WB Yeats Grave

Walking by the River in Sligo

Statue of Yeats in Sligo

Old Grey Frog and the Harpist
Megalithic Tomb near Sligo

Stone Circles at the Megalithic Site of Carrowmore

The Harpist, BW Babe, and Old Grey Frog on the Tour Bus

Ballina (Beal an Atha)

Drinks at the Frog Bar

Word of the Day

Teletalktic - Describing one who talks frequently on the phone.


Once again I woke up at 5:30 AM in order to have time to organize, pack, and get me butt down to the lobby to do a final check of emails. Since I had a nice connection to the internet in the lobby, I added some links to my blog....not ALL of my blogs have links to the sites that we've seen but, I started.

Returning to the room, I pulled a Kylee and attempted to herd BW Babe a bit, harassing her to finish up with her packing so we could haul all our bags down to the lobby. I was told, firmly, that we had plenty of time....but...but...OK, we did have plenty of time, but I am what I am...I need to be on time and feel like I'm late if I'm ten minutes early.

After hauling all our bags down to the lobby of the hotel, BW settled into the lobby with a bite to eat for breakfast and a coffee (guarding the luggage) while I resisted temptation in the breakfast room and only grabbed a couple of pieces of brown bread (kind of like a whole grain wheat bread but...better).

All the bags were loaded onto the bus by 9:30 AM. After boarding, a tablet of paper was sent around so we could let our tour organizers know what flights we'd be taking to return to the states on Thursday. Wow! It's hard to believe that it's already so close to the time when we'll be heading back home.

Our driver, Mike, drove us slowly through the town of Donegal and we watched as people gathered in front of a church. Oh, that's right. It's Sunday! Of course people would be heading to church on a Sunday. I know that some of our tour group attended mass at a Catholic church in Letterkenny before we left.

Rain! We encountered LOTS of rain as we drove through Sligo County (Yeats' Country) as we headed to our first stop, a visit to W.B. Yeats' grave. As we gathered by the gravesite, Batt recited a few of his favorite poems that Yeats wrote. I think that in the future when I read poetry written by Yeats, I will always hear it in Batt's voice.

We drove to the town of Sligo for lunch. The Harpist, Lord Douglas, Mr. D, BW Babe and I exited the bus along with our fellow tour members and headed to whatever restaurant hit our fancy. We picked The Grappa, near the Italian Quarter of Sligo. The sandwiches and soups were truly excellent.

After lunch, we drove to Carrowmore, a megalithic passage tomb cemetery which pre-dates the tombs we saw at Newgrange and Knowth. Our tour of the site was conducted by a very entertaining and knowledgeable guide. A lot of the questions that I'd been pondering since seeing similar sites in Scotland were answered.

We arrived at our hotel in Ballina (Beal an Atha)at around 4:30 PM and were greeted by the desk hostess who gave us each two coupons for reduced drinks at the hotel bar. The hotel, The Downhill House Hotel is a rather old hotel. Although they have a lift, the room that BW Babe and I were assigned to was located in a rather difficult location as far as navigating four suitcases goes. Thankfully, we were rescued by a porter or I'm sure I would have ended up with a broken arm at the bottom of the winding staircase down to our basement room. Actually, the room is very nice but...we WILL need a porter when we leave this place on Tuesday morning.

Dinner was very nice. We had a smoked trout salad, fish pie, and baked Alaska. How can you top that? We've got live music tonight with some musicians that are members of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann who will be joining up with the musicians in our tour group for a jam session. What a wonderful way to end the evening.  They'll be playing at The Frogs (Bar).  The walls of the bar are decorated with all kinds of paintings of frogs.  My kind of place.

Random Quote of the Day

Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.

Oscar Wilde

Gardening Calendar

The Harpist, BW Babe and I in the Orangery

Old Grey Frog and BW Babe Stolling through the Castle Gardens

A View of the Lake
It Looks a Bit Choppy

Glenveah Castle
Just a Little Summer Place

Signage was in Gaelic and English

Columbine
I'm thinking about adding a few to my garden at The Lake

Word of the Day

Telepathetic - Describing a miserable failure in an attempt to use mental telepathy to communicate or receive information.

