Sharon and Jaya's 2003 Trip to Ireland - Day 2

Saturday, April 19, 2003

They kept us waiting on the runway for 45 minutes - first because they were waiting for some passengers from a flight from Paris that had been delayed, and then because of some other trouble - An other plane was taking off and an engine got taken out by a flock of birds so it was forced to make an emergency landing. They had to wait while they cleared the runway.

So we landed in Shannon closer to 2pm. They looked at our passports again and waved us on through. I carried on my fiddle and my purse, Jaya had a bag with books and a few other things. We went to baggage claim for our bags. We had each packed a soft sports type bag for the week. I had to look at our itenerary to find the name of the car-rental place - Dan Dooley's Car Rental. It was right there next to Avis and Hertz. I have no idea what the comparative rates are - this came as part of the travel agents package.

We were issued a Fiat. It reminds me of Janet's Toyota Matrix - only smaller. I cannot imagine driving a larger car on these roads. Jaya is driving (Thank Heavens). First of all it's a stick shift car. I haven't driven a stick since my Rabbit, that was 1982.

Anyway, Jaya took to driving on the left side of the road very quickly (he has supreme confidence in everything he does and generally (at least I've never seen him not) the confidence is backed by skill.

However, did I mention the roads in Ireland are narrow? Imagine a one lane road in California. It may have room for one car to drive and a car parked on one side. Divide that down the middle and you have a two lane road in Ireland. Room for a car traveling each direction with NO room to spare. If a car is parked on one side, it blocks the lane and you have to go into the oncoming lane to pass it. There is no shoulder on the side of the road. You have a bank of grass, generally. Well, confident Jaya is zipping down these roads on the wrong side of the street (The left - it's correct, it just looks wrong to me) and I am the passenger. So I sit on the side of the car next to this high grassy bank. And there is maybe a foot and a half to spare. It looks very close to me. If I had been driving I am certain we would have crashed into it going at that speed. I held my breath much of the way to Ennis, our first stop.

To keep the thrill in your first trip don't read up on the driving tips. It is much more exciting to discover the rules by actually playing the game with real cars. [― Jaya]

We parked, and walked over to O'Connell street, to find some place for lunch. I think it was about 3:30. We found it to be a charming street, quite crowded with walking people. The sidewalks had room for barely two people to walk abreast.

There was a street musician playing guitar and singing Dylan songs in an alcove. The street lamps had hanging baskets with growing flowers (pansies I think). Each shop was painted a different color, but it didn't look garish. We stopped at a restaurant - which was also a pub in the back. It had booths with hard wooden backs - Just like in the Irish pub that Jim Coyle took me and Karen to a few years ago. But this one was much nicer - and smaller. We got a table, not a booth. Jaya had Prime Rib and I had the Fried Fish (it was called Parich) with chips (french fries) cabbage and rutabega. It was very good - pan fried, not deep fried.

Afterwords we walked up to the end of the street. there was a statue high up on a pillar, that said O'Connell on the base. I don't know if it was Daniel O'Connell or someone else (the name was identifying the street and there was no mention of D.O. in the legend on the side) Jaya used the ATM at the bank there to get some Euros (€). (They are quite colorful and elaborate with water marks and shiny strips. All the anti-counterfeiting devices)

We walked back down the street. There was a shop with an Ice cream cone on the sign (And hamburgers on the lit menu inside that looked like MacDonalds) Jaya had been saying earlier that MacDonalds was the only Irish restaurant he ever went to, so I took a picture of this place and told him, "See what we missed!"

We went back to the car but stopped on the way to look at a large stone Church (It had been built in the 1800's - that seemed pretty recent for Ireland.)

We crove up R476 through Kilfenora and Lisdoonvarna. We stopped in Lisdoonvarna and went into a small grocery for a Pepsi, sat outside on a bench to drink it. It was sunny (no rain). The bench we sat on had been painted Terra Cotta and cream, every other slat. The paint was dripping to show that it had been painted blue and yellow last time - we walked by a well that had a pebbly painted surface. Jaya said it was an ancient schoolyard wall (Hundreds of years of boogers. Yuk!)

