J&J Circle the British Isles
Places we visited in Ireland
Dublin / Kilkenny, the Rock of Cashel, and Kenmare / The Ring of Kerry and Tralee / Bunratty and Craggaunowen / Dysert Archaeology Centre, Kilfenora, the Burren, and Ennistimon / Cliffs of Moher, Doolin, and Innishere / Kylemore Abbey and Donegal / Giant’s Causeway and Ballygally
Our Visit to Scotland
Our Visit to England
Dublin Sites and Sights
Jim’s Journal
NB: These pages were put up in one format in 2006, not long after the trip, then converted and moved to another server in 2013. Originally I meant these pages to just comprise a photo album, with only enough information to put things in context. Now it’s January 2019, and I have a hand injury. I never type well, and I have no use of the pinky on my right hand, so I can’t play, but I can type. To avoid boredom and falling into a bigger drinking habit, I’m using my time going back and entering pretty much the full contents of my journals from this trip. Skip the words if you want to. I won’t be offended.
Getting There: June 23-24, 2006
Like many of our trips the planning for this one started well ahead of time, and we owe thanks to Jan Cordell for making it all happen. This was planned as a celebration of Judy’s retirement from teaching, and we meant it to be an experience we would never forget. And it was!
Of course we couldn’t start out without a few bobbles along the way. Sara, K.C., and Mark got to the house for our goodbyes around 9:00 and all went well until the phone rang. Air France told us of a delay in the Cincinnati to Paris flight that would delay our flight from there to Dublin. “No problem,” the French accent said, we will make a new reservation for you to Dublin.” That sounded fair, so I thanked the accent for the courtesy and hung up. So we hugged everyone and Sara drove us to the airport.
Will K. was checking us in at the Delta counter in Birmingham when he paused and looked puzzled. “There’s some confusion with the Air France flights,” he said and told us he couldn’t issue boarding passes beyond the Birmingham to Cincinnati leg of our flight. My anxiety level escalated. In Cincinnati, there was no one at the departure counter, the peole at the next Delta counter were not helpful, and the frozen face at the crown room couldn’t bear to deal with humans of such low status. He sent us to the Business Elite lounge where we were greeted without question, given boarding passes through to Dublin, and offered drinks. Life was good again. Sometimes it’s not “who you know,” but “where you go” that counts.
The flight to Paris was fine, with the usual good food and comfortable seats we expect from that cabin on an Air France flight. Unfortunately the plane parked out in a lot far from the terminal. We took a crowded bus to the back door, then wandered through deserted hallways to immigration, out into the main terminal, and down more hallways to our next gate. The waiting room in the sous-sol of Charles de Gaulle was uncomfortable, so when we finally got on the plane to Dublin, I’m afraid the more comfortable seats meant we both slept . We got a text message from K.C., the first one of those communications we had ever gotten, I think. Michael had coached me on using the shortcuts to send texts, and I was proud to actually send a reply. I think. [NB. This was long before smart phones entered our lives, so there was not a normal keyboard on my little Nokia.]
We were planning on driving in Ireland, but I didn’t want to start our trip by driving into a strange city on the left side of the road when I was tired from the trans-Atlantic flight. So we took a cab to the hotel, left our bags at the desk and started walking until we could hop on a tourist bus. Jan had booked us into the George Friderick Handel Hotel on the South side of the river, near Christ Church Cathedral. It was cold and rainy, so we couldn’t sit on top, making us leave the tour midway through. We made our way back to the hotel, check in, got in our somewhat over-priced room and napped a little. The hotel is almost on the spot of the first performance of Messiah, a fact proclaimed proudly by more than one marker on the surrounding buildings. I think the real place of that performance is now a parking lot, the one with the tall pedestal and a bronze figure of a naked Handel waving a baton. We can only assume he didn’t dress like this sculpture shows him for that performance.
We went back out for another walk, in nicer weather than we had earlier, and stayed on our side of the river this time. We went to Grafton Street, checked out some of the many shops, and I even bought a new Nokia phone charger for local plugs. I had naively thought my adapters for plugs in England would be right for Ireland. We walked by the Molly Malone statue, wandered some more and stopped for dinner (hot Irish stew), before going back to the hotel. In spite of the nap, we fought sleep until only 8:30 or so. It was then lights out time for both of us.
Judy’s Journal
N.B. It’s now September 2020, and I’ve decided to redo all of these pages about our 2006 trip to Ireland. You see, we’re cleaning out bookcases, drawers, boxes, and lots of other places as we get ready to downsize–or “flatsize” as Judy calls it. In the process, Judy ran across her journal from the first part of our British Isles trip in 2006.
Herewith, you can read about our trip from two different perspectives: mine on the left, Judy’s on the right.
Enjoy.