I woke up at 5:30 AM, threw on my clothes and raced down to the lobby of our hotel by 6:30 AM….just to see if I could get online to blog. Silly me. However, it worked. I was able to post yesterday’s blog…this morning. And right now? I’m writing my blog offline because…I can’t get online. Seems that the internet at this hotel is a bit touchy. BW Babe is sitting right next to me with her laptop and she could get online. Oh well. To continue, I did get online this morning and was able to check my email and post pictures from yesterday on Facebook. A kind waiter brought us some coffee. Us? By this time one of our fellow tour members had sat down near me and was able to get online with her IPhone. As we sat quietly in the lobby, we chatted, clicked away on our electronic devices, and sipped some really good coffee. BW Babe joined us at 8 AM with her laptop and we had a fine group of us nerdy types sitting in the lobby of the hotel until I decided enough was enough and went back upstairs to stow my laptop before heading to the breakfast room to get a roll. However, instead, I let temptation get the better of me and enjoyed a full Irish breakfast. Well…Not quite full. I didn’t eat any of the black or white pudding or the sausage. Instead I just had one egg, a tomato, some baked beans and a roll. Very good. I wonder what HTP would say if I served him baked beans for breakfast? Or fried tomatoes?

We were all loaded back onto our tour bus by 9:30 AM. As we headed to Glenveagh National Park, Batt talked to us about an organization established in the 50’s to support and preserve traditional Irish music. Comhatas Ceol Craic. They started the organization when it became apparent that the Irish were losing their own local music in favor of Elvis and Johnny Cash.
We are in the county Donegal which is very rocky. The land isn’t very fertile but we are seeing LOTS of sheep. When you can’t cultivate, when the land is hilly, bring in the sheep.

On our way to the park, we passed a bog area where peat was being cut and stacked to dry. We saw this during our tour with Liam earlier in the trip.

I didn’t realize when we were told that we’d be visiting Glenveagh National Park that we’d be touring a castle….not an actual castle but a home that was built to resemble a castle. Very beautiful! It was very interesting to find out that the book Separate Peace (required reading for me in high school) was written at a desk in the castle by one of the guests when he was there on a visit. Greta Garbo was also a guest at one time. After touring the castle, BW and I headed out to take a stroll through the gardens and encountered a gardener as he was pruning an apple tree, training it to grow along a wire. We chatted with him for a while and he took our picture against the backdrop of the castle. We saw many flowers that we recognized and some that we didn’t. Hopping the shuttle bus back to the visitor center, we had a wonderful lunch at the visitor center.

It was decided that we’d return to our hotel for a free afternoon of wandering the town of Letterkenny (Leitir Ceanainn) before dinner but first, we drove the long way home through the lands of the banshees and pookas. No man would dare walk through the countryside here after dark according to our story-teller and guide, Batt Burns.

I discovered an antique store as we drove into town the yesterday and I can never resist antiques. BW Babe and I didn’t realize that it was located so close to our hotel. So, given some free time, we wandered over to check out the antiques, just to see if there might be something interesting and small that we could bring back home with us. I restrained myself to buying one REALLY cheap pin and one silver pin. BW invested a bit more by buying a couple of pendants in gold. She’d been looking for a Celtic cross to bring back and found a nice antique one, a lot nicer than a brand new one that she’d probably have had to pay lots more for at one of the jewelry stores.

And now? My internet is off and on so I’m working offline. Maybe I’ll get a connection again while I sit here. Supper is scheduled for 6:45 PM. I’m hoping that they’ll be playing Irish music again in the bar tonight before dinner. Regardless, I’m not staying up late tonight, futilely hoping for an internet connection. Tomorrow is another day and we’ll be heading to Ballina. Time to get all packed up and organized once again for travel....but first....I had to give the internet one more try after dinner and...we've got touchdown. A blog posted on the very day it was written. I may get to bed on time tonight.



Random Quote of the Day

A traveler must have the back of an ass to bear all,
a tongue like the tail of a dog to flatter all,
the mouth of a hog to eat what is set before him,
the ear of a merchant to hear all and say nothing.

Thomas Nashe

The Guild Hall in Derry

BW Babe on the Wall in Derry

IRA Building in Derry

Freedom Wall Separating Factions in Derry

Stone Fort - Grianan Aileach

BW Babe, the Harpist, and Me

Bride and Groom Boarded Our Tour Bus

Jam Session in the Bar at Galleghar's in Letterkenny

Word of the Day

Telecrastination - The act of always letting the phone ring at least twice before you pick it up, even when you're only six inches away.

