England and Ireland---Day 20

Why is it so hard to come home, yet so easy to go?  An unanswerable question, although the answer may lie in excitement and anticipation, plus going home you are not fresh, but worn down with travel, different beds, late hours, and yes, too much food and libations.

We left the hotel on the bus for our trip to the airport, which is north of the city.  Not too bad a line at United, which did not prepare us for what was to come.  First, a line for security, which is pretty normal.  Now a stop at duty-free to buy some Jameson Irish Whiskey.  Nice system in Dublin; US Customs and Immigration are done here...unfortunately, long lines for both.  Customs, the queue snaked back and forth five to six times and we had to do the whole security thing again, plus identify a picture of your checked luggage.  Pretty neat, how they can match you at the Customs station with your baggage somewhere else in the building.  Now, more long snaky lines for Immigration, finally "on US soil," as we were through Immigration.  Now, an interesting part:  only two liters of liquor allowed through Customs, and what should appear in front of us but a duty-free shop.  Now you could buy as much liquor as you could carry as you were already "in the US," so to speak.  Wonder if this makes sense to someone, somewhere.

Trip from Dublin to Newark was smooth, but the video displays in my whole row were not working.  The crew tried rebooting several times, but no luck.  I had two interesting seatmates, so all was not lost.  The girls sitting in my row were French Canadians who had been to England and Ireland to work on their English accents, which I thought were quite good.  We had a nice long conversation about many things.  Marian had mentioned in Ireland that many Irish had first gone to Canada, and Sophie was living proof of this.  She identified as French Canadian, but her last name was O'Shaughnessy.  

Arrived in Newark on time, and the gate we were going to leave from was just straight across the corridor. This has never happened to me before: now the bad news.  Our flight to San Francisco, which was supposed to leave at 4:25, was delayed to 6:30.  The weather across the US was pretty rough this day.  The plane finally arrived a little past 6:30, and we were on board by 7 o'clock or so.  Then we sat on the runway, and the captain came on the intercom and said that we were not cleared to take off because there was some heavy weather coming in (it was raining at the time).  Then, to apologize for the inconvenience, the in flight videos would be free, then he said we could use our cell phones on the plane while we waited.  This did not bode well for the flight!  Finally we took off for a pretty bumpy flight to San Francisco.  We got in about 11:30, and Rob picked me up.  We went across the Bay Bridge at midnight in a mist, and I was finally in bed by 1:00 on the 26th.  I figure that this was about 28 hours awake, as I do not really sleep on a plane.

And that's why it took me until the 28th to post for the 25th!

England and Ireland---Day 19

Left Belfast this morning in horrible traffic.  Finally out of town heading south toward the Republic.  Again the easy border crossing, back to Irish on the signs.  We are heading to passage tombs in the Boyne Valley.  Newgrange was constructed over 5000 years ago (about 3200 B.C.), making it older than Stonehenge in England and the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt. Newgrange was built during the Neolithic or New Stone Age by a farming community that prospered on the rich lands of the Boyne Valley. Knowth and Dowth are similar mounds that together with Newgrange have been designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.  We actually went to Knowth which has the best passages and also seventeen satellite cairns.  The carving on the rocks that make up the curb stones that hold the mound together are decorated with Megalithic Art such as spirals, concentric circles, triangles, zigzags and images which have been interpreted as the sun, moon and the human face. We had a lot of time to wander around the Brú na Bóinne Visitor Centre, then when up at the site we could wander around and examine the whole site after a short presentation by a guide.

We then drove the rest of the way to Dublin.  Marian explained the method of retrieving our VAT at the airport, and since Nila and I have only 1hr 2 min between planes, we were happy to learn that US customs and immigration are both done here in Ireland.  This is the only place in Europe that this is done, so we don't have to stress about long lines in Newark.

After a short break at the hotel, we reboarded the bus for a tour of South Dublin and a meal at a wonderful restaurant, La Petit Cochon.  Wow, we thought we'd had good food before, and we have had some wonderful food, but this was a whole new level.

