Author: Lmnei

NOTE: Issues with my website and had to make some edits which took some time as I have been uploading my pictures incorrectly I found out and filled my drive space! Updates will be regular now 🙂

Up early this morning to take a taxi to the Dublin Airport with Anne and Richard, as they are departing back to Victoria today via Calgary and we are going to pick up our rental car at Europcar – first time renting from this agency! The taxi driver was really nice and ask we were running early (he was early picking us up too) he dropped Andrew and I off at the rental car agency prior to taking Anne and Richard to the airport. As I mentioned, we had never rented from Europcar previously however there was a SIGNIFICANT difference in price between it and Avis, Budget and Hertz etc (half the cost) so we decided to try it out. We had a great experience with Sixt in New Zealand, which was an up and coming rental car agency at that time so why not? Oh my goodness – it took us over an hour to rent the car! Apparently Ireland is one of 4 countries in the world that if you are using the car insurance benefit on your credit card they require in writing that you are covered to drive in Ireland. I had the rental part of the insurance document with me but it did not mention Andrew by name and the last 4 numbers of the credit card that he was using. So we phoned TD Aeroplan Visa and they sent me the letter, despite it being the middle of the night for them. Then the agent said that it did not mention Ireland, so I had to phone TD Aeroplan Visa back (Andrew is using a secondary card from my Visa so I had to call as the primary card holder) and they said they could not modify the letter they sent me so would an email be sufficient? I hoped so, and that is what I gave the agent at Europcar and while he did not like having 2 documents, it was the best we could do. Then, finally we got the car and we were out of there!

We hopped onto M50 which is a contactless toll highway out of the Dublin area. Normally I do not like paying tolls as you have learned, or if we do have to pay them, I like paying them myself and the rental company does not charge me later some hiked up fee. However apparently the only surcharge is .50 Euros so I was fine with that just to get out of the city! We had a lovely drive to Athlone, which would be our stop for the next 3 days – most of it was highway driving until we got to the town and then we quickly found the Sheraton – it is the only highrise in town – yet we were too early to check-in! So we went for lunch at a really cute cafe that advertised gluten free items and then the hotel messaged me that our room was ready and we returned to the hotel. That night we ate dinner in the lobby restaurant – I had a very lovely chicken and curry rice dish that was marked gluten free and then it was early to bed in our room in the sky!

Tomorrow is a chore day – laundry! We are going to drive around the lake that Athlone is at the bottom of and do laundry at a laundromat somewhere along the way…

We all had a slow start on Saturday morning – our first day not on the tour! Eventually, we made our way down to the Hop on Hop off bus service and got on and rode a few stops until the driver told us to get off as we had to walk the rest of the way to our destination – EPIC: The Irish Emigration Museum. The word “EPIC” comes from the Ancient Greek word epos, which simply means “word, narrative, or song” which the museum builders thought was appropriate as it is a place “where innovation and interaction collide” and “people from all corners of the globe can explore Irish history, culture and identity”. The museum is the brain child of Neville Isdell, who retired as Chairman and CEO of Coca-Cola in 2009. “My own experience of being an emigrant has always stayed with me. And as they say, I left Ireland but Ireland never left me.”

There were 20 galleries in the museum (no I am not going to bore you with pictures from all 20)… however the fun thing we got to do was we got a card that as we went through each gallery we could stamp it! So now we have a record of what we did when in the EPIC museum! I only took a few pictures – it was busy and very engaging visually and not easy to document with a camera. Here are the few that I did take:

Now we got on the short circle of the black line of the Hop on Hop off bus so that we could transfer to the green line. The black line was a 45 minute circle route, which we had walked most of it already, however the green line was going to take us to places we had not visited previously. It was a 90 minute route, however Andrew and I got off at about an hour so that I could take some pictures that I wanted to get, run into Tesco for some digestive cookies for our trip starting tomorrow and then we were meeting up with Anne and Richard for dinner nearby where they would be getting off the bus. So here are some pictures while on the bus – not as good as if I was in a car or on a tour bus as while this was a double decker bus, I remain on the bottom floor – in fact we all remained on the bottom floor as part of the top was open air and it was getting a bit nippy out in the afternoon and might start raining!