We headed to breakfast this morning at 8 AM. BW Babe decided to skip breakfast this morning. We’ve been eating so much at every meal and neither of us are used to eating all that much so early in the morning, much less these wonderful Scottish and Irish breakfasts. I limited my breakfast to some porridge with a bit of berry sauce and honey. And, of course, coffee with milk.

After breakfast I went upstairs to finish packing before heading down to the lobby with BW with our first load of luggage. BW and I have worked out a system. We can manage three suitcases by ourselves. I tote two suitcases while she can manage one of the smaller suitcases. That leaves one suitcase back in the room which, security-wise, keeps it safe. Meanwhile, BW keeps an eye on the three suitcases in the lobby while I run up and grab the last of the four suitcases. Thankfully, Mike, our bus-driver, was waiting in the lobby when we got to the lobby with the first of the three bags and he loaded them up into the bus while I ran up to get that fourth bag. Nice and neat and organized.

As I mentioned in a previous blog, BW and I, the Harpist and Lord Douglas, and Mr. D, along with a few others stayed at The Tower Hotel in Derry (inside the wall of the walled city of Derry) while the other “tourists” stayed at The City Hotel. So, our next stop was to pick them up at their hotel with all their luggage. All this before taking a guided tour (conducted by Batt), hiking on top of the wall, the rampart. The old section of Derry is one of the few or maybe the only city whose wall is still intact…no broken bits or gaps in the wall here and there. It’s walled. Batt took us up on the walkway of the wall, along the ramparts of the city, explaining the history, the past up to and including what he refers to at “The Troubles” in Northern Ireland. It was interesting to hear the reasons behind the IRA and the clashes between Protestant and Catholic here in Ireland. Unfortunately, the day wasn’t the best for hiking the ramparts. We had rain and wind. My umbrella turned itself inside out three times before I gave up on it and regretted packing my hat into the suitcase which...was already stowed back in the belly of the bus...both of my hats. And I asked myself, “Why did I bother washing my hair this morning?” By the end of the walk and history lesson, my hair started to look a bit like a Brillo pad. I started looking like an older…oh, what the heck, let’s be honest, an OLD and greying Raggedy Ann doll. *sigh* Oh well….

We were given a half hour to see a bit more of Derry on our own before meeting at the Tourist Information Center where the bus was parked. Last night the Harpist told us that we wouldn’t be using pound sterling anymore. She recommended that we find a bank to exchange our pounds for Euros. So, we immediately set out to find a nearby bank. We found an Ulster Bank almost immediately. Entering the bank, I asked the guy at the Information desk whether or not the bank exchanged pounds for Euros. He said that they did but they charged a fee. However, he continued, if we went to the nearby mall and took the escalator to up two levels, we’d find a Money Exchange that wouldn’t charge us a fee. BW and I found the Money Exchange and….we were told that they normally do exchange pounds for Euros but…they didn’t have any Euros today. *sigh* So, down the escalator we went with the plan to return to The Ulster Bank. Unfortunately, we got turned around and exited onto the wrong street and couldn’t find The Ulster Bank. Thankfully, there was a Dansk Bank near The Guild Hall which we could see from about a block away. We scurried to the Dansk Bank and were easily able to exchange our pounds leaving us with just a few coins which they couldn’t exchange for an even amount of Euros. On our way to the bus, we met up with the Harpist and Lord Douglas who lured us into temptation. We stopped to spend some of our last few coins at a pastry shop. Yum!

At 11:30 AM, we left Northern Ireland and entered The Republic of Ireland, part of the Eurozone. Our tour bus took the scenic route on our way to Letterkenny (Leitir Caenainn). It really should have been a beautiful ride, and it was in its own way but it was raining and foggy so we could see very little of the coastal area as we drove along. At 1 PM, we stopped for lunch at The Grand Hotel in Ballyliffen. The view was lovely from the windows of the hotel restaurant. The food was simple but tasty. We had vegetable soup with a variety of finger sandwiches. Coffee and digestive biscuits for dessert. Normally, we pay for our own meals but Batt arranged to pay for our lunch today.

