Leadup to St Patrick's Day

March 14 – Wednesday – Slept in all the way to 7:45, easy morning, labeled pictures, went to I-café to update, light lunch, and off to the Kinsale Golf Club for 9 holes. Nice sunny day, temp about 55 or so, the breeze around the golf course was cool but walking up and down the hills worked up a bit of a sweat. I didn’t shoot very good, rental clubs and I haven’t played in months, but I still enjoyed it. After supper we made our way to the Spaniard, Lisa wants to see if she can join in on the Trad Session. On the way I need to hit the ATM, and the stupid machine ate my card! Something about unauthorized use, I’ll have to go to the Bank of Ireland in the morning and get my card back and clear this up.

At the Spaniard we meet two couples from Chicago, and a couple from Cleveland. It must be USA night. Of course, music is a topic of discussion, and we find out that the guy from Cleveland is a singer songwriter who has traveled on the Rock Boat with Gaelic Storm, his name is Jackson Rohm (www.jacksonrohm.com) traveling with his girlfriend Jennifer Ackerman (I think I caught the last name right) and they are headed to Dublin for St Pat’s. He plays around the Midwest, including Chicago and Michigan. I would like to get him to Grand Rapids.

The Chicago group lives near Downer’s Grove where the Ballydoyle is located, although they don’t follow any of the groups we do, they are aware of the pub. They landed in Dublin and are working their way to Shannon.

The session is a fiddler and box player (accordion) and they play jigs and reels throughout the night. There is no bodhran so Lisa doesn’t get a chance to join in. The pub closes up at midnight so we walk down the hill with Jackson and Jen, he is gracious enough to give me a couple of his CDs, and we call it a night.

March 15 – Thursday – Trash day today, I have to get the container out before 10. The Bank of Ireland opens at 10 so after putting the trash container next to the gate, I try to get my debit card back. The attendant at the bank was able to retrieve it, and thought it might have been a “blink in the system”. So after trying the card once more and having her retrieve it again, I call Fifth Third to see if the problem is on their end. Apparently there was a “breech” somewhere, that affected a list of numbers, so a bunch of Fifth Third costumers had their debit cards replaced with new ones. Seeing as I wasn’t home to get any notification I was unaware of this. I have a new card waiting for me at home, but that doesn’t help much now. I will have to make other arrangements to get cash here now.

Victoria had called and would like to show the house again, she pops by at 3:30 and the prospective tenant is a pilot. I found out that the house is protected by some historical order, so it must be quite old. It was part of the St Multose school/church system, the Rectory is just down the road a bit. Maybe I can find out more from Peter, he was the owner before Bruce, and Peter is due back from holiday soon.

Some observations while I’m rambling.

· There are a lot more people in town this week, the tourist season is starting, and the street in front of the house has a lot more gawkers.

· The weather also turned this week, since the rain on Sunday it hasn’t really rained much, just a sprinkle now and then. A lot more sun, and the temps are better, daytime is a light jacket, a little cooler at night.

· We haven’t seen much for a lead up to St Pat’s day here, and we’re not sure what will be happening around town yet.

· If you come here, when you fly over buy the phone card that they sell on the plane, it makes it very cheap to call the states. About 10 cents a minute, my cell phone costs me about $2.50 a minute! Quite a difference!

· Pop is expensive, even in the stores you pay 2-3 euro for a 2 liter bottle, and you pay 2 euro for a 8 ounce bottle in the pubs. Guinness averages 3.60 euro a pint, Murphy the same and Beamish 40 cents cheaper. Smithwicks is 4 euro. Drinking isn’t cheap. Lisa’s wine runs 5 euro for a quarter bottle for a chardonnay.

· Food prices in the grocery store are a little higher than we are used to, but not bad. Our meals at home really save us a lot, and the butchers have high quality cuts of meat. Example, tonight I picked up two pork chops with a Peking coating for 3.15 euro, added potato and veggies and had a great supper.

· If you pay attention, you can eat for a reasonable price. 7-10 euro for a good meal. Otherwise a good meal can run 15-30 euro real quick.

· Coffee is served “black or white”, with or without cream. And most of it is a long pull espresso. Some very good, some not. Most of the cappuccinos that I have had were good.

· “Are you okay?” said quizzically actually means “Can I help you” not “are you nuts or something?” many of the store clerks or hostesses will ask you this.

