Archives

June 24 – Derry the Walled City

Jun25

Ahh, it’s good to sleep in!  Not exactly sure if it’s jet-lag, the time change, or Vacay relaxation kicking in but we need to step it up if we want to keep up with Cora and Eleanor.

Eleanor’s good recommendation for us was to take the City Tour of the Wall – it was a perfect introduction to this grand port city.  So much history here in Ireland with the earliest people struggling to survive then having to contend with northern invaders.  Fast forward to 17th century struggles between King James I and William of Orange, the Catholics, the Protestants and then most recently to The Troubles of the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s.  This town has lived to survive, with reconciliation paving the way to peace and unity.  On the wall promenade, we saw and heard stories of the two sides of Derry which are now committed to remembering the lives lost and planning for its peaceful future.

For dinner, we ate at Clarence house, delicious fish pies, salad, and wine.

Atop the wide Wall that overlooks Derry.

Inside the city, St. Columb’s Cathedral, 1623.

Looking out onto modern Derry and the neighborhood where The Troubles of the 70’s played out. Murals of remembrance are painted on some of the walls down below.  Now, there’s peace.

Off we go! — June 20-22

Jun24

Packed and ready to go, Cat and I took BART to SFO Tuesday morning with a suitcase each under 40 pounds, oh, yeah!  We are SO ready, although I must admit that “winging it” as I am for our Ireland visit is just a bit scary.  We have the first two nights lodging, plans made for how much we want to tackle, and a plan to express-bus ourselves to Londonderry by week’s end.  Let’s see how it goes.

SFO to NJ to Dublin, what a trek.  A humungous 777, brand spankin’ new.  We slept as much as our bodies would allow which was good because the flight to Dublin took longer.  Before we get to that, our seat mate was so sweet.  Miriam L., a Dublin native, flew home from the summer to be with family after six months dancing in the North America/Canada regional company of “Riverdance.”  She was a delight!  Cat and I decided we would see the Dublin performance in which Miriam will dance and she will meet us at the side stage door after to say hi.

Having settled event on-flight, we ended up sitting on the tarmac in Dublin for over an hour due to IT flight problems between North America and Dublin.  When we finally disembarked, we quickly collected our luggage and headed to Dublin town.  An easy airport coach delivered us into an ancient city centre, lovely cobbled streets, narrow sidewalks, super colorful shop fronts, and a pub on every corner.  Lots of people enjoying the hottest day on record since 1974 — a sweltering 93 degrees Fahrenheit!!  Cat and I literally melted.  We checked into The Central Hotel, napped a bit then went out to explore.

Thursday was a terrific day.  Sleeping in till past 10 a.m., we picked up breakfast at a local coffee shop: scrambled eggs and Irish sausage with toast and an Americano coffee for me and a chicken Caesar wrap for Cat.  We wandered around the neighborhood, between stores, pubs, and shoppers before heading back to The Central to meet Caroline Dee Brown, a longtime, dear friend of our friend Fran.  Caroline was lovely – she took us a few blocks down and around to the National Museum where we saw ancient relics from early days of invaders, beautiful bronze metal necklaces and cloak clips.  After a few minutes of looking, we headed to the cafe where we enjoyed delicious Irish tea and yummy pastries.  It felt like we’ve known her longer than the time we spent catching her up about our recently retired Fran and sharing news about our families.  A super wonderful time for both me and Cat meeting a new friend!

More window shopping and a nice dinner at the Boulevard Cafe that included refreshing rose wine to toast the beginning of our journey.  Relatively quiet compared to the 2 a.m. PARTIES from all the pubs that surrounded us… but that’s another story.