Archives for : April2017

Trip Diary – April/May 2017 – Waterford to Cork – Day 3

Day 3 – Waterford to Cork, Ireland

Slightly north and west of Waterford is the small village of Carrick-on-Suir, the home of Ormond Castle. Built before 1315, the castle was the seat of the Earl of Ormond, the Butler family. The manor house was built after 1565, but the castle was closed in 1688 when the last Earl died. Ireland eventually took over the property and renovated it. New renovations, centering around safety issues, are currently underway.

Near the castle was our first experience with  what we have found are now good examples of “typical” Irish village streets. Traffic laws, in general, are much more lax than we have in the States, and parking regulations are almost non-existent, with cars and trucks parked in any direction, at corners near intersections, halfway on the curb, and even on medians between driving lanes, if so desired. These two photos happen to be one-way streets; imagine two-way traffic on the same type of streets!

 

Out in the Irish countryside, some of the views are breathtaking. Even on cloudy days, the distance you can see is amazing. The mountains and hills seem so majestic, then you remind yourself they are only a few hundred feet high.

  

The Irish are great bikers, hikers and walkers. So much, in fact, that trails are created by the county and or nation, and supplemented with parks and green spaces to make them more desireable.

 

Even in the country, roads can be narrow. If you look closely at the photo, you will see damage to each corner of the buildings and walls.

Ahenny Crosses in the small village of Ahenny is now a national monument. Built in 1843, it has tombstones and crosses that have not weathered well, with most of the lettering indistinguishable. The graveyard is out in the corner of a large field that cattle graze in.

 

 

Also in Ahenny is a good example of “typical” Irish housing. Each colored door indicates a different “cottage” home in the same building. Such homes are surprisingly common throughout the towns and villages. Many are probably less than 500 sq. ft., with the majority less than 1,000 sq. ft.

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The Rock of Cashel is located in Cashel, Ireland. Originally the seat of power in Ireland from the 4th Century onward, the country was ruled first by the McCartheys and later by the O’Briens. The O’Briens are the early ancestors of my McMahons, and descend from Brian Boru, the first King of Ireland.

Around the 11th Century, the Rock was given to the Church, which built the cathedral as it currently exists. Parts of the complex show up in various parts of the town, so modern buildings have attached themselves to walls and auxiliary buildings still standing.

 

The cross in the two photos below is known as the “St. Patrick Cross,” supposedly given to the church when he preached there.

 

 

 

 

Cork is an old city with large-river access to the Atlantic Ocean. This is the view of the railway terminal from our window at the B&B we stayed at, along with the other buildings in the city. The city itself is undergoing a resurgance, so there is a mix new and old, clean and dirty, well-maintained vs. ramshackle. We had a very nice room in an updated three-story hotel, while two blocks to the north down by the docks, trains and buses resumed their schedules after their recent strike, cranes loaded ocean-going ships with huge bales of textile, offices shed their well-dressed workers, and students in the colleges near the river ended their day. People were everywhere, on foot, on bicycles, on scooters, going everywhere, all at the same time.

 

 

 

 

Trip Diary – April/May 2017 – Dublin to Waterford – Day 2

April 12 – Dublin to Waterford, Ireland

Got to Dublin in good shape. Good food, attentive Aer Lingus flight attendants, free entertainment the whole way, much better than we could have hoped for, but…. our flight into Dublin was supposed to land about 5:15 am (yes, A.M.!). It actually landed at 4:40 am, over half an hour early! We had expected to be able to sleep at least a brief period on the plane. No such luck! With the time difference of seven hours, we arrived in Dublin at 10:15 pm Denver time. We’re usually watching the news then, and watching TV up to an hour after, so it wasn’t even close to our normal bedtime. We planned on catching up later, not knowing how hard it would be until we could.

First stop, the car rental counter. We had a small car with manual transmission reserved, but ended up upgrading to a BRAND NEW Dacia Duster SUV. I think it’s made by Hyundai for the European market. More about cars and my driving as we go along – lots of interesting bits there!

We got directions how to bypass Dublin, since we’re going to be spending a few days there after we circle Ireland, and headed down the Eastern Coast alongside the Irish Sea. First stop was Ferns, Ireland, where we visited an old Gothic church and graveyard, the first of many we will see while we’re here.

     

Continuing South, we arrived in Wexford, a large port city at the bottom Southeast corner of Ireland. Deciding we were hungry for something to eat at 10:30 am, we started wandering around the town. We found a local heritage center with a square tower and a round tower, but ended up returning to them after we ate.

