Sleepless in Limerick

After we arrived in Shannon Airport, we collected our luggage and passed through Irish Customs/Immigration. Then it was time to pick up our rental car. First stop was the "Dan Dooley" rental car counter in the terminal where we filled out our paperwork and were presented with the GPS which was included in our rental. We were also informed that if we lost or otherwise failed to return the GPS we would be charged 500 euros! That's almost 700 dollars US. This for a Garmin portable GPS that you can buy new for around 100 bucks.

We resolved that whenever we left the car, the GPS would reside safely in the pocket of my cargo pants. But I digress.

Our next challenge was fitting our luggage in the trunk or "boot" of the Nissan Almera they gave us. At first, we were somewhat dismayed that the "larger" four adult capable car was rather on the small side. As the trip progressed and we had to negotiate the very narrow Irish country roads, especially in the west of the country, while driving on the left no less, we were very grateful indeed for the smallness (and narrowness) of the vehicle. As it turned out, all of us were quite comfortable in the car. The luggage fit in the "boot" with literally not a cubic inch to spare and for some reason, it seemed that every time we packed the car, Abe and I packed the bags in a slightly different configuration - but they always fit!

A Nissan Almera - Ours was blue.

Since we were allowed only two drivers on the vehicle under the standard rental agreement, Abe and I were elected to be the drivers for the trip. Michelle and Roz were only too happy to elect us. Both our wives are good drivers (Michelle loves empty desert roads with no speed limit) but considering the drive on the left situation and the narrowness of the country roads, they were happy to leave the driving to the old men.

So for the rest of the week, Abe and I took turns scaring the crap out of our wives and each other. The basic paradigm consisted of one guy driving (in the right front seat where the controls are on Irish and British cars) with his hands clutching the steering wheel in sheer white-knuckled terror, while the other fellow sat next to him in the passenger's seat (normally the driver's seat in a US car) frantically pumping a non-existent brake pedal and offering soothing encouragements and helpful hints like: "LOOK OUT FOR THAT F-ING TRUCK!!" and so on. In the meantime, our wives would kindly point out F-ing trucks from the back seat. The co-pilot's job also involved operating and interpreting the GPS or the "bitch in the box" as we lovingly referred to the charming, British-accented female voice which issued forth to tell us where to turn at the next roundabout.

A typical Irish country road - The "shoulder" is a hedgerow. There is a reason that left sideview mirrors there are loosely sprung - we sprung ours a lot.

Ahh, roundabouts. This is the Irish/British term for what we call traffic circles - you know, those things that the State of New Jersey has been systematically eliminating for years. In Ireland (and the UK) they are practically national monuments. In fact, in travelling between any two small towns you are sure to pass through at least a hundred roundabouts (well, not really, but it seems that way). They range from the normal size such as we Yanks are used to, down to - I kid you not- large white dots painted in the center of a small obscure intersection. Did I mention that you drive them clockwise?

A mini-roundabout

Well, enough about the thrills of Irish driving. From the airport, we headed into Limerick City and our hotel - The Strand. This was our stay for the first night and was quite nice with a view of the River Shannon (of song and story) and easy walking access to the center of Limerick.

The "Strand" with the Shannon in the foreground. Limerick was just across the bridge.


Limerick at night as seen from our hotel

Of course, there was one strange thing. Right after we checked in, the place swarmed with scary looking dudes and dudesses wearing leather and various metal accoutrements. Was this the Vikings, returned to Limerick after an 1100-year hiatus? Nope, it was an Irish motorcycle club on a cross-country run to raise money for Downs Syndrome research.

After we checked in and stowed our bags in the room, we pressed on with a walking tour of the portion of Limerick near our hotel. Since Michelle and I had, at that point, been about 24 hours without sleep, the bed in our room looked mighty tempting. However, Roz had decided that we should not miss seeing everything we possibly could, even on our first groggy day. We teased Roz about this outlook a bit during the trip, but the truth be told, her persistence spurred our little group on to see a lot of Ireland during our fairly short stay. Thanks Roz!