Now Andrew and I are off the hop on hop off bus and going on our power walk to take pictures, get to Tesco and to the restaurant to meet Anne and Richard in the time it will take them to finish the circle on the bus! Let’s go!

Andrew and I actually were done with our photos and shopping early and Anne and Richard were available so we met early at the Milstone restaurant – which several people in the group had gone to on Wednesday night and raved about it. I had made reservations there for us 4, however Anne and Richard swung by and made sure that we could arrive 30 minutes early (it was also starting to rain so hanging outside was going to be an issue). Anne messaged me that I will recognize the place and I sure did! This was the same restaurant that we went to the first full day we were in Dublin! It is right near the university and we had walked there after seeing the Book of Kells. Now we are eating here on our last night in Dublin! So funny! And the waitress even recognized us – more due to my walker – however she remembered our “unique” accents!

Then we took a taxi back to the Egans Guesthouse and prepared for tomorrow’s ride to the airport, which had been arranged by Vinne with a “guy” that he knows! Pickup is at 9:40am so need to be on time as he might be early!

Holy cow – 1:45 am sure comes early! I was up and downstairs to the lobby to set up for my Zoom meeting with my new Health Mentors team for the coming school year. I am participating on Zoom this year as due to being on vacation, I could not make the mandatory in person meeting earlier this week. This also works out well as it allows me to travel and still keep in touch and hold the monthly meetings with the group. As this is the first year back to a Zoom Group after COVID it was exciting to see what kind of students that would be joining us. During COVID it had allowed the Health Mentors program, which for about 10 years had been run out of the UBC campus as an in person monthly meeting of about 4 medical and allied health students chosen for the course to meet with a mentor (like me) for 8 months in person, had to go online. That actually was the first year I joined so I started in the program when it jumped online and I had students from both UBC and UNBC who were becoming a Doctor, Nurse, Speech Language Pathologist and Occupational Therapist. It also worked out well for me due to the deaths that happened and the time I had to spend in Seattle – where I would not have been able to meet in person. Now, there has been some students who are for various reasons, want to be part of the program but they cannot attend monthly meetings in person. So this was a win-win for me and them! There are 3 different Health Mentor groups online this year, mine being one of them. So we went through the orientation with the leaders of the program and I was assuming we were just going to chat as a group quickly and exchange information and then that was going to be the end of the meeting – like it is when we go to the in person orientation. NOPE! Here was Lynda chugging a Coke Zero to stay away (actually I really did not need to as the bar traffic that started into the hotel at 2am was noisy enough) and had to run a meeting for 45 minutes after the orientation session had ended. That was VERY hard to do! I managed but some of my words just were not forming correctly… back to bed and getting up at 6:25am to see all the people off on the bus to the airport!

Okay, did the 6:30am thing with the bus and went back to bed for 90 minutes! Now, packed, luggage in storage at the Gresham Hotel as we are changing hotels tonight and time to change gears – we are off on our day trip to Hill of Tara and New Grange! Luckily we do not need to go far to get the tour bus – across the street! Lovely – another bus to climb onto! Last day for this! 🙂

The Hill of Tara and Newgrange tour visits some famous and iconic locations of Ireland’s Ancient East – the Hill of Tara, the ancient capital of Ireland and the Newgrange Passage Tomb of the UNESCO World Heritage Listed Site of Brú na Bóinne. There are the collections of decorated kerbstones that surround the passage tombs, displaying some of Europe’s best-preserved examples of Neolithic art.

