Hawkeye

Ireland, June 11 - 19, 1998

Daily Travel Log

Barb & Bob Davidson, Mike and Sandy Beville - 6-11-98, Thursday, 6:40 PM - All aboard Flight 6990 for Shannon, Ireland. We have 369 people on board with destinations of Ireland, England or Wales. We are on an L1011 airplane in seats 21 A & B. Kyle is home. He is watching our dog, Alex, and working. Kely is in Arizona on vacation. We are with Mike and Sandy Beville. Our good friends, who are also celebrating their 30th Anniversary with us.

We had champagne before boarding the airplane and the Ambassadair staff was dressed as Irish people.

The pilot just said, "seat belts buckled for take off". He also said we would be flying for six hours and fifteen minutes until touchdown in Shannon. We will get there around 7:00 AM Ireland time and 1:00 AM our time. We are going very fast on runway 23 R! The pilot also said that we would go north toward Detroit, Canada and Greenland.

6-11-98, 8:28 PM - Now flying over Montreal, Canada. It is dusk and we are enjoying a lovely sunset. The city lights are just beautiful!

6-12-98, 1:11 AM Indiana time, 7:11 AM Ireland - Now descending for landing in Shannon. It is morning, seeing sun come up was beautiful. Now, sun shining and seeing Atlantic Ocean for the first time. Slept very little. Sitting up not so comfortable to sleep. It is 52 degrees in Shannon - not bad for early morning.

Seeing cliffs, land ho at 7:13 AM! The land is a beautiful emerald green. The roads seem to be brown, not gray like ours. We are flying low over farms, lots of coastline. Seeing boats making trails in the gray green water. There are a few white clouds, but mostly clear blue sky. Wow! I am really in Ireland! Now seeing white clusters of buildings, small towns in the beautiful green land. Touchdown, it is 7:22 AM.


Our day 6-12-98, Friday, was very full. We got our car, a champagne colored Opal, at the airport. Bob was the first driver, and did quite well staying on the left of those skinny roads. Our only scare was the BIG busses; they seem to take up the whole road.

Our first stop, after driving 8 miles from the airport, was Bunratty Castle & Folk Park. Bunratty is a 15th Century castle and fully restored. It is the best-restored oldest castle in Ireland. It is massive, a bit musty, with many antiques and giant halls. It is probably 10 stories tall. The entrance is probably 8 stories tall. My favorite room was the Great Hall. There were 4 huge deer heads (skulls) with the biggest and widest antlers I have ever seen. Wood sculptures of angels were around the top of the room and old tapestries hung on the walls. There were many winding, steep, narrow stone stairways all over the castle. You could get to the very top, the battlements, or the very bottom, the dungeon. It is hard to believe something built so long ago still stands so well preserved. Vikings originally built the castle in 960 AD. It was attacked and burned many times by the powerful O'Brien and MacNamara clans. They launched regular attacks on the castle and town until 1280 AD when the O’Brien’s successfully besieged the Castle. The castle was completely rebuilt in the middle of the 15th century. It remained in O'Brien hands and still stands today.

In the year 1646 AD The Earl of Thomond was in residence at Bunratty Castle. The Earl was a man of considerable power and substance. The household of even a petty chief or nobleman in those days had scores of attendants, stewards, retainers and followers, but in the castle of a great prince like this one, they would have numbered hundreds. There were marshals, stewards, cooks, scullions, pages, footboys, grooms, herdsmen, and scores of people at Bunratty on various businesses all the time. Food and drink would flow free. Lavish hospitality was the custom of the time and the mark of a powerful Irish chieftain. For O'Brien was not only the Earl, but also The O'Brien, or chief of his clan. No one sat in his presence, except at dinner.

The Folk Park surrounds the Castle. It is a working city, with all kinds of houses, shops, farms, stables, a manor house and many other buildings, twenty in all. The people in the town were dressed and acted as in medieval times. Peet was burning in all of the buildings. It is a compressed "bog" or dried leaves type of material. It has a musty weed type smell. The people were very friendly and loved to talk to us.

We left the Folk Park about 2:30 PM to eat lunch at Durty Nelly’s Pub and check in to our first bed and breakfast. Castleview, (all of the bed and breakfasts have names) hosted by Mrs. Peg Donahue was spacious and clean. Mrs. Donahue talked a lot, explaining everything. She even asked our orders for breakfast the next morning. We chose the Irish breakfast of eggs, ham, sausage, toast, juice and coffee.

