First retirement travels - Ireland
The Michael
which does a lot of group trips locally and overseas. I just signed up for
Ireland in April.
We will tour:
Shannon with a Castle Medieval Banquet
Bunratty, Galway
the 700 foot Cliffs of Moher
the lakes of Killarney
the coastal route called The Ring of Kerry, Sneem
Blarney Castle
Waterford with a tour of the crystal factory
Will stay overnight at Kilkenny Castle
a tour of Dublin seeing Trinity College, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin Castle
and an Irish Cabaret
Sounds like it will be lots of fun.
Mike
kevxu
>We just opened a new bank account accross the street where they have a 55+ club
>which does a lot of group trips locally and overseas. I just signed up for
>Ireland in April.
I used to travel to Ireland off and on; loved it.
Haven't been for about fifteen years or so.
It's a beautiful country, though the pace of
life has picked up considerably as the population
is heavily weighted to the 20s & 30s nowadays.
>We will tour:
>
>the coastal route called The Ring of Kerry, Sneem
Even though I've driven this route half a dozen times
and then some, I love it and would do it again without
fail.
>Will stay overnight at Kilkenny Castle
I liked Kilkenny best of all the inland Irish towns.
It has the dubious distinction of having been the
scene of a convoluted witch trial and a public
burning. The victim, if I recall right, was the "witches"
maid who was executed in front of her mistress's house,
the herself having wisely made off. Fascinating story
as there was little witchcraft in it and lots of local
secular and religious politics. The house is now
Kyteler's Inn.
Smithwicks is the local beer. I used to like it,
a darkish beer as I recall and I wasn't ordinarily
fond of dark beer.
There was also a beer in Ireland
called Time (assuming it still exists), it is foul.
Perhaps the only rotten alcoholic product the
country makes. Tullamore Dew was a great
whisky, better than Jamesons or Powers by far.
There is also poitín (PUTT-cheen), the Irish
moonshine. It is fine for cleaning golf balls and
acrylic dentures, as well as casting out demons.
>a tour of Dublin seeing Trinity College, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin Castle
>and an Irish Cabaret
Stroll around Stephen's Green, Kildare Street, Merrion
Square, etc. and down along the canal if you have the
chance. Lovely walks. Dublin was a thriving Viking
city, dynastically connected to York - another Viking city, so
Dublin has some interesting collections of Viking artifacts
if that interests you. The collection of Irish gold and
metalwork in the National Museum is worth a looksee,
even if you aren't interested in the other stuff.
And do have your picture taken with the Floozie in
the Jacuzi on OÇonnell Street - you'll recognize her
without asking.
Spring is the most beautiful time to go to Ireland,
the rhododendren gardens at Killarney should be
glorious and are usually part of any tour. They
have colours there I've never seen anywhere else.
And the ordinary magenta rhododendron grows
so lushly by the roadsides there it is considered
a noxious weed and a menace to traffic. In some
areas it used to spill over into the roads and men
were employed to hack it down in the spring.
You should have a great time.
Jack
Richie
GLC will be sure to point out all the failings of the Irish - and their
health plan, gun control laws, etc. Just ignore him.
Nancy
The Michael
Sept 94 is when we traveled to England and Scotland, our first trip to Europe.
It was a great trip (after the terrible flight over there).
Mike
Richie wrote in message
<0B3CE3546F7493DF.AFD7F399...@lp.airnews.net>...
Richie
What happened on your flight to England? We flew from Dallas to London
non-stop with no problems with the exception of the cramped seating,
which I understand is even worse now. I want to visit a friend in
Australia & am saving my AA miles for an upgrade to business class.
Nancy
The Michael
<086E4A3AC595EF59.DC7A2886...@lp.airnews.net>...
We flew out of Chicago where a big storm had cleared earlier. We flew into it
over lake Michigan without warning (seems like the pilot should have known).
Quite a few people standing, in the restrooms, or sitting without seat belts on
hit the ceiling. We flew for quite some time in or above the storm with the
plane fairly violently shaking and the wings sort of flapping like a bird. One
elderly lady was on the floor for quite a while before they carried her up front
in a stretcher. (Some of my co-workers asked later if we ever saw her again and
I told them we did not. They suggested maybe the airline "got rid" of her to
prevent a potential lawsuit). Many of us had doubts that the plane would hold
up to all of the shaking and very few got much sleep on that flight.
Richie
I guess they could have "jettisoned" the old lady. Nothing would
surprise me. After hearing about your flight I won't complain anymore
about the small seats & no leg room.
Nancy
maureen
wrote:
>We just opened a new bank account accross the street where they have a 55+ club
>which does a lot of group trips locally and overseas. I just signed up for
>Ireland in April.
>
>We will tour:
>
>Shannon with a Castle Medieval Banquet
>Bunratty, Galway
>the 700 foot Cliffs of Moher
>the lakes of Killarney
>the coastal route called The Ring of Kerry, Sneem
>Blarney Castle
>Waterford with a tour of the crystal factory
>Will stay overnight at Kilkenny Castle
>a tour of Dublin seeing Trinity College, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin Castle
>and an Irish Cabaret
>
>Sounds like it will be lots of fun.
>
>Mike
You are going to love it! I toured Ireland many years ago, but have
been there a few times since. I hope you are staying more than a few
nights in Dublin, one of my all time favorite cities, It's a walkabout
city and I spent 16 days there 4 years ago doing an every day
walkabout. Be sure to see a play at the Abbey Theatre. It has such a
splendid literary history.
You can safely miss Dublin Castle , but don't miss anything else. If
you like cathedrals St. Pat's is especially interesting, much more
interesting than Christ Church IMO, which is nearby.
I see St. Pat's is on your itinerary.
Whatever you do refuse to let them take you to their National Art
Gallery. The Irish may have a great literary heritage, but their art
work is the pits. The gallery which houses it is attractive though.
When you go through Trinity you'll see the fabulous library, but
don't get taken up with it to the point that you'll miss the 8th
century book of Kells. It's an illuminated text of the four gospels,
considered the finest work of Christian art of its kind. A must see.
As Jack has already pointed out look for the floozie in the Jacuzzi on
the main drag. She's also fondly known as the Whore (pronounced
hewer) in the sewer. Another favorite statue with the Dubliners is
The hags with the bags. They're a warm and humorous bunch,, the
Irish.
Don't attempt to kiss the blarney stone at your age! :-)
You'll have a ball in a lovely country!
Maureen
The Michael
>You are going to love it! I toured Ireland many years ago, but have
>been there a few times since. I hope you are staying more than a few
>nights in Dublin, one of my all time favorite cities, It's a walkabout
>city and I spent 16 days there 4 years ago doing an every day
>walkabout. Be sure to see a play at the Abbey Theatre. It has such a
>splendid literary history.
Maureen,
Thanks for all of the tips! We will spend only the last two days in Dublin
before flying out. I guess we could look into extending our stay a few days,
but we will be leaving our little dog, (Her Royal Higness Princess) Petunia,
alone for the first time and will be worrying about her as she will be staying
with her new stepniece, Shelby. They dislike each other, and Shelby is about 9
times larger.
Mike