Getting There
The puzzled look and furrowed brow were the first clues that all was not as it should be. “no, no,” he assured us, “it’s just a code I don’t understand.” He continued typing sporadically on his computer at the International desk of Delta and mentioned something about the Air France codes for ticketing. When we told jim Air France had called us a home this morning to say they had changed our flight from Paris to Dublin to a later time, he finally figured out the problem: AF had not cancelled our reservations on the original flight and we were booked on both flights. With sighs of relief from all three of us, he cleared up the problem, tagged our luggage “DUB” and we were on our way: Cincinnatti-Paris-Dublin.
After an uneventful flight to Ohio, we made our way to the Business/Elite Club and spent four or five hours in comfort, with a few free drinks and snacks, until our flight was called.
Turning to the left rather than the right after entering the plane, we sat in Row 2, E & F, and accepted a small glass of champagne and a steaming hot face towel. The seats were very wide and comfortable and after a four course meal, we reclined almost completely flat and “slept” for a few hours until we were roused for “breakfast,” and ate it as though we hadn’t had a meal about four hours earlier. While we were more rested than usual on an overseas flight, we were tired and in Paris had several hours to cool our heels before finally boarding the small commuter plane to Dublin. We were fed yet again, only nibbled and tried to nap the rest of the flight.
Beginning to appear somewhat glassy-eyed (to us it was 3:00 AM) we collected our luggage, found a taxi and arrived at the George Frederic Handel Hotel around noon Dublin time and not check-in until 2:30. Resignedly we parked our luggage in the lobby and walked the streets–in drizzling rain; took a Dublin Tour Bus around the city; and finally made our way back to the Hotel and up to room 310 before we collapsed–Jim to nap, me to read for a couple of quiet hours.
With resolve, we once again headed out walking through the busy Temple Bar area with its busy pedestrian shopping streets, bars, cafes, churches and Dublin Castle. The rain, thankfully, had stopped but it was overcast and very cool. Becoming more and more tired we rested at a sidewalk pub where Jim had Guinness and I a Michelob Light. After eating our way through the previous hight, we had skipped lunch, so by this time, 6:00 PM, we were ready to eat. We debated the many possibilities–Thai, Indian, Chinese, French, Italian, B.K., McD’s, burgers and dogs. We had it in our mind, though, to find Irish stew. It sounded warm and comforting and just what we wanted.
Close to our hotel, we found The Forum and their specialty was … Irish stew! It was “delishous.” Served in a large flat bowl, it had lamb, carrots, celery and potatoes– ver filling and very tasty. By the time we cleaned our plates, we were almost ready to cutl up on the floor and sleep.
We returned to our comfortable room 310, prepared for bed and–you guessed it. I began writing, Jim jotted a few notes down and fell into bed. I’m still writing. It’s around 8:30 and as light as day, which it will stay until 11:00 or so. I suspect we will both sleep well, though– light or no light–It can’t be seen through closed eyes.
So ends our first “day.”
Sunday, June 25
I slept ten hours straight, from 9:00 until 7:00, surely a record, and I needed the sleep. Breakfast at the hotel was OK, and soon we walked off to Trinity College. We got there around 9:30, before the library opened, just long enough for us to walk around and see a little. This was one of those sights on my bucket list, and I really enjoyed it. The Book of Kells has long been a favorite, and I really liked the setup they had for displaying one of the books. I did wonder how often they change the page on display, but I was really glad I at least got to see one opening. The “Long Room” of the library was great to see, its double-decked structure making it really impressive on first sight. No photos were allowed, so I bought post cards — and a penny whistle. It just seemed like to thing to do. It’s possible I had a thought of learning to play a few tunes while we were there, but that never happened.
We then walked to the Museum, found it closed, walked through the Kilkenny center (nice pottery, woolens, silver and crystal, and got on the bus to complete our ride from the day before. It was a pretty day, so we sat up top, at first in the covered part, then in the open. As always, Judy was fascinated by the doors we passed, and even I was charmed by many of them. We got off the bus after a full ride of the loop, had lunch at the Kilkenny Centre, and went to the National Museum. We both enjoyed the exhibits, especially the bronze age artifacts. There was clothing on exhibit, and a lot of gold. I was taken with the clothing fasteners, something I wasn’t familiar with at all. They were like small bracelets with blossoms at each end, and though I’ve seen things like that since, I was so taken with them at that time I actually tried to draw little sketches in my journal.Not that I didn’t notice the book covers, the croziers, crosses, and even Viking relics. Those gold fasteners just piqued my interest more.
Then we walked along the north side of Stephen’s Green to see the artists and their work. They weren’t very appealing for the most part, although there was a good set of funny paintings of cows and some of sheep. We shopped for food at Marks & Spencer on Grafton St. and were back in the room with very tired feet by 5:00.