The guys stayed at Castleview and napped about 2 1/2 hours. Sandy and I walked back to the Folk Park to visit more of the buildings. It was a relaxing, interesting time to explore the Folk Park. We came back about 5:30 PM and took a 30-minute rest before getting ready for the Medieval Dinner at Bunratty Castle that night.

As we neared the Castle for the Medieval Dinner, we could see torches on both sides of the door. A man in a kilt played the bagpipe. This is the ultimate Irish experience, so beautiful! We were ushered to the main hall and served mead. Mead is a honey tasting wine. We were called My Lord and My Lady as we were served the Mead.....neat! Ladies played the harp and violin as others sang and danced for us. We were in a relaxed happy mood as we were directed to the dining hall. We met our servers and they put cloth bibs on us. The Earl of Thomond was our host and we would be having a four-course dinner using only our fingers and our dagger. The Earl's butler was sort of the "master of ceremonies" and would introduce the ladies who sang and danced. He would also tell us about the different foods and drinks before they were served. We had ribs, chicken on a wooden stick, potatoes, carrots, green peas, bread and our choice of fruit juice, wines, water or mead. I liked the mead. In the beginning, on an empty stomach, I could really feel the effects of the mead. We would pound on the table to show our approval of the singing, food or whatever. The crowd was loud and there was lots of laughter.

At our table we had people from Australia, Ireland, Florida and Germany. The food, ladies singing, harp, violin and dancing, was so perfect. The evening ended almost reverently with the holding of hands and singing "Danny Boy". Sandy and I had been up 41 hours, we were fading fast. Home to bed.

Our day 6-13-98, Saturday, began with a drive to Tralee. We visited an antique shop and then on to Dingle. At Dingle we got a boat to take a tour of the Dingle Bay area. The cliffs were magnificent. The sun reflecting off of the greens and browns of the cliffs, the ocean with the white foam, all so pretty. A dolphin, "Fungie", stays in the Dingle Bay and swims alongside of the boats. Everyone else on the boat would run from side to side, so excited to see Fungie. There were many pictures taken and squeals of excitement over this dolphin. There were many small boats in the harbor....Very picturesque. We shopped in Dingle and then on to Killarney.

We reach the Irish Cottage and Mrs. Kathleen Guerin, our hostess, at 6:00 PM. In Killarney, as was all over Ireland, there are no street signs. The main roads, such as the N6 are marked, but no street signs. We were looking for Muckross Road, no Muckross signs anywhere, but somehow we had accidentally gotten on it. We asked directions and were told we were on it.

Mrs. Guerin had beautiful Irish lace at all of her windows. She said she had the first bed and breakfast in the area and her son had designed the house. The bathroom we shared (no en-suite) was big. It had a bidet, shower and the longest bathtub I have ever seen. We had the same breakfast at Irish Cottage as Castleview.

Killarney was very pretty with the many colored houses and businesses. The guys are handling the round-abouts and driving on the wrong side of the road great. The round-abouts are similar to the downtown Indpls. Circle. It is a circle road you drive around until you get to the road you want, then exit.

We ate at McSorleys in Kellarney. We all had Irish stew. The lamb and potatoes and carrots were ok, but not something I would order again.


6-14-98, Sunday - Today we began the day with a tour of the Ross Castle. It was built in the 15th century and is fully restored to a pristine condition. It is on a lake, surrounded by mountains. It is a sunny day, the areas in any direction are picture perfect, like postcard pictures. The Donahue Ross family, who owned the castle, burned the roof off in the 1920's when they moved from the castle. In their area you had to pay taxes on any building with a roof. To avoid taxes on the castle, they burned the roof off. Restoration began in the 1970's by American Businessmen. The castle was turned over to the country of Ireland in 1979.

The rooms were large, the furnishings sparse. The bed, the only one in the castle, was very short. The men of the time averaged 5' 2" and the women 5'. The walls were very white. They were painted authentically with white lie, water and animal blood. My favorite room was the bathroom. A narrow hallway, about 15' long, barely wide enough for a 20th century man's shoulders led to the bathroom. A small area to the right was the "sitting" area that seated four at a time. The ammonia generated by waste permeated the hallway area. This area was where clothes were hung and the "aroma" of the ammonia would kill the lice and other vermin in the clothes. Hence, the first dry cleaning!

Next on our agenda was the "Ring of Kerry". The panoramic views of lakes, the ocean, mountains, streams, rock formations and the always-present rock walls that lined the roads were breathtaking. The narrow winding roads were exciting to navigate, especially when we had a BIG tour bus coming the other way on the road. The tour busses went counter clockwise, we went clockwise.

