A tale

I was out today with my camera in search of red maples.  A  remark about their absence in some of my other photos set me on my mission.

While wandering my neighbourhood I stopped at a house to take a photo and noticed two older woman talking at the side door.  I politely asked the homeowner if she minded me taking a picture of her tree.  No problem she said.

Once done the other woman turned to me and asked if I was  Dr. H's daughter.  Yes I replied.  Turns out she had worked with my father years ago and it was her husband who owned and operated the garage at the top street near  my childhood home.   Dad used that gas station for years and enjoyed spending time talking with Joe.

Joe E's family had come from Ireland and my dad always talked about his  English father telling tales of how our branch of the family arrived in Somerset England to work and then forgot to return home. When Joe told him he and Helen, the woman I met today, were going to Ireland dad asked if they would bring him back a shillelagh.    Helen remembers shopping for it and how thrilled both sides were when it was presented.

When dad died for some reason one of my sisters returned it to Joe.   In a conversation just recently with another sister the odd returning of it was mentioned and bemoaned. 

When I told this to Helen she said she still had it and had often wondered why it had been returned. After all it had been a gift.   She invited me to her home just 2 doors away and pulled it from a hall stand holding umbrellas.

We sat and talked about Joe, who died 16 years ago and my dad who died 25 years ago.  We talked about her early years as an Xray technician and all the changes over the years,  about how as a child I had gone to the hospital with my dad when he was on call  on weekends and I was allowed to clip the corners from the newly developed films ( a job the techs were only to glad to have done for them ) and we talked about families and growing older and how something special  can happen on a very ordinary day.

Luck of the Irish?   I like to think so.

The holiday comes to an end

May 26 - Saturday    

A perfect weather day for a drive through Glens of Antrim.  Truly spectacular vistas.  Paul was thankful he was just a passenger and didn't have to worry about driving.  Well done bus holidays like this one make travelling and enjoying easy.

lush green hills ( through bus window )

constant views

at low levels, water on one side  (low tide )

and rocks on the other

We had a short stop at Carnlough and while Paul read and photographed plaques, I stocked up on chocolate.

Carnlough harbour.  Not as much commercial fishing as there once was but fish stocks are starting to increase (Atlantic Coast)

 We skirted the outer edge of Belfast ( heavy traffic flowing out of town to the beaches we had just passed ) making our way to Downpatrick . Parking at the Saint Patrick Centre we had time to wander the market set up in the square, have lunch...Paul and I went to a small fish and chip shop and shared a plate complete with mushy peas...do a quick tour of the gift shop and then join our tour of centre.  Very high tech self guided units were handed out and  in most cases they failed, so we were glad to have a human guide with us.   Bit more time to shop before we left and a short drive to  Down Cathedral, burial place of St Patrick.  

burial stone

one of the magnificent windows

 The cathedral is beautiful inside and we had a marvellous guide pointed out highlights of it's history.

organ

 Just as we were leaving the choir arrived to practice for the service marking Queen Elizabeth's Jubilee.  
I still have difficulty remembering that many of the cathedrals in Ireland are Church of Ireland not Roman Catholic due the many years of English rule.  Monasteries were taken over in the Tudor times the same as they were during the dissolution in England. 

a view from Down cemetery

 Our hotel for the next two nights, The Canal Court in Newry, south of Belfast was another of the restored and maintained older places.   Obviously the centre for special events we witnessed a wedding party having photos done on our arrival.
After getting settled into our room we took a quick walk to the nearby shopping mall but didn't have time to see much thanks to Saturday closing hours.
Paul did find something of interest on our walk back.  This apparently is the colour and model Jaguar that he finds most attractive.

May 27 - Sunday

Just one of the many impressive down town building

 We drove back into Belfast, capital of Northern Ireland, for our city tour picking up our guide at the local bus station.

