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)