Monday, Jan 23 through Friday morning, Jan 27
Southeast of Yeats country, near Roscommon, is Strokestown Park, home of the Famine Museum. Time to get down to business and do a bit of research Continue reading
Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
– W.B. Yeats, from “He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven” Continue reading
It’s not all about drinking in Ireland, is it? On Sunday night, our couchsurfing hostess, Noelle Mekitarian, was off to a rehearsal for The Cripple of Inishmaan, and I invited myself along to watch the Phoenix Players do a run-through of the second act of this modern Irish play. No one seemed to mind that I was there, and I was quiet as a church mouse as everyone set about their business. Thanks for the tea and scones! Continue reading
We arrived in Sligo just in time for the shops to be closing, but not the pubs, so in for a Smithwick’s (my “usual”) and a Bulmers for Bridget before heading out into the country to stay with our new-found friends, the Mekitarians in Lavagh Continue reading
Our last day in Dublin before we headed out to parts north, west and south was a full one. While Bridget had her third day of busking on Grafton Street, I headed out for a leisurely day – first for a coffee and some down time in St Stephens Green, where the grass is green and the water is clear. Continue reading
Eat, drink and be merry is our motto for Dublin. Oh, and lots of walking and trying to get on the Internet, which is very spotty at the best of times. We’ve been exploring Dublin by foot and among our finds: the bars and pubs in Temple Bar are packed on a Friday night; Trinity College is like a fortress when school is out for the holidays; the fellow behind the bar at Kennedys likes Van; O’Connell Street, north of the Liffey, is the place to shop for bargains; Grafton Street is an expensive tourist trap and ripe for busking. Continue reading
We arrived in Dublin just before the crack of dawn this morning and have spent the day defeating jet lag (sort of) and getting a sense of the town. First thing was to get to our hostel, Paddys Palace, north of the Liffey River, and cart all our luggage up four flights of narrow stairs – a set of stairs we’ve been up and down many times today. You can bet we’re getting our exercise. Continue reading