· People feel quite safe walking around any time of the day or night, but everyone is fanatical about having a burglar alarm. I guess property crime is much more prevalent that assaults.

· The TV and radio here is stuck in the 80’s and 90’s. Most of the shows seem to be old, very few new. That includes the BBC channels as well as the RTE Irish channels. There is some new stuff but not much, a few American shows like Cold Case and Law and Order episodes, and Heroes was just starting Season one, but these are few and far between. There are 6 or 7 soaps, and they play at all hours of the day and night.

· The locals have a strange way of looking at you like they are very skeptical about you or your appearance, a “don’t talk to me” or “what the heck are you up too?” look, but once you say hi, or start talking to them they end up being very friendly.

· An example of the rising house prices – the lady behind the counter at the golf club is from Scotland, she said she purchased her home 11 years ago for 72,000, and was recently offered 570,000. She wouldn’t sell though, because it would be so expensive to get another. Ireland has a lot of millionaires on paper because of the real estate boom.

· You end up with lots of change in your pocket over here, the smallest bill they have is a 5, and the change is made up of 1 and 2 euro coins, 50, 20, 10, 5, 2, and 1 cent pieces.

After supper we make our way to Hamlets, it is a pub attached to the Blue Haven hotel, and would be much more at home in the states than here. All new, lots of chrome, no character to it, even has a champagne room that feels artificial. Michael (from the Spaniard on Monday) was singing, called it the “Folk Sessions”. We like his music and voice, it just doesn’t fit with the atmosphere, so we make our way back to the An Seanachai to listen to Liam O’ to finish off the night. Home about midnight.

March 16 – Friday – Victoria mentioned that the house was set up for broadband and that she had a extra broadband box that I could try, so I picked it up at her office and took it home. Unfortunately it won’t connect, it doesn’t pick up the DSL signal, so I don’t really think it’s turned on. The weather is overcast but dry, so we hop in the car for a joy ride. End up going to Innishannon and found a painting gallery that we walked through, not real large, but some nice stuff. Stop by the “Found Out” Café for coffee and one of the best slices of lemon meringue pie that I’ve had in a long time. The next stop is Bandon, we walk around St Peter’s looking at all the old gravestones, some date back to the late 1700’s. After a brief walk through town, we head home to make dinner.

Entertainment tonight is at Muddy Maher’s, we listen to Seanjohn again. It’s amazing over here, the band is scheduled for 10:30, we get there at 9:45 and the place is lightly occupied. At 10:45 the band finally starts, and the party goers start arriving about 11:00. From then until 1:00, you can walk through the place it’s so jammed! The music was all covers, from the 80’s and 90’s again, and everyone knew the songs, lots of singing and dancing. We meet two guys from England who are here for the weekend, Sam is originally from Australia, and Gerald is from New Zealand, but they now work together in England. We stayed til the bitter end, getting home about 1:15.

We travel to the Ring of Kerry

March 13 – Tuesday – Today we are driving to the Ring of Kerry, we leave the house about 9:00 and it’s a sunny morning. The drive takes us 2 hours to get to Killarney. Lisa has been looking through the maps and brochures we have and has selected a few likely spots to stop at. The first is called Ballymalis Castle, located halfway between Killarney and Killorglin. I almost miss the sign for the castle, but we turn off on a paved one lane track that leads back into the fields. The castle isn’t too far off the main drag, but when you get to the end of the drive, there is no way to get to the castle, it’s all fenced off, I got a couple pictures and we go back to the N 72 and on to the Ring. It’s 11:30 and raining when we hit Killorglin where we stop to stretch our legs and get a quick coffee and pastry. Killorglin is known for it’s mid August festival called “Puck Fair” where they capture a wild goat and crown it king of the festival. The sun is making another appearance making the drive much more enjoyable, but there is still a lot of mist and fog off in the distance.

Heeding the advice I have read, we decide to drive the Ring counterclockwise, this gives the best view and the tour busses travel this direction so you won’t meet any busses coming at you on the narrow roads. As we head out to circle the Iveragh peninsula we see the Dingle Bay to our right, and peat piles drying in the sun to our left. We pass the bogs where they collect the peat, and we can see Carrantouhill, the tallest mountain in Ireland. The curvy road follows the coastline, we would meet a few cars coming from the other direction so you had to take care. But the scenery was beautiful, driving on the side of the mountains, waves crashing on the rocks, sheep eating on the ledges, houses popping up where you wouldn’t think anyone could live. Just Grand!

