Castletroy Park Hotel Limerick

We got up early yesterday and drove down to Cork, stopping in Blarney on the way down. There Frank kissed the Blarney stone in Blarney Castle, ensuring him the "gift of gab"- we'll see!

We stopped in Cork and went to an art museum there and had lunch in the museum cafe. I must say we have been blessed with outstanding food on this trip.

From there we drove to Cobh, the port from which almost all of our ancestors emigrated from Ireland to the US, as ...

... cash. The manager had already sent a bottle of wine to our room (of course not knowing we do not drink). They have been trying to catch up to us for 2 days, with us off galavanting around the countryside.

The resort feels so bad that this happened here. Officer Buckley said it may be a staff member so they are eager to track it all down. As I offered my theories about ...

... in the traffic between the two penninsulas. It is a lesson in PR- one is called "The Ring of Kerry" and the other is "Dingle". Which do you think most people visit?

After three days of nonstop driving we are ready for a rest. So today we stay in Adare and explore this wonderful resort and the town. Maybe a nice massage...

... It ended up to be a 60 kilometer drive to reach someplace that is 15 kilometers away- but oh well- it WAS beautiful!

We got back to the National Park around 4:30 and found our horse cart driver- and we were off. Robert and his horse Susie gave us a lovely tour of the route to the Waterfall and then the Abbey, Irish stories all the way. We learned the REAL story of the Herbert family who built ...

Security came and found Frank's pants, his wallet and keys! Only the money was gone. That is a relief as we pictured a day spent dealing with these unpleasantries.

The resort has been nothing but kind. They have moved us into the Manor House. I believe this was an abbey originally. I will upload pictures. We had breakfast overlooking the formal gardens. We are off to Muckross House today.

So this weekend all the Irish kids went home again and it gave me a chance to hang out with some of the Americans. Friday was pretty uneventful, I went to softball training in the afternoon and got dinner at the sports pub on campus with some of the people from softball and then I came back to my house and watched a movie with Andy and Hailey who are both American. Andy is from Oregon and ...

... as a bunch of tourists tried to take their photo ;-) (yes I tried but didn't get one in time before the mouse scampered off...lol). Stopped off at Galway. Lovely seaside city. Would have been great to stay there. Nice Catholic Cathedral in Galway which we just had enough time to look at. Arrived late in Limerick. Nice view of the Shannon River from the hotel window :) Absolutely lovely staff at the Jury's Inn Hotel we stayed at!!! Would recommend it on that ...

... of any campsites in Limerick, and failed to find signs for any as we approached. In the end, we spent the night in the car park of a shopping centre with a shop that was open 24-7, kindly providing us with a snack and toilets! Next day, we got our early start as planned, and were in Limerick town centre by 9am. This posed a new problems for us, as it turned out the car park we were planning on using did not open till 10:30. We eventually found an alternative and set off ...

... civil authority and their allegiance to ancestral ways" (Ó Crualaoich 1998, p.199). Both Ó Crualaoich and Doyle argue strongly that the merry wake tradition is a hold-over from ancient rituals and is used, as such, as a means to exhibit resistance to church control over the peasant class. Ó Súilleabháin subscribes to the idea that the wake serves as a means to placate the deceased and honour him or her so as not to incur the wrath of the dead. He also states that this ...

... on our own, so I can add those to my repertoire. The tin whistle, although generally dismissed as for beginners, is a pretty fun instrument. At least, I've enjoyed learning and playing it. We've got a concert at the end of the semester, so that should be interesting, anyway. My software testing class has been really helpful for my computer programming skills, especially since my home institution, Montana State University, doesn't focus on software ...