This was something that Anne wanted to do and invited us to join them and I sure am glad that we did as it was fascinating for two reasons – one, the the subject which we will cover below and two the unique guide! When we approached the bus across the street from the Gresham Hotel, there was a lady who checked us all off a list and then there was a very tall lean man with a bright orange coat using a pretty tall walker talking to people and helping them out. He said he liked my walker and how sturdy it looked – he told me that he could not find anything in Ireland that worked for him so he got his from Sweden. He was pretty proud of his walker and how it semi-folded until he saw mine fold almost flat! He then asked the bus driver to put my walker under the bus so I could get onto the bus and we could get going. At that time, I thought he was just one of the organizers on the street for the start of different city bus tours – however low and behold, about 5 minutes later I saw his walker put in the hold folded in half the opposite way than mine, and he got on the bus and was also our guide! Like me, he definitely had issues climbing the stairs, however he did not have far to go to get to the tour leader seat that unfolds over the stairs on the bus. I was QUITE impressed! However as Andrew and I later chatted about – how do you let someone know that you are impressed without sounding stupid? It is something that Karen and I often discussed – people were “amazed” by her however she just wanted to be treated as a person – so that is how we treated our tour guide – however personally as a person who uses a walker and has had significant issues from a certain travel agency about traveling on group tours – this was sure great to see – that Irish Tours was willing to employ such a brilliant person (he had a degree in archeology) regardless of his mobility device.

Moving on now, first we drove to the Hill of Tara, which has been important since the late Stone Age, when a passage tomb was built there and it was used as an area of assembly and burial. The site became significant in the Iron Age (600 BC to 400 AD) and after when it rose to prominence – as the place where the the high kings of Ireland were crowned. All old Irish roads lead to this critical site.

Now, just as we had driven on our Celiac Tour, we drove the backroads of Ireland to get to the New Grange area and their displays. I took some pictures along the way as again, it was a beautiful day! I am constantly amazed still by the green, the narrow roads the bus travels on, the beautiful houses and lastly how close some houses are to the road!

Now we have arrived at the New Grange Visitors centre which includes a museum/display to visit, then a different bus ride to the 2 different historic burial sites in order to explore and hear about them from the workers on site. The museum was quite interesting – especially the opening wall which showed different “wonders” of the world – more than 7 in this case and where they occured on a timeline – which is a different way to display them that I have not seen previously. So starting with New Grange and Stonehenge, who are the earliest, then the Egyptian Pyramids and the Parthenon in Greece, some other old monuments, moving onto Mexican temples, Taj Mahal, Angkor Wat etc. The display then focused on the New Grange monuments and explained that in the late 19th century, more focus was placed on the historic places in Ireland and to preserve them. Knowth, the first place we will go had already been damaged in the 1800’s and New Grange, the place we visit with the tomb we go into, similarly, with people taking the engraved stones for building materials. We do not visit Dowth, as it is currently being studied and restored. All the sites are ongoing archeological investigations – discovering different historical elements of the Neolithic Irish past using various methodologies and also engaging anthropology and environmental science consultants.

The museum was mostly bi-lingual displays and videos – I was able to capture some of the pictures from the videos in order to explain what we are going to see better from my pictures that were taken once the site bus took us to Knowth and New Grange to visit them.

Now on the bus to Knowth, we met a guide who walked us around these burial structures. There are many on this site – one large one and then quite a few small ones.

Now, back on the bus and we arrived at New Grange, which is the site of the Great Mound. One of the biggest discoveries was that at the Great Mound , it is aligned for the winter solstice and on the exact minute of the solstice, the chamber in the middle is lit up. However GETTING to the Chamber is a bit of a challenge that involved my super purple crutches! They allow 8 people at a time plus the site guide to enter the chamber. It it starts off wide however then narrows to about 4 feet 10 inches high (I am 5 foot 3 inches) into a triangle formation with the point at the top, so even I had to duck down! To pass through that area you had to do walk sideways with your knees bent and it is VERY claustrophobic. They make you carry all bags, if you want to take them in there, at your feet for obvious reasons. The purple crutches did well except when I got to this narrow part where I had to take them off as my shoulders were too high! Anyway, once inside it was wonderful and everyone could stand up – there was some light coming from cracks in the stone roof, and they had a light shining to emulate what it would be like during the winter solstice. There were no bones left in the place – it had been cleaned up however the bowls that had been carved (see museum pictures) and the drawings were all still present. Unfortunately we could not take any pictures though! The structure does not leak any water – it was built that water tight – with just stones that fit together. We then left and while I was glad we were out (do not like being in spaces like that), it was a pretty amazing experience!

