater is unique and when a fisherman is
found washed overboard they would know by the story of the sweater who it
was. If there was one disappointment with these islands it was that there
are no sheep on the islands at this time as there was a disease that
killed them all off. After touring the local shops we took a taxi up to
the very old prehistoric fort, Dun Aonghus which is believed to be one of
the oldest forts in Western Europe. It is built at the highpoint of the
island and it is possible to see all the way to the Cliffs of Moher. It
was fun getting around on the island watching the many bikes, horsedrawn
carts and taxis navigate the very narrow roads tightly lined with rock
walls. There is one place on the island to rent horses, more accurately
they were Connemarra ponies Judi said, to ride and on the second day Judi
and I rode with our guide for two hours along the coast road past the
airport, along the beach stopping at a beachside graveyard with dozens of
Celtic Crosses marking the grave sites and a small rock church building
which had lost its roof a couple of hundred years ago. Again we enjoyed
some of the best seafood on the planet, met wonderful people along the way
and completely forgot what day of the week or date it was! How do you say
“vacation” ? For me that is one of the ways I know I have finally relaxed
and vacated reality and everyday life! Truly therapeutic ! We also
attended a special musical presentation on the islands which was
advertised as the story of the Aran Islands in music. It did not
disappoint us. The two ladies doing the presentation presented film clips
of early life there, large winter waves sweeping over the lowlands which
make up half of the island, fishing, making thatched roofs, and of course
knitting. Between the two ladies they played the flute, guitar, accordion
and both sang enchanting songs and they had the audience up learning the
local dance steps.
When we left the islands we stayed in Clifden which was beautiful, then
back to Galway for one night before carrying on to the northernmost tip
of the island Malin Head. Somewhere along the way we stopped at Sligo to
check email and and see what was new and our darling daughter surprised us
by emailing us a closeup of her left hand…………..as a way of telling us she
and her love were engaged!!!!!! I was able to talk Judi into waiting a few
hours before we phoned them to say congratulations as it was 4am their
time when we got the email! Exciting….no more details yet though re
wedding date, place etc.
One of the most beautiful places we stayed was Donegal. Everything about
the town is intriguing and worthy of spending a week not just the one
night we stayed…this became a bit of a theme in our travels. Maybe next
time we’ll go for the whole summer! As it was we were hemorrhaging money
for three weeks and will be paying it off for months but it was definately
worth it, in every way! Highlights of Donegal include “the pub incident”,
a beautiful B&B and the Donegal Castle. The last two are fairly easy to
figure out on your own…the former needs a bit of explaining. In our
continuing quest for traditional Irish music we realized we had to get to
the pub after 10 to see the groups perform. Prior to that was still
considered dinner time. So we ate at a really nice restaurant which
specialized in seafood, took our time then wandered down to the pub which
we had been told of. It was a bit after 10 and already crowded although
the band was just setting up. The only place I could find seats were in
an archway with one seat in front of the other. This worked great
because if I sat behind Judi and screamed loudly enough in her ear she
could still hear me…could hardly wait for the band to start. There was a
mom on the keyboard, pa on an accordion and a 10 year old on
banjo…interesting and not the traditional instruments we saw in Wexford
but still fun. As soon as the band started up a couple in their sixties
started to dance like their hair was on fire. That old boy had moves that
Travolta would be envious of - he had her spinning round and bopping while
everyone sang along and cheered them on. A few even joined them on the
dance floor periodically. Judi said she had never seen anyone play the
banjo as well as that ten year old boy. While we watched I was massaging
Judi’s back and shoulders and having a great laugh watching the whole
spectrum of festivities. At some point here it was time to change places
and we would switch and she was supposed to rub my back..shoulders. So as
planned between songs we switched she rubbed my shoulders then leaned
forward to whisper something in my ear…I obviously missed her say she was
just stepping out to the washroom. Unbeknown to me she did but I didn’t
notice and sat back to continue enjoying my backrub which went on for
another five minutes until I heard laughter behind me and turned to ask
Judi what was up. Judi was in the bathroom alright but this nice Irish
lady had picked up the shoulder massage w/o skipping a beat from where
Judi had left off!!!!!!!! The laughter was her and her three friends who
must have dared her so we all had a good laugh as she didn’t say a thing
just got up and returned to where her friends were sitting. Judi
reappeared about thirty seconds later oblivious to the whole thing and
rested her warm hands on my shoulders. I leaned back to fill her in on the
incident and she laughed then turned around to show the ladies her rings
and mouth “ HE’S TAKEN!” We both thoroughly enjoyed the music which also
included a birthday celebration for an 85 year old patron and a young
singer who joined the group later who had a beautiful tenor voice. Irish
hospitality at its finest?
Also in our top ten experiences in Ireland was stumbling upon the Folk
Village / museum ,Glencolmcille on their official reopening day. They had
many locals in period costumes playing the fiddle, spinning wool and
demonstrating how the fishermen made nets. There are eight separate
buildings all with thatched roofs, several had turf fires burning and
there was a tearoom and snack areas as well as a garden. It was beautiful.
Directly across the road is one of the nicest beaches we were to see in
all of Ireland also.
Once we completed the solo part of our travels which took up more than two
weeks, we crossed over to N.Ireland part of the UK and not part of the
EU…big difference and money switched from Euros to Pounds Sterling. We
spent one night at a B&B north of Belfast then worked our way inland to
Markethill to meet up with Judi’s cousins for the last part of our stay.
These cousins had visited Canada twenty-five years earlier for Expo 86
and Judi and I with our young oldest child and weeeeeeeee baby girl had come down
from the north to visit and had taken them around some of the sites in
Vancouver including Stanley Park, Whytecliff Park and Gastown. Now they
each had their own families and we would spend time with both. We stayed
with the older sister and her husband with their kids and her lovely mother on the
family farm which had been in the family for four hundred years.
The husband had recently completed some beautiful work on the place. Judi had
her 50th birthday while there and this cousin had arranged a great buffet
dinner and about thirty people for the celebration including her sister and
her family; hubby , oldest son , 2 daughters, ….and many of their friends ranging from 16 to twenties.
We would later get a chance to visit this younger cousin and husband's home and walk
around their farm in Castleblaney. After leaving the farm
place we caught up with the other family in Castleblaney again to see the
local agricultural fair that their whole family was involved in.
Our last night in Ireand we got a B&B in Sword about 15 minutes from the Dublin
airport and toured that town in the evening on foot. We had to check out
at 6am the last morning, drop the car off, clear customs and go through
all the preboarding agenda. Our flight(S = 3) back was uneventful and
about twenty hours later Jillian picked us up at the Smithers airport
where we drank in the clean cool alpine air.
Obviously, this trip had quite an impact on both of us, perhaps for some different reasons and for some that are similar. But the memories will be held dear and for this, I am so very grateful!
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