Waterford Crystal At Last!!!

Finally, after 15 years, I made it to the Waterford Crystal factory and showroom.  When we were here in 1998 we arrived on Sunday and at that time they were not open on the weekends.  Well, we made a special trip to go there and take the tour and drool over the pieces.  If I was a multi-millionaire (notice I said multi) I would go and have nothing but Waterford in my house!    We went though the factory with a glass cutter of 40 years as our guide and we were able to see the process from beginning to end.  At the end of the tour we were in the engraving room and watched the engraver working on a piece and also looked over the pieces that were already done.  When the tour was done we were left off in the retail store (of course) to browse and shop.  Unfortunately the prices were WAY out of my price range.

If you look at the seahorse symbol you will see that the tail is curled the wrong way.  It was changed so that the tail would form a shamrock shape.

A beautifully created Celtic harp.

The engraver doing what he does best.








After we left Waterford we drove back to Cork so that we could see that city and do some "tourist" shopping.  When we were on our cruise last May of 2012 we stopped in the port city of Cobh (Cove) to see where the Titanic set sail from and walked around the town, but never got up to Cork which is only about 15 miles away.  So we decided to take in Cork.  And as we were there we finally gave in to an American lunch because we were really tired of fish and chips or tuna pannins.  But we did eat 100% Irish beef!

We are now back in Dublin for the last few days before flying home.  Tomorrow we are going to drive back up to No. Ireland and try and see if we can get in contact with some people that we hope are relatives of Karl.  We tried before but they weren't home.  We aren't sure if they are distant cousins of his or if the family has left the farm and sold to a different family altogether.  We will see tomorrow.

Reflections of the Past

On this part of our trip we traveled from Westport to Clifden on the southwest side of Ireland.  Now if we went straight there it would take about 1 hour and some odd minutes.  But did we go that way?  Pshaw - of course not!  We took the longest way possible and went the coastal route.  Along the way we came upon a fantastic place - an abandoned church with the gates open (woohoo!!)

Usually Karl and I like to visit old cemeteries and see how old the gravestones are, but this was a jewel find.  When we've seen buildings like this during our travels they are in fields or on private property so we can't get to them.  Some I would have loved to explore.  But we were in luck with this one.  We drove up the driveway and walked around and in this for about 30 minutes.  All the wood has deteriorated and grass and ivy have invaded the insides, but you could still see (in your imagination) how beautiful it would have been.  Out in the back was a gravestone and huge monument for the Lord High Bishop of Killala Co. who died in 1866.  Then we arrive at our B&B (about 5 hours later) and the owner tells us about another abandoned building just a 20 minute walk from the house.  Of course we couldn't pass that up.  So off we go walking down a dirt path among cow pastures and  horse pastures and come upon this:

 It is Clifden Castle of 1856.  Again it was abandoned and we spent about another 30 minutes walking around it.  It the floors were intact, it would have been a three floor residence.  We think it was more of a residence than a defensive castle because there were no windows for defense.  Most of the walls had lost the outer slate covering, but you could still see some of the slate higher up that showed a design on the walls.  Huge fireplaces were in the walls and you could see where the poles would have been to hold the floor in place.

The next day we went to the Aran Islands which I had missed going to the last time I was here.  The islands are off the southwest coast and consist of 3 islands, the largest being Inis Mor.  There are only 800 residents on this island, but during the summer holiday months the island increases to over 2000 per day!  The other two islands, Inis Meain and Inis Orr only have about 200 residents per island and they don't get the tourists like Inis Mor does.  We hired a pony cart to take us around the island (which is only 9 miles long and 2 miles wide) and we had a tour with Jack and his owner (we forgot to ask his name - doh!)  If you aren't sure what a pony cart is, watch the movie The Quiet Man with John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara - she drives a pony cart.  Anyway, Jack and his owner took us up to Dun Aonghasa fort which is a semi-circular Celtic stone fort built by Celtic tribesmen  about 2000 B.C.  The fort was built on the highest point on the island so that you could see all around you.  One side of it is sitting on sheer cliffs.

Here is a picture of Karl taking a picture of the cliffs.  Notice how close he is to the edge (without any railings or barriers!)

