Ireland: A Summer in Review
September 8, 2016 As far as last days go, today is one of the best. Usually I’m up at o’dark thirty to catch a taxi or a bus to the airport for a too-damn-early flight. Today I catch the airport express at the civilized hour of half past one, and arrive at the airport with plenty of time to walk …
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Ireland: Road trip! Exploring Sligo, Yeats’ Grave, and Glencar Waterfall
August 21 – 27, 2016 We arrive in Sligo around dinner time on a grey Sunday evening. Jill, Zephy, and I are headed for a small cottage we’ve rented just 15 minutes’ drive outside Sligo. It’s a quick walk from the train station to the grocery store, where I insist we stock up on groceries before catching a taxi out …
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Ireland: To Every Thing There is a Season
August 24 & 25, 2016 It is a glorious summer afternoon in the West Country. Puffy white clouds scud across a brilliant blue sky. Raspberry bushes laden with ripe berries line one side of the road, and cows graze on the other. Every now and then a pungent country smell wafts over us: fresh-cut hay, a barn airing in the …
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Ireland: Dublin Revisited: Celtic Gold, Bog Bodies, and the Chester Beatty Library
August 18 – 21, 2016 The National Museum of Archaeology is one of my favorite places in Dublin. It’s free (always a plus) and its collections include prehistory, Celts, Vikings, church history, and much more. There’s even an exhibit on ancient Egypt and Cyprus! Like the Book of Kells, I’ve been here before. I know Zephy’s interest in museums and …
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Ireland: Dublin Revisited: Maynooth University, Geraldine Castle, and the Book of Kells
August 18 – 21, 2016 It’s a grey, raining off and on kind of afternoon as our train rolls west through the Irish countryside. Across the small train table, Jill is reading and watching the passing scenery. Zephy’s reading next to me, while I attempt to write some post cards. It feels good to travel with friends, good to let …
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Ireland: Kissing the Blarney Stone!
August 13, 2016 It’s just past 3 pm when I get off the local bus in Blarney Village. There’s about a dozen of us milling about the sidewalk, and we’re all here for one reason: to visit Blarney Castle and kiss the Blarney Stone. It’s a 5 minute walk from the bus stop to the main entrance, a small building …
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Ireland: A House-Sit in Cork, Ireland’s Hippy City
August 9 – 17, 2016 I’m curled up on a couch in the sitting room, laptop nestled on my knees. Zan is curled up at the other end of the sofa And Ussi is out enjoying the back garden. I’ve been working: catching up on emails, professional and personal, and writing a blog post about my trip to Ballykissangel. Just …
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Ireland: Falling into Titanic
August 1, 2016 I’ve written three perfectly good starting paragraphs for this post in the last fifteen minutes, and none of them feel right. I try to write about what I knew of Titanic before today, and what I know now. It all sounds so cerebral, when what I really want to do is show you, not tell you. Maybe, …
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Ireland: Game of Thrones Tour: Dark Hedges, Carrick-a-rede Bridge, and the Giant’s Causeway
July 30, 2016 It’s just after 9:00 am when our Game of Thrones tour bus pulls away from Town Hall, and already I’m having the best day. After yesterday’s tight schedule and go, go, go feeling, it felt great to wake up, walk the 40 minutes into downtown Belfast, and place my schedule in the hands of our tour guide. …
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Ireland: First impressions of Belfast, Part 3: The Peace Wall
July 27, 2016 Your steps are light and springy as you leave the Crumlin Road Gaol. Your first day in Belfast has gone like clockwork, and now there’s only one stop left: the Peace Wall in west Belfast. It’s a calm, balmy Friday evening as you head south towards Cupar Way. You cross Shankill Road and enter the Shankill neighborhood, …
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