Having read about Pat’s Crafts near Cahersiveen we stop there. “Not open yet” we are told at the gas station next door, so a quick potty break and on the road to Cahersiveen where we stop at the Barracks. This former home of the Royal Irish Constabulary is now a heritage center which we tour through. The Daniel O’Connell Memorial Church is also in town, but going through a restoration so we took a picture on the way by and continued on.

With plenty of time today, we decide to take the Skellig Ring, a route which takes you out to Portmagee with a bridge to Valentia a small island about 7 miles long and one of Europe’s most westerly points. On the island we went through the Skellig Experience which tells of the history of the Skelligs, two small islands that were inhabited by monks 1500 years ago. Back on the road, the Skellig ring rejoins the Ring of Kerry just before Waterville. We continue on around, find a sign for the Staigue Fort and drive back about 3 miles through a one lane road until we get to the Fort, which ends up being a stone ring about 6-12 feet high and 200 feet across, dated back to 1000 BC. Our next stop is a small restaurant in Sneem called the Village Kitchen, its almost 5 and we are both hungry. I have the steamed salmon, Lisa the goat cheese ficcotia, just delicious. The road from here to Kenmare finishes off the Ring of Kerry, and we take the R569 out of Kenmare back to the N22 and head back home, stopping long enough in Belgooly to have a pint at the Huntsman. A long day, its 9:30 when we get home, but not done for me yet, at 10:15 there is a show on RTE 1 about Donal Lunny, guitar player from Planxty among other accomplishments. Bedtime about 11:30.

Irish Karaoke and we drive to Cobh

March 11 – Sunday – Slept in until 8:30, I made myself a nice Irish breakfast, walked to the Rose Abbey grocer for the Sunday paper, and we walked down to Acton’s hotel to listen to the Cork City Jazz Band. Made it home about 3:20 and after a apple for lunch, I walked to the bus stop to catch a ride to Cork Airport to pick up the car. Got a Modus, never heard of that, it’s a manual transmission, which came back to me right away, even with the shifter in my left hand. After a late supper we watch a TG4 program called Ardan, a one hour talk show. TG4 is the all Irish channel here, and that means they use the Irish language! At least they used English subtitles for us.

The show included the Elders along with several other musicians and other guests. The Elders played “Moore Street Girls” to open the show, and closed it with “Racing the Tide”. I wanted to get someone around here to tape it for me, but VHS and DVD recorders are not widely used with the people I spoke to. So I resorted to the old fashioned method, I used my camcorder to video the TV, crude but effective. The show was recorded last Sunday in Dublin and it was fun watching the boys play again. I saw Ian’s mom and sister in the audience, I didn’t recognize anyone else, although the host mentioned the crowd was from Kansas.

After the show we walked to the Armada, Lisa wanted to listen to the “Two Johns”. After listening to one song we decided to move on, not our cup of tea, and not very good to boot. Making our way back to the Lord Kinsale we found Kevin playing again, so we stayed for a while. A couple songs later Kevin invited the locals to come up and sing again. I can only describe it as “Irish karaoke”. From the inebriated to the talented, it was quite a show. John and the boys from Wales were there enjoying the singing, they leave for home at 6:00 am tomorrow morning, and Tom from Milwaukee, a retired middle school principal who sang a “miner” song that I never heard before. But the capper of the evening was a 25-30 year old local who sang “You Will Never Walk Alone”, he had a nice voice, and the entire crowd joined in with singing and dancing! Not something I would ever think to see in a Irish pub! Great craic!

March 12 – Monday – Very sunny morning, we decide to drive to Cobh and visit the Heritage Center. Taking the road through Scilly and down by the Bulman, then up the hill and stop at the lookout to take some pictures of Kinsale from across the harbor. While I am taking photos, a tour bus stops and wants to park where I am, so we move the car and let them in. I ask the driver if he know Jim Powers (Chip) who the driver for Bus #3 in 2002, he said Jim was a good friend of his. When I asked what happened, he said Jim had his motorcycle stored in Killarney during the tour season, and was taking it back home when he lost it on a curve. No one else was involved. I had heard this from Mike Cleveland and wanted to see what I could find out. The driver said that Jim used to drive for Brendan Tours.