And this is what he was shooting!!!!

Tomorrow we are off to Waterford where I will hopefully get to the Crystal factory (which I also missed last time I was here because we arrived on Sunday.)

Rain, rain, rain. Oh, did I mention rain?

I love Ireland, but would I pack up and move here?  Nope, not on your life.  People keep saying that this year the weather has been worse than usual, but they also say that it always rains and is usually cloudy most of the time.  I can't stand being in Sacramento during the two winter months we are there because of the gloom so I can't even imagine living in a place where it is cloudy 80% of the time.  But, of course, that is why Ireland is called the Emerald Isle.  The green here is like an emerald color everywhere you look.  There is never a brown spot to be seen unless it is a field that has just been plowed.  Everything is lush and full.  Now on to our journey.

Like I said in the title - the last two days it rained almost the whole time.  Not a downpour all the time, but drizzle one minute, rain the next, then a downpour next.  Needless to say it dampened our ability to do a lot of walking without the umbrella.  But being the intrepid travelers we are, we solidered on.  After leaving the Giant's Causeway (wasn't that a cool place to see?) we continued on to Londonderry for the night.  But before we arrived at Derry we just had to stop at Malin Head.  That is the northernmost point of Ireland.  So we went as far as we can in Ireland on this trip.

Now Londonderry is very unusual place because it is divided by a river and on one side it is called Derry and the other side is called Londonderry .  Unfortunately we didn't explore the city at all because it was rained too hard by the time we got there. But we stayed in a beautiful old B&B for the night.  It was built in 1897 and is divided in half where one side is a B&B with 3 bedrooms and the other side is the private residence.  The hosts, Michael and Ann, were great!  They welcomed you like you were family.  That's the way to run a B&B!

The next morning it was still raining (surprise!) and we motored down to Donegal town.  What we are trying to do whenever we can is take a coastal route to see the west coast of Ireland and today was no exception.  After checking into our hotel we grabbed the umbrella and off we went.  We explored the town as much as we could with the rain then returned to the hotel to grab a pint and some dinner.  This hotel was a very modernistic one.  It's called The Glasshouse and the front is covered in glass.  It really looks out of place in this old Irish town, but it was comfortable - except that our room was lime green!


Anyway, the next morning it was drizzling, but we decided to visit the Donegal Castle which was just up the road from the hotel.  Our trip to the next town was a very short time so we had to try and  waste time.  But the castle was a very cool place to see.  It was lived in until the late 1600's when the owner was given a different piece of land farther down south which he decided to move his family too.  Him and part of the roof too!  It seems during those times there was what was called a roof tax and when you had a roof put on your house you were taxed for the amount of roof you used (go figure).  Anyway the owner took part of the castle's roof to put on his new house and that left the castle pretty much open to the elements for over 300 years.  When the trust took it over in the 1980's they replaced the roof and started restoring the castle.  Part of it is still without a roof.  I also had to include this picture of a 17th century toilet.

We stopped in Sligo that night and found out that this town really loves W.B. Yeats.  They even have a statue in the center of town for him.  He was born in Dublin, but spent his childhood holidays there all the time.

THE CELTIC TWILIGHT

by

W. B. YEATS





    Time drops in decay
    Like a candle burnt out.
    And the mountains and woods
    Have their day, have their day;
    But, kindly old rout
    Of the fire-born moods,
    You pass not away.

The next day was partly sunny with very little rain (yay!!!!!)  Off we went to our next stop which was Westpot.  One the was there we stopped at a place called Ceide (Kayja) Fields.  It is a neolithic site that has been excavated to discover the walls and dwellings of people who lived in Ireland over 6,000 years ago.  The picture below shows the ring of what was once a residence.  They have discovered that there are stone walls in this field alone that cover 135 acres!  But they have also  discovered more walls and tombs as far away as 45 miles to the south and 20 miles to the north.  It is a huge field. 

Westport was once a sea port, but has since turned into a tourist town.  The shops are quaint and the pubs are plentiful with music filling the streets.  Tomorrow we are off to Clifden.

