Myths Are A Plenty

The Gospel According to Dennis:
Friday, March 29th was our trip to the “Burren” and then on to the Cliffs of Moher via tour bus with our driver, Tommy. We left Galway at around 10:00 AM which was an easy time to start. On the way to the Burren we passed a few castles, stopped for 10 - 15 minutes at each and learned from Tommy, which had good feudal lords and which didn’t. One by the name of Lynch, actually hanged his own son for killing an opponent in a duel (duels were illegal). When no one would step forward to do the hanging, Lord Lynch put the noose around his son’s neck and pushed him off the scaffold. Local myth says this is where the word lynching originated. Sound kinda fishy? We found myths aplenty in Ireland.

The Burren is a UNESCO Geo Park of glacial era limestone cliffs, caves, and tombs. It formed 325 million years ago but people populated it 2,500 - 4,000 B.C.  They couldn’t bury their dead because of the thick limestone base (like Bloomington, IN) so they dug into what little dirt was there andcovered the people with stone. (Cindy has pics.)

The Cliffs of Moher are are also in the area and abut the Atlantic Ocean. The cliffs tower up to 700 feet above the ocean and span 5 miles of ocean frontage. Again, Cindy has pics but they can’t do it justice.  It’s overwhelming. There are stone fences erected to keep tourists from the face of the cliffs with signs saying, “Stay inside the fence, erosion is still occurring.”  This dissuades most people but not all. Many young people hang over the edge and tempt fate but none were sacrificed this day.

I must admit, I probably would have done the same but for my lumbago, vertigo, minor case of pneumonia, and gout. Oh, and acrophobia, did I mention acrophobia? But I do have nerves of steel. I really would have hung over the cliffs too, if not for these distractions, oh and my nebulizer. The hose wouldn’t reach the cliffs edge, especially with Cindy holding onto my sleeve and nagging about having to tell my daughters about my untimely and foolish death. In any event, it was a great day. Our last stop was also along the Atlantic and also beautiful.

Tommy had plenty of Irish stories, myths, and of course jokes that made it even better. Do you know how to tell a pessimist from an optimist from an Irishman? A pessimist says the glass is half empty, An optimist says the glass is half full, the Irishman says, give me the glass and put a little whiskey in it. Cindy says she’s going to do a DNA test because  she’s sure now her biological father must have some Irish in him.  Just kidding, but she did say that. With that, we headed out for dinner, an Irish pub, just across the street from our hotel with music.

I’ve got one more quick story about this pub. At closing time, 3:00 AM I woke to singing, yelling, honking, fighting, so I went to the window and what to my wondering eyes should appear?  A drunk guy who got lost in a 4’ x 3’ doorway with an open front. It was hilarious.  He finally found his way out, wobbled up the sidewalk 5 or 6 feet, turned around, wobbled back and fell into the same doorway and the same dilemma. He found his way out again, got into a scuffle with a passerby at which time his wife found him and dragged him home. Ya gotta love Ireland and the Irish!!

The Poems of James A. Kelly

Eventually, I’ll get to the poems but first the day...we started at Griffins Bakery #21 Shops Street, guided there by two young and charming police officers. They thought they could take us there because they knew of a pub nearby, gorgeous beginning! At exactly 10:30 AM we were joined by 10 young men and women from Galway, Pennsylvania, other parts of Ireland, and Germany and our guide Sheena. Her tour is highly recommended by Rick Steves and for good reason. And so we began at the bakery with a sample of a scone and a cream filled donut.  One of the tiny young ladies, claimed it was too much.  Dennis and I refrained from offering to eat her leftovers though we discussed it as we walked to our next stop. So delicious!

We next went to McCambridge’s Shop and Restaurant for a whiskey sampling, great way to start the day! We had several kinds of whiskey, including poitin (Irish moonshine) accompanied by two kinds of cheese and two kinds of salami. Several people discarded their portion of the poitin. Dennis offered to drink it. Sheena, “Really?” He didn’t press the point though I could see he might like too.

From there we went to the Saturday market to The Bean Tree for wonderful curry and then to the Brown’s Oysters and Egg concession. This is run by Michael’s father.  Michael and his girlfriend were on the tour with us.  He was in the shucking contest for the last two years but declines to do it again. The oysters were served with a dollop of buttermilk on them and sucked down with gusto, at least

by some and by some, a bit timidly. Interesting.