We continued on to the Heritage center, nice place, interesting exhibits, but not something I would do again. Leaving there we went back to Midleton to walk the town center and have a toasted special for lunch. This is the first day we can walk around in our shirtsleeves! Wonderful! This is what we have been waiting for since we got here. On the way home we swung through Grange and picked up a few things at the Aldi there. Got pizza for supper, and I plan on going to the I-café after to update the pictures and blog.

Back in Kinsale

March 6 – Tuesday – The sun is out so we decide to wander down to the Farmer’s Market after a light breakfast. I go to the I-café first to post some pics and update my blog after the week away from Kinsale. We pick up some fresh roasted coffee from the Cork Coffee Roasters at the market, get a few things for dinner, and see that Gina’s Café is open, it opened up on the first of March, so we go there for lunch. Small place but nice, I had the tuna melt panini and a seven-up, Lisa had a toasted special and diet coke and the bill was 15 euro. Take everything back to the house and with the sun still shining we decide to walk Compass Hill.

It is the area south of where we are staying, and overlooks the harbor on the east side, and some village on the west. A lot of the old stone wall is still up, and some very old and interesting houses up there. It is an hour walk or so and we really enjoy it. We find Victoria’s house on the way, we’ve been invited for supper there tomorrow. Lisa wants to get a tea when we head back so we make our way back into town and go to the Cucina for a coffee, tea and a couple cookies, and as we hit the door the sky opens up and it pours, I guess timing is everything! After the rain stops and the sun reappears we make our way back home.

After a supper of salads and tarts we picked up in the morning, we head out for a pint at the Lord Kinsale, my bartender friend isn’t working so we decide to try the Tap Room. Only one customer and the bartender when we arrive, but patrons wander in and out through the night. I get a chance to try the Jameson Distillers Select 12 year old, the same stuff that I bought at the distillery. I ask the bartender about the whiskey box with Kinsale 2000 is printed on it. He shows me the box and opens it and I see that it contains a bottle of Bushmill Millennium “For display only” he says, “if I drop it I would need a second mortgage to pay it off”. After a couple drinks, Lisa and I are both tired so we head back and hit the hay.

March 7 – Wednesday – After a lazy breakfast we decide to take the bus into Cork for a little exploring. Getting on the 10:30 we hit Cork at 11:15 and make our way around the city. I use a reference I printed from the internet which shows us some of the historical buildings around Cork city center. This is a town rich in culture and heritage, and interesting to note that the main city streets were once canals filled with water. There is even a law still on the books that allows the building owners to park their boats next to their buildings. Making our way around South Mall St, Grand Parade St, St Patrick’s Street and the Merchant’s Quay, we find ourselves back at the bus station, we decide not to try St Patrick’s hill today, so wander back to Oliver Plunket Street and have some lunch at the Old Oak again. I get a printing off the wall that shows the Elders playing there last Monday. I try to hit some of the CD shops to find a copy of the Valley Project. This was recorded by Ian Byrne, Fran Harper and others, but no luck.

Catching the bus back to Kinsale we pick up a bottle of wine to bring to dinner tonight. Bill and Sue picked us up about “half seven” which I find out does mean 7:30, and we dine at Victoria and Alan’s. We started with a drink in the living area, and after an hour of socializing we went to the dinning area for what Victoria informed us was a typical Irish dinner that you would have been served in a typical Irish home of the past. It consisted of “bacon and cabbage” which starts with a potato and leek soup, a main course of cabbage, “bacon” (ham) covered in onion gravy, potatoes and turnips, and finally fresh fruit with cream for desert. It was a very leisurely dinner, we didn’t leave the table until11:30 when Bill and Sue finally took us home. I opened a Kinsale Cream Stout and watched a bit of TV before going to bed about 12:30.

March 8 – Thursday – Up early today – 7:15, bowl of cereal for breakfast, shower, then we pick up and clean up a bit, besides being time, Victoria is bringing a prospective renter by about 10:15. After they leave we go down to town, I check my email and pay some bills. Lisa swings by the Ireland Soap Co to buy a few things, then we head off to Fishy-Fishy for lunch. Beautiful place inside, this is the one next to the harbor, the original store is on the road leading up to Desmond Castle. I have the Avocado-Prawn special, very delicious! And Lisa gets the breast of chicken. Also very good. We split a apple-strawberry crumble for desert, and go home about 43 euro lighter. Pricey, but worth it.