After a good snack supper from our Marks & Sparks booty, and a little rest, maybe even a nap, we went to the Knightsbridge bar at the Arlington Hotel for Irish music. We saw a really good nightclub act, with a lot of songs we didn’t know and a lot of dancing. It was a fun night, the sort of “night out” we don’t indulge in very often. One this we noticed in the audience was a group of girls at the next table, a bride-to-be and her friends. The bride had on a tiara, while the rest had bunny ears and funny-looking fake blonde tresses. As it turn’s out, that was our first encounter with a hen party,” something we’d not run into before. Maybe we should get out more often?
Anyway, the show ended, and we walked back across the river to the hotel around 10:30. In full daylight. Southerners love being that far north in the summer! Sunrise would be around 4:30 or 5:00. We wouldn’t see it; we wouldn’t even see true darkness for a while.
6-25-06
I don’t suppose my legs will really fall off or my feet finally give up the ghost, but the old dears have done their duty today. Above and beyond, I’d say.
We began, after about 9 hours of sleep, with breakfast in the hotel. Opting for the Full Irish” breakfast which included cereals, grapefruit wedges, bacon, sausage, white pudding, fried egg, toast and baked beans (!), coffee and for me, hot tea.
Feeling rested, well fed, and excited because the day was sunny and warmer, we headed for Trinity College to see the Book of Kells. Arriving just before the 9:30 opening, we joined the short queue and others lined up behind us. The exhibit was one of the best I’ve seen, with displays explaining how the books were bound, the words printed, and the illustrations done. In the dark room where the actual books were displayed, we could take our time looking into the glassed display where we saw the real thing — so much more impressive that our glossy book at home. Afterward we took a flight of steps upstairs into the “Long Room,” an actual library open two stories with thousands of priceless books, floor to ceiling. Absolutely breathtaking! The ancient hand bound and many hand printed books are sill in use by scholars at Trinity. A totally satisfying morning.
Our next mission was the Irish Museum, which didn’t open until 2:00. With an hour or so to kill, we jumped on a tour buss (our 24-hour ticket from yesterday was still good), and we completed the circuit of the city we didn’t finish yesterday. This time we could sit upstairs in the open, and we could see much better since there was no rain. Close to opening time we got off at a stop near the museum and had lunch at the Kilkenny Irish Craft center. I had a bowl of carrot ginger soup and some wine. Tasty!
On to the museum where we entered through elaborately carved wooden doors and explored artifacts found in bogs, including fabric clothes that had been buried in the bogs for hundreds of years and were perfectly preserved. The hours we spent in there, plus walking from the hotel, wandering the streets afterwards were beginning to be felt by both of us. We decided to shop for a picnic supper and ran across a Marks and Spencer–the chain we were so familiar with from our days in Cambridge. M&S is a couple of steps up from a Wal-Mart superstore; not so big, relatively inexpensive and it has everything from groceries to underwear. We bought paté, cheese, carrots, pears, bread and pickled onions for our picnic supper. That, with a bottle of wind, made a fine supper in our room where we could put our feet up and relax and watch the Discovery Channel’s “Meercat Manor.” Brainless and amusing. We plan to walk later tonight to a pub for real Irish music and a pint. Hopefully by then our legs and feet will no longer be in rebellion mode. (Jim may take along the penny whistle he bought at the Trinity Bookshop; in which case I[ll have Irish whiskey instead of a pint!
*** Three Hours Later
What fun! I had Jameson’s even though Jim left the penny whistle home. We walked to the Arlington Hotel Bar, on the advice of Gary at the front desk. They have “real” Irish music seven nights a week, no cover. It was in a huge basement full of “tourist bus” people sitting at long tables for supper. We found a table to the side, near the bar and had perfect view. The man singing had a great voice and backup keyboard and guitar/harmonica. Obviously a
show,” he was full of Irish charm, stories and pretty good music. The dancers were three young people who did Riverdance stuff. Good show. Good whiskey.
The long table nearest us was a group of 20 or so girls wearing bunny ears and pink sashes; they were a “hen party” for a bride wearing a tiara and “Bride to be” sash. I’ve seen many such groups on the street, obviously a common practice. They were from Scotland so the singer did “Rose of Scotland” and they sang along boisterously, having a freat time. People watching is one of our favorite sports!
Monday, June 26
We popped awake at 6:30 when Judy got her first birthday call—from Sara. One or both of the girls had made it a point to give out my cell phone number to Judy’s friends, so she got birthday text messages and phone calls all day long. It was a lot of fun, because some of them weren’t signed and their numbers weren’t in my phone. Anonymous birthday wishes. Fun!