I do believe the Ring of Kerry is the most beautiful area I have ever seen. Every curve to come upon yet another breathtaking sight. The sheep were everywhere. They were on the road, walking on top of the narrow rock walls that lined the roads, balancing on the side of a mountain or just lying down. Bob honked the horn twice at a sheep that had his back to us and was at the side of the road. He quickly looked over his shoulder and called, "BAH, BAH!", really loud. Bob said he couldn't get his hoof up fast enough to flip him off. We all about died laughing.

At the tip of the Ring of Kerry on the South Side was Staigue Fort. This was a large circle of piled stones, maybe 100 feet across, and 14 feet deep that was built in 500 B.C. The fort is 2,498 years old and still standing. It was nestled down between mountains and near a crystal clear creek. You could climb up the rock stairways on the inside of the fort to look out.

In the town of Sneem we saw a church procession for the Corpus Christie, religious holiday celebrated once a year. This was made up of adults and children and a priest. The priest was at the end of the procession and four people held a 4' x 4' cloth above his head as he walked. It was interesting to see the children in their Sunday finest. Some of the little girls wore hiking boots with their dresses.

We get to our next bed and breakfast to spend the night in Blarney, just North of Cork. We stay with Mrs. Margaret Cronin in "Rosemont". She has a beautifully decorated home within walking distance of the town of Blarney and the Blarney Castle.


6-15-98, Monday
Blarney was my favorite town. It had a large grassy and tree area, probably one block by one block square, right in the center of town. The shops and pubs of many colors lined the outer edges of the grassy square. This town did not have as many people or tourists like some of the other towns. It was nice and quiet, peaceful. The school children came to the square for recess. They were all dressed in the same uniform.

The Blarney Castle was very beautiful. The grounds were spectacular. Many streams, lakes and trees dot the massive grounds around the castle. The 5-story castle is not fully restored, but you could get a feeling of what the castle was like in medieval times. All four of us lay on our backs at the very top of the battlements, leaned over backwards and kissed the Blarney Stone.

After the Blarney Castle, we headed for Ardmore. Here we saw the first Christian Church in Ireland. Fifteen years before St. Patrick introduced Christianity to Ireland, St Declan did. The zeal that he showed while telling the tale of Christ converted many pagans to Christianity. St. Declan founded a Seminary in 416 AD in Ardmore. "The light of Christianity radiated into all the contiguous districts".

The Ardmore Round Tower, built in 1176 AD, is one of the best to be seen in Ireland. Most of the "towers" were built to defend against the Viking attacks. This one wasn't finished until they were well and truly gone. Still it did its fare share of work in defending the monastery against various attacks. One such attack was in 1642, when Cromwell sent men to lay siege to the monastery. When at last the people surrendered, Cromwells men hung 117 of them. The Round Tower still bears the marks of the cannon fire. The Tower and walls of the Seminary are intact today.

We found the non-restored Ardmore Castle near the Round Tower. It was on a private farm. We asked the farm hand if we could open the gate and look at the castle. He said for us to go ahead and look all we wanted. We opened the gate and moved toward the castle, maybe 60 feet ahead of us. We noticed hoof prints in the mud as we walked, cows maybe? I was closest to the castle when someone saw the BIG BLACK BULL stand up and begin to watch us. I snapped a few pictures and ran back to the gate. This was the day I wore a bright red shirt! The bull never took a step toward us, but he sure kept an eye on us. Was this the guard bull?

The Ardmore Castle was in serious disrepair, but the towers and a lot of the walls were still standing. No roof again, due to the 1920's tax law. The castle was within view of the sea. It would be a great area to restore. It was far enough away from other buildings and that great view of the sea.

We drive on to Waterford to spend the night at Ashbourn House with the Forrests. This bed and breakfast was great on the outside. It had beautiful gardens all around it. The inside was dusty and a bit junky. There were lots of spider webs and stuffed birds. We also had no heat in our room. After settling in our room, we were asked back to the parlor for scones and tea. The Forrests like to talk, and everything was "my good man", and "lovely". Lovely is a word used continuously by all Irish. EVERYTHING IS JUST LOVELY HERE!!!

We eat dinner at the Strand Inn. It is just next door to O'Brien's Pub in the town of Dunmore East. This seaside restaurant has a fantastic view and the food is wonderful. We have steak, potatoes, some kind of tomato, zucchini, onion and basil dish, and pea pods. A bright red freighter was on one side of the bay, small boats, a sailboat, and two lighthouses visible in the distance, the beautiful rust colored rock formations and the ever-present emerald foliage. The sun was bright and sparkling off the water, rocks, grass and especially the red freighter. Mike took several pictures. Sandy might paint this scene.

