Timeline of the Kylemore Estate, Ireland

Wednesday's itinerary included a 4-hour visit to this popular attraction in western Ireland.

1850.  Mitchell and Margaret Henry honeymoon in Connemara.  As Margaret is so enchanted with the area, Mitchell purchases a 15,000-acre estate.

1867.  Construction of the castle begins.

1874.  Margaret dies of dysentery in Egypt.  Survived by her husband and 9 children.

1877.  Construction of a Gothic church in Margaret's memory begins and is completed in 1881.

1893.  Electricity generated onsite. 

1903.  The estate becomes the home of the Duke and Duchess of Manchester.   Many interior changes are made.  The Duke's gambling debts result in their leaving in 1914. 

1910.  Mitchell Henry dies. 

1920. Estate taken over by a community of nuns from the Benedictine Community.

1923.  Boarding school opens.

1959.  Fire destroys part of Abbey.

1993.  Abbey partially opened.

1995. Gothic church reopened.

2000.  After four years of restoration work, the  Victorian walled garden is reopened.

2010.  Boarding school closes.

In the old city center of Galway Ireland

The old city center of Galway, compact with numerous pedestrian-only narrow streets, is filled with restaurant, bars, a diversity is retail establishment, and a smattering of tourist attractions.  It's where we spent our Tuesday afternoon.  

JoAnna and I went off on our own, stopping first at the Quay Street Kitchen, a restaurant with an intriguingly dark, rambling interior.  I enjoyed the best deep-fried haddock since the heyday of Mr. Elmer's in Oshkosh.  The only thing missing were the potato pancakes that I've never found replicated anywhere else.  Unfortunately, Mr. Elmer's went out of business years ago and the building on U.S. 45 just south of the city was soon after razed.

With street musicians all up and down Quay Street, this area of Galway exudes the same kind of vibe as Asheville, North Carolina.  The US city has a much greater preponderance of t-shirt and souvenir shops. 

Not sure why pizza would be on anyone's mind in Galway.    

Clonmacnoise, the medieval crossroads of Ireland

Clonmacnoise is one of Ireland's most significant monastic sites.  Located on a bend of the River Shannon, once a major transportation  route, the monastery was founded in 545 AD by St. Cieran and built on an esker, a natural granite ridge. Its earliest remains are from the 9th century. From this period onward, it was routinely plundered by the Irish, Vikings and Anglo-Normans, and ultimately destroyed by the British in the mid-16th century.

Moving about again

By the time JoAnna and I arrived at our hotel, we had three hours to spare until we could check into our room.

"We'll do what we can to try to get you in early," the sympathetic clerk promised.

With the 5-8 hour change for U.S. visitors, this situation is regularly encountered by hotel staff.

"In the meantime, we can offer you a complimentary coffee or tea I. The Links Lounge," she added.

A bellman escorted us there.  If nothing else, it gave us an opportunity to charge our phones. 

After a half hour of sitting after an uncomfortable night that offered us little in the way if sleep, we decided we needed to be active.  During the drive from the airport to the hotel, we spotted just the place to walk, a pedestrian path that followed the shoreline is the Irish Sea.  Not to mention the beach itself, including a long, wide stretch of sandy beach known as a Velvet Strand, which contrasted sharply with the mostly rocky and uneven terrain.

As you can see from the accompanying photos, our nearly two-hour walk provided us with a series of beautiful panoramas.  

And we enjoyed the most restful nap before dinner with our 13 travel mates for the next 10 days.

By the time JoAnna and I arrived at our hotel, we had three hours to spare until we could check into our room.

"We'll do what we can to try to get you in early," the sympathetic clerk promised.

With the 5-8 hour change for U.S. visitors, this situation is regularly encountered by hotel staff, especially with guest who book an overnight flight.

"In the meantime, we can offer you a complimentary coffee or tea in the Links Lounge," she added.

A bellman escorted us there.  If nothing else, it gave us an opportunity to charge our phones. 