Samson and Goliath H & W. gantry cranes

 Leaving downtown it's not far the waterfront and the docks of Belfast.  Harland and Wolff were the Titanic was built is now an empty space but the giant yellow cranes will remain as part of the history of Belfast ship building.  museum link.  Money is being invested in the waterfront as a tourist locale. There is a huge new Titanic Centre open  and was certainly busy the day we went passed.  take a look at the link and see if you like or dislike the building that they say was inspired by the hull of the ship.

From the harbour we continued to area where the Peace Wall  remains in Belfast.  It divides Catholic from Protestant neighbourhoods in an area of what appeared to be mostly public housing.  We were told that sections have opened over the last few years and that neighbourhoods can petition to have dividing sections removed.  You do see the difference as you cross from one side to the other.   Signs on the Catholic side can be in English and Irish and posters painted on the wall somber.  On the other side the Protestants had out more Union Jacks than I've ever seen in one place, probably for the jubilee and they were big into what looked like "hero" posters.     Belfast does seem to be moving passed the years of The Troubles, as does the whole Island.   ( my view as a tourist )

We entered a lovely area of tree lined streets and neighbourhoods you'd find here at home.  Nice houses, nice gardens and not wall or signs of destruction.   In this area is Stormont.

Top of gate post at Stormont.  I love stonework like this.

 Normally you can drive up to, Northern Ireland Assembly building, but we arrived just as they were closing the gates to traffic.  A charity run and event was set for the day.  We did get off the bus and have a wander in and only managed a distant view.  A long impressive walk would get you to the front door.

beautiful park setting for an impressive building

more stone work

 Heading back downtown on an almost deserted road....Sunday noon and nothing opening til 1pm.

Queen's University Belfast

our bus parked on the road in front of Queen's

 The area round Queen's University is quite lovely with facility buildings, research halls and student area older houses.  Not too far away are the teaching hospitals that are associated with it.


We returned to the bus station and were given free time to visit the city centre on our own.  Seeing as it was lunch time Paul and I found a nearby pub.    It has now become normal to order at the bar and then wait for the food to be carried to the table.  Drinks you carry yourself.   There isn't a pub/bar I've visited here that has the charm of the real thing.

Brennan's Bar

fish stew ... it was delicious

Fun or for charity?  We never did find out but there was quite a crowd participating and viewing.

Throughout Ireland we saw Spar variety store and Spar gas stations and in more than one...Tim Hortons.

Old and the new as we looked down a narrow street.

City Hall.  A perfect sunny day to sit on the lawn, work on a tan

and to watch the Monaco Grand Prix.  Paul was quite happy to watch the start while we ate lunch in the pub and was rather please to see a bit more on the giant screen that appeared to have been put up for the Jubilee celebrations and the coming Olympics.

Intricate enough to warrant a few shots.

We were slowly making our way back the bus when Lucia, our tour manager started waving from a street corner.   Others on the tour didn't seem to want to spent quite as much time as we did wandering the city streets so our free time was cut short and we returned to Newry.
It was early enough to visit the mall before dinner so we went looking.  In the end the only thing we bought was another new summer shirt for Paul at Dunnes. 

Our farewell dinner was held in a private dining room at the hotel.  Open bar no less but knowing we had an early morning for our flight home tomorrow few bother to over indulge.     Both weeks we were travelling Lucia had taken a collection and purchased Euro lottery tickets.  At dinner we learned we weren't rich enough to charter a flight home and retire in grand style.   I think we won  4 or 5 euros that we left with Pat to try again.



July 28 - Monday.

Up at 5:45 am for breakfast at 6:30 and bus departure at 7:30.  We had an easy drive to Dublin airport and a shorter trip through customs etc than at Heathrow.   I finally found a pair of earrings that appealed and Paul bought a bottle of Bushmills.   Being sealed and accounted for as duty free made it much easier than buying at the plant and trying to wrap and protect it in our luggage.

Again Heathrow was a horror and with transit time from one terminal to another and several level changes and miles of corridors we had little time to visit any of the duty free shops.

A very crowded plane home and even though Paul wanted to upgrade there were no spots available.   He spent the time watching a movie and snoozing, I read.    By the time we cleared customs in Toronto, collected our bags and got our transportation home we were exhausted.  It was well after 2am Ireland time when we fell into bed.

Thoughts.

Ireland was wonderful.  We had gone expecting more wet cool weather, and being prepared for it, than we had.  How many people come home with an Irish tan?

I was so taken with the scenery that I didn't even bother pulling out the camera some times knowing that all it would take was a look at a good professional shot to be reminded and I didn't want a camera between me and the view.

I was surprised at how constantly busy Dublin was.  People crowded the streets every time we were out and traffic constant.

I was surprised at how many middle European accents we heard in restaurants, shops and at the hotels in Dublin.    EU membership makes working in other countries easy.

Our hotels were all excellent.  Our meals good and the pubs great fun. I still miss the hotel cold and hot breakfasts.

In some ways it would have been nice to have had more free time to explore on our own but we would have never been able to cover as much of the country or seen as many of the top sights and highlights if we had tried to organize the holiday and driven ourselves and we would have missed the history and background info that Pat passed on every day.

We travelled approx. 2000 miles according to Pat travelling around the  whole island -  Dublin to Dublin with amazing stops along the way.

The only place I had trouble with an accent was in Letterkenny.  The clerk in the shop had to repeat himself 3 times before I understood.  Perhaps it was because he had spent many of his early years in Newfoundland before returning home. *laugh*

We brought home more money than expected.  Breakfast, dinner and some lunches were included and the ones we purchased on our own either in pubs or at the restaurants of tourist locations were cheaper than we had imagined and in all case,  fresh and first rate.

Perhaps we brought home money because I spent so little time in gift shops.  I wanted the experiences not the souvenirs.

Glad we went, sad it didn't last even longer.  I was getting quite good living out of a suitcase.   The 3 times we had second nights in one location was a bonus.

The holiday continues .. 3

May 23 - Wednesday

Today it was a visit to the grave of  W.B. Yeats  in Drumcliffe, County Sligo.   The walk around the church and through the cemetery was interesting but I must admit the older stone work and history was of more interest to me.

cemetery view 

Kind of history that appeals to me

Typical of the bilingual signs throughout Republic of Ireland

view on walk to the church..perfect weather

church spire

Leaving Drumcliff  we crossed into Northern Ireland to visit  Belleek pottery.   Using British pounds today instead of the Euros we've been spending up until now.      The factory was not very busy but we did see people handcrafting the signature pieces.  How they have the patience to work with  such precision is beyond anything I'd be capable of, and they are paid by piece work.    Again lunch was available in the tourist centre and again it was excellent and very well priced.  We haven't spent anywhere near as much as we had anticipated on our lunches.    Breakfast and dinners are all included on our tour and we have been very well fed.

We had time to walk the small town of Belleek before heading back to the bus and on our walk near the river Paul spotted....

Not the most comfortable but it certainly looked real.

We went into the shop at the last minute so Paul could decide if he wanted to buy the steak knives he had looked at earlier.  An odd choice but they do say Belleeck on them, even if they were made elsewhere,but he has looked and looked and not found what he wanted anywhere here at home.

We drove back into the Republic of Ireland to our hotel, the Radisson in Letterkenny .    It was early so we could settle in and then head for the shopping centre across the street.   With the weather warming up so nicely Paul found a need for some lighter shirts.   We found a great sale at Dunnes, the department/grocery store we first encountered in Dublin.





May 24 - Thursday

 Back into Northern Ireland today.  Pat our driver scared me with his comment about needing our passports as ours were locked in an uncooperative room safe.( dead battery )  I should have realized sooner that we just sailed in to Belleek yesterday without any indication of a border.    The only indication you have of the change is the road signage.   All English and now mph rather than km.