The next wall was made of hewn stone, with pointy stones sticking up out of the top, not allowing anyone to sit and rest.

We drove up the road to Dublin, but my directions to the B+B were written to come from a different road, so we had to double back to find it. Jaya was tolerant of my not knowing where we were. It's funny, I almost think he's going to get irritated sometimes and he never does. He had predicted this may happen on the fourth day of our trip. We shall see...

We found Seascape B&B and parked in their small car lot. It's a yellow house on a hill above Doolin town. We settled in, took showers, and then went out for a walk. Up the road was an old graveyard (well, not that old) but it was difficult to read the dates because of the lichens growing on the headstones. there were a lot of celtic crosses, and concrete slabs with writing that was quite weathered. It was not kept up. The grass was overgrown and the slabs were awry. There was a small room at one corner that was empty. It was built of stones mortared together―cut stones. And there was a groove in the wall about waist high that went from one wall around the corner and part way around the next. It looked to me like a shelf could be inserted into this grove, and a coffin placed on it. Probably a good place to keep a body until it could be burred.

The room was surrounded by a metal fence―very rested and falling apart.

There was another structure inside the yard, partly tumbled down. I couldn't tell what it's original purpose had been. It had some interesting archways. Jaya snapped this pastoral trailer park as we were walking back from the graveyard.

We walked back to the car and drove over to the Doolin Ferry landing. The sun was coming down on the water and lighting it up with a brilliant golden orange reflection. The absence of kelp in the water made it appear very clean, the color of the water was light blue, as you looked through the curling waves crashing into white foam. the colors reminded me of the painting at The Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco―I'll have to look up the name of it.

We walked out on the limestone rocks, they were cracked and worn away in interesting holes and patterns.

We drove down to the Cliffs of Moher afterwards, the visitor center was closed, and we just walked out to the viewing platform. It was cold. The birds were soaring in circles, and dropping out of sight below the lower platform. There was enough light to see the cliffs―the closest ones.

We stayed a short while and then returned to the room. There was a nice restaurant (The Lazy Lobster) just down the road, so we walked down about 9 PM. We each had a delicious meal―Jaya had the fish of the day―cod, and I had salmon. They served vegetables on the side―one dish for both of us―with potatoes, snap peas & carrots.

The restaurant had a floor laid with Doolin stone―which we saw everywhere, used as fences and paving. Jaya said it looked like it had been formed from river sediment that had really big worms in it. Outside it was a dark gray, but in the restaurant, they had waxed and polished it, and it gleamed a shiny black. In the restaurant and in the B&B I noticed the candle sconces on the walls―I liked them a lot. I think I will put some in our new apartment.

We shared a steamed chocolate pudding for dessert. Yum! After dinner, we walked over across the street to MacDermott's Pub to hear the session. There was a guitar player, a banjo player, two flute players―one with an open holed wooden flute, and one playing a keyed wooden flute, and a drum player who alternated between bongos and bodhran. [The band is called Brúadar.] The keyed flute player made such a violent rocking motion in time to the music, it was painful to watch him. They would play a set, then take a break, all light cigarettes, and maybe go to the bar for a refill―then after 5 minutes, play another set. There was an alcove set apart from the rest of the pub the musicians sat in, with built in seats and a split rail that separated it. they had enough room for a couple mike stands in there.

Oh, I forgot the uilleann pipe player. All the players were quite good and mostly they all played on every tune. The pub was packed, standing room only―Jaya and I stood pretty close to the musicians, but only after working our way in through the crowd. We stood and listened for a good long while. I made my way to the bar and ordered a half pint of Guinness―I don't think it tasted any better than it does in the States―actually, at that place in Fremont (Mission Pizza & Pub), it was better! It was served cold. I thought that was interesting.

We stayed until 11:30 or so, and then walked back. no seats opened up in that time. The people there were there to stay. On the walk up the road I looked up at the stars. The big dipper was directly overhead. I didn't see anything else I recognized―probably because there were too many stars!

We went to sleep and slept late.

Continued on Day 3.

Sharon and Jaya's 2003 Trip to Ireland