Doolin

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12-13 May, Thursday & Friday

So the pilot says" We seem to be experiencing some mechanical problems. As soon as we are ready to take off, we'll let you know" This was not what we needed to hear. For a week I had been hearing that a snow storm was predicted and with only a 58 minute lay over in Chicago , de-icing was not an option. Non-the-less May 12 broke bright and clear and the Gods seemed to be on our side. We arrived with plenty of time and all seemed to be going swimmingly .... and now this. Missing our connection would leave six people waiting in for us in Shannon wondering trying to figure out where they would end up for the night. Then the plane powered up and we backed out of the gate and the fears went away.

You see this all started two years ago as a group of us sat in a bar in Boulder Colorado drinking beer. Most good intentioned, really bad plans are hatched in this very setting and there was no reason to believe that this would be any different. We all decided that we must go to Ireland together and that I would lead this merry band of thieves through the land of Saints and Scholars. The number of people that showed an interest would fluctuate from 8 to 18 but in the end a total of 12 people would make all or part of the trip. In Mike's case, more than all of it ...but that is a different story.

As usual, I had patiently searched the internet on an almost daily basis for garage sale prices on airfares. I got the low price, but ended up with a Denver to Chicago to Boston to Shannon flight that left not too much room for error. As it turned out, the connection in Chicago was perfect and we ended up reaching the gate and waiting about 5 minutes to board. Five minutes of waiting that was preceded by a week of fretting. I guess the 5 minute wait was the payoff.

We managed to find some food in the Boston airport just before Felicity and Lynn reached the starved angry beast stage of daily female life. Normally, sitting at a food court in an airport should be relatively uneventful, but I can always make an innocent setting find a way to embarrass me. You see, when I sneeze, I almost always sneeze three times. It's a formula that works for me, and I always anticipate that it will work that way. So the series began calmly enough and I covered my nose appropriate to the situation. There was a delay in the arrival of the third blast yet I waited patiently for it's eruption. Suddenly, a concerned paramedic raced to my side with a stack of napkins that would have been thick enough to clean up the mess had my nose been blown from my face and sent hurtling across the dining hall. A large percentage of the crowded food court was apparently aware of my situation and took great comfort that my life (and theirs) had been protected by the quick acting, health care professional. There was of course, much laughter at my expense and so I found it important for me to take a moment to thank my nasal guardian as he left the room.

Seating assignments on planes seem to be carefully considered and based on some psychological profiles that are obtained by the airlines through secret nefarious means. I seem to always find a way to get placed in immediate proximity to an infant with far above average vocal abilities and this trip would be no exception. This will apparently protect the cabin from projectile newborns during serious turbulence.

It’s not that people shouldn’t have babies or not be allowed to travel with them. It’s just that airlines don’t yet provide soundproof penalty boxes like they do at churches. This would be a lovely feature. Aer Lingus staff was quite nice and things seemed to be going beautifully. The middle section of my row on the Aer Lingus A330 was populated with three very large women, a mother and her demonically possessed small child. Then it arrived. A table was dropped down and a cardboard manger was assembled. Blankets were carefully laid to arrange for a soft and comfy bed for the little cherub. He was gently placed in the container and then securely strapped in. This will protect the cabin from projectile newborns during serious turbulence. It was then we learned of his demonic possession.

So here is the flaw in the drop down baby tray. It covers the width of two seats. The person not traveling with the mother still had the joy of the screaming baby right in front of her. She also lost any reasonable amount of tray table so that the usually unpalatable airline food could now be enjoyed from her lap. I imagined the circumstances if I had been placed there. Would I have accidentally sliced through the screaming glob while I attempted to make futile hacks at my rubbery chicken? Is it possible that one of the drinks I ordered would end up in the child as he would fall into a drunken sleep? Would my screaming drown out the bellowing midget and result in one of us being moved. Things we will never know. All we do know is that the child was incapable of extended rest and each 20 minute period throughout the night was interrupted by ear-splitting hollering that would last the bulk of those 20 minutes. My only successful attempt at sleep was broken by young Damien and the only good news was that none of the pea soup splattered on me as his head spun wildly. At least Aer Lingus kept the cabin lights on all night.

The sun was just trying to force its way through the clouds as we crossed the western coast of Ireland . In the early blue light of morning, the Cliffs of Moher lost their towering appearance from that altitude. We arrived in Shannon a few minutes ahead of schedule just before 6:00 AM . No sleep and a full day ahead of me dragging my sleepless friends through Ireland sounded like a daunting task. We were just about the first people through customs and our bags were the first off the plane which left us standing in front of the Shannon airport at about 6:15 . We had made plans to meet everyone at the restaurant at the Great Southern across from the airport. Mike and Joe were coming down from Ennis to meet us and Beth, Scott, Bob and Marj were arriving at about 8:45 on US Air.

