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Sunday 6/24 – Killarney to Dublin

Set out to see southern Ireland. Most Irish buildings are made of stucco and painted.  Yellow and pink are favorite colors. Older buildings made of gray stone were quite attractive. The houses looked so prosperous and freshly painted I wondered whether this was a government project along tourist routes or due to Eire's recent prosperity or both.

Robin entertained us with typical stories, some that might even be true.  One example came after a sneeze, when he said the custom of saving bless you came about during the Bubonic plague which killed 30% of the population.  When a person sneezed, the oldest male in the church put his hand on people’s head and said “bless you” to hope you didn’t die.   The nursery rhyme “A Tisket A Tasket” mentions the ring (of pus) around the rosie, Atishoo for sneezing or Ashes/Ashes (we’re dead), we all fall down (dead), and a pocket full of poseys, which people used to ward off the disease.  A web site said people used to mark dead bodies so that others would leave them alone.

Blarney Castle was skipped because of a shortage of time.  Robin said it was a long walk up to the top where the stone was, and many people wouldn’t be able to get there.  Kissing the Blarney stone was supposed to give one the gift of eloquence, which is strange since the rock hole was originally used as a toilet (according to Robin).

We saw lime kilns where limestone is burned to make fertilizer.   John Mecom told us that the mountains in Scotland, Ireland, Labrador, Maine , Berkshires, Poconos, and Appalachians are all called Lorentzian mountains, and they originated from the same continental separation of the Pangea land mass.

Upon our request, Robin arrange a 20 minute pit stop in Youghal, an old port at the mouth of the River Blackwater, to see the Sir Walter Raleigh house (Myrtle Grove), where Joanna fixed New Year’s breakfast for 50 young, high society friends of Simon Murray on New Year’s Day in 2002.  Simon was her suitor at that time.

We got directions from a card shop on the main street, turned left at the butcher shop, and walked up the hill to the Collegiate Church of St Mary’s, where we stood on a bench to look over the wall into the back yard.  Simon apparently wasn’t there.  Raleigh lived in that house in the 1590’s when he was mayor of Youghal, and tradition says he smoked tobacco and introduced potatoes to Ireland in this yard. The harbour was delightful, and it was interesting to me that one of our group liked this place as the best on the trip, even though it was unscheduled and short.  Cathy Herring, mother of Patrick who was in the Pearce band with Jo, surprised Jo with a cell phone email telling of our success in finding the house.  Everyone got back on the 5 minutes before a heavy shower, and Terry Parsons gave a 5 minute sermon on the bus.

Continued to Waterford to tour the glass factory and showroom, where we had a light lunch.

Then drove to Dublin, seeing fields of barley, yellow rapeseed, and red poppies, and arriving at the Grafton Capital Hotel about 6:15. Dinner was scheduled for 8:00 at a different hotel, and our driver just couldn’t seem to find it.  It was comical as Jim Schureman had a GPS device.   A large group of us had an easy and fun walk back to our hotel about a mile away, staying with Jim.  This hotel also had a swimming pool.