Now back on the bus again and we are going back to Dublin! As the planned drop off is at the Gresham Hotel, and we are all hungry as we skipped lunch (we had coffee/tea and cookies instead) we decided to eat at the Gresham Hotel for dinner as it was known that they can serve people with Celiac. We had a great dinner there of soup to warm us up and I had a Caprese salad (tomato and mozzarella) on the side also in order to get some veggies into my system, and we then took a cab to Egans Guest House where we had booked to stay for the next 2 nights. As Anne and I agreed – it might have just been easier to stay with the tour rate at the Gresham Hotel! However we did not know and hindsight is 20/20!

We arrived at the Egan’s Guesthouse and it fails to amaze me how Ireland deals with accessibility. There were stairs (4) to get into the house and stairs down (4) for me to check in. However once on the main floor, where our room was, I was fine as long as I did not need to go out or get to the registration desk! Our room was interesting – the bed was sloped towards the edge which was fun – I felt like I was going to roll off! And to get into the door with just a suitcase you had to open it, move the suitcase to a cubby space to the left as the door would hit the bed so you could not get around it, close the door and then you could get around the bed into the room. Once into the room, we had a bay window area which was larger with a sitting chair, which was nice. The bathroom was larger too. Just getting into the room was an issue! These European hotels/guest houses – you never know what you are going to run into! Here are some pictures of Egan’s Guesthouse.

We did have a QUIET and good night sleep though and woke up all refreshed to face the day on Saturday – Anne and Richard’s last day in Dublin! We had planned to head to EPIC – the Emigrants museum and then ride the Hop on Hop off bus with the tickets that we had received that most people used on Friday.

Today for the tour was a day on our own in Dublin. We were provided with a Hop on Hop off bus ticket for 24 hours of use and set free after our breakfast. As Anne and Richard had their own plans, Andrew and I decided to visit the Ireland Rock ‘n’ Roll Museum. Well, this was more for Andrew than me, but I sure enjoyed it! I had contacted them in advance to find out if they were accessible as they were in the Temple Bar area and after being there for pizza the previous night and seeing how old the buildings were, I had my suspicions! I was right – part of the museum (one building) has an elevator but the other one does not. Good thing I have my awesome purple crutches with me! Off we went to the museum which was about a 15 minute walk with my purple crutches in tow on my walker (they fold up into a bag). Got a LITTLE lost getting to the museum thanks again to Google Maps! However made it just a few minutes (2) after the 2:15pm tour had left. There was one other couple on the tour and the guide’s name was Allan. We met him after getting off the elevator in the bottom of the 1st building where he was standing with the Austrian couple. Not a large space but wow – the stuff on the walls! Allan immediately impressed me with both his music and history knowledge.

We stood outside of 2 practice studios which were in the basement and talked about various artists, how the studios are almost constantly in use in the evenings and what bands have used them such as U2, Rory Gallagher, Sinead O’Connor, Hozier, The Cranberries, Thin Lizzy, the Pogues, Enya and The Dubliners. We then talked about Rory Gallagher, as they have wall dedicated to him and then around the corner was the U2 practice studio from when the band was young and up and coming. He told us the story of how U2 was named – no it has nothing to do with the name of a subway system! Then we watched a movie that Allan had made for the museum about the history of music in Ireland and then went outside to check out the other part of the museum – in the building with stairs.

So left the walker with the receptionist and off the purple powered crutches and I went! Again, and other history lesson for various musicians and groups, however the most interesting was the Michael Jackson pyjamas top (he had recorded at a different studio in Ireland and exchanged PJ tops with the owner and the owner donated it to the museum), the Thin Lizzy room (on Thin Lizzy’s death his mother donated his equipment) and Sinead O’Connor’s shrine. Allan talked constantly and had interesting stories and he was a very engaging person! It seemed that Sinead who had worked at the Museum had a huge impact on his life and when we got to her shrine area Allan was quite poignant in telling stories about her and her volunteering practices – so different than we have heard in the media. Here are the pictures that I took:

After that experience which lasted several hours, we then walked back to the Gresham Hotel, via Tesco (grocery store) to get some more digestive cookies for the road. We had one last tour dinner with the group which was at a pub a few doors down called Murray’s that we needed to be in the lobby for at 7:30pm and I had some loose strings to tie up – like getting some thank-you cards signed and to chat with the hotel duty manager about accessibility.

