Sept. 12 1997, 9pm , Detroit international terminal

3 hours waiting to board. Reading our Ireland books! Found some more cool stuff. Like the telescope at castle Birr. Well, 1/2 hour to board. Flight delayed due to some weird maintenance problem. Got underway around midnight - but we've already set our watches for 6 am! There was some sort of spill on the tarmac.

Monday Noon - Limerick - Sarsfield Bridge Inn

We had a weird flight, sleeping some then being woken up for breakfast. At Gatwick, they made us get off and go back around thru the duty free shops. back on the same plane after 1/5 hr etc. then on the Shannon. customs no prob., thrifty car WEIRD WRONG SIDE! Drove to limerick! (easy signs so far). Parked the Arthur's Quay parking garage - WHICH CLOSED @ 7 AND all day Sunday!! WE didn't realize! SO here we are w/ only our clothes and our money!! we wandered around looking for a room. Found a hostel w/ bunk beds, we saw St. Mary cathedral, Shannon river, a strange ruined wall, a boarded up old church, lots of pubs. Very quiet around six. Found the Green Onion - curry mayo chicken an lovely Greek salad!

Found this inn after mistaking Celtic boat club. view of Shannon w/ locks.? Vintage Club - younger crowd, loud, dance music. Found out you can put black currant in Guinness! Dolan's was recommended, by the blond who said "and you came here?" incredulous, when we told her we were on our honeymoon. WOW! Harp and drum-on-a-tobacco box, fiddle, flute, just sitting there playing. T shirts. Talked to a nice guy who recommended Kerry and warned us about Dublin. Oh yeah, Mary, a blonde in Vintage, thought it was "cute" we were on our honeymoon here.

Was very tired @ Dolan's but really fascinated. Walked "home." Sunday slept in, walked up Ennis came back bast all the B&B's we had missed, and saw the Hunt Collection museum. A very eclectic collection, the crucifixes thru time and the other church artifacts were interesting. Nap, Indian restaurant for dinner. Ooh yes, for lunch we had a "bap" by which they mean a real sandwich -- if you order a sandwich you get an open-face! and potato leek soup @ Puccini's. After nap WOW, Indian restaurant very delicious - lamb roganjosh and a curry ginger chicken disk. Stopped at a pub to watch the end of the All Ireland Hurling Championship- Clare v. Tipperary. Everyone was incredibly excited about the match! Cars kept driving through at all hours with banners and hollering fans.

George Hotel -- basement had an electric Irish band that played "Four Green Fields, "Black is the color of my true love's hair", "some say the devil is dead, Finnegan's wake, "__ __ the Liffey", only our rivers run free." Wow. They danced in the open ways, smoke, loud, noise! Everyone knew all the words!!!! (After the fact, as I'm transcribing this, I'd say that was the most incredible night of loud music we'd had. It's really too bad I had one of the worst headaches ever!! Possible jet lag?) That was the best night of Irish music, I think, that we ever had - our first. It was like being in a movie. To see these people totally abandoned in their music. We don't have anything like that here.

Noon Monday 9/15

Up, breakfast ("fish food" = Kellogg's all bran). Nice "brown" bread. Got car YAY!! 14 pounds to break it out of there! Oh well. Forgot vitamins, brought embroidery floss instead! Duh. Off to Kerry and Dingle!

Monday evening, Tralee

Colles Sandes House hostel.

Picked up total of 4 hitchhiker today, 2 Irish, 2 Texans (Derek and Cindy, who just got engaged, and were in Paris when Di crashed and London for her funeral), breakfast @ bakery in Tralee, turkey sandwich (a real one) and scone. Headed out to Dingle. Rained all day. Drove thru Conor's Pass -- No visibility!! Heavy FOG! But faery like green wet steep slopes in fog 2/ sheeps and lichenrocks (chartreuse!) and narrow twisty roads and surprise headlights (on the wrong side...).

Tuesday 9/16

Lunch of cheese and brown bread in the car. Coffee and tea in Dingle, an the Global Village. A hip new world cafe, with pierced people, and world music. City was almost as confusing as Tralee. ??? bohemian crowd, "avenue of the stars" with hothouse flowers and dolly parton and Paul simon. Drove out Leas Head Drive - foggy vistas of crashing surf and green ocean. This is the area where Ryan's Daughter was filmed!. Beehive huts and prehistoric fort - Dunbeg fort. Surfers near Inch. Incredible crashing waves in rocks. Ubiquitous B&B's. Fuchsia lined roads, Fuchsia hedges! Oh yea, Trallee had a Denny Demesne, wonderful rose garden!

Now we're I Killarney! Had a tremendous seafood dinner and Foley's. (The one up the street, I forgot, was recommended too us, but it was "booked out"!). Garlic mussels - melted in the mouth! Salmon, and scallop mornay. Superb. (and our most expensive meal there...). Staying at Neptunes Hostel. Bunk beds! And a loud altercation in the alley early early that morning.

Fields of Athenry

If I were a blackbird

Last updated 07/25/2001

Copyright © 199-2001 Helen E. Kourous