Saint Patricks Day in Killarney

Note: This blog is being written after our return home.

Our tour driver/guide made sure we were in "off the ring" in time for the St. Patrick's Day parade. Killarney is the largest town in the area and the parade went on for about 2 hours. Once you've seen one parade you've seen them all. Well, sort of. The Irish have a quirky sense of humor as evidenced in some of the pictures. I didn't see their banner so I'm not sure what these kids were representing.

And this guy looked like a priest with a hockey (?) stick wearing a football helmet.

The float in this video was the "Meals on Wheels" float. Get it?




I think it was a taxidermy cow. At least he didn't mooooooove.

This float was dedicated to President Obama's first state visit to Ireland.


The parade is over; the crowds flooded into the restaurants, ice cream shops and the pubs.

Somehow, we were lucky enough to actually get a seat in this pub; happened to be where all the tour drivers were as well. This was taken hours after the parade -- when the bartender actually had a minute to take our picture.

Irish Jaunt - The Ring of Kerry

We headed out early to travel the road that winds around the beautiful Iveragh Peninsula, better known as The Ring of Kerry - the Grand Atlantic Cost Tour of County Kerry. It is known throughout the world for magnificent and inspiring scenery. Here mountains, valleys, lakes and sea all blend into a breathtaking landscape. We began in Killarney's lakeland as it is considered the gateway to The Ring of Kerry, but a tour can be started at any point.

We were told that this young man was late; as apparently he is normally on the road with his donkey and wares for the passing tourists.

We passed through and by, towns with names like Glenbeigh, Carhirciveen and Sneem, and made a mid-morning stop at Waterville. Charlie Chaplin favored this town when he wanted to escape. The pictures below don't do it justice. Waterville is surrounded by mountains, rivers, lakes, and sits directly on the seashore of Ballinskelligs Bay. It is renowned as an anglers' resort. Golfers also frequent its 18 hole championship course. In the midst of its superb scenery there are special attractions for the archaeologist, antiquarian, artist and botanist. There are general sporting facilities for adults and children. The area is rich in examples of megalithic stones, ancient forts, souterrains and early monastic dwellings. The people of the village and district are very friendly and it is a charming little town!

Everyday attractions on this tour of Ireland's Gulf Stream coast are narrow mountain passes, bubbling streams, bogland vistas, tranqil lakes and archaeological treasures.

To the left is an example of Ireland's stone ringforts. These forts are about 2,500 years old and can be seen around this area. This particular fort has an interesting feature for it's time; a system of interior stairways - ten in all - leading to various platforms used by the defenders.

The main roads are studded with scenic viewing points, parking spaces and picnic corners. Villages dot the coastline and are within short distances of each other. There are sea cruises to offshore islands like The Skelligs.

Why there hasn't been a daily post!

Truth be told -- we have been having such a great time that there just hasn't been time to do a daily post. While on the tour -- we got into the hotels plenty early enough -- but then always ventured into the towns. After a quick check of email and messages -- we were tired and ready for bed so as to be up to see what the next day held!

Our last three nights in Dublin we were without reliable internet so I decided that it would be best to continue to work on the blog once back home.

As Julie said, it is very difficult to try to describe the beauty of Ireland in a few sentences at the end of the day.

Note: we aren't home yet as our flight from Dublin is delayed by 2 1/2 hours.

Irish Jaunt - Continued. . .

After Blarney Castle we headed to the town of Killarney, where we would stay for the next two nights. We also would spend St. Paddy's Day there.

Once off the motorways, we encountered several Irish traffic jams.

Our hotel, the Killarney Avenue was just off this square. An older hotel, with a lot of charm and character it's very convenient to the city centre with shops, restaurants and pubs a moments walk.

Irish Jaunt - Continued

Day two we drove through the Curragh, the heart of Ireland's equestrian country, viewed the Rock of Cashel (previous post). We traveled onto County Cork to visit Blarney Castle with its magical stone that gives the gift of eloquence for a kiss. It was a long stop; with plenty of time to visit the castle, walk the grounds; shop at Blarney Woollen Mills and visit the town pubs.