One thing I have not mentioned, is the challenges that I had at the Gresham Hotel which is where we stayed for the last 2 nights of the tour. It was interesting as when Anne, Richard, Andrew and I walked past it when we were 1st in Dublin, I saw the stairs and figured there was another entrance I could use. Fast forward to our arrival last night and nope. No other entrance – they have a ramp they can put down – however it does not stay down as it is a trip hazard poking out onto the sidewalk. The hotel manager yesterday evening assured me that a porter was ALWAYS at the door to help put down the ramp for me, however I had found that was not always true – the Gresham it was very obvious a tour hotel and those porters can be very busy and not at the door. Yet if you look on the website for the Gresham Hotel, they advertise some very nice wheelchair accessible rooms! How someone in a wheelchair or with a mobility device is supposed to get in the hotel without assistance is beyond me. So I had a chat with the duty manager regarding this along with the fact that our travel agent could not get an answer from the hotel after 3 attempts via email and that the tour company had to call and just how messed up the room type that we were assigned was. There is a big difference between wheelchair accessible and not being able to get in the door and thinking instead I needed a “view” room. He took the feedback and then provided me with an email address with which to send further information. When I was finished this I managed to get the cards signed and was back up to our room for a short relax prior to dinner! Here are some pictures of the Gresham Hotel –

We met in the lobby, which the Gresham Hotel has a very beautiful lobby area, the rooms leave something to be desired though, and thanked Anne and Vinnie for their help with this tour and moved onto Murray’s Pub. It was a bit busy – people waiting at the door – however they had 25 seats reserved for us and the music was beginning at 8pm. I was looking forward to this – along with my earplugs! The menu that we were presented contained no gluten free items! We were pretty confused. LONG story short, the manager got involved along with Anne and while they said certain items could be made gluten free, due to the number of people travelling the next day (and we would be on a bus tour ourselves) the whole group it was felt that the kitchen was just not a safe place for making gluten free dinners while the pub was so busy. So we all left – much to the pubs displeasure. I have no idea what the outcome of this will be, however it is kind of sad that we did not get to celebrate the tour that we all had been on together on the last night. I do hold Royal Irish Tours fully responsible for this as they were the ones who set up all our gluten free dining requirements.

To make the night right and as I was hungry – we decided to get a pizza to go from Milano – where we were the previous night! As Kathy was interested in having pizza too, however felt she could not walk that far, her husband accompanied Andrew and I to the restaurant (we could only order in person due to the gluten free requirement) to order and then back to the Gresham Hotel. That took an hour to accomplish so then Andrew and I had a nice romantic picnic, that did NOT involve Guinness, on the bed in our hotel room, to close out the Ireland Celiac tour! Tomorrow after breakfast – Richard, Anne, Andrew and I are going on a day trip to New Grange to see some historic monuments on their last day in Ireland! However before that I have a 2am meeting that I need to get some sleep prior to – night!

Up and early again, we enjoyed a wonderful breakfast at the Hotel Minella! One of the best breakfasts on our trip in terms of gluten free offerings that were separate from the other buffet items so no mistakes would be made. After breakfast, while fairly foggy, we boarded the bus to first head towards the counties of Wexford and New Ross, where we boarded a replica of the sailing vessel Dunbrody, to see how it was to be a Famine emigrant. For the engineer: Along the way we passed by the Rose Kennedy Fitzgerald Bridge, which is the longest Extrados Bridge in the world, at 900 meters long, with 8 piers and 3 towers. For those who did not know like me, an extradosed bridge employs a structure that combines the main elements of both a prestressed box girder bridge and a cable-stayed bridge.