......We Are On Our Own Now

HEY!  Bet you thought I forgot all about my readers, didn't you?  No, not true.  We have been busy for the last few days and would come back to our B&B totally whipped.  But we did make great finds.

Our main reason for going up to Northern Ireland was to do research on our family trees.  We didn't find a whole lot to actually hold in our hands, but we hope to have some things mailed to us back home.  So let's start from the beginning.  Karl had a lot more info about his great grandfather, but he did have some holes to fill and I didn't have a lot of info on mine, but hoped to find anything I could.  We did discover that to find most information you really needed to know what church they belonged to, what townland-parish-and county they lived in and what dates you were looking for.  So we started on Karl's first.  When his aunt died he found an obit of his great-grandfather and another Hutchinson (Robert) that he was told by two other aunts that was no relation to his family.  Well, we found a genealogist who looked into the info that Karl had and found out that Robert was probably a brother to his great-grandfather that the family wouldn't acknowledge (soap opera time).  And he also found out that the story he was told about his great-grandfather rowing a boat over from Scotland to Ireland didn't happen because a Carlisle Hutchinson was shown as leasing property in Armagh Co. as far back as 1850 and a Samuel Hutchinson on the same land as early as 1830.  So he now needs to see which Carlisle was still in Ireland at this time - great-grandfather or great-great-grandfather.  Plus to find out who Robert really was.  THEN the genealogist's found the land that was leased and showed us where is was in comparison to today's map.  We did find the land, but there wasn't anyway we could get closer because it was about 1.5 acres back in a field full of barley.  I told him that there wasn't a crop growing and the land was just dirt I would have gone exploring, but I didn't think the farmer would have appreciated my walking through his crop.

I wasn't so lucky.  I didn't have enough info for anyone to even start looking so I have ordered copies of my great-grandfather's marriage license and then I can see who his father was, what church he was married in and all the other stuff they need.  Then I have the contact of a lady in Ballymena who will check for me when I get the info to her.  So after two and a half days of research we decided to take a bus tour of Belfast.  It was very enlightening to see how the city is still divided.  There is actually a wall circling part of the city to separate the two major problem neighborhoods.  One is called Shankill and they are totally Unionlist which means they want Ireland to be united as one country, but the other area is called Falls and they are completely Nationalists and they want to keep Northern Ireland as part of the UK.  In Falls they have murals that depict a lot of our protesters and radical leaders who fought for one cause or another.  They hang the Union Jack proudly on homes, light posts, and drape across the street.  It's really crazy to see.

After we did the tour it was close to traffic jam time so we decided to stay in town for dinner and wait for the traffic to clear out.  We were directed to the oldest pub in Belfast,  White's Tavern was opened in 1630!  And has been operating continually the whole time.

 

Today we took off from Belfast and drove the Causeway Coastal Road.  It follows the coastline from Belfast, east, to the north and takes you to the Giants Causeway (more on that in a moment).  Any way, our first stop was at Carrickfergus Castle in the town of Carrickfergus.

 

The castle used to be the home of the Earls of Ulster, which is what Northern Ireland is called.  The first part of the castle was built in the early 1100's and was used until World War II.  It is almost completely intact except for a tower that has deteriorated.

Our next stop was Torr Head.  If you look closely at the picture you might see a building on the very tip of the outcropping.  That is where you are the closest to Scotland, only 12 miles away.  And I climbed that thing too!

Then we got to a place called Carrick-a-rede rope bridge.  It is a 30 meter deep and 20 meter long chasm that connects a small island to the shore.  It was erected by salmon fishermen years ago.  Did I go over it?  Not on your bloody life!!!!!!!

 Our last stop was at the Giant's Causeway.  It's a unique rock formation on the seashore that looks like someone put paving stones down for decoration.  But since it is in Ireland there is a story behind it (of course).  As the story goes - a long, long time ago an Irish giant named Finn MacCool was creating the coastline of Ireland when he was challenged to a fight by a Scottish giant named Benandonner.  Finn accepted and built the causeway so that he could walk to Scotland.  Well, when he went over he spied on the Benandonner and saw that this guy was HUGE!!!  So he ran back to Ireland and told his wife, Una.  Well, Una (being the smart woman that she was) she dressed Finn in baby clothes and put him in a large cradle.  When Benandonner came to see where Finn was, Una told him that Finn wasn't there right then, but would love to introduce him to their baby.  Beneandonner freaked out when he saw the "baby" and assumed that if the "baby" was this big, Finn must be enormous so he ran back to Scotland destroying the stones as he ran so that the giant Finn couldn't come over and get him.  Either way, fable or fact, the formations made by volcanic flows are amazing!