This picture shows the location of the blarney stone. See that hole up there at the top? You have to sort of arch your back as you are lowered into this area while you are being held by two helpers and then lean up to kiss the blarney stone. Okay the hole does have a few iron bars underneath it; but both Julie and I decided that we could pass this up. I certainly could use the gift of eloquence -- but decided that throwing my back out early in the trip wasn't worth it.

Instead we walked around the grounds; had a meal & pint in the pub in town and had about 15 minutes to shop. I think our priorities got mixed up; stomach first and then shopping? It should have been the other way around! (meaning we didn't buy much -- here)

Irish Jaunt Tour

Monday, March 16th we began our Brendan Tour, the Irish Jaunt. This was a short 5-day, 4-night tour of the southwest of Ireland. The tour actually began Sunday afternoon with a city tour of Dublin. A 2-hour tour in which we visited St. Patrick's and Trinity College to view the Book of Kells -- an 800 year old manuscript. Already we could see that the city was starting to overflow with visitors for the upcoming St. Patrick's Day.

Picture of Trinity College below. As we would be returning to Dublin later in the week -- I figured I would take more pictures then.

Passed by the Rock of Cashel. Our tour didn't stop for a visit but there are tours which include it; or if you do a self-drive it is a location you can visit.

As we drove through Ireland, we quickly came to understand why Ireland is called the Emerald Isle. Here it is the middle of March and everything is green as can be!

Trains, Ferries & Buses

Live music seen in Covent Garden, London.

Today we were to leave London by train, then take a ferry across the Irish Sea from Holyhead, UK to Dubin, Ireland. From there a bus from the ferryport into Dublin City Centre.

Julie woke up plenty early; we had a leisurely breakfast, and went back to the room to pack up and head to the train station for the trip from London to Holyhead on the west coast. Our train left at 8:50 and as we were "chatting" and getting items together in the room, we realized that time had slipped by and it was 8:30. AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! We had 20 minutes to get to the train station!

We flew downstairs, checked out, grabbed a cab, arrived at the station, jumped out, and nervously readied ourselves to board the fast moving escalator. As we were pulling our heavy suitcases, purses and bulging carry-on bags, Julie decided that the book she was carrying was just too much -- so she just said, "Oh, heck, I need a hand for the rail; this is going"so she just threw it and the paperbook sailed over my head landing in a heap near one of my bags. Laughing uncontrollably, I ran and grabbed the book and stuck it in the outside pocket of my bag as it was accessible and followed her up the escalator.

We came up into this huge station and I'm looking at all the signs with departures; thinking, I don't have the time to get the itinerary out that has the train number, when "Holyhead" jumps out at me. I holler, "Julie Platform 12", and figure it will take us another 5 minutes to locate the platform when Julie shouts "over there".

We go racing towards it just hoping there is not another escalator we have to juggle our bags and suitcases on -- luckily for us it was a gentle ramp. We got to the train and I asked a gentleman which direction the train was heading as I knew the seats face both directions and I didn't want to face the wrong direction. He pointed to the wall at the end of the train and said "I don't think it's going that way"! We boarded and within 2 minutes the train was pulling out of the station.!

Should we have missed our train -- we wouldn't have been totally out of luck as there were several others trains that day but the 8:50 was the only direct train going to Holyhead.

The train was faster, much smoother and quite a bit cleaner than Amtrak. The few pictures below show some of the scenes as we rode through the countryside. It was a beautiful day, so beautiful that most of the pictures have a glare that bounced back even though the windows were very clean. So unfortunately, the pictures of the sheep with the lambs, the green countryside -- will only be in our memory.

Once in Holyhead we boarded the ferry: think small cruise ship and had a smooth trip across the Irish Sea. A bus meets each ferry and for 2.50 euro -- the ride into the city centre is a good deal. It was a very nice, relaxing day with lots of beautiful scenery.

I told Julie this was our ferry.

In Holyhead, you simply depart the train -- walk through the terminal -- and into the ferry terminal.