At the Dunbrody, there was a short exhibit in the museum, prior to visiting the boat, which was accessible up the gangway! The tour guide talked to us about the features of the boat (it was not a large boat) and how the emigrants were treated. I was expecting to stay on the deck of the boat, as that is what Vinnie said I had to do, instead of climbing down some steep stairs to the deck below when the tour guide took myself and Kathy to the elevator on the boat! Very cool! They had installed a small elevator where the captain would have steered the boat from. That made the experience really great for me! See the pictures below:

Next we traveled some more through the County of Kildare to the Irish National Stud and Japanese Gardens, who are home to many of Ireland’s most famous former, and most recent champion racehorses. It is off season right now so most of the “hunk” or “stud” horses and the mares are not on site, the horses that belong to the stud farm were there along with two prize winning stallions. We also looked at the Japanese Gardens which were very beautiful, however not very accessible if you did not stay on the main paths (not that I wander at all)! Here are some pictures of what we saw on this visit:

Then we continued onto to Dublin, checked into the Gresham Hotel with some issues and relaxed for a while, before going out for pizza for dinner in the Temple Bar area with Anne and Richard. The Milano pizza restaurant we went to had excellent gluten free protocols! Like other European menus, they noted which items had gluten however then they had a binder which explained which item could be made gluten free and how. Then how it was to be served to you so if you did not receive it (for example an appetizer on a black plate) then there was a problem. For the pizza’s the gluten free ones came uncut with individual PURPLE cutting wheels so we could cut our own! That made my night!

Tomorrow is a free day in Dublin to do what we want to do and see. Richard is lecturing at Trinity University and Anne has some things planned so Andrew and I will see what trouble we can get up to on our own!

Here is our trip back to Dublin, ending up after a tour of downtown at the Gresham Hotel.

Let’s go shopping! Okay, focus Lynda, again, we had a great breakfast at the International Hotel in Killarney and they were expecting Andrew and I this morning and had already set a table for us in the bar area. Some guests from another tour had helped themselves to the seating in the area as the door was open, but not our table, as a place to hang out, however once the manager saw that, they were asked to leave so we could eat in peace. It was much appreciated! Again, I received a nice warm GF scone and my standard breakfast of scrambled eggs, fruit and yogurt. It has been working well so why change! Then onto the bus we all got, along with our luggage and we were off to the Blarney and Cork area. We actually did not go to Blarney Castle – no one actually wanted to climb the numerous stairs and then hang upside down to kiss it. Apparently doing so gives you the gift of the gab and according to Vinnie – none of us needed it! No other comments needed about having the gift of the gab from the peanut gallery! We continued to the Blarney area with pubs, the Blarney Woolen Mills store (largest Irish shop in world) and a cafeteria. We were given a couple of hours to shop and have lunch along with to visit the village and Andrew and especially I, made the most of it!

The result of this stop? A package of 12 skeins of green Aran wool for 85 Euros which at 100g each is an excellent deal! Normally sold at about 14 Euros a skein, you do the math! I have NOT found a lot of wool to be purchased in Ireland, which I do find strange, however we are on a bus tour and it is NOT the topic of this bus tour so yarn shopping will be the focus of the two weeks after the tour – Lynda and Andrew’s Yarn and Guinness Tour! The Woolen store was lovely however there are SO MANY stores here with the same types of Aran sweaters. I told myself that if I could purchase yarn for less than a sweater costs, I would make the design that I want and that is what I have accomplished! They also do custom sweaters at this shop – might be something to think about when back in this area….as the number of custom colours available was unreal!

Next, on our way to the hotel for dinner and overnight – we had an excellent experience visiting the Marine Bar, which is a nice small bar along a country road, which opened just for us and the owner played us some tunes along with giving us the history of the bar – why it is called the Marine Bar (due to the Marines that were stationed in the area many eaons ago) and some Irish history!

Finally we got to our hotel in time for dinner! We were staying at the Hotel Minella in County Tipperary which would be a quick overnight stay – in for dinner, sleep, breakfast and on the bus early tomorrow morning! There was some confusion with regards to our dinners – they had sent a non-gluten free menu in advance for us to sign up for meals, then realized their mistake so sent another one and we signed up for our dinner at check in. So we were a little cautious about eating here after such good experiences already under our belts! However we were sure surprised! The pastry chef had made a whole display of gluten free desserts for us to choose from! What a lovely end to the day! She also was so proud and wanted her picture taken by all of us!