We were back on the bus by 2 PM, and due to the weather, Batt asked whether or not we really wanted to visit our next stop, a stone fort called Grianan of Aileach. We voted and all decided to go…despite the wet, wind, and cold. Little did we know how wet, how cold, and how windy. Again, I tried my umbrella but…it was useless. The fort was fascinating, looking like a huge amphitheater. Batt told us some stories before we practically raced back to the bus. At this point, we all looked a bit worse for wear. My hair that I washed this morning…don’t ask. I passed out some Kleenex so people could dry their glasses and see again. And what did we see? A bride and groom stepping out of a car in the parking lot near the castle. Full formal wedding attire. Wow! Not a good day to have an outdoor wedding. I’m not sure what the bride used on her hair to keep her formal hairdo in place but it worked…really well. At one point, all of us staring at the couple and two attendants out in the gale force wind, wedding dress blowing, one of our tour group said, “That can’t be her real hair!” Seeing a whole tour us of staring at them, the bride and groom boarded our bus to say hello. Being Irish, the weather didn’t seem to really bother them much. They were both in good spirits. We all wished them well and happy wedding before Mike turned our bus around and headed back down the steep and winding road. At this point, we met a car coming up the winding road. Stalemate. It was the priest/minister. Oops! Tour bus trumps small car. He had to back down the hill to let us by…narrow, steep, and winding road. On the way down the hill, we encountered another two cars who pulled off to let us by…more of the wedding party. I’m not even going to try to imagine how cold and wet that poor bride with her sleeveless dress and the bridesmaids in their sleeveless dresses were going to be until all the I do’s were complete and they could all thaw out in a warmer and dryer place but…I know how cold we all were after our tour of the castle and we were wearing warm winter coats. COLD!

We arrived at our hotel in Letterkenny at 4:30 PM. BW Babe and I and much of our fellow tour members were given rooms on the third floor of the hotel. Unfortunately, there is no way to get to the third floor from the lobby of the hotel. In order to reach the third floor, we all had to get on the lobby elevator, ride to the second floor, lug all our baggage down the hallway to a back elevator that tends to like going down, up to the third floor. This shouldn’t have been too big a deal but there’s only one small elevator and LOTS of people needing it. Plus, the luggage issue that BW and I have each time we have to move our suitcases from here to there. See paragraph two…but in reverse.

A drink in the bar, listening to traditional Irish music played by some of our tour members, was a much needed form of therapy after a rather tiring day. Dinner was served at 6:30 PM…semi-buffet style. I ate my veggies and cut back by half the food I consumed. Lots of food. If I don’t want to go home and buy all new, much bigger clothing, I need to stop trying to be a member of the clean plate club. Now!

Supposedly, we’re supposed to have free Internet here in the lobby of the hotel. Sadly, it doesn’t seem to be working so, I’m blogging off-line tonight in the lobby…trying to connect, unsuccessfully. We’re here for two nights so…maybe we’ll get connected late tonight, maybe not. Maybe we’ll have better luck in the next town we visit.

Random Quote of the Day

. . . .When I am, as it were, completely myself, entirely alone, and of good cheer - say traveling in a carriage, or walking after a good meal, or during the night when I cannot sleep - it is on such occasions that my ideas flow best, and most abundantly. Whence and how they come, I know not, nor can I force them...

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791)

My Ancestors Had Opinions and Acted on Them

Lord Douglas and the Harpist, Chatting up the Blacksmith

The Three Cousin Picture
BW Babe Opted to Remain Dry at the Visitor Center
We Saved Her a Seat at the Old World Pub

Lord Douglas and the Harpist
Old World Grocery Store

Word of the Day

Telebility - Having the ability to tell if a television is on by hearing a high pitched ringing in one's ear from around the corner, or anywhere in the house.

We are staying at the Tower Hotel in the walled city of Londonderry or, according to your political bend, Derry. Our tour guide, Batt, planned to walk with us around the walls of the city and tell us all about the history of Derry (Londonderry) and describe the "troubles" that the city suffered over the years. It wasn't until the late 70's when things started to cool down a bit. However, we noted today that many of the highway signs that say Londonderry have either had the London part of the sign whited out or blacked out. Interesting. We didn't take our walk and talk around the walls this morning because it was raining. Plans changed.