After dinner we go to the Forrest's recommended, "Power Pub". It is a very small, maybe as big as a two car garage, pub. It is owned by a lady, maybe 4' tall and thin with gray hair piled on her head, Margaret Power. There were about six neighborhood men in the bar and one lady when we came in. Everyone stopped talking and looked at us as we came in. I think they could tell we were not locals. We talked a little bit to one local man, but all in all they were pretty quiet. Mrs. Power gave Bob bottle caps upon his request. She gave Sandy bar mops (coasters) for Smithisons Beer (Mikes favorite Irish beer). We all had a drink, Bob and I had Guinness, Mike a Smithison and Sandy a 7up. The beer was served warm. I like Guinness, but not so well warm.

We asked Miss Power if we could come back and take her picture. She said, "OK", and we did. I took three pictures in fact. Miss Power's head barely could be seen over the top of the bar, but she sure worked the bar as a bartender.


6-16-98, Tuesday - We met Angie, 33 years old, from Columbus, Ohio at the Forrests. She has just arrived in Ireland 6-15-98. She will tour Europe a bit and then on to Bath, England to study for a summer term. She is in college to be a physical therapist. She will study Shakespeare in Bath. Angie K. Cordell, USA Group c/o RSO, University of Bath, Bath BA 2 7 A Y, England.

Angie goes with us to the Waterford Crystal Factory. It is fascinating to see how the crystal is made. We saw the process - red hot glass from the ovens (continually lit for 27 years now) to glass blowing. shaping, cooling and cutting. In the blowing area there is a 48% "throw away" ratio. The craftsmen only get paid for what they make.

After Waterford we leave for Kilkenny. We heard from the Australians, Pete and his wife, that Kilkenny Castle is so grand, "just lovely".

The Kilkenny Castle is fully restored. It is amazing someone could have lived in so much grander. The Butler family was the last to own the castle. The last heir sold the castle to the city of Kilkenny for 50 pounds. It is now very ordinate. Gold leaf decorates much of the ceilings of the drawing room and the library. Many old paintings and tapestries and even silk wall coverings. The grounds were the most beautiful that I have seen so far. The castle was also on a river, very pretty.

We eat lunch, buy postcards and Mike buys a book. We leave for Dun Loughair at 4:00 PM. We get a bit lost on our way and end up in Dublin. We finally find our next bed and breakfast, Innisfree, in 3 1/2 hours from leaving Kilkenny. We asked four different people how to get to Northumberland Street. No one ever gave us the same directions, and of course, there are no road signs in Ireland.

Innisfree, and Mr. Bryndan Smyth, are just lovely. Everything is clean and well decorated. Our room has a bathroom and a hairdryer.... JUST LOVELY!


6-17-98, Wednesday, We leave Dun Loughair at 9:00 AM for the train, "Dart", to Dublin. It was only a 5-minute walk to the train. The cost for the 15-minute ride to Dublin, round trip, is 2 pound and 10 pence ($3.15 US). The Dart always stays up above the ground, sometimes on land, sometimes on bridges. We have time on the train to notice the people of Dublin. They are very quiet on the trip in. You could hear a "pin drop". Everyone seems to be in his or her own personal world. Everyone is dressed in the same dark colors, black, navy and browns. The women are all in like a uniform of white blouse, dark skirt, just above the knee, dark jacket and plain pumps with square 2 inch heals. The men are all in ties and suits. Most of the men we see, even our hosts at the B & Bs have on ties.

Children seem to be taken care of very well here. Parents are very attentive. You don't see a child without a parent. Boys, about 12, move threw traffic in Dublin to sell newspapers at turn arounds and stop signs. A lot of the children go to schools that require uniforms. We saw many children in uniforms. Mike thinks the school dress code has moved over to the way the men and women all seem to dress alike in the same dark colors and skirts for women and ties for men.

We get off of the Dart at Connally Street and walk to O'Connor Street to catch the Dublin Tour Bus. The guide and driver of our bus spoke with a very distinct Irish brogue. We could not understand everything he said. We rode the bus till the next to last stop and got off at the Guinness Brewery. The tour was interesting, mostly about the past history of Guinness. We had lunch at the brewery, good strawberry cake.

Next, we visited two churches, St Augustines and Christ Church. St Augustine was the most ordinate. In had beautiful ceilings, about 4 or 5 stories inside and beautiful sculptures. Christ Church was more brown inside, no gold leaf or anything fancy. At Christ Church we saw the ruins of the original Christ Church. They were putting together the pieces. The pieces were stacked in piles according to color, ready to place.