Here is the drive we took today from the western side of the Republic of Ireland to the eastern side –

Today we are getting on the bus, after a really good breakfast that involved warm GF scones, to begin our drive along the scenic Ring of Kerry Road, which takes us to the edge of Ireland passing through quaint towns and villages such as Cahirsiveen and Sneem, and Moll’s Gap, a mountain pass that offers breathtaking views of the MacGillycuddy’s Reeks mountains. We had some good craic’ (fun) on the trip with a fill in driver as Adrian required a day off after 6 days. It was interesting to learn that busses can only go clockwise around the Ring of Kerry due to their size, where on a different trip along a different part of Ireland, they can only go counter clockwise. Padrik, our driver did an excellent job keeping the bus out of trouble! After a short time, we stopped at a bog Famine Village, which has been restored, so we could see what it was like back during that time (1845-1892) when Ireland population fell 20-25%. Andrew had some Irish coffee which did him well! After that visit, we were back on the bus for some amazing views around the northern part of the Ring of Kerry, until we stopped at a lovely pub half way round, where we were able to get some GF lunch and walk around, prior to getting back on the bus to complete the trip.

In the evening, we had it free – so Anne, Richard, Andrew and I went for dinner in what looked to be a meat factory themed restaurant, lovely pictures on the wall, however the GF vegetarian Moroccan cauliflower dish spoke to 3 of us and we quite enjoyed it! Andrew of course, the meat and potatoes dude, had some type of meat dish. After dinner we went shopping so Anne could show me some ideas she had for the bus tour and small gifts – which we ended up getting! They are little puffy sheep on a keychain. For the people who did not want the sheep keychains she got some Guinness keychains instead. You can probably guess that Andrew and I have different keychains now 🙂

Now it is back to the hotel to get some rest! Tomorrow I hear there is wool shopping to be had!

Here was our drive around the Ring of Kerry –

I had an awesome breakfast of crepes today – another thing that I am often not afforded to eat, we were off on the bus to see the Cliffs of Moher, which I personally had been looking forward to. There were some people though on the bus who were not as happy about taking a boat, as they suffer from sea sickness. I sure hope we have a smooth sailing on the boat and it is a larger boat for them!

It was a beautiful day for a drive – I was so happy it was not raining as rain and an open boat also would not have been fun – enjoy the drive to the little town where we caught the boat to the Cliffs of Moher –

Now we have arrived at a small town, unsure of its name, to catch the Cliffs of Moher boat. It reminded me of Peggy’s Cove – the tour bus took up the whole road getting into town! So we all lined up and got onto the boat while was a bit of a struggle for me and my walker. The deckhands were good though and found a seat for me on the upper deck (there was a deck beneath where most people on our tour went except those who needed air for sea sickness concerns). There was a couple who refused to move for me to get by as they liked their seats (language barrier) however I was smart enough to know that I needed the other side of the boat for optimum views and I was right! Lets motor now!

Now back on dry land, we went to the local pub for a quick lunch prior to getting back on the bus to get to Killarney – which was another bus drive, ferry and then drive into the town!

Nice dinner at the International Hotel – beet salad, chicken and meringue dessert!

Tonight it is early to bed and to rest my back as tomorrow is the Ring of Kerry which will be about 4 hours driving around the peninsula!

Here was our drive south today via Doolin where we took the Cliffs of Moher ferry.

Onto the bus nice and early this morning after a wonderful breakfast and we are off to Galway, which I am really interested in checking out as we will be spending 5 nights here after the tour. Again, the drive along the small roads of Ireland (not the motorways) was very beautiful, however as it is getting quite repetitive on how many sheep and cows we see, I have stopped taking so many pictures of them!