We then went to a very old bar, Sehan Ua Neachtain with fantastic food.  First we tried sushi by a friend of Sheena’s—a traditional tuna sushi and a turnip sushi which she used to successfully introduce sushi to Ireland. The point of Sheena’s tours is to get away from the stereotypes of what Irish food is and to showcase the new farm to table success stories. Then we tried samples for the bar itself with two beers, Kojak, a dark beer and a Galway Hooker, an IPA plus two open faced sandwiches on homemade bread that were just fantastic.

On we went to The Hazel Mountain Chocolate shop which imports cocoa beans from all over the world and then creates magnificent chocolates based on the flavors of the beans.  We ended with hot choclate which was melted chocolate with a bit of water. Amazing!

This was followed by a trip to the Cupan Tae, an Irish tea house for a bite sized tea cake filled with a bit of tea and iced with frosting that includes tea. Yum!

We finished across the river at Kia Cafe which has a Michelin star and was won prizes across Europe with a prosciutto, jam, nut appetizer.We waddled away about three hours later and headed in a haphazard manner for the King’s Head

The King’s Head brings us to Mr. James A. Kelly who admitted with no promoting at all, that he was exceedingly drunk.  According to Mr. Kelly’s new 2016 edition of his book, The Poems of James Anthony Kelly, no part of his work cam be produced in any form without his permission, so I am unable to share any of this work with you. Suffice it to say, we enjoyed our encounter with the poet. He gladly (after I slipped him 10 Euros) warmly autographed the cover page, “Welcome Home, to Sindy & Denis.”  Many sweet sentiments, hugs and kisses later, we bide him adieu.

The Emerald Isle

On our second full morning in Cork, Ireland we had breakfast in our hotel, the Isaacs Hotel & Apartments. Across from us was a very proper looking English couple, touring Ireland with a car and driver.  He with his blue striped starched and ironed button down shirt, she with her pearls and pink twin set (hmm, maybe I could write English novels?). Dennis says, “Hey! Where are you going today?” The gentleman replies, “First to the art gallery and then the Cathedral...” Where are we off to today? The Blarney Castle and Jameson distillery! It was a perfect Hyacinth and Richard (Keeping Up Appearances)  meet the queen moment.  Although we are probably a bit more like Daisy and Onslo.

And we loved Blarney Castle, beautiful grounds, not enough time but there was time for Dennis to complete his mission.

The elf on the Shelf gets ready to pucker up!

Then Cobh (Cove) and the Titanic Museum where I was a third class passenger who didn’t survive and Dennis was also a third class passenger who did survive! We both boarded at Cobh which was then called Queenstown. Excellent tour of the museum, very moving.

Finally the Jameson Whiskey Experience. It was a bit difficult to follow and this was before any whiskey had passed through our lips, mostly because the tour starts in the past and then moves to the present but the transition isn’t easy to follow. At the end our guide led us into a tasting room for a comparative tasting of American whiskey, Scotch whiskey and Jameson. Smell and take a sip beginning with the Jameson, then the Scotch, finally the American whiskey. A sip, right? So at the end of the three sips there are still three tastes sitting there and we’re supposed to leave? Two young guys on the tour gave the guide a look of “are you crazy?” And downed the remains of the three samples. Everyone else followed suit, even the lady who looked most proper. We then hurried after our guide for a drink in the bar, two old fashioneds and they were gorgeous!

Dennis went over to the two guys to thank them.  When he came back he said he didn’t think they spoke English but they got the idea of what he said. As we were sipping our drinks, they stopped on their way out to wish us a good rest of our trip.  When they had gone, Dennis asked me where they were from. I replied, “the USA.”  He thought they were from Spain.  The one who stopped did remind us both of our young friend from Spain, Jose De Pablos. No more whiskey today!

Nope, no more whiskey—it’ll be Guinness!

This man came over to talk to us because for St. Patrick’s Day he visited Chicago and GARY. His grandson is a big fan of Michael Jackson and he and his friend went to visit the Jackson home to take a few photos.  The police gently took them in hand and escorted them so they wouldn’t get into any trouble.

We love Cork!!