We go to Dublin Castle next. This is a very large treasure chest of wonderful paintings and furnishings. The wall colors were bright yellows and blues and plum, muted just a little and tasteful accessories with beautiful curtains and ceiling trims made of plaster. The White House in Washington, D. C. is what this building reminded me of. The Northern Irish had met with the US and Irish Republic and England is this castle earlier in the week. The flower arrangements were still in the rooms and were large and pretty.

The ceilings in the International room were painted with three beautiful murals of Irelands history. The whole castle was just beautiful. In the basement, we are shown the stone walls built by the Vikings that this castle was built on.

It was raining most of the time we were in Dublin. We were tired of the many people and rain. We decide to take the Dart back to Dun Loughair. We decide to cancel our second night at Innisfree and head East toward Galway. As we were leaving Dublin we missed our road and went north instead of East. We were near Mullilngar. Four ladies we met from our Ambassadair group (the only ones we met from our group) in Waterford had recommended the Meares Court Mansion in Mullingar. We call and get reservations and directions.

Staying at Meares Court was fantastic!! Built in 1760 by Louie Meares, originally 22,000 acres. Louie Meares was an officer under Cromwell (the most hated man in history in all of Ireland) who had defeated Ireland for England. As a gift for his service to Cromwell, Meares was given this land and funds to build the mansion. The 22,000 acres had many people already living and owning property there. These people were told to go to Corrinth Providence or go to Hell - leaving or dieing the only choice.

Every room of the mansion was furnished with antiques, lovely carpets and furniture. The walls were papered and ceilings trimmed with beautiful designs. Light fixtures were also unique and perfect for the house. Our room was done in beige's and golds and dark green...so perfect and beautiful. The grounds of the mansion, pond, stables and garden were perfect and serene. A flock of sheep grazed peacefully in a rock walled area by the winding driveway. Trees on either side tunneled the driveway. So quiet, so perfect, what a finish to a memorable beautiful trip. Mr. Penred, our host, was most gracious. He told us the history of the mansion and gave us a tour upon our request.


6-18-98, Thursday, Leaving Meares Court Mansion was hard. We all roamed the grounds and took many pictures. So wonderful!

Our next stop is Gallway. Here I buy more of the glassware I bought in Waterford. Sandy finds the wool Foxford blankets made by nuns that she wants. What a beautiful city with colorful businesses by the waterfront and lots of people and cars. It was fun to mill up and down the street with the locals. A man was playing an accordion on a street corner. It was all so pretty and no rain.

After Gallway, we headed for our last planned sight to see, the Cliffs of Mohr. The closer we got, the more dense fog we came upon. By the time we reached the parking lot for the Cliffs of Mohr the fog was so thick you could see nothing at all. We left for our last, as well as our first, bed and breakfast, Peg Donahue at Castleview.

We check in to Castleview and go to Kathryn's Pub. It is located on a hill about a block from the Bunratty Castle. We have drinks at the bar and then get a table for dinner. We have Chicken Kiev and the Bevilles have steaks. Bob and I drink mead, Sandy wine and Mike have Guinness. We had a nice quiet dinner and then walked to the Shannon River to watch the sun start to go down. It is 10:30 PM. It is so peaceful by the river. The crowd from Durty Nellys singing, a warm slight breeze, again, so perfect!


6-19-98, Friday. We are up at 4:00 AM to get to the airport by 4:55 AM. Hertz didn't open until 5:30 AM. I can't understand why we were to be there so early! We turn in our VAT shopping coupons (taxes we paid in Ireland, refundable as you leave). We check in and clear customs. We buy coffee and shopped with our remaining 10 pounds. We waited to board our airplane.

We board our airplane, flight 6990, at 7:35 AM, but didn't take off until 9:00 AM due to a unloading that had not been done. We landed at Gatwick England about 10:00 AM. A quick down and up turned out to be 40 minutes due to the hold up at Shannon and our missing our original takeoff time.

We fly against the trade winds at 31 to 33 thousand feet. We travel over the Isle of Mann and Belfast and then on to Glander, New Foundland for refueling. We get off of the airplane at Glander and buy ice cream and stretch our legs. We had been on the airplane for 10 hours. We have 3 1/2 more hours of flying to get to Indy. It is taking longer to get home than to Ireland due to the trade winds. I feel tired but excited about our wonderful vacation. We have all agreed it was a perfect beautiful vacation.

We land in Indy at 2:45 PM. We clear customs and call my parents to pick us up. We are home by 4:00 PM on Friday, 6-19-98. We have the weekend to rest up. We have our days and nights a little messed up, but no real jet lag. We went to bed at 6:00 PM and got up at 4:00 AM.