As we drove into Galway, it was very interesting that we drove past the B&B that I had booked to stay at. I took one look and realized that there is no way that we could stay there – it was obvious that the bedrooms were on the 2nd floor (North American 2nd floor). So I emailed them and again they said it was “only a couple of steps” to our bedroom. So I decided to try a different tactic and ask how many steps I would have to go up and down? The answer was 12. That in my book is more than a “couple”. Something to cancel and re-book on the horizon for me! Let’s focus now on Galway! We were met by a lovely lady who I am not sure if she likes Vinne, our tour leader or not, as she made some fairly comical comments about him. Nevertheless, she took us on a great walking tour of Galway, and while it was windy, the rain stayed away! Then we were on our own for an hour, so Anne and I went into the sweater shops (with the men in tow – not to their pleasure) to observe and then ended up in a music shop as they had Irish harps – which Anne has too. We both got a Music Sudoku book which is fun to do on the bus and then we got a spot of tea and used the toilets and we went to go meet the bus, when it started raining! We had to wait for the bus (and got wet) as Adrian had an issue getting back into the main part of town. Then we were on our way to Cong and the Lodge at Ashford Castle, where we would be spending the night.

Now that we are soaked and back on the bus – we proceeded to our hotel for the night – again in a country setting! We are only there one night though and off to Killarney the next day.

The Lodge at Ashford was a pretty pretentious place. As Vinnie explained, all room/tax and baggage portage fees are already paid to the hotel however the Duty Manager still got on the bus and announced that there is a 10 Euro guest fee per person, which we can decline at the front desk. We had dinner there and the dinner was a bit of a gong show from the kitchen’s perspective – they presented us with a menu that had only a few gluten free items and then when Kathy and I asked if the soup was gluten free without the bread and a couple more questions, they realized just how many Celiacs there were on this tour and they changed their menu to be more gluten free suitable. The funny thing is they took drink orders and provided the drinks but no one wrote them down, so the next morning, when we went to go pay at the front desk, they had no record of our charges! This was a 4 star property however the way they acted was not 4 star at all. Here are some pictures of our food – as it was good once verified it was gluten free!

After a fairly amusing conversation about the next day’s tour which includes a boat ride to view the Cliffs of Moher (and people who get sea sick), we went back to our room for an early start tomorrow!

Here is the drive we were on today – which surprised me when I looked at it as we actually went south to go north!

Good morning! Well, today I am having some issues walking so I decided to take a pass on the day tour today and instead go for a massage and swim/hot tub lounging in the hotel spa! Andrew went on the trip to Mass Rock, the Holy Well at Tobernault and Mullaghmore to see Donegal Bay. On the way back, they visited Parke’s Castle, in County Leitrim, which is a restored plantation castle of the early 17th century that was once home to Robert Plante and his family. So we will be looking at his photo’s today as I only took the first one… the rest in this series are the ones Andrew took walking around the castle when he got back from the tour.

In the meantime I had a lovely massage and then went and sat in the underground pool where I took a dip and also sat in the hot tub. Then I relaxed on a lovely lawn chair and was knitting away until the spa lady who had brought me down in the elevator, came to retrieve me as there was going to be a wedding in the castle, and I needed to get back to my room (which I knew about) – I had lost track of time in the blue relaxing atmosphere of the pool area! So quickly I got dressed and up the temporary ramp they had put down for me and through the hotel and back to our room! Unfortunately the internet was so slow I could not be productive that afternoon so I just listened to a book and napped until Andrew came back.

Now, lets see what trouble he got into today! I later found out that it was a GOOD day that I chose to remain at the hotel as it was quite physical (with no warning) and my walker would not have worked. I would have been quite frustrated if I had left my crutches at the castle and gone on the trip with my walker!

Now back at Kilronan Castle, Andrew decided to take some more pictures of the area before our dinner hour.

After our devine dinner, we were back in our room, and I as usual had fallen asleep, when the wedding in house set off fireworks! Here is the display –

Now after that noise – getting back to sleep was an issue! Oh well, the nice comfy bed eventually did me in and we were looking forward to tomorrow where we get to visit Galway – one of the places we will be going back to on our trip in Ireland.

Here is the drive that Andrew took in the bus today: