FlaAnn

Our cottage: adorable. We did grow used to people taking photos at the wall in front and a few ¡§cheeky¡¨ tourists actually opening the little iron gate and coming into the yard. But our elderly neighbors were quite hospitable to all the tourists, whom you might think would have been much more tiresome for them. We walked across the street to the Dunraven Arms for a drink one night, and when we hesitated upon noticing the red carpet laid from door to street and a waitress holding a silver tray of champagne glasses at the entry, the manager ripped down the ¡§Private Party¡¨ sign and told us to go straight in, no problem. He ushered us to the bar, where we found a wedding reception in full swing, and ¡§crashed¡¨ it for a pint, trying to be inconspicuous amongst the black-tie and formals. But we quickly made friends with the gentleman on our right, who told us to without fail come back in about an hour, after they finished dinner, when there would be ¡§singing and dancing!¡¨ And we chatted with the gentleman on our left, who confided that he¡¦d been sentenced to prison for life during the troubles, but pardoned after 7years. Nevertheless, he was still bitter about Gerry Adams. Interesting evening. We made day trips from the cottage whenever we could tear ourselves away: Connemara, absolutely stunning. Long drive, yes, but so worth it. Visited Kylemore Abbey on a drizzly day but enjoyed the sheep in the middle of the road getting there almost as much as the tour of the abbey and nearby church. Took the ferry from Doolin to Innis Oirr, having decided we¡¦d rather take the short boat trip to the smallest island, and so glad we did. Met more great folks there who welcomed us and entertained us, and would probably want to stay on the island on another trip, just for the peace and quiet and absolutely nothing to do but walk around. Climbed all over the Burren and marveled at the way the ferns and flowers grow out of the rock, which is a pretty awesome sight from a distance just for the sheer size of it. Filmed the Cliffs of Moher from the top and decided we were glad we didn¡¦t take an additional boat trip to see the cliffs from below¡K Went back east to Kilkenny and toured the castle, buying beautiful souvenirs at the Design Center across the street.

Long trip report to tell you, while I wouldn¡¦t recommend our itinerary for many others, it worked for us because it gave us the chance to decide where we want to go to spend some real quality time on our next trip. It¡¦d been 20 years since we were last in Ireland, was my sister¡¦s and BIL¡¦s first trip, and we know we¡¦ll all go back soon. There have been a lot of changes in 20 years, most of them really good, but a few not so much; Connemara seemed the closest to what we remembered. But the real highlight of the trip, as so many others have said, was getting to meet so many wonderful people. Our landlord told us about a local pub that was to have a music evening one night, and we knew it was soccer finals, so we went a bit early and mentioned that we were there for the music, so the waitress pulled two tables together for us in front of where they¡¦d be playing. The place filled up quickly with folks there to watch the game, and we had a delicious dinner, joined in the excitement of Manchester United winning (only a couple of Chelsea fans there), and then listened to the impromptu gathering of 2 fiddlers, 2 guitarists and an accordionist playing more ¡§rashers and sausages¡¨ and ¡§black and decker¡¨ music, which we could now identify as either a jig or a reel. ƒº As we left for Dublin, we made our last side trip stop at Cashel, where you could easily spend an entire day on the rock, esp. when there are so few people and the weather is sunny. But very windy and a little chilly. So we went down into town to the Palace hotel and had yummy hot seafood chowder before going to our hotel in Enfield, west of the airport. Luckily, we had cleared Limerick (where all roads in the west lead) early in the morning, as that was the day of the rugby finals in Cardiff, and Munster (capital city of Limerick) was playing Toulouse, France! So we once again got to join in the excitement of rooting for the home team, and counted ourselves lucky to get a seat anywhere in a pub. When Munster scored, the place went wild and when they won, the TV showed downtown Limerick, with streets closed off to allow the tens of thousands of spectators to watch on giant screens, all wearing the team colors with flags waving. Great fun, once again, and hard to come home.

LCBoniti

Hello FlaAnn -

I very much enjoyed your trip report (all three parts ). It sounds like you had a wonderful time.

My sisters and I will be spending our limited Ireland time in Dingle. Happy to hear that we made a wise choice.

FlaAnn

Oh, you did, indeed, make a good choice! I believe the guitarist at the concert we attended is a regular performer at John Benny's pub. Here's a link:
www.johnbennyspub.com (actually John Benny Moriarty). I'd recommend it highly.

janisj

FlaAnn: I am enjoying your report - but I must say you are making us work very hard.

It would be better if you posted the entire report on one thread. Breaking it up guarantees the parts will be permanently separated. Just post each installment to the original thread.

and more paragraphs would help a LOT. It is very hard to read long entries w/o any/many breaks.

FlaAnn

So sorry, JanisJ, for some reason my computer was just not cooperating with me yesterday. I did try posting it all together and lost everything from the end of page 1 onward, so decided I would have to split and compress. Next time I'll try not to be so wordy.

I know a lot of people don't like crammed car trips, but I was hoping to show that you can travel to a new "must-see" every day and still do more than just ride from place to place. Not my ideal vacation, but sometimes it works out okay. Thanks for your comments.

irishface

FlaAnn, don't keep apologizing for being long! Every detail was important to the tale! Your enthusiasm is wonderful to read. I always love reading reports from those who love Ireland as much as I do.

Jed

Hi FlaAnn- <I did try posting it all together and lost everything from the end of page 1 onward,>

If it too long, it won't post (although yours don't look too long). So it is best to break it up and post the separate parts as REPLIES to the original post. That way the parts won't get separated and hard to find.

ter2000

I liked your comment about Munster being the capital city of Limerick - after all the hype about the rugby it's not surprising that you think so. Munster is the province, Limerick is a city in Munster but Cork is the capital.

Glad you had such a nice time - weird IRA-type guy in the pub notwithstanding!

janisj

Yes - there is a limit to how long a single post can be. But you can keep posting over and over again to the original thread and each of those can be just as long as the first post. Take a look at some of the other trip reports on here. Many trip reports are even longer than yours and that is how its done.

If it is broken into manageable bits, it will be easier on you - and on the rest of us