Breakfast was a repeat of the day before, then we headed out in the rain, around the curve of the street, and off to Christ Church Cathedral. Once Christ Church was known as Trinity Cathedral, and it’s the Cathedral of the Diocese of Dublin. There were few people there at 9:00 in the morning, and that made our visit really pleasant. There’s a big Kenneth Jones organ from 1984 there. The 32′ reed, with wooden resonators, is at the rear of the case. Each of the first twelve had a brass memorial plaque attached. There was also a small Telford & Telford one-manual organ with “diapered” pipes. One of the funny things we saw was a frame with mummified animals displayed in it. They were a rat and cat that had gotten stuck in a pipe while the chase was on. A little strange to run into in a cathedral, but definitely not the only such occurrence of that type.
We then got back out in the rain and doodled on down to road to St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the National Cathedral of Ireland. It’s a huge place, stuffed with many monuments. Johathan Swift even put one up in memory of his servant and his “discretion.” I wonder what secrets that man took to his grave. We wandered through the place, I checked out the old console on display, as well as several plaques memorializing musicians important to the history of the place. [Note in 2019: I never stopped gathering information for music history classes on this trip.]
After a quick visit to a food store for supplies, we went back to the hotel for a picnic lunch, then went back out as tourists again. Our first stop was the Chester Beatty Library on the Dublin Castle grounds. There were mostly manuscripts on display, but there were other items as well. One suit of armor, snuff boxes, and items like that. In some ways this was the most amazing manuscript collection I’ve ever seen. Mostly “spiritual” manuscripts. There were several pages or fragments of real early (second and third century) Greek biblical sources, and several early Latin Bible manuscripts, both of the Vulgate and other Latin translations. They manuscripts went on from that period up through an Antiphonary in large format. The center of the collection is about 60 copies of the Qu’ran. Gorgeous. Beautiful script and decoration. It’s a shame photography wasn’t allowed.
Then we hiked off to a couple of covered shopping areas. One had nothing but junk, but the other had really beautiful jewelry and clothing. We stopped at the Bank of Scotland but didn’t find an ATM there. We did find our first ATM later in Temple Square, though. Then it was back to the hotel by 4:00 to get ready for Judy’s birthday dinner. In translation, that means we napped a little.
The evening was fun! Judy’s choice for dinner was O’Neil’s, a big traditional pub with several bars, lots of crooks and nannies—and a lot of big TVs for the Switzerland/Ukraine game. We had a couple of drinks, then went through the line one at a time to save our table. Great food! Two serving bars, one for sandwiches, the other a carvery. The game started while we were eating. We finished, left, walked around a while, and made some photos in front of the building. Then we went back in for Irish coffee — Ireland. How cool was that!
We walked back to the hotel and re-packed for the morning. We were to pick up the car, and I had to try to remember how to drive on the left!
The Big Day 6-26-06
“Sure and isn’t it a soft Irish Day?” the man on the elevator said as I rode down for a cigarette this morning. I knew then we had rain, and sure enough, rainy and grey was it outside. Rainy really isn’t the word; it’s as though the air is wet. Not unpleasant at all, and it slows no one down.
After breakfast we walked across the street to ChristChurch Cathedral and spent over an hour wandering the church and the crypt. One of the most unusual things was a mimmified cat and rat in a glass box on one wall. They were found in an organ pipe in the 1800s! Thos organists have a great sense of humor. It is displayed quite prominently with other commemorative plaques, tombs and statues. Loved it! Later we walked to St. Patrick’s Cathedral. “The” St. Patrick. Though larger and more decorative than Christchurch, we didn’t like it nearly so well.
We came back home for a picnic lunch, then walked to Dublin Castle to see the Chester Beaty Museum. Incredible. This American made several fortunes in mining, became a wealthy collector of books and art, and moved to Dublin. He left his collection and the funds for his museum to the city. His collection of rare books and manuscripts included religious writing, books, etc. of Muslim, Islam, Christianity. We saw pages from 2nd and 3rd century Bible and some of the earliest works we’ve ever seen. Overwhelming and beautifully displayed.
Afterwards we walked more, then returned home to rest for our last night in Dublin. About 7:00 we headed out for the restaurant/pub I had chosen by sight on our first day in town. O’Neills’ was a “picturesque” pub with flower window boxes and just a beautiful sight. Inside, too, when we entered, it was picture perfect. Dark wood, lots of little tables, several bars in different rooms and cafeteria style menu–food looked, smelled (and was) great. Simple but plentiful, it was the real thing!We had whiskey first, then our meal as we watched the soccer–like everyone in this whole town. To me it was the perfect birthday experience. After a walk around the area, we returned for an Irish coffee (my version of birthday cake).
All day long I’ve had calls and text messages for my birthday. Sara called @ 6:15, Linda, Ronnie, Nickie, J. Brewer, Mark, KC, JShaw and several others who left no name. It has been so much fun and such a great birthday surprise.
Great way to turn–dare I put it in writing–60. UNBELIEVABLE!