Tonight we will just have sandwiches for dinner, and wander down to the An Seanachai to listen to Liam O’ again. As I return with our pints, I see that Lisa has an “admirer” at the table. When he realizes that I am her husband he departs with a “sorry”, a smile, and a handshake, I see he is a bit in his cups and we laugh it off and continue listening. Liam O’ directs several of his remarks to the group of men that Lisa’s “friend” came from, and we find out they are a bunch of Welshmen here on holiday, who are very enthusiastic about the music. After four of them leave for the next bar, our friend returns to our table and we have a chat. Find out his name is John, the drink making his Welch accent rather difficult to understand, and he regales us with stories of his trips to New York and the Madison Square Garden where he listened to Bruce Springsteen, and attended a benefit concert for BB King with Robert Plant playing among others I couldn’t understand. When he realized he needed to catch up to his friends he left, with us not to far behind, I wanted to stop to the Lord Kinsale to see if our bartender buddy was working, which he was.

He seemed happy to see us, except for the part where I asked him what happened to Arsenal? “Out of 3 cups in 2 weeks!” he said “I suppose you cheered when PSV scored again?” as PSV Eindhoven was the club that defeated Arsenal again this week. I tried not to rub it in, so we talked of other things, and found out his name is Owen, he’s 24, and his “mum” and “nan” where in the pub, so he was born and raised in Kinsale. Began working the pubs at 16 when he was at one and they were a bartender short. We notice that he is always busy, and very good at his job. Lisa had a nice talk with his mum, but we only had time to finish the one pint and leave, they seem to be much better here about getting you out of the pub at closing time. Last call is 11:30 during the week.

March 9 – Friday – 7:00 finds me making coffee and toast for breakfast. Looks to be a nice day, the sun is making another appearance, and they are predicting 14C. That gives us the idea to do another tour around town. First I need to see if I can update a couple websites, so I head to the I-café and attempt to get FrontPage to cooperate. This ends up being a failure, so I take my laptop home and we head out to see the other side of town. We take Rampart Lane west to Blind Gate, north to Butchers Row, up Friars Walk, east on Lower Catholic Walk where we go in the Carmelite Church and peek around. I take a few pictures, and we head back out. Going east again, I stop and take some pictures across the valley, we can see the back side of our house from here. Back north again and we make our way east for a bit, then south til we hit Barracks Road and through the walkway down to Newman’s Lane which takes us back to town. Lisa buys us lunch at the Armada, we pick up a couple groceries on the way home, and I take my newspaper out to the back porch to bask in the sun! Simply gorgeous! Supper tonight is a pizza we picked up, and afterwards we walk to the Spaniard in Scilly to listen to the Trad music they advertise.

We get there about 8:30, find a seat near the table the musicians will be at, and wait til 9:30 for the music. 9:30ish ends up being about 10, and then it is only one guy with a banjo and guitar, who plays and sings a little. Not being very good, Lisa and I wander back to the house about 11 and call it a night.

March 10 – Saturday – 7:00 and its very overcast this morning. Easy day today, pay bills online, coffee at the bakery, lunch at home, a Smithwicks in the afternoon while watching some rugby at the Market pub (first time there for us), chicken kiev at home for supper, and listen to music tonight at the Vista and then An Seanachai. The three boys at the Vista are the same ones we heard the first time we were there, acoustic music that reminds us of the Greenville bunch.

The An Seanachai featured the Trad Routes, which was Liam O’ and Ger Walsh. Great fun, lots of traditional with some Billy Joel, Eric Bogle and Simon and Garfunkel thrown in. Ger tried to do a “stump the audience” on a song, “none of you will know this” he says, then proceeds to sing “I Still Can’t Say Goodbye”. He mentioned that he got it from Tommy Emmanuel, and he was amazed that we knew it, and I reminded him that Jimmy Moore was the one who wrote it. Had a nice talk with Ger after the show, he mentioned his band was recording Jimmy’s song on their next album. Closing time on Saturday is 12:30,so that’s when they started hounding everyone to leave. We got home about 1:00 and slept in until 8:30 or so.