Mound mowing--courtesy of Jac

England and Ireland---Day 18

Political mural

Belfast University

Leaving Derry, we drove across Northern Ireland to Belfast.  This only took a little more than two hours.  Distances are not so distant here...this is about the distance from my house in Yuba City to San Francisco.  After dropping our luggage at our hotel, and having a coffee break, a local guide named Helga took us on a bus tour of Belfast and environs.  Included in this was the history of Belfast from a small linen town to the large ship building center that it became at the beginning of the 1900's.

 Albert Memorial Clock

Yes, it's leaning.

At the end of the tour we were dropped off in the center of Belfast...guess what, there was a fabric store called Spinning Wheel across the street.  Not only that, but it had a tea room in the store where I had some very nice vegetable soup and wheaten bread (a coarse whole wheat bread).  Yes, I did buy some fabric, but not much.  They had a very small selection, but it was all English made.  At least now I have some fabric that I can say came from Ireland.

Hurray, a quilt shop

Interesting sign

After lunch we boarded the bus and went to the Titanic Experience.  This is built on the exact place where the Titanic was built by Harland & Wolff and launched in 1911.  The building itself is the same height as the ship.  The Titanic was huge but was half the size of modern cruise ships.  Luxury in another whole story, as the first class cabins were positively opulent.  Third class was another whole story, for although they had a sink, bathroom facilities were two decks away.

 Outside of the Titanic Experience
Designed to look like wave sparkles

Close up of side

Display in Hotel Europa

 Two interesting pubs

Across the street from our hotel

Floor of pub

A possible quilt?

Physics connection-temperature guy.

Appetizer, tasted as good as it looked

England and Ireland---Day 17

Dunluce Castle

Second day in Derry, and a very nice day it was...it even rained a very small amount which made Nila happy.  After breakfast we were driven to Giants Causeway.  We went by the coast which has hard lava deposits over chalk layers.  Lots of landslides and a deserted castle, Dunluce Castle.  The castle was deserted after the kitchen fell off one night before dessert could be served. :-)



 



Giants Causeway is an area of 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic eruption.  It is very much the same as Devil's Postpile in California.  So regular it looks manufactured, Nila and I were suitably impressed.  We also noted that in the States the area would be roped off and no climbing allowed for fear of law suits.

"Jobs not Creed"

We came back to Derry for a walking tour of the walled city.  On the way to our starting point we drove by the murals of Derry, a set of painted end walls of apartments reminding everyone of "The Troubles," as the civil rebellion of Northern Ireland is referred to here.

Rohan in a new area

Guild Hall

Derry City Centre is the only city in Europe with an intact city wall.  In fact you can walk around the city on the wall in about 20 minutes, as it is only a mile around.  Our guide, Rohan, was Chinese Irish and professed to be the only Buddhist in Northern Ireland.  I thought city walls would be level, but these were not.  Not only did they slope strongly toward the city, they also climbed up and down, with humps over the four gates.  We also visited the Guild Hall, which is the city hall, named after the guilds of London that came to the city in the 1600's.



On our own after the city wall walk, Nila and I came back to the hotel and took it easy for the rest of the afternoon.

 This is interesting, no shocking.  The flight costs about $450.  The fees and taxes add up to more than $600.  and who collects the international surcharge anyway?

England and Ireland---Day 16

Packed up yet again.  We had two days in this hotel, and two days in one hotel, as mentioned before, is luxurious.  We have two days in Derry, our next stop too.

Left the Galway area today heading almost due north on our way to Northern Ireland.    Got a lesson on "The Troubles" from Marian.  Turns out it isn't as much a religious conflict as an ethnic one between the native Catholic Irish and the imported Protestant Scotch. Pretty much settled now, although on the way in we say signs where the London of Londonderry had been marked out.  Obviously still some resentment.

Clonalis House

Back to today:  our first stop was in Castlerea at Clonalis House which is the ancestral home of the O'Conor Don, who is a direct descendant of the last High King of Ireland, Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair.  The name has, over 900 years, changed to O'Conor, and don has nothing to do with Italy or Spain, but is the name given to the head of the House,  like Lord.  This is a wonderful old house, where we were met by a member of the family.  They can trace their line back to 1000 BC, which I find interesting, if not almost impossible.  The library here has 100,000 volumes, so perhaps the genealogy is not impossible.  The rock upon which the dons were installed is in the garden...looks like a rock, so if you weren't told of its importance it would just be another rock.