London - Day Two

Two days is NOT enough time to spend in London; so we had to prioritize and decide what we should see. We decided the Tower of London was a must! We headed out early morning and began by getting on the wrong tube line. I still don't understand how I misunderstood the sign -- but as soon as we got onboard and I checked the diagram I realized we were on the Metropolitan Line not the Circle Line. It wasn't a big problem -- we simply got off at the next stop (a long ways) and boarded the Circle Line to complete our trip. The subway car made some horrific noises, lights went out periodically, we kept stopping and the engine would quit, and they finally announced after the next several stations that there were problems and the next station would be the last stop; one station shy of our destination. Actually the problem wasn't with the car but rather with the station or tracks. Anyway. . .we asked how far to Tower Hill and were told 5 minutes walk -- which it was.

This next picture is for Glenn & James. Does it look as good as the trebuchet you worked on a few years ago?

Upon entering the fortress grounds we took a tour with a Yeoman Warder. Ours had a typical "Brit" sense of humor -- we were told the letters on his uniform stood for "Expert in Romance". The tour is about 1 hour long and is very informative and enjoyable -- we weren't looking at our watches thinking "is it over yet?"

We were advised where to go and what we "had" to see.

We weren't able to see the changing of the guard as it is only every other day in March, and we made the choice to visit the Tower of London. However, we did get to see, up close, one of the Queen's guard in front of the building that houses the crown jewels. He looked incredibly young and has a drill where he stands at attention for a bit; then marches back and forth multiple times before returning to his post.

Our Yeoman Warder said he held this position for 23 years. He informed us that they are real people, not statues or actors and they are highly trained, self-disciplined, educated men, with real guns that they know how to use!

This is the White Tower, over 1000 years old and pretty amazing. It had a sort of self-guided tour where you went up, up, up and saw an 11-century fortress chapel, the original armours worn by Henry VIII, an exhibit on weaponry and an exhibit of the King's Horses. The horses are all carved out of wood and show the different type of horses each monarch rode. The great halls are pretty close to original although restoration work is now being done on the Tower.

We climbed up a tower, similar to the one in the foreground of the pix with the Tower Bridge in the background. The staircase was curved, about 2 feet in diameter, no guard rail and seemed to go on forever. It was a bit claustrophobic but pretty neat as it wasn't changed from what it was like 1000 years ago.

From 1000 years in the past to the present --A visit to a shopper's mecca: Harrod's!!

We had intended to try to do Kensington Palace as well as the Tower of London but decided it just wasn't possible. By the time we boarded the tube it was already past 2 pm. So we decided that tea at Harrod's would be a nice break.

Tea was lovely! After that we "shopped" a bit. Note to Glenn: a package will be arriving from Harrod's! It is a pretty amazing store -- we particularly liked the Pet Kingdom. The next picture is a little bitty chaise lounge -- for one's favorite pet. PS. That will be arriving shortly as well. NOT! We didn't even look at the price.

One of the many escalators going to the tube lines: notice the height. James and Glenn -- you would be proud! Even with my fear of heights I managed all of them -- I just look to the side and Julie lets me know when it is almost time to get off. And this with people rushing by. The tube is a busy place; those with fear of heights or crowds -- just avoid during rush hour. IT IS A GREAT WAY TO GET AROUND LONDON!!!

Day One in London ...Along the River

Westminster Abbey - views from across the river. We rode on the top level of a tour bus; got off in Westminster and walked by all the buildings to see them up close. These pictures were taken from a cruise on the Thames River.

Does anybody know what time it is? The famous Big Ben !

The Tower Bridge. Learned that this is not the bridge in the children's song "London Bridge is Falling Down". We rode under London Bridge previous to this picture. It is a regular bridge -- nothing too special about it -- except it's history.

The Tower of London -- we arrived here too late for a tour but may do this tomorrow. We ended our day with a ride on our hop-on hop-off Sightseeing tour back to the Charing Cross area. Then walked up to Leister Square to ride the tube (subway system) back to Russell Square -- which is the nearest tube station to our hotel, about a 5 minute walk.

Dinner was at "Friend in Hand" Pub and consisted of Fish & Chips and a Pint. (or two)

Day One in London. . .continued

We really are here in London. My friend, Julie and I are calling home.

Buckingham Palace: Need I say more? The flag flying atop signifies that the Queen is in residence.