| Islands of Song Cork St. Patrick's Day Festival |
| Dawn greeted me while breakfast was being served. Breakfast was in a shoebox! The bagel chips with the Laughing Cow cream cheese was good. And the granola bar. I wanted a good cup of coffee though. Oh well. |
| Clouds covered the sky as we got closer to Ireland. We had to pass right over Cork on our way to London and our connecting flight. Stella offered to chuck me out the window so I could be there sooner. I declined. The first view of London was through the clouds and the next of the city was clear.The plane touched down at Heathrow after a lot of popping of ears and loss of hearing for a while. Even the gum didn't help! |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Heathrow was not as horrendously busy as I had expected. They sure have the Shuttle thing down pat. Only took 6 minutes between shuttles, not like Toronto airport where you might wait 45 minutes to leave the terminal on the shuttle. It was a really long walk to the Aer Lingus Terminal and I didn't really have a chance to get any coffee. I didn't have any English money anyway. The terminal looked like a leg of a spider! The plane was late as we were waiting for pilots to arrive from Dublin. But once on the plane, it was a short hop to Orkney Airport in Cork. Flat Stanley hung out in the magazine compartment during the ride. |
 |
 |
| I know that Ireland is called the Emerald Isle but I just was not prepared for it to be so green. As we landed at the airport, I saw sheep and cows grazing in green, green fields. It was definitely Spring in Cork as all the daffodils and crocuses were in full bloom. But the most surprising thing was when we stepped off the plane, we were greeted by St. Patrick himself! He handed us a sprig of shamrock and his assistant handed out a shot of Irish whiskey! We figured it was 7:30 Philadelphia time but - what the heck! Down it went. |
 |
| We rode the bus to town with the Euros that Vic had with him and got off the bus at the Terminal right around the corner from our hotel. The Clarion Cork had just opened that week for the Festival. We asked the bus driver which of the buildings by the river was the Clarion and he directed us to "Look up at the scaffolding - that's the building!" Sure enough the Clarion was half finished. |
 |
| Luckily, our half was the finished part! The sounds of construction were around every day except for St. Patty's Day though. They were lining up for the parade as we walked down to the hotel entrance. People dressed as devils, St. Patrick and someone else, maybe St. Bridget? At any rate, the parade went right past our hotel room! We were on the left on the second floor - no balcony, but nice nonetheless. The most comfortable bed I have ever slept in waited for us. As we checked in, the elevator door opened and who should step out but Darrell Power! He looked around confusedly and jumped back in, realizing it was not the parking level but the lobby. He had his guitar and I figured he was was headed for rehearsal for the evening's performance at the Triskel Art Center. I waved and said "Hi!" and he did a double take and then grinned and waved back before the elevator doors closed. Already grinning from seeing Darrell, the grin became a little wider as I observed a strange sight in the lobby. A dead man shuffled in and coughed into his hand - a clown with the Belfast Clowns troupe hired to perform at the Festival! The whole troupe was staying at the hotel and would raise a few eyebrows as they walked back and forth in costume. |
| London thru the clouds |
| London below the clouds |
| Adjoining the airport runway in Cork |
| Sights from the bus to Cork |
| Cork Clarion Hotel on Lapps Quay The finished section |
| Ron Hynes came out of the elevator and walked past us. "Hello Ron," I said quietly. He spun around, looked hard at me and said, "Do I know you?" "No, I saw you at the Savoy during the ECMAs," I told him, "I enjoyed your performance." "Wow! Thanks!" he seemed surprised. "I didn't expect anyone to recognize me over here," he explained, smiling. I got the impression I made his day! Even though we were dog-tired, the adrenaline that comes with being in a new place seeing new things took over and we could not sleep. We got settled and I gave Jim and Lillian a ring on the phone. We arranged to get together for supper and Lillian came down and chatted for a while. It was so good to see her again! It's been a while- since August and we had some catching up to do in person. The musicians from Newfoundland had been here since Monday and we had missed Pamela Morgan's performance last evening. I was sad about that because I think she has one of the most enchanting female voices I have ever heard. Pamela was staying for the week on her way to tour London, Denmark and the Netherlands. We ate with Jim and Lillian at the Zanzibar Restaurant and had a full good meal. |
 |
| Darrell Power on stage! |
 |
 |