River Shannon

Music at lunch

Leaving Castlerea, we headed east and north to Carrick on Shannon.  More of the same wonderful green rolling Irish countryside with lots less rocks than in Connemara.  The Shannon is the longest river in Ireland at 224 miles, which also makes it the longest river in all of the British Isles.  Unfortunately it is shallow which makes it unusable for transport of large ships.  We boarded a boat for an hour cruise on the river with a nice lunch.  We had home-made sandwiches and more wonderful scones with jam and cream.

Yeats' headstone

Next stop was outside Sligo in the town of Drumcliff.  This is the burial place of William Butler Yeats, a major poet and play wright who died in only 1939.  In my mind I had him earlier, perhaps the late 1800's.  Just goes to show what I don't know.  Marian recited some of Yeats poetry (from memory, mind you) and this may be some literature I'm going to have to look into.

A long run into Northern Ireland followed.  There is no border crossing, and the only indication that you are no longer in Ireland is the lack of Irish on the signs, miles instead of kilometers, and £ instead of €.  Interesting that the official name is Londonderry, but the Irish name Derry is usually preferred and used by everyone.  

Swan on the Shannon

Northern Ireland countryside

 Summer solstice tonight, so the sun sets here at 10:10, and lord knows when it will be full dark.  I certainly won't know, as I'll be asleep.

England and Ireland---Day 15

 

 

 

 

 

Plots of land in Connemara

Optional excursion to the Connemara area today, wow, I had no idea.  We passed miles and miles of stone walls the enclosed an acre or two.  This was all the land that a tenant farmer would have to raise food for his family; potatoes.  This was after the Irish were removed by Oliver Cromwell and forced to the west, many, many to Connemara.  This was fine, or at least not awful, until the Great Famine that started in 1845 due to potato blight.  More than a million people died, and a million more emigrated.  What is unconscionable to today's ethos is that Ireland at that time was exporting shiploads of food including wheat, oats, barley, meat, butter and salmon to England.  I don't know how the English could hold their heads up‽‽  Seeing those miles of grey stone was like looking at a concentration camp scene.

Bog cotton 
aka Leprechauns beard

Irish---beer, wine and tobacco

 

Marian directing traffic

We then headed north toward the Twelve Bens of Connemara.  This is a range of basalt mountains (highest about 2300ft) that form the center of Connemara.  They are steep and barren, and the water runs down into peaty valleys.  Cool today with some wind, overcast, and with the steep sides of the hills this looked and felt more like the Ireland I was expecting, although this reminded me a lot of Scotland, not green, flat (not) Ireland.  There are bogs everywhere, with peat being cut and stacked to dry, and sheep everywhere, even on the road.

Connamara Giant

We stopped in a small village named Recess for tea.  Interesting statue erected in 1999 to commemorate the fact that nothing much happened here in 1999 : -)  Called a late 20th century antiquity. Owner of the coffee shop obviously has a sense of humor and lots of people stop to take photos and then have tea at the shop.

 

Kylemore Abbey

Next stop was Kylemore Abbey, a Scottish style palace built in the 1800's. It is a beautiful place, on a lake, with a romantic story that ends in tragedy, then Benedictine nuns use the building as an abbey and school.  No longer a school, it is a great international tourist attraction, with lots of German and French speakers in addition of us Americans. In addition to the Abbey there is a seven acre walled garden which is absolutely beautiful.  Check out  http://www.kylemoreabbey.com/

Mr Joyce at the marble factory

Heading back toward Galway we stopped at the Connemara Marble Factory.  Connemara marble is absolutely beautiful, coming in colors all the way from white to black, with greens, and red in between.  Once used for flooring and other construction uses, today it is becoming harder to find, and is used mostly for jewelry,  The greens are beautiful and jade-like, while the red is rarer and no longer mined.

Did not feel like going out tonight, as we would have had to sit down more in a taxi.  We had dinner in the hotel bar, where we had what is called bar food...looked like a full menu to me, but we all had excellent fish and chips with mushy peas.

Roadside scene--see the sheep

Three of the Twelve Bens

Garden at Kylemore, looking downhill

 Must be my kind of place.
Probably the place for most
of my quilting friends, too.

