England and Ireland: Ireland. Part 1: Kinsale

Kinsale, County Cork, Ireland.

Thanks for your patience while I ignored my blog.

After Cynthia boarded a plane in Bristol, England to head Stateside, we boarded one and flew into Cork on a commuter plane. You know how everyone says how green Ireland is?  Ireland is green.

I drove a cute little bitty car into Kinsale. I was a much better driver. It was a combination of a better car, wider roads, and the consolodation of the skills into my brain while I slept overnight.

Photo by Trish.

We checked into our lovely B & B, the Cloisters.

Photo by Trish

Our lovely hostess Orla directed us to the Jim Edwards for some grub.  Lovely!

Our first Guinness of many:

The next morning we enjoyed a nice "lay in." Our goal in Ireland was to slow down and enjoy the country pace, so there was no need to get up early.

Orla and Aileen prepared a wonderful breakfast. I enjoyed scrambled eggs and smoked salmon.

 The next day we enjoyed a historical walking tour with Don and a trip up the hill to the Charles Fort, a star-shaped fort built in the 1600s. It was a beautiful day to enjoy the history and beauty of the area.

Our tour guide, Don.

Our ride up the hill:

Charles Fort:

We walked back down to town, enjoying refreshment stops at the Bulman,

and the Spaniard

Photo by Trish

Photo by Trish

for refreshment.

Here are some more pictures of beautiful Kinsale:

Fuchsias were everywhere!

Amazing stone walls!

Just doin' a little people-watchin'!

Kinsale is a port town, and there are Quays into town to bring goods in via ship.  The Quays depend on the tides, so at low tide, the boats become stranded.

That night we had a wonderful dinner at Crackpots.  Seafood is plentiful in Ireland, and Kinsale is known as a culinary center. I had salmon for dinner. YUM!

After dinner Trish and I enjoyed a pint and some traditional Irish music at the Blue Haven.  Nighttime pub music is ubiquitous in Ireland. It was quite wonderful listening to the 3-piece "trad" band. I posted the sound on Facebook, so if you want to listen again, go there!

England and Ireland: England. Part 8: Bath

Bath, Somerset, England

One of the places I wanted to visit while we were in England was Bath. My dad had told stories of partying getting some R n R in Bath during his leave time while stationed at Polebrook in WWII. I wanted to go see!

We were so lucky that the places we wanted to visit and the geography we needed meshed so well!

Bath was only about 60 miles from Georgie's house, so bright 'n' early on Monday morning, she dropped us off at the car rental place.  The next adventure began.

OK.

Steering wheel on the wrong side of the car: uh-oh.  Gear-shift in my left hand: dang.  The narrowest roads on Earth: crap. Cars coming toward me on the wrong side of the road: Oh Sh*t!

To my credit, I did not run into any stone walls. I did not crash into any cars. I did not run into any person or other mammal. The paint job on the passenger side may not have been any better for the bushes on the left, and there was a ditch or two that threatened to swallow our car, but we made it safely to Bath, not in small part due to Cyn's calm demeanor while she sat shotgun, navigating and watching for ditch threats!

Bath is, of course, home to one of the world's most wonderful archeological sites: an intact ancient Roman Bath.  There is a wonderful museum integrated into the site, and it is full of Roman artifacts. The mineral springs still flow in. It is pretty cool. (warm, actually)

Here are a few pictues. Of course, you need to go yourself and take the tour!

There were statues around the top which were placed much later.

The lady, Minerva, herself! (And surely, one of her descendents behind!)

Shhhh!  I touched the water right in that corner.

The most interesting artifacts in my opinion were the small bits of lead on which people wrote to Minerva for help getting retribution for wrongs. If an item got stolen, for example, the citizen would write a curse on the lead, perhaps add a list of names of possible suspects, and throw the piece of lead into the river for Minerva to read and mete out justice to the wrongdoer.

Brocks Guest House was our first bed and breakfast of the trip. It is a pretty building in the block between the Royal Crescent and the Circus. In fact, it was built by John Wood the younger, who built the Royal Crescent!

Brocks Guest House:

Our room was on the top floor.

View from our window:

View from Trish and Cyn's window:

Photo by Trish

View from the Loo!

 The lobby/breakfast area:

Photo by Trish

The famous Circus:

 The Royal Crescent:

Photo by Trish

Other views of Bath:

The Bath Abbey

Public art in a park by the River Avon; Photo by Trish

Photo by Trish

In the evening, we took a "Bizarre Bath" tour which was a fun comedic walking tour. Our guide:

And we got some R n R in Dad's memory!

Photo by Trish

Photo by Trish

Cheers!