So anyway, we stumbled around the streets of Limerick and came upon an outdoor market which seemed, of all things, to consist of a cadre of French people with pavilions selling their wares and fresh cooked foodstuffs. Thus it was that my first official Irish breakfast consisted of a tasty bowl of French cassoulet (a kind of white bean stew with sausage and other goodies). Apparently this "French Market is part of the Limerick Riverfest which was going on that weekend.

After munching at the market we wandered further on and came to King John's Castle. Yes that King John - the one Robin Hood was always foiling and who was forced to sign the Magna Carta. Apparently Limerick was some sort of Norman outpost in those days. Michelle and I due to our advanced state of beatedness declined to join Abe and Roz on the tour of the castle and instead wandered back across the Shannon on a nearby bridge and thence back to our hotel. Below are some pictures of the castle courtesy of Abe and Roz:

Roz in the courtyard of King John's castle. Leaning on what may be a medieval keg of Guinness

A trebuchet-type catapult and some excavations at KJ's castle. River Shannon in background.

Limerick row houses as seen from the castle

After a short break at the hotel, we set out for the nearby village of Adare which Roz assured us was cited by her guidebook as "the prettiest village in Ireland". Well, if it wasn't the prettiest, it was up there in the top ten. More about this next time.

Next: Adare and Limerick nightlife.

Old Sods in the Auld Sod-Part I

Earlier this month Michelle and I set off on an expedition to explore the land of (at least some of) our ancestors. We were accompanied on this journey by one-third of our intrepid team of explorers from our famous China trip: Abe and Roz. The basic game plan was to fly to Ireland, pick up a rental car, drive madly around the country, see as much as humanly possible in a one-week period, and stay (mostly) in bed and breakfasts (B&B's). Hilarity ensued.

Michelle found an excellent package deal on line which included air fare, a rental car, and accommodations for six nights in the Emerald Isle. Four of these were in B&Bs, and the other two were in a four-star, and a five-star hotel respectively. I'll talk more about the five star joint in a later post. Roz took the lead in finding and booking the B&B's via e-mail, using the list of available places from the travel booking company. Fortunately, these places were all what in Ireland are known as "ensuite", i.e. the bathrooms were private-in-your-room like a hotel as opposed to the "down the hall" baths traditional in B&B's. Anyway, thanks Roz and Michelle.

Well, Friday, the day of the trip, came, and Abe and Roz drove up to New Jersey from their home in Maryland to rendezvous at our house. They left their car in our garage and we all piled into my 4Runner and headed to the airport.

Incidentally, for parking we use an outfit called "Vista" which stores your car in a fenced lot near the airport with 24/7 security guards. They drive you the short ride to the terminal in a van and even handle your luggage. When you return, your vehicle is waiting there for you at the lot entrance warmed up and cleaned of snow if need be - no schlepping through the lot to your car. I highly recommend them - www.vistaparking.com for their info.

Our flight was a 7:30 PM departure on Continental and was rather pleasant for a five-hour flight (once you've done 13 hours over the pole to China anything short of Australia is duck soup). The seats were fairly roomy (3X3 across) and Michelle and I had the aisle and window with the center fortunately empty.

The neatest thing about the plane was the small screen set into the seat back in front of you. You had a choice of movies, TV shows and video games to keep you amused all the way across to Shannon airport. And, it was all free. I ended up watching "Casablanca" and some sitcoms and then proceeded to play video poker and blackjack all the way to Ireland. Unfortunately, one did not play with real money, else I would have won enough to pay for the trip. Why can't this happen in Vegas?? The flight was fairly smooth and uneventful and deposited us in Shannon at around 6:00 AM Irish time. Needless to say, Michelle and I didn't get any sleep on the flight over, but we were nevertheless ready to start a whole new day of exploring "The Auld Sod".

The Shannon River and Limerick City-Our first day in Ireland

Next: Driving on the Left side and other quaint customs.