Instead we drove out to The Ulster American Folk Park where they have a wonderful living history museum along with a indoor museum describing the emigration of the Ulster Scots and Irish to The New World. It was interesting to see a living history museum here in Ireland versus the ones that I've seen in the states. On most aspects, the interpretation was quite well done. On other aspects, I'm not sure they worried too much. I saw a lot of flowering annuals that I'm pretty sure didn't exist during that time period...Black irises? And they were re-thatching one of the building in the exhibits using modern day scaffolding. And Lord Douglas spotted a very modern ladder hidden in back of one of the buildings. Plus, some of the spinning wheels looked a bit modern to me...if you can actually have a modern spinning wheel. However, the exhibits were very interesting. I did learn something that I hadn't heard or if I had heard it, I didn't grasp. Apparently, before the emigrants boarded the boat to leave for The New World, their names had to be entered into a log book. The man who wrote down their names, didn't always spell those names accurately. When they arrived at their final destination, if they didn't want any trouble, they had to maintain the spelling of the name written in the log book. No wonder there are so many different spellings for one name.

The Harpist, Lord Douglas, and I braved the rain to visit the outdoor exhibits at the park while Mr. D and BW Babe opted to remain inside where it was warm and cozy. I can't say that I blamed them really. I did have to resort to using my umbrella and both the Harpist and Lord Douglas were using rain gear. We had two and a half hours to explore the exhibits which took us from The Old World onto a ship heading for The New World and then our arrival in the New World. We got just to the point where we stepped onto the shores of the New World before we ran out of time and had to hasten back to Ireland once again or tempt the wrath of our fellow tourists and Batt.

BW Babe and I only had enough time to grab a sandwich to share on the bus ride back to our hotel. The rain continued so we were given the rest of the day to do what we wanted. BW Babe and I decided that we wanted to go take a look at the local shops here in Londonderry (Derry). We explored two grocery stores, purchased some candy that we've never seen in the states, stopped at a shop and purchased a "You are Now Entering Free Derry" t-shirt for Sarge or D Buddy, stopped into a Pet Charity Thrift Store to see if we could find something to support the charity...but didn't, and checked out the local Pounder. Everything in the Pounder costs a pound. Sound familiar?

BW and I hauled our tired feet up the hill back to our hotel, dumped our purchases and got ready for dinner...which was to be served down the hill at the other hotel. So...down the hill we went again. Dinner was delayed so...we all gathered in the lobby of the hotel for pre-dinner drinks and told each other what we'd been doing during our free time. Some of the tourists had taken walks around town like BW and I. Others took in The Tower Museum here in town. Still others decided to take the opportunity to catch up on some much needed sleep. A few of our tour members tend to stay out rather late. Some of our musicians didn't return from performing at the pub last night until the wee hours of the morning. And after dinner tonight...it looked like they planned on repeating their late night musical festivities. BW and I decided to give it a pass tonight and headed back UP THE HILL to our hotel along with another of our tour companions to repack and get ready for departure tomorrow morning.

Breakfast at 8 AM. Load up the luggage. Walk the wall with Batt as tour guide, rain or shine (and I'm betting on rain) and then it'll be off to our next adventure. We'll be staying at Letterkenny for two nights. Apparently, we'll be using Euros from now on so...BW Babe and I will have to find a bank to exchange our pounds into Euros...tomorrow.

Random Quote of the Day

The journey is difficult, immerse. We will travel as far as we can, but we cannot in one lifetime see all that we would like to see or to learn all that we hunger to know.

Loren Eiseley

Giant's Causeway
 

The Cousin Picture at the Giant's Causeway
 

BW Babe and the Harpist at The Giant's Gate
 

Bushmill's Distillery
 

A Red Phone Booth at Bushmill's
Me, BW Babe and the Harpist

The Guild Hall in Derry

The Pub Venue in Derry

Jamming with the Locals at the Clarendon Bar
 

Word of the Day

Teenanswer - Any answer to a question that doesn't properly address the question, like those of a teenager.

We left the hotel in Belfast at around 8:30 AM. Our tour bus drove through areas that we'd been previously with our driver/tour guide Liam. We drove by the Carrickfergus Castle and Batt told us that Carrick in Gaelic means Rock....so Fergus' Rock Castle. Interesting. We also drove by the Ballygally Castle where we'd stayed. The bus continued down the coast where we enjoyed seeing the Glens of Antrim. While we drove, some of the musicians in the back of the bus started playing Carrickfergus while one of the men sang.