The Netherlands

March 2 – Friday – We need to be on the road on time, hopefully we have light traffic for our drive back to Cork Airport. After a light breakfast and packing the car, we are on the road by 9:30. Even driving in the rain all day we actually get to Kinsale by 1:45, redo the luggage a bit for our flight, off to the Great Southern next to the airport for lunch, turn the car in and get to our gate with time to spare. We leave a little after 5, and with the one hour time difference, we arrive in Amsterdam about 7:45. It takes us a hour to go through customs and immigration though, so we don’t see my cousin Gerrie and Rudolph, who are waiting for us, until 8:45. Hugs all around, a cup of coffee in the airport and on the road. It is a 1 ¼ hour drive to their house in Bolsward so we get there about 10:30. After settling in and chatting for a bit, we head for bed. It’s been a long day traveling, but we’re happy to be here.

March 3 – Saturday – Gerrie sets the table for breakfast, she said it’s nice to do it once in a while, when it’s just the two of them they don’t do it much. After a hearty breakfast, we decide to do a tour of their hometown, it is called Bolsward, or Bolsert in Frysian, and located in the northern Province of Fryslan. Fryslan has it’s own language, which is different than Dutch, in fact, most of the 11 or 12 Provinces of The Netherlands have their own language, sometime it’s even localized to a town such as Hindeloopen, where we will travel this evening, had it’s own language once. But the Frysian language is the only one, other than Dutch, that is taught in school.

Bolsward is a beautiful town, very old, some of the architecture dates to the 1500’s. The town hall, which is considered one of the three finest town halls in the Netherlands, is dated Anno 1614, and is simply gorgeous. Of course there is a lot of water around, canals and such, and lots of fishing. Rudolph shows us where the houses of his youth and his relatives are, then takes us to the grocery store which he used to be part owner. It is called “Jumbo Kooistra”, Kooistra being his surname. Everyone there knows him by name. We pick up a couple things, and while looking in the liquor section, I see there is a Single Malt Whiskey that is made in town! It is called FryskHynder and I asked if they had a small bottle I could buy. It only comes in fifths, so I pass, but the salesman told us we could go through the distillery, it is just down the road, so off we go. At the distillery bar I get to try a shot of the whiskey, and it’s pretty good. Has a little bite, but flavorful. I did get a shot glass from here though, but the head distiller says the whiskey is only sold in fifths. They also brew beer here, it’s called US Heit. You can check it out online at www.bierbrouwerij-usheit.nl.

As I said earlier, we then go for a ride to Hindeloopen, a seaside village near Bolsward. We drive past old and new windmills on the way, the new ones are mostly owned by the government, but some are owned by the farmers, and Gerrie thinks they are allowed to sell any excess electricity to the government. We park outside Hindeloopen and walk in, there is a small harbor with working fishing vessels in it. Because Hindeloopen is also quite a tourist town, there are a bunch of sailboats stored here right now. We stop on the dike that keeps the Ijsselmeer out and look around. The Ijsselmeer is formed by the dike keeping out the North Sea (Noordzee), and is now a fresh water lake. After a walk around town, we have dinner at the Restaurant de Drie Harinkjes, and no I forgot to ask what Harinkjes are, but there are three (drie) of them. After dinner we go back to Rudolph and Gerrie’s, have a coffee and retire for the night.

March 4 – Sunday – Amsterdam today! And the easiest way for us to do this is to drive to Zaandam which is about an hour drive, and take a 15 minute train ride in. We spend a wonderful day in Amsterdam, the weather cooperates again, cool but no rain even though it was foggy on the drive in, and we walk around for a while. Coming across a self-serve with krokets, I figure I better have one, it’s been 35 years since my last one, it is kind of hard to describe, fried with a liquid meat filling. After enjoying that, we walk the shopping street, and arrive at the square where there are performers trying to make a buck. Mostly they dress up and want money for you to get your picture taken with them. One guy was dressed like Jim Carry in the “Mask”, one a Roman Centurion, there was a bagpiper, and horse carriages for rides. We wandered over to the New Café (Nieuwe Kafe) for lunch, some really good pea soup for me, sandwiches for the rest. Back out in the city, we saw some very old architecture, and quite a variety of it also, Amsterdam being a melting pot of cultures over the years.