England and Ireland---Day 14

Thatched cottages, Adair

Left Killarney for points west and north today.  Temperature somewhat moderated, it's cloudy and pleasantly warm, rather than being hot.  Stopped first in Adair, a very charming town.  Drove through the usual rolling green hills out of Killarney heading to the Cliffs of Moher.  This sounds like it is something from Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter, and actually the cliffs did appear in the Half-Blood Prince movie.

Cliffs of Moher--there are people on the top!

The cliffs rise straight out of the ocean, the highest one being 702 feet.  They are about 7 miles long, and a hiking paths follow them the whole distance.  The Cliffs are home to thousands of nesting seabirds such as puffins and various gulls as well as hawks and ravens.  We had a wonderful view of the Aran Islands which lie directly west of the Cliffs.  I never realized how close the islands are to the coast, as well as how barren they appear.

Burren scenery

We left the Cliffs and entered the Burren region.  This is an area overlying extensive limestone deposits filled with Carboniferous fossils.  Much of the high hills have been denuded of soil and vegetation due to later glacial action, So the hills are white with the limestone.  Rock fences are everywhere, as the fields have been made by removing the rock and using it for the fences.  Drove down a road named Corkscrew toward Galway.

Sand dollar fossil

Thatched cottage at farm

We next went to a farm called Rathbaum where we first had some wonderful scones with jam and cream and tea.  A tour of the farm followed.  We learned something about the agricultural practices of Ireland, in this area of Galway being pasturage with meat sheep and meat cattle.  Not the area for dairy, apparently.  A sheep shearing demonstration followed a demonstration of sheep herding by a Border Collie.


Our hotel for tonight is on the shores of Galway Bay, cool with a nice breeze blowing.  Had baked hake, a fish, for the first time.  Very tasty.

Old farm kitchen---in front of the peat fire

Connamara pony and colt

England and Ireland---Day 13

Unusual Irish skies.  No rain

The mountains of Ireland

Thank goodness we didn't have to pack up today!  Two nights in the same hotel is like heaven after all the moving around we have been doing.  We can "strew our belongings to the wind," according to Mariann, our tour director.  We didn't go that wild.

Beautiful thatched cottage

A view of Dingle Bay

On tap for today, a ride around the "Ring of Kerry."  For some reason I thought that was a Druid circle or something like that.  Not.  It is actually a ride around the Iveragh Peninsula, which consist mostly of the mountains called Macgillicuddy's Reeks.  Ireland's tallest mountain is clearly visible (the weather still being sunny and hot---and the Irish are all turning red), Carrauntoohil at 1039 meters.  We passed Dingle Bay, a beautiful spot, although the water is too cold for swimming, then around the end of the peninsula and up the mouth of the Kenmore River.  Up the mountain, we entered Killarney National Park, which is what Ireland probably looked like 2000 years ago.  Down the other side, we passed the other side of the Lakes of Killarney, and finally back to Killarney.  Not a lot of farmland used for crops other than pasturage and some silage.  Lots of sheep in the hills, and occasionally cattle and horses.  The coast in largely unspoiled, even deserted...water about 62˚F.

Can't say the Irish don't like color

After returning to Killarney, Nila and I walked down the Killarney City shopping street which is conveniently right outside the door of the hotel.  Had ice cream at Murphy's, self-proclaimed as "the best ice cream in the world."  I will admit, it is good...I had buttermilk and caramel honeycomb.

Jaunting in the park

A jaunting cart was our next adventure.  Actually a 4 wheel cart that hold six in the back, plus one in front with the driver, called a jarvey.  Our jarvey was the king of the one-liners, and had us laughing all the time.  Drove through the beginning to the Killarney National Park to Ross Castle, then back.  Saw Irish red deer in the park, pretty fearless and used to the carts and people.

Ross Castle ruin

Pub crawl!

Our final adventure of the day was a trip to an Irish pub for dinner, music and local dances.  The pub was great, food good, and music by a local band called Anora very entertaining.

Look closely-a red deer buck

Rhubarb!!  Wonderful

Pat, Me, Patsy, Jac, Nila, Diane, Bruce