I don’t recommend the breakfast at the Great Southern. The food is fine, but for €14.00, it certainly isn’t worth it. The advantage was that it gave us a place to sit and figure out what to do with everyone. We arrived before the restaurant opened and after a while I decided to take advantage of the low traffic and catch the bus to the Hertz rental lot. I had reserved the usual subcompact manual transmission which was quickly offered up to me. When I got out to the car I found tires with a receding tread line I walked back to the office and pointed this out to the agent and he redid all of the paperwork (a lengthy process) and assigned me yet another Nissan Micra. Apparently, bald tires come standard on the manual transmission Micra and I made yet another request for a different car. This time I was sent back to the vehicle with the assistance of the lot manager. I explained to him that since I was responsible for those tires (or tyres) and that I expected to start out with something that I was comfortable would make it through the trip. He assured me I would be fine, but I disagreed. The agent was none too pleased to see me walking back through the door and by this time, the place had filled up with nervous new to Ireland drivers. The last thing he needed was me bitching about bald tires, so he personally went out and found me a fine upgraded car and sent me speedily on my way.

I had managed to procure a red Citroen C4. This is a fine looking vehicle with four doors and enough room behind the back seat for all of our luggage. This would prove to be (sort of) a positive down the road as we decided to consolidate the number of vehicles. An interesting feature of the Sultry Citroen is that it is equipped with a nag-o-meter. This is an option that came with out Fiat “Bad Idea” the previous year in Wales but this one was even better. You see, the vehicle’s speed appears on a LCD panel in digits about three inches tall. Had the C4 been equipped with a sunroof, it could have been read from hundreds of miles above the earth’s surface with satellite imaging. It was later pointed out to me, through photographic evidence, that vehicles behind me could easily read the speedometer. My only advantage was that it was in KPH and Felicity is not exactly up to speed on how that conversion works. I tried to keep her I the dark.

After breakfast, we headed back to the terminal to wait for the final four whose plane was now to be 30 minutes late. Then we waited some more. Joe and Lynn took off in advance. It seems one of Beth’s bags had been lost and it would end up chasing us for the next three days. Everybody got their cars, I gave them all directions to the Creamery in Bunratty where we were all going so that the late arrivers could grab a bite. While Bob got lost and drove to Limerick , Beth shopped for Guinness underwear to fill in for the missing items from her far traveled bag. We waited and Bob finally arrived. The Creamery was closed but food was available at the Woolen Mills. The Blarney Woolen Mills are located in a number of places throughout Ireland and are a very popular spot for shopping and there are loads of gift ideas from the truly tacky to some pretty nice items.

Finally we get to do something. We wandered over to Bunratty Castle and Folk Park. It was Friday morning and surprising, very quiet. We wandered around a bit and this time I got to see much more than the previous visit thanks to the lack of tour buses. Bunratty is a nicely reconstructed castle and well worth the visit.

Mike and I are beer snobs (actually he has graduated to beer geek) and so I wanted to make sure that we made it to the Biddy Early Brewery in Inagh. Bob wanted to make sure he didn’t get lost so he decided to stick right on my tail all the way which of course didn’t last past the second roundabout in Ennis. After getting through Ennis, I waited and everyone caught up to us and we made it to Inagh, just able to still keep my eyes open. The brewery is one of the only things in town at the crossroads so it’s pretty easy to find. When we arrived, they were waiting to have their kegs replaced and all they had on tap was the red, so we were forced (yea right) to drink that. I finally managed to procure a Biddy Early shirt.

I had been concerned that traveling in such a large group would be a problem and that we would have the locals hiding from us. It wasn’t really the case. In fact, having such a large group made it easy to cut from the pack for a while to chat with people. We had a fine chat with the bartender about beer and then headed of to find the Atlantic View. It is important to note that the name Atlantic View is pretty common in the B&B industry and indeed, there is one on the road to Doolin. Well, Bob got lost but at least didn’t end up in Limerick . He eventually found us at the guesthouse where Joe and Lynn had arrived earlier and had collapsed (against my advice).

The Atlantic View is a fine place with beautiful views to the Cliffs of Moher. Our room had both a view of the cliffs and a view of the Aran Islands . The rooms are spacious and the shower had plenty of pressure though Felicity said she ran out of hot water. The only strange bit about the place is that they have possibly the slowest filling toilet tanks in the western world.

The plan was to spend the next night on the Inishmore so we asked the owners if the ferries would be running the next day. We figured that they would know since they owned them, but they had decided not to start operations until the end of May. There were two ferry companies running from Doolin Pier so we went to check them out. Only one of them had a schedule that suited us and they had not run that day. We would have to find out in the morning if they were running.

We all got checked into our rooms and the first timers got a chance to figure out how to operate electrical devices in a foreign country. Scott had particularly bad luck at this. In an attempt to make something fit into something it wouldn’t fit into, Beth challenged him by saying “You can’t do that”. Well, at least Scott thought it was a challenge. He proceeded to attempt to force prongs into something where they should not be. The end result was a flash of sparks, a small cloud of smoke and darkness for anyone standing in a bathroom anywhere in the building. Explanations were made to the owners and power was restored shortly. We hadn’t been in the country for 12 hours yet and we had already caused a blackout. Things weren’t looking good.

We took a trip over to the Cliffs where we found some nice strong winds. That didn’t stop half of us from jumping the wall and hiking along the cliff edge. As usual, the cliffs were stunning as we watched the sun drop towards the horizon. On the way back we stopped at Doonagore Castle . It’s and odd looking thing, not the standard tower house and is privately owned so storming the castle walls was not an option. We were tired and hungry anyway.

The final act of the day was to wander down to Gus O’Connor’s and have a bite. I had been salivating over the thought of a big bowl of seafood chowder and the chef came through. The food was just what I needed. Lynn and Joe walked in just as we were leaving to head back to our rooms and collapse.

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