Not having time to do it all, naturally, we thought we would like to take the canal boat ride and get a good all around view. This took about an hour, and was really worthwhile. They helped explain some of the buildings you were looking at, and some of the history of the city. I think you could spend months in Amsterdam and not see it all, much less just one day, but it was a nice overview anyway. On the way back to the train, we just had to stop and get Lisa some frites (French fries) which the Dutch sell in a paper cone with mayonnaise on top.

On the trip home we stop on the dike at the monument, it is closed so we can’t get up there, but we get a few pictures before the cold wind drives us back to the car. After we get home, we call out for Chinese takeout and have a nice dinner, for desert Rudolph offers me a shot of Berenberg which is a liquor that is also made in Fryslan. Not bad, it’s like a lightly spiced whiskey. It’s been a long day again, and we have to be up early so we go to bed about 10.

March 5 – Monday – We are up at 5:30, the Schipol Taxi that will take us to the airport is due at 6:10. We say our goodbyes all around and climb in through the heavy rain for the ride to the airport. The traffic jam starts 20 kilometers out of Amsterdam! The ride that was an 1 ¼ hours on Friday, is now a 2 ½ hour trip in, but we make it to the gate with time to spare. Even the weather cooperates and the sun comes out for a while. But on landing in Cork, we are greeted with rain and gale force winds. I grab a taxi to take us home and we arrive there very tired but happy. It was a great weekend with Gerrie and Rudolph, we met 2 of their daughters also, and we really enjoyed ourselves. The rest of the day is now taken up with grocery shopping and laundry. We both are tired at night so we retire about 10.

Co Wicklow

February 28 – Wednesday – Up on time and after a quick breakfast we are on the road before 8:30. I decide to try going through Cork instead using the ferry by Cobh this time, I think it will be faster. We make the N25 by 9:00 and hit Youghal (pronounced yawl) by 9:45. Having heard the Youghal is a historical town we pull over after we pass through the clock gate. We climb up the town wall to see if we can get in the clock gate museum but it is closed. We wander down to the harbor, and see the Moby Dick restaurant, and yes they did film the movie here (1954 starred Gregory Peck), then had a coffee and pastry at the Coffee Pot before getting underway again. By 11 we were driving through Dungarvan, and I’ll be danged if I could find the “Old Dungarvan Oak”. We came across a “Mobile Chef” on the road, a box truck that was serving food out the side. We continue through Waterford and stop at New Ross to go through the Dunbrody Famine ship. Quite rainy and windy, helps to lend a little authenticity to the tour. While we are touring, they are filming a movie. I didn’t get it all, but something about a teen doing some time travel and he lands on the famine ship during his adventures.

Getting back on the road we hit Enniscorthy about 1:30 and stopped in to see the 1798 Rebellion Center which celebrates the United Irishman in their struggle for Independence. A fascinating tour, well set up, self paced. There is a coffee shop in the building so we have lunch too, great mushroom soup and a tuna wrap. Back on the road just before 3:00 and drive to the hotel in Woodenbridge arriving about 4:00 where we check in to the oldest hotel in Ireland (1608). The weather was cooperating so we went back out and drove to Avoca, I wanted to see Fitzgerald’s where they filmed Ballykissangel, and Lisa wanted to go to the Avoca Handweavers. We needed to check for a scarf for Linda but they didn’t have one to match her coat, Lisa picked up a couple things and we walked back down to Fitzgerald’s to have a pint and take a couple pictures.

Needing tickets for the Elders show tomorrow, we went to Arklow to the internet café that was selling them, and then looked for a place for supper, ending up at Murphy’s Pub. Very good food, and not very expensive for such a nice place. I had the pork loin, Lisa the chicken nuggets, and it was less than 20euro for the bill. Going back to the hotel afterward, we had a pint in the residents lounge (Four Vales) before hitting the hay, it was a long day with all the driving.