After a half hour of sitting after an uncomfortable night that offered us little in the way of sleep, we decided we needed to be active.  During the drive from the airport to the hotel, we spotted just the place to walk, a pedestrian path that follows the shoreline of the Irish Sea.  Not to mention the beach itself, including a long, wide stretch of sandy beach known as the Velvet Strand, which contrasts sharply with the mostly rocky and uneven terrain.

As you can see from the accompanying photos, our nearly two-hour walk provided us with a series of beautiful panoramas.  (Photo1, a view of the Irish Sea with Lambay Island in the distance;  photo 2, Velvet Strand in distance in center/center-right distance)

And the two of us enjoyed most restful naps before dinner.

Andy Fairweather Low on my mind

The 8-hour, overnight flight from Chicago to Dublin brings to mind a 1975 tune by the Welsh musician Andy Fairweather Low.  "Wide-Eyed and Legless".   Wide-eyed in the sense that sleep was fleeting and, whenever I achieved it, hardly restful.  Legless being the condition I needed to achieve in order to find any comfort in the small space I occupied.  I changed positions so often that I might as well have been dancing.  

Low released three albums in the mid-70s -- Spider Jiving (1974), La Booga Rooga (1975), Be Bop 'N Holla (1976) that spent a lot of time on my turntable.  Since his solo career, low has served as a sideman for such well-known British musicians as Eric Clapton ("Unplugged") and Roger Waters.

A day without leg room II

About 90 minutes into the flight, seven miles above the wilds of Ontario-Quebec border, I am reminded that I'm not much of a long- distance flyer.  But then how many of us casual flyers are?  

I really could use some more leg room.  I tried sleeping while the plane seemed to taxi to New York before taking off, but I found myself shifting position every few minutes.  Even a neck pillow and cloth blackout shades don't help.  The underside of my left thigh is being particularly uncooperative.  I'd love to be able to fully stretch my legs and wiggle my toes. Not a chance of that unless I get up.

To while away the time before boarding our plane, JoAnna and I spent 2 hours at the bar of an airport restaurant, where most of the people sitting around us were traveling alone.  It was impossible not to eavesdrop on the various conversations taking place.  One young man described how he had traveled from Germany to Wisconsin to find work as a welder,  without any success apparently.  The more he talked, the more he seemed to be spinning a life out of thin air.  The other young man whom he engaged in conversation, and who seemed only to be able to ask questions, could have easily been mistaken for his brother.    

A day without leg room

Usually at this point of the day, I'm ready for a nap.  Nothing major, mind you.  Sometimes it's no more than an 'eye rest'.  Usually it clocks in at 15 minute of couch-time slumber.  (From the start of my retirement, I forbade myself to take naps in the bedroom.)

As you can see from the accompanying photo, I'm not well positioned for snoozing.  I suppose, in a rude mood, I could stretch my right leg into the aisle, but as soon as I did so, a fellow passenger sitting in front of me would want to use the rest room located at the back end of the bus.  And that's not my kind of rude mood anyway. (Which, of course, begs a question that I'm not going to answer.)

Right now, though, I'm too wired to sleep, which I hope won't also be the case during our overnight, just under 8-hour flight, when I'm likely to have the same amount, I.e., lack of leg room that Van Galder offers at the moment.

At the Janesville stop, an older couple boarded the bus with their Chatty Cathy, preschool-aged granddaughter.  I steeled myself for a bumpy ride as she loudly shared her every observation

"Here's some seats," she announced triumphantly, pointing to the two in front of us.

Please no, I silently, earnestly pleaded.

Fortunately, the trio needed an open row of 4 seats across, which were available further back.

"Oh, there's a TV," she squealed, excitedly pointed to one of the small monitors attached to the overhead storage units .  "Can we watch TV, Papa?"

For the moment, it was a passably cute display of enthusiasm, but it would have worn thin before our South Beloit stop.  

Earbuds, of course, would have helped if the girl's vocalizing continues, but "Papa", fortunately, has been very attentive to his little darling. 

But I've never been much of an earbuds kinda guy. And I didn't bother to pack an 'emergency' pair.