I wish I was in Carrickfergus
Only for nights in Ballygrand
I would swim over the deepest ocean
Only for nights in Ballygrand
But the sea is wide and I cannot swim over
And neither have I the wings to fly
I wish I had a handsome boatsman
To ferry me over my love and I

My childhood days bring back sad reflections
Of happy times there spent so long ago
My boyhood friends and my own relations
Have all past on now with the melting snow
So I'll spend my days in this endless roving
Soft is the grass and shore, my bed is free
Oh to be home now in carrickfergus
On the long rode down to the salty sea

Now in Kilkenny it is reported
On marble stone there as black as ink
With gold and silver I would support her
But I'll sing no more now til I get a drink
Cause I'm drunk today and I'm seldom sober
A handsome rover from town to town
Ah but I'm sick now my days are number
Come all me young men and lay me down
Come all me young men and lay me down.

Our first stop of the day was to be a tour of The Giant's Causeway. We were delayed in arriving due to some roadwork but finally arrived at our destination at 11:30 AM. The self-guided tour took almost the entire two hours allotted. We were given radios to listen to the explanation as we hiked. What a beautiful day for a hike! Some of the group took the bus back from the Giant's Gate but BW Babe and I hiked back...beating the bus by a good ten minutes.

We boarded our tour bus again and continued on to the nearby Bushmill Distillery. Whiskey. We weren't sure if they could take us today for a tour but Batt pulled it off. Of course, we couldn't all go on the tour at the same time. The tour guides at Bushmill broke us up into groups of eighteen or less. The tour was very interesting. BW Babe, the Harpist, Lord Douglas, Mr. D and I all felt that our earlier tour of the Bladnoch Distillery in Scotland provided a great chance at comparison. Irish Whiskey versus Scottish Whiskey. Actually, I must say that I preferred the taste of the Bushmill whiskey sample that I received...but...I'm still not fond of whiskey.

After the tour, we all boarded the bus again and continued on to the city of Derry for the next couple of nights. With such a large group of people, we had to split up. Some of us are staying at The City Hotel, and some of us are staying at The Tower Hotel. BW, the Harpist and Lord Douglas, Mr. D and I and a bunch of others are at The Tower Hotel for our two night stay here in Derry. I must say that it was quite the hike uphill from the pub where the musicians played tonight.

It's a good thing that BW, the Harpist, Lord Douglas and I all came prepared tonight to stay for the musical venue. I'm not at all sure that I'd have enjoyed hiking up the hill to our hotel room twice in one evening. As it is, it looks like we'll be making several trips up that hill tomorrow. *sigh* Oh well, we enjoyed listening to the musicians in the group jam with the locals here in Derry at the Clarendon Bar (Pub). We didn't stay too long. All of us were a bit tired after our day of touring. I know that BW Babe and I were even more tired after hiking up that hill. Maybe we should have taken that bus at the Giant's Causeway instead of hiking all the way to and fro, but...it was so beautiful outside today and the views were magnificent so...I'd do it again, despite my swollen ankles.

Random Quote of the Day

If you want to succeed you should strike out on new paths, rather than travel the worn paths of accepted success.

John D. Rockefeller (1839 - 1937)

Ken McElroy - Our tour guide for the city of Belfast

Peace Wall in Belfast

The Peace Wall

The Irish Parliamentary Building

Queen's University in Belfast

Titanic Exhibition

Titanic Exhibition

Lord Douglas, Mr. D, the Harpist, and BW Babe
Waiting to go into the Titanic Exhibit

A Model of the Titanic

Titanic Exhibition

BW Babe, Leaning on a Lifeboat

Jamming in the Lobby of our Hotel

The Pub and our Music Venue for the Evening

At Kelly's Cellar Jamming with the Locals

Word of the Day

Tearyold - Descriptive of the act of a two-year-old or such young child throwing a tantrum.

Our morning started with a history lesson from Batt Burns. It was interesting how he tied all the bits and pieces together so we could understand the origins of the "troubles" in Northern Ireland. I remember learning much of this from this source and that but this was the first time someone connected all the dots for me.

After the lecture, we all boarded the bus, joined by a special tour guide who showed us the city of Belfast. Belfast may not be a huge city but there's lots to see. Sadly, it was really hard to take photographs from the bus. We were all trying to sneak a photo here and there whenever the bus would stop at a traffic light....not an easy task.