End of Ireland Motorcycle Tour 2013, But ..........

Again we were a few days without Internet so I have to cover  more than one day here.  Bear with me, ok?

We arrived in Killarney Friday, wet, cold and ready to stay in one place for a few days.  We met up with other Blue Knights that came over from the continent for their convention which our tour included.  So our group of 174 people swelled to over 200, but it was good to meet new people and see other friends that we knew.  On Saturday we took off for another ride since the weather turned good again.  This day we went around the Ring of Kerry.  I'm sure everyone has heard of the Ring and how you should see it when you are in Ireland.  Well, this was the second time I had been around it and I have to say that the Ring of Beara and Slea Head Drive are much, much prettier.  Those two rides get you closer to the coastline of the rugged Irish west coast and the Ring of Kerry takes you through more of the countryside.  But the reason that one is so popular and famous is because that is the road that is wide enough for buses to take tourists on.  The roads to the other two are only good for cars and motorcycles.

 All along the roads we traveled we found cows and sheep - lots and lots of sheep and cows.  Well, on this ride I couldn't help but take a picture of this little one snuggled next to Mum.

After we said goodbye to the Blue Knights at the convention on Sunday our small group of 9 bikes took off for the town of Galway to spend the night.  And, of course, like the pattern, it was rainy and cold again.  But we just suited up as best we could and we took off.  We ended up taking a ferry across the bay with cars and, as you can see, a very large bus.

After the ferry ride we headed off to the Cliffs of Moher.  These cliffs are 700 feet tall and 5 miles long.  If we had better weather we probably could have seen the famous puffins that nest there, but they were the smart ones and were out of the rain.  The cliffs got their name from a ruined promontory fort "Mothar" which was demolished during the Napoleonic wars to make room for a signal tower at Hag's Head.

After making it to Galway last night we took off today for Dublin in, you guessed it, good weather.  It seems that every other day is rain.  Tonight we said goodbye to our new friends from Virginia as they fly home tomorrow and we continue on to Northern Ireland by ourselves.  So even though the motorcycle tour is over we continue in a car for the next two weeks on our own, so stay tuned.

What's Ireland Without Some Rain?

As you can tell we haven't had internet for three days so I've got a lot to catch up on with this blog.  Someone said to me the other day that the previous blogs have been rather short, so I think this one will make up for it.

Tuesday we left Kinsale and were set to arrive in Rosscarbery that night after sight-seeing that day.  Our first stop was to Blarney castle where everyone had to kiss the Blarney stone.  I decided not to climb up the narrow castle steps with the throngs of people since I already did that 15 years ago and Karl didn't think he could climb all the way with his bad leg.  So we waited until our group did the kissing thing and talked with other people that were waiting for their own group.  The ride wasn't too bad this time with the threat of rain, but not much really fell. 



Our next stop was to a vantage point where we saw how people who lived on Dursey Island got to and from there.  Dursey Island is a small island off the coast and the only way to get to the island is by the cable car.  But not only are people transported that way, but sheep and cows are lifted by a hoist and put on a barge that takes them to the island.  Not too bad right?  Except that the water they have to travel over is choppy and not smooth most of the time.

On Wednesday we traveled from Rosscarbery to Kenmare in the driving rain.  There are some pictures, but very few since most of the day the rain was very heavy.  I had on long johns, t-shirt heavy jacket, jeans, outer protective pants, boots and socks.  Everything got soaked!  The only part of me that wasn't wet was a small spot from my knee to the middle of the thigh!  But here I do have to brag.  Many people who ride motorcycles know about the "Tail of the Dragon".  That is a stretch of road in Deal's Gap, North Carolina where in 11 miles you do 318 curves - a motorcyclist dream!  But here is my bragging part.  On this day's ride we were on roads no bigger than a cow's path, barely paved, room enough for one car, but is two way traffic, not a straight road in sight, in the rain and on the wrong side of the road!  So take THAT you tail of the dragon riders!  You ain't got nuthin' on us!  This picture shows one the the better paved roads.

