We continued our walk around town and found some very interesting gift shops and grocery stores. I helped Angie polish off a pastie, a typical meat pie, she found in the grocery shop. One business especially caught my eye. There was so much pride in the neatly whitewashed building with beautiful planters on the sidewalk and window boxes full of purple petunias. The windows had an interesting display of old bottles and books. The sign said O’Loclainn’s Whiskey Bar, but they were closed and I couldn’t find out what was actually on the other side of the door.

We found several interesting man-hole-covers on this trip. On the one in Ballyvaughan, the triple spiral, in Celtic symbols, represents the three powers of maiden, mother and crone. It is a sign of female power and especially power through transition and growth. The center of this symbol represents the “center ” signifying unity of the three powers. Wish I knew the meaning of the other Celtic knots and symbols. I’ve been wanting a tattoo but couldn’t decide what symbol I would want. This may be it!

The locals in Ballyvaughan were very friendly and stopped to tell us about a dry canal used to move farm animals in the summer. The same canal floods during the rainy season. On the other side of the canal bridge were donkeys that appeared to be trapped on some questionable ground between the stone walls that marked the roads and the Galway Bay. They were fat and happy and even friendly enough to let us pet them. There were several homes that still sported thatched roofs. I was drawn back to childhood and Hansel and Gretel or some other Grimm tale. The mountain in the background around town is the edge of The Burren. More to say about the Burren later.

Everyone was a walking zombie. We were all trying to get over the jet-lag by staying up as long as we could. We found several possible places for an early supper. One was an Italian place called L’Arco’s and the other a more typical pub, Hyland’s Burren Bar. A gentleman was sitting outside Hyland’s and strongly recommended it. We bit. It was actually one of the best places we ate during the whole trip. They had several wonderful seafood dishes. I had the local smoked salmon on Irish Brown Soda Bread. Yum!!! Several others had a fish chowder and loved it. Early dinner, early to bed and early to rise the next morning…….

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  And if it ain’t worn out or dirty, don’t waste your money on a new one. I’ve always heard that the Irish are thrifty people and I saw it first hand on this trip. I rented a castle in the middle of southwest Ireland for the trip. The castle owners didn’t want to commit to a partial week, so I found a B&B for two nights a little further north, near the Aran Islands. The plan was to see that part of the country on that leg of the trip from the B&B and to do day trips to the lower southwest area from the castle. I hate packing and repacking. More to come on the castle later. I found a reasonably priced B&B in Ballyvaughan right on the Galway Bay. I was able to book it via email and the owner, Kathleen, was very responsive. When you have a group of nine, a priority is bathrooms and beds. The Oceanview seemed well equipped and she offered a full Irish breakfast with the stay. The trip to Oceanview was only an hour’s drive from the Shannon Airport, another plus. I saw pictures of the accommodations on line and knew it was modest. The first impression when we arrived was WOW! The house sat right on the Bay and each of us had a Room With a View. The entrance was lined with brightly blooming flowers and a rock wall. The reception room also served as a gathering place for guests. Kathleen kept hot water for tea, biscuits and other accoutrements available ‘round the clock for guests. This was nice, but the room was what started the whole adventure off on a warm and welcoming exploration of this part of Ireland.       The solarium windows were filled with red, pink and fuchsia geraniums back-dropped by the view of the Bay. The whole house was spotlessly clean. The furniture was a bit dated and reminded me of my family home in the 50s. My point - if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Kathleen’s warmth and compassionate attitude more than made up for dated furniture. I hope I get a chance to go back and stay with her again. Breakfast was a gut-buster! We all took a short break and got settled in. She was gracious enough to let us check in early. Remember, we had landed that morning at 6:00am. After a break most of us walked around town. It was more of a small village. We found the local church; a bit modern compared to most the buildings we saw. In the graveyard we saw a beautiful sculpture. I say sculpture because it didn’t look as if anyone was buried there. Barbara’s daughter Marel found the information about it online: They are the creation of an art student from Ohio, Hattie Hammersmith, who was studying at Burren College of Art in Ballyvaughan. The figures represent the human spirit victorious over the earthly barriers represented by the arches. Twelve spirits in an eternal circle, arms raised victorious in praise to God. ………..Ballyvaughan segment to be continued.  

Our plane landed in Shannon at 6am.  We gathered our bags and picked up our rental cars.  I rented two cars for the nine of us.  I just didn't want to even think of renting a van as big as the one I rented in France for a similar group, due the very narrow and winding roads we would be traveling.  Shannon is a small enough airport and easy enough to get acclaimated to the roads in any kind of traffic, and driving on the wrong side of the road.  We ran into a US couple later in the trip who had flown into Dublin and had to negotiate that traffic as well as learning to think absolutely against the grain of everything you've ever thought about in driving. Right out of the gate, we experienced hospitality that I would normally tag as "southern".  We were in southern Ireland you know and many of our southerners in the US have Scots-Irish heritage.  Maybe it is not too big of a stretch to think our southern hospitality is just part of our DNA from those ancestors.  The people at Hertz upgraded our cars without a fee, just because they could.  We stopped by Bunratty Castle Lodge for a true Irish breakfast buffet and enjoyed a wait-staff as hospitable as could be.  The only thing different in a big American breakfast and a big Irish breakfast was the pudding.  Again, a heritage thing, I think-eggs, sausage, tomatoes, Irish soda bread, bacon etc.  The black and white pudding was a new cultural treat for me. White pudding is a meat dish popular in Ireland. Similar to white pudding, black pudding doesn't include blood. It consists of pork meat and fat, suet, bread, and oatmeal formed into the shape of a large sausage.  They slice that and fry it up crisp.  Really tasty!  Full and awake and ready to start our trek, about an hour away, to the first B&B in Ballyvaughan.....On the road again......

Just a little warning to anyone about to travel through the airports-wash all the creams and lotions off.  If anyone knows Harriet, they know she wouldn't hurt a fly, but she is the one who got strip-searched for setting off the machines.  She came through with flying colors of course.  The TSA decided it was the creams on her hands that set the alarm off.  Here she is in the little room re-grouping.  This is also another reason to get to the airport early to give yourself time for the crazies.

  This diverse group of mere acquaintances met up at the Boston Airport on Wednesday, September 25, 2013 to catch a flight on Aer Lingus to Shannon, Ireland.  What began with introductions and "nice-to-meet-yous" ended in hugs and "I-love-yous", and "I'm-going-to-miss-yous" on their return trip October 5.  Follow me for the next few days as I take you on the trip through the images and stories we all collected.  Hear about Ireland and the experiences we had and the friendships we've made, in the group, and with the people we met along the way.