Our grandson has trained us well, and we ate our first official meal in Ireland at, wait for it….. McDonald’s! Let me just say this now about McDonald’s in Ireland vs. America – they look similar on the outside, but they don’t have Play Places ™, don’t have the wide ranging menu we have, and don’t have dollar coffee and soft drinks. What they do have is automatic doors upon entering and leaving, oversize trash receptacle with automatic lids, and lots and lots of seating, along with male/female/family restrooms, although they call them “Toilets” here.

Finally nourished, not realizing yet how tired we were, we returned to the two towers we had seen earlier and wandered around the only one accessible, the square tower. The round tower was on a high hill with no access.

 

Our next stop was New Ross, where the Irish Famine of the 1840’s hit very hard. It was during this time my ancestors, named McMahon, left Ireland for what they hoped would be a much brighter future. They initially settled in Maryland and moved around from there. The ship Dunroby, pictured below, was a “coffin” or “famine” ship, which was taken out of normal transport service and began transporting Irish Emigrants to Canada and the U.S. Thousands and thousands of Irish came this way in the largest single emigration in the nation’s history.

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Our first B&B reservation was in Waterford, so we headed that way, now just barely after lunch. Waterford, if you know anything, 😉 is the home of Waterford Crystal, some of the most expensive glass items in the world. We didn’t intend to take a tour of the factory, but to give you an idea of its exclusivity, they charge admission to their store!

We drove along the River Lee docks in Waterford with the usual range of shops that attract tourists, but didn’t stop to shop. Continuing to drive around, we found our second McDonald’s since arriving in Ireland, but we didn’t stop there, either.

We were now beginning to feel the effects of the flight, and decided to take a chance the B&B would allow us to check in at 1:30 pm instead of 2:00 pm. I’m sure Susan, the owner of the house, probably thought we were slugs, but once we got to the room with our luggage, we both crashed and slept the next three hours. The next morning, before we left, we had a nice breakfast and chat with Susan and another couple from England. Susan is 4th Generation in a home built around 1850. Her 2G-Grandfather was in cattle and brought some of the first oil into Waterford, until he couldn’t bring it in on the river anymore.

 

 

Trip Diary – April/May 2017 – Ireland, England, Scotland

April 11 – Denver to Chicago to Dublin, Ireland

This is being written five days late, but I will try to be as complete as possible with events as they occurred. Part of the day’s activities can be said to really start two days previously. The night of April 9 and then again April 10 were relatively sleepless. We had been packing, sorting, re-sorting, arranging, re-arranging and, in general, being frustrated by the whole process.

As it would turn out, we also ended up without a reliable Internet connection two nights, slept rather than work online, and generally tried to get a start when possible. It is now the 15th of April, five days into our trip, and the bugs have been worked out, I think, as long as we get a reliable connection most of the time.

Airlines now have weight restrictions on the baggage they carry. This amounted to 50 lbs. for our large suitcases and 22 lbs. for our smaller carryons. Size was not a factor because we had already studied dimensions before we went from store to store to find suitable luggage.

So, once you know size and weight, you collect everything you want to take with you on the trip and then start filling up the cases. When the case is full, you weigh it. Then you take stuff out (usually) to cut the weight. Through the stages of this process, you might do this several times. The more you do it, the better your chances of having to leave something home you could use on the trip or, worse yet, forgetting something you will find you need but don’t have.

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We began planning for this trip back in December, 2016, so we were getting to crunch time. Cyndie had not had the same problems with packing I had. The first packing of the large case was almost 10 lbs. heavy, and the smaller case came in at a whopping 27 lbs. I took things out, consolidated where possible, determined necessary vs. nice to have, and “worked” at packing and re-packing each night to the detriment of my sleep.

As it ultimately turned out, we saw all manner and types of luggage at the airport, got a cursory glance on the weighing scale from the gate agent, and will probably not have to be too concerned about weight until we begin to fly within the UK. Supposedly, things are checked a little more strictly than in America, probably because they can then force you to check the bag and pay the fee.

No problem getting our luggage in Chicago, but we did break a small caster on one carryon, making it difficult to pull along. We’ll try to fix that somehow before we come home. Other than that, the only problem has been weight (airplanes carry 50 lbs. very easily, but humans don’t, especially up stairs. We are already thinking of ways to “lighten the load” a bit on our return, even if we need to check a third bag.

TSA Pre-Check is great, but I still got X-rayed because I was wearing my knee braces. In Chicago, we had to transfer to the International Terminal, meaning a whole new TSA inspection, this time without pre-check. Shoes off, electronics out, one quart plastic bag and bottles visible, the whole nine yards. X-rays again because of the braces.

Photos and more journal coming…..I PROMISE!