The Harpist, Lord Douglas, Mr. D, BW Babe and I all decided to hit a local convenience store for lunch today. Free time before our next scheduled activity. I bought myself a really tasty sandwich. Chicken Tikka on a baguette. Wonderful! BW Babe and I took our luncheon choices into the bar at the hotel. BW chose a cider to go with her lunch. I'm sticking to Guinness until I get tired of it.

Our tour group met back at the bus at 2:15 PM and we headed off to the Titanic Exhibition. I thought it was well done. Very interesting. The Titanic was built here in Belfast and the exhibition detailed the building process. BW Babe had visited a Titanic exhibition in the states. She said the one in the states was mainly about the stories of those killed and those who survived as well as a display of artifacts from the shipwreck. Both perspectives were interesting.

We had dinner at the same place as last night. This time I ordered the salmon and it was very good. It seems like I've been eating a lot of salmon since I've been here...and I've never really liked it before. Guess it's all in the way it's cooked.

And so, let the music begin. Half of our tour group brought musical instruments with them. Tonight, before heading to the pub to play, the musicians settled into the lobby of the hotel to entertain the other tour groups. Practice. They were a hit. Joined by Batt, we all trekked to Kelly's Cellar, a nearby pub. There was already a group playing in the bar when we arrived. Our musicians, including the Harpist, playing the "bones", joined in with the existing group and they all jammed together. This drew quite a crowd. It wasn't long before BW Babe and I had to exit the pub to get out of the heat, at which time BW Babe started chatting with two young men sitting outside. One of the men had BW really going when he told her that Scotland was Gaelic for "From Ireland". I was quietly listening to this conversation but finally interrupted, looking at the young man and aaking him, "Do you know what her (BW Babe's) real name is?" He shook his head. I answered, "Her name is Gullible." He laughed and told his friend, "She's sharp." I laughed. After that "Gullible" wouldn't believe a word he said...even when he was telling the truth.

The Harpist, Lord Douglas, BW Babe and I all headed back to our hotel for the night. When we arrived back at the hotel, we were greeted by the sweet sounds of music played by Batt's wife and a couple of the musicians in our group who had returned from the bar. Another impromptu jam session. What a wonderful end to a wonderful day. We've got any early start tomorrow. We'll be traveling and touring on our way to Derry next. Time to pack and get our bags locked and loaded.

Random Quote of the Day

Remember that happiness is a way of travel - not a destination.

Roy M. Goodman

The Harpist, Lord D and BW Babe in the Bus

Mike, Our Bus Driver

Monasterboice - Description in Gaelic

Key to the Celtic Cross

 

The Monastery Tower with Celtic Cross

Old Grey Frog, the Harpist, and BW Babe
Monasterboice

Batt Burns

Map of the Boyne Valley
Shows the Newgrange and Knowth Sites We Visited Previously

A Wonderful Place to Eat Lunch

Word of the Day

Teamlet - A team within a larger team. Consisting of as few as one member, teamlets can research topics of great importance and report back to a team or larger teamlet which reports to an even larger team.

We all met down in the restaurant of the hotel in Dublin to enjoy a hearty Irish breakfast. BW Babe and I stumbled upon our host, Batt Burns, and chatted for a while with him and his wife. My cousin (henceforth to be known as The Harpist), Lord Douglas, and Mr. D. had already dined. As to the black pudding (blood sausage), I would have thought that I would most certainly like it, but such is not the case...at least so far. I find it rather dry and crumbly and pretty flavorless. On the other hand, I do like the white pudding (sausage) and the haggis. Go figure. Don't worry, I won't be coming home with a great urge and drive to make homemade haggis. Though...BW Babe may have a recipe for it in one of the cookbooks she bought the other day.