On Thursday we were on to Dingle and it was a beautiful ride!  Partly cloudy, but mostly blue skies shined on us.  We drove through some amazing countryside with the farms dotting the green hills and the fields being separated by either a stonewall or hedgerows.  Then we were at the coastline, which reminded Karl and I of the California coastline on the Pacific Coast Highway.  We road around an area called Slea Head Drive with follows the coastline for quite a while.  Most of the road is about the sharp cliffs and gives a dramatic backdrop to our riding.  We couldn't have asked for a better day of riding to see this beauty of Ireland.

Today we rode straight from Dingle to Killarney because, again, we were in hard rain.  We are here for two days before we travel to Galway on our own (with our original group) since the official tour has ended today.  We hope to have better weather this weekend so that we can enjoy the Killarney area.

Phew!  I think I have made up for the short posts this time, don't you think?

What a Ride!

On Saturday our group assembled in the lobby of our hotel to get ready to go to Celtic Rider where we were going to rent our motorcycles and gear.  We were going to be shuttled there by our hosts, Ireland I chapter of the Blue Knights.  After our "transporter" got there we had to wait a while for the other person to bring another car around since not everyone would fit in the first vehicle.  Not a joke,but this is what we rode down in to get our bikes.

After we rode the bikes back to the hotel we went to dinner at a very unique restaurant called The Church.  Why is it called that?  Well, believe it or not it is a bar and restaurant in an old church - it stills has the organ pipes in the walls.  Dinner was very good and the group was even better.  We had people from Calif.., Virginia and Utah with us.

The following day we took off for the ride to Kilkenny where the "official" tour would start.  We have over 170 participants that come from the US, England, Belgium, Norway, France, Germany, Poland, Scotland, Wales, and of course Ireland.  We first met in the courtyard of the Kilkenny Castle where we were "officially" sent off by the Lord High Mayor and a couple of newspaper.  It was kind of funny seeing all these modern motorcycles gathering in front of  an  11th century castle. 

We took of in groups and would meet up at different spots to sight-see or eat and then take off again.  One of the spots we stopped at was the Rock of Cashel - a medieval church where they are doing massive restoration of the building.

Many of the roads we were on were barely large enough to fit two cars so you can imagine our horror when this is what we encountered on one of those roads - 

Tonight we are in the town of Kinsale after a very rainy ride.  Water soaked through the suits and the temps were rather low so it was good to get to the hotel for a dry off and warm food.  Tomorrow we are off to Blarney Castle (yes, I already kissed the Blarney stone 15 years ago) and ending in Rosscarberry on the southern coast.  Forecast calls for more rain (blah).

 

It's beautiful in Ireland!

The weather here has been unbelievable!!!  Sunny and comfortable temperatures have followed us over from the US and everyone is loving it.

After arriving on Tue. we stayed awake as long as we could so that we could adjust to the time change - so off we went on a bus tour on the Hop On-Hop Off line.  That is the best way to become familiar with a new city.  They run a specific route pointing out important places to see for a price and that includes 2 days.  We just rode around the first day and then figured out where we wanted to stop and see the next day.  Our first stop was, of course, at the Guinness Factory at St. James's Gate.

 Over 200 years ago, Sir Arthur Guinness started brewing a special type of beer on 40 acres that he signed a lease for 9000 years.  You read that right, 9 thousand years, for $45 a month!  The factory tour gives you a great insight into how the beer is "created" and why it is so special.  It took us about 2 hours to go through the museum and some of the exhibits weren't even open.  So you can imagine how much longer it could have taken.  And for those who asked me to have a Guinness for them - here you go!

 In my hands are a certificate for pouring a picture pint of Guinness and the actual pint!  Didn't spill a drop, didn't slop over the side and had the perfect size foam head.  Now I'm an expert.  Oh yeah, tasted good too!