But first, a bus ride

With our plane, a direct flight from Chicago to Dublin via Aer Lingus, not departing until 8:30 this evening, my wife and I were able to start the day in a relaxed weekend fashion.  Read the paper, she the State Journal, me the New York Times, over coffee.   Walk to Sofra in downtown Middleton for breakfast, a not so typical activity as we enjoy preparing  breakfast ourselves, but with little in the fridge, our menu was limited to granola, fruit, and yogurt, which I routinely have for breakfast on weekday mornings.  Enjoy the green serenity of the Pheasant Branch Nature Preserve trail, as were many others -- runners, bikers, strollers, dog-walkers.  Apparently, the birders had already returned home.  

Rather than drive and pay the exorbitant cost of long-term parking, we're riding the Van Galder bus, which departed from the UW-Madison campus promptly at 1:00.   Our anticipated arrival at the O'Hare's international terminal is 4:15, which should allow us to avoid any panic about moving through long and slow-moving security lines.  I probably didn't need to stumble across this article in the Chicago Tribune a few days ago.  

TSA to add staff, but O'Hare tells passengers to arrive 3 hours before flight

An excerpt.  

Staffing problems are hitting the flying public hard. About 450 American Airlines Customers at O'Hare International Airport missed flights Sunday due to lines of more than two hours, and dozens who couldn't get on a later flight slept on cots at the terminal, American spokeswoman Leslie Scott said.

My wife and I hope you can look forward to nothing but good reports. 

Speaking of atypical breakfast, take a gander at this breakfast burrito as served up by the Short Stack Eatery on State Street in Madison

I wasn't able to finish it in a single session. 

And now for something completely different: A trip to Ireland

When it comes to international travel, beyond North America, I don't have much on my resume.  Two weeks in Paris in late December 2011/early January 2012, two weeks in Italy in June 2014, and now, immediately upcoming, 10 days in Ireland.  Call me a late bloomer as I was 62 when I made my first visit to Europe.

My wife has made all of the arrangements for these trips:  transportation, lodging, sightseeing -- the full itinerary.  It's as though I suffer from a mental block when it comes to the topic of travel planning abroad.

But when it comes to U. S. travel, I'm all in from the start.

As I was last year for our getaway to Asheville (NC), Nashville, and Lexington (KY).  I planned the route, reserved hotel rooms, and created a list of sightseeing options.

As I was in 2013 for a road trip to Boston, which provided an opportunity to reconnect with cousins I hadn't seen in 35 years.

As I was with any number of family trips during spring breaks, before the boys were beholden to school sports.  Gettysburg, Washington DC, Mount Vernon, Williamsburg in 1999 and Memphis, Vicksburg, San Antonio, and Austin in 2000 are two of the most memorable itineraries.

I became a seasoned U.S. traveler very early in my life.  I was born in Auburn, Washington, moved to Great Falls, Montana, when I was 3, and to Warren PA when I was 8.  Dad hails from Rockford, Illinois, and Mom from Springfield, Massachusetts, and summer vacations always involved visits to one or the other side of the family.  The trips were usually made by car, in the days before the Interstate highway system, and at least once (that I can recall) by train.  I remain seriously infected with this travel bug during my 20s.  I hitchhiked cross-country 4 times in 1971 and 1972, drove it twice in 1973, returned to live for a time in Montana after graduate school.  I then spent a few years in Massachusetts before settling down in Wisconsin, which has been home for the past 38 years.

The urge to travel will always remain strong, but I suspect I'll continue to leave the international itineraries to my wife.



Sent from my iPhone

Scott Walker appears to have skipped the CWD 101 briefings

As reported in Patrick Durkin: Scott Walker takes step in right direction on CWD.  (Wisconsin State Journal, 5/21/2016)

The article contains a very qualified pat on the back.

Related posts:
Wisconsin trials Illinois in fighting CWD.  (5/13/2016)
Walker administration fiddles while chronic wasting disease spreads.  (11/17/2015)