March 1 – Thursday – 8:00 finds us getting ready for breakfast in the restaurant, I order the full Irish, 3 giant rashers (bacon), 2 Irish sausage, black and white pudding, eggs over easy, grilled tomatoes, grilled mushrooms and toast, this will keep me going today! Driving to Avondale we walk the Pine Trail in the Avondale Forest Park. This is also home to the Avondale House which was built in 1777, and where Charles Stewart Parnell was born in 1846. We really luck out today as the weather cooperates with us, sunny and cool, very nice for walking. It holds out as we drive to the Meeting of the Waters, where the Avonbeg and Avonmore rivers meet and is associated with the poet Thomas Moore. The pub located there is called The Meetings, and needing a pint we stop in. I order the Kilkenny and am really disappointed, it tastes really bad, nothing like the one I had at the Spaniard. Figuring we better walk off the pint we just had, we drive to Aughrim and find the Sean Linehan trail. Beautiful walk along the river and back.

We walk for a hour or so and make our way into town for a few pictures and a bite of lunch at the Stonecutter’s coffeehouse, I have just a bowl of soup after the big breakfast I had this morning, after which we figure we would drive around a bit for a good look at the country here. Make our way up to Wiklow and back down to Arklow where we stop at the NewVision I-café so I can check my email. I buy an hour’s worth of time from a very nice lady (Julie New) who I later discover is Ian Byrne’s sister! (That is why the tickets are only for sale here) Lisa picks me up after some shopping and we make our way back to the hotel for some supper in the Four Vales and get ready for the Elders show in the back room. We have fun talking to the band again, they had a good trip in, but arrived just today, so with the concert tonight it will be a long day for them. Fred and Mary from Grand Rapids are here with their daughters Lee and Tess, who are going to school in Galway. It’s the first time they have seen them since they left for school in January. We also meet Ian’s mother, very nice lady who is going on the tour with the band, and we meet Jeff from England who used to live in Wichita and knew all about the Elders but never had a chance to see them live in Kansas! So he came over here to follow the tour.

The concert is suppose to start at 8:30, but being Irish time it’s more like 9 before the opener begins, Fran Harper on vocals and guitar, and Naimh on keyboard and vocals. They used to play with Ian before he joined the Elders. After 5 or 6 songs, Naimh left the stage and Gig (Paul) joined Fran for a couple songs, some really good blues there. By now the room was full and ready for the Elders to start. They climb the stage about 10 to a great reception from the crowd, jumping right into Michael’s Ride and playing for a enthusiastic audience. Ian was very energetic, and managed to entertain everyone with tales of his youth in the Avoca area, which included the introduction of his mother. The band ending up with the Devil’s Tongue and when encouraged to do an encore, they brought up Fran and Gig to help them with Message in a Bottle which rocked the house. A great night for everyone! After a bit of chatting we all decide it’s time to crash so off we go.

getting ready to travel

February 27 – Tuesday – Farmer’s Market again today so we decide to hold off and eat breakfast down there. Lisa’s doing a bit of laundry, we need to pack today for the trip to Arklow and Amsterdam, we won’t be back until next Monday. Do a bit of house cleaning, I run the vacuum, Lisa a little scrubbing. Down at the Farmer’s Market we have a couple crepes for breakfast. I have the veggie and Lisa has a strawberry one, along with a couple coffees from the coffee cart. We go to the I-café to catch up on things and post a bit, we won’t be around for a while so I better do it now. For some reason my laptop acts up, can’t access the internet, play around with it for a bit and end up running out of battery. It doesn’t last very long on this machine, 50 minutes or so, but new batteries are quite expensive. Head home, plug in the laptop, play around with the settings and I think I’m all set. Back to the I-café and viola…it works. Post to the blog and put up some pics while I check all the emails. Have to prebook our luggage for the Amsterdam flight, saves a few euro that way. Stop in to the Swell for a pint on the way home. Nice place, and it seems to feature jazz, we will have to try it next weekend. The Murphy pint glasses have some inscription on them and I ask the bartender “what would it take to take one home”. She puts the tip jar in front of me along with two clean glasses, I drop 2 euro in and she seems quite pleased, win/win I guess :)

Supper at home, chicken glazed with soy, mashies and green beans, after we map out the trip for tomorrow, I think we have it all set, clothes-check, maps-check, reservations-check, cameras-yup I think we have everything. We have time for a pint yet tonight, so we try the White House, haven’t been there yet. Everyone is watching Reading vs. Manchester United when we arrive. I see they have 1703 on tap, it is a brew from the Kinsale Brewing Co, but it’s not stocked until summer, so I go with the Smithwick’s. We watch Man U win 3-2 and wander home for the night. Tomorrow is a long day driving.