We picked up our city tour guide in Derry and did a portion of our tour on the bus and finished with a walk through the Bogside,  site of Bloody Sunday and now home to commemorative wall posters,   and then took a walk on the original old walls as we listened to the history of the city.   It is perched on a hill top and we took 2 escalators down in a shopping mall to pick up our bus again.   The escalators are a popular way to avoid the long walk up or down.   Walls and wire and armed police vehicles are still present which I found sad, but we were assured that most of the violence was over and done and the city was renewing itself with building along the riverfront and encouraging tourism.

Gateway in the walls of Derry.  Note the wall and wire on the otherside.

Looking from the walls back down into Bogside.  At least one mural can be seen.

Little fang noting the width of the old walls.

Quiet cemetery garden just off the main walkway on the wall.

Typical narrow street within the walled city.

Our guide filling us in. You can see the drop of the land just beyond the archway.

Interesting construction on one of the arches.

A lovely countryside drive to the Ulster Americal Folk Park with it's small indoor and large outdoor displays.    We started with lunch in the visitor centre, bypassed the gift shop and took a look indoors first then headed out for the self guided walk through the village.

Little fang checking out the indoor displays.  It was fun listening to a teacher explain typewriters to a school group in the small Titanic display.

One of the thatched building moved to the site.  People in period costumes were in all the buildings to answer questions and give the history.

Lots of livestock wandering around.

The chickens are for you Jayne.  Couldn't get the funny tufted headed black one to stand still but this one looked exotic.

View of some of the museum property.  Hot sunny day.

More perfect scenery on a perfect weather day.

Cows in the field. 

Peat piled up waiting to be thrown on the fire.  It smokes and the smell takes getting used to.

Thatched out building.  

LET THE DANCE BEGIN. The Millennium project celebrating Irish dance and music in the middle of the Strabane roundabout.   Many of the circle we rounded had art displays.

Back to the Radisson  in Letterkenny.  Paul decided to stretch out and rest I decided to revisit the shopping mall, this time for myself.   Nothing at Dunnes caught my eye but I did well buying 2 cotton summer tops at Marks and Spencers for 8 euro.   It has been wonderful shopping in Ireland. The price is the price.  They tag with the final price, here we see the price and then get the tax shock of another 13 percent at the cash register.


May 25 - Friday

Dunluce Castle 

from the bus on our way to Bushmills. 

The day Paul has been waiting for.  Our tour of Bushmills whick took us back into Northern Ireland where we will stay til our return home so pounds have taken place of euros in our wallets.   Don't think we got at all tipsy breathing in the fumes at the factory tour but we did get a chance when we had our free sample after the tour.  I let Paul decide what I should ask for at the tasting and after a quick sip handed the glass over to him.  

The place.  Paul's favourite Irish Whiskey is made here.

The budget did not allow his the opportunity to buy one of each.

 Next highlight...The Giant's Causeway.  Bright sunny day, what Pat called a Pet day.  Not many in Ireland he says so people totally embrace the sun.

There is a mini bus you can ride but we walked down.

Worth the walk. I kept stopping to take pictures.  I have seen this road with tourist in full rain gear.  How lucky were we!

Rocks rocks rocks

looking back up the roadway

Seeing it for myself was really something.   some geological facts

Our home for the night,   The Adair Arms  in Ballymena.  It has just gone through an updating.  Thankfully all the wonderful period features, wood and plaster, have been retained.   They did a rearranging of some of the public spaces that put a pub room right under our beautifully redone bedroom.   When the rather bad Elvis impersonator started singing  we knew we had to be moved.  The young man at the desk was most apologetic telling us there were no refurbished rooms available but he had 2 older rooms that might do.  Paul went with him and picked the quietest.   It was shabby by comparison but with an opening window on a quiet street and a skylight in the small bathroom it suited us just fine.  Come morning the girl at the desk told us that obvious changes would have to be made to correct the problem.  No one had considered the impact during the reno.

quick aside...cold all gone but a few others on the bus have started to cough and sniffle