Our next stop was at the Kilmainham Gaol.  This prison was built in 1796 and was in service until 1924.  All of the leaders of the 1916 Easter Uprising (which lead to the War for Independence) were jailed and executed there.  The walls were thick and the cells were small.  Windows were dinghy and the whole place was cold.  Not a great place to be.

This is the "great room" where there was three floors of cells with about 30 cells per floor.  The staircase shown was for the guards because it was large and straight and the guards could run quickly down in case of any disruption.

This spiral staircase, on the opposite side of the straight stairs were for the inmates because it was impossible to move quickly down them, hence they couldn't rush the guards.  They went down into the floor where the kitchen was located.







Tonight we went to The Brazen Head Pub which is the oldest pub in Dublin (1198) for dinner and a show that talked about food, folklore and faeyres.  It was a good time with good friends.

Tomorrow we are off to rent the motorcycles for our tour that starts on Sunday.  Hopefully the weather will co-operate.

New Travel Chapter - But First, A Message From The Travel Imps

Well, folks, the travel blog is up and running again for a few weeks. On the 3rd of June we are departing from Sacramento to the green isle know as Ireland. We will be returning on the 2nd of July just in time for the 4th celebration. But, as usual, the travel imps had struck again.

 For those of you who are regular readers of this blog, you will always see that the travel imps do something to make us a little uneasy, scared, angry, downright p*@!ed right before we plan on leaving to go any where. Let's preface this story by telling you that we had no idea that the imps were in waiting and if we didn't have so many places we go to and have vehicles at we never would have suspected anything wrong until the VERY LAST MINUTE! I'm talking about probably the night before we were to leave.

Anyway, we were busy getting clothing lists, itinerary, hotels, motorcycle rental, etc. together so that it would be a seamless trip. HA!!!! We keep a car (Karl's late aunt's car) stored in his cousin's barn up in WA so that when we are up there in the summer or if Karl had to go up there he/we would have transportation. Well, his cousin usually takes "the Beast" out once in a while and keeps the battery charged for us. This year they have been so busy themselves that they really didn't have time to do that so his cousin, Marilyn called and asked if Karl had any plans for the Beast. Ironically we were just talking about bringing the Beast down to CA so in case we needed a car that would fit 4 or more people. Our car only fits 2. So Karl decides to fly up to WA and pick up the Beast and drive her back down to CA. He makes his airline reservations, figures out what he will need to take, how long the trip will be to drive back, etc. Now this is around May 15/16 or so and he is flying out on the 19th. When we fly we always use our passports for ID instead of worrying about pulling out our licenses. He starts to pack a few things and he can't find his passport! We tear the house apart and can't find them anywhere. Panic sets in because we are leaving for overseas in 3 weeks! Immediately we wrack our brains on where we used them last and we both remember using them to fly to Texas, but can't remember seeing them after that. We did remember that we flew out of Phoenix to ABQ because our motorcycle was at the NM house. So we called a Blue Knight friend that lives in NM that watches our house and stores his camper trailer in our garage for the summer. We had that poor man go back 3 times to check places out that we thought the passports would be. Sometimes asking him to recheck places again. In the meantime, Karl takes off to WA and I start the process of getting an appointment to go to SF to get a new passport. He gets back from the drive and we start checking the CA house again for two days before we have to ride up to Boise for the Memorial Day weekend gathering of the Blue Knights. Our appointment was for 10:30am on the 29th of May. Since we were going down to SF to get them and they were on an expedite status each passport was going to cost us $190 - A PIECE! But there wasn't anything we could do. Now we are back from Boise, the 27th, and Karl thinks we packed them in a large plastic tub I keep for the afghans I crochet for the Children's Hospital, but it was emptied out already. Karl thinks he may have put them in a small make-up case we put his aunt's jewelry in and stored it in the gun safe. Nope, not there. Then as he is about to put the case back, he looks off to the side of the shelf and there, up against the side of the black safe, between some papers are the passports!

Now hopefully the travel imps are happy for causing us such grief and they will let us leave without any more problems.