After breakfast, we hauled all our bags down to the lobby and waited for our tour bus to arrive. There are 44 people on this tour. Half of these people brought musical instruments. When the bus got here, everyone made a beeline for the bus with all their luggage and musical instruments. It was a stampede. Meanwhile, since BW Babe has a bad shoulder, I'm hauling most of our bags. We'd figured out an arrangement for hauling the luggage up to the hotel rooms and back down to the lobby...and even into the airport and beyond but we'd failed to set up a system for getting all our bags onto...or near a bus that has a herd of very focused musicians all crowding into line to get the best seats on a tour bus. *sigh* The Harpist has done this before so she grabbed BW Babe while I wasn't looking and hustled onto the bus to grab some really good seats. I look up and I'm standing with way too much luggage to haul on my own. Lord Douglas was taking care of his baggage and Mr. D was taking care of his baggage and one of BW Babe's bags but that left me with three bags to roll forward toward the bus in the limited space of what was beginning to look like a cattle chute. Not an easy task. With Mr. D and Lord Douglas guarding my flank, I herded the suitcases, including the one that Mr. D had been watching, one at a time down the chute to the bus where the bus-driver (Mike) was waiting to load. It worked. It just took time and I was holding up the line. Hopefully, I'll do a better job next time. The thing is that we weren't the only ones schlepping bags to tour busses. There's a real danger of having ones bags put on the wrong bus...not a good thing.

After I was assured that all our bags were on the correct bus, I joined The Harpist and BW Babe on the bus. It's a good thing that they did race to pick out good seats for all of us on the bus because the bus had filled up rapidly while I was wrestling with the suitcases.

Our first stop of the day was the airport....again. Today was considered as Day 2, according to the itinerary that we'd received from our tour organizer Irene. Day 1 was the day these people had hopped onto a plane to come to Dublin. Turns out that most of our fellow tourists, had flown in on Day 0. However, we still needed to pick up three people who were still on Day 1. Actually, The Harpist, Lord Douglas, Mr. D and I are all on Day 9...we've been in Ireland and Scotland for over a week. After a delayed flight, we finally collected the delayed tourists and we were on the road again.

Today was a light day of touring. Many of our travelers are still a bit jet-lagged. I must say that I did enjoy our first stop. The Monasterboice Celtic crosses are beautiful. Batt Burns is a wonderful speaker and fleshed out the history and purpose of the Celtic crosses. I know that I probably could have sat down on the computer to search out the same information but there's something very special about hearing the information presented by a story-teller.

Since we got such a late start to the day (airport delays) our lunch venue had to be changed on the fly. The Monasterboise Inn, surprisingly, was able to accommodate us all. 44 people (47 with Batt, Batt's wife, and Mike, the driver), all ordering lunch off a rather ambitious menu. We (The Harpist, Lord Douglas, BW Babe, Mr. D and I) decided to keep things simple and just ordered the seafood chowder and brown scones. The Harpist squeaked a bit when the waiter placed her bowl of chowder in front of her. She was startled to see squid tentacles sticking up out of the bowl. She did eat a bit of one but passed the rest of the squid part of her soup over to Lord Douglas and BW Babe. I was waiting in the wings to act as judge for an arm-wrestling match but they worked it out and each got the bits that The Harpist didn't want. "They were purple!"

Nodding off on the bus, the ride to our hotel for the evening didn't seem all that long. I did try to stay alert and awake but... I'm beginning to think that jet-lag is contagious. We arrived at our hotel in Belfast at around 4 PM. Two other tour busses had arrived before us. Talk about confusion! There were only three elevators and TONS of luggage and hundreds of people. I had BW Babe wait with two of our suitcases while I took two up to our room...after waiting in a LONG line to squeeze into one of the elevators...when one finally became available. Then, I raced back down to the lobby so BW Babe and I could take another elevator upstairs to our room. Done. Except....

We met downstairs after unpacking a bit and getting our laptops set up. We're allowed two devices for twenty-four hours (gratis) and then we have to pick up new passwords for the next twenty-four hours (gratis) That's OK. We actually have four devices between BW Babe and me but...laptops have top priority. Anyway, we went downstairs and joined some of our fellow tourists in the bar before heading off to another hotel (nearby) for dinner. I liked our meal at the Monasterboice Inn a LOT better than dinner tonight but the apple crunch was excellent.

After dinner we could have gone to watch some of the musicians in our group of tourists play at a bar (a fifteen minute walk from the hotel) or watch someone we who wasn't a part of our group play at a closer bar. But...BW Babe and I decided to opt out of either option, pleading exhaustion. Tomorrow is another day with a tour of Belfast on the agenda and a visit to the Titanic Exhibition.

Random Quote of the Day

Happiness is not a state to arrive at, but a manner of traveling.

Margaret Lee Runbeck