England 2012
London
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Hello,
January 2nd
was a short day, we had some trouble with our scheduled B&B (they denied we
had a reservation even though we had the email dated 12/26 confirming our stay)
so we ended up pretty far out of Sligo town.
We went into the town for lunch and to walk around. Most of the town was still closed due to the
New Year’s holiday. It gave us a chance
to reboot and plan out our next few days events. I did hang out with Yeats after lunch, he was
pretty cool.
January 3rd
finds us on a travel day to Cong in County Mayo. http://www.tourclare.com/cong.html.
For those unaware, the movie, “The Quiet
Man,” was filmed here with John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara. Mom wanted to see the
town the movie was filmed in. We had
lunch in a small pub: I had bacon and cabbage, Steven had fish and chips and
mom had shrimp. The icing is the little used book store I found (Steven found),
in the town center. I purchased a few
gifts and an Iris Murdock novel for myself.
We washed it all down with some
delightful tea. (Delightful wow – my friends will mock my new words when I
return). After lunch we made the short drive
to Ashford Castle. We had visited
this the first time I came to Ireland with Melissa and Rob, it is just as
wonderful and I remember. It hailed
like crazy almost the whole time we were there. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashford_Castle.
Both destinations were wonderful.
On the road to
Cong we happened upon a religious shrine.
The Shrine of Knock apparently is the site of a visit by the Virgin
Mary. “On the evening of 21 August 1879,
people whose ages ranged from five years to seventy-five and included men,
women, teenagers, children, witnessed what they claimed was an apparition of
Our Lady, Saint Joseph, and Saint John the Evangelist at the south gable end of
the local small parish church, the Church of Saint John the Baptist. Behind
them and a little to the left of Saint John was a plain altar. On the altar were
a cross and a lamb (a traditional image of Jesus, as reflected in the religious
phrase The Lamb of God) with adoring angels. The Blessed Virgin Mary was
described as being very beautiful, standing a few feet above the ground. She
wore a white cloak, hanging in full folds and fastened at the neck. The crown
appeared brilliant, and of a golden brightness, of a deeper hue, than the
striking whiteness of the robe she wore; the upper parts of the crown appeared
to be a series of sparkles, or glittering crosses. She was described as
"deep in prayer", with her eyes raised to heaven; her hands raised to
the shoulders or a little higher, the palms inclined slightly to the shoulders.
Bridget Trench "went in immediately to kiss, as I thought, the feet of the
Blessed Virgin; but I felt nothing in the embrace but the wall, and I wondered
why I could not feel with my hands the figures which I had so plainly and so
distinctly seen.” Mom (being Catholic) took away some holy water from the site. Steven and I waited in the car, but it was a
very interesting place. There were many
priest and pilgrims about, and each one would cross the alter- like building
and bless themselves just as Catholics do if they cross the alter of a church
(where the sacraments are kept).
Everyone also lovingly touched a panel of stone on the front of the
shrine building. It turns out that the
piece of stone embedded in the building’s façade is a piece of the actual
church where the visit allegedly took place.
Very cool and mom seemed to enjoy it.
Sometimes the coolest places are happened on by accident. We are staying
tonight in the “Atlantic View” B&B. http://www.atlantic-view.com/rooms.html.
Steven and I went into town found a real coffee shop and dropped our laundry
off to be picked up in the morning all clean and folded. We are now sitting in the “common room”
working on our blogs, mom is sleeping and the fire is roaring. Good night
everyone.
Fun Facts:
Community Alert =
Neighborhood Watch
The Sheep do not
like apples: We stopped on the way to
Clifden (the town we are in now) and I tried to feed ungrateful sheep a sweet
apple. They stared at me in a rude
manner and then turned and walked away.
Looking back occasionally to make sure the crazy American in the blue
car was not coming any closer. (See
video)
Monday, January 2, 2012
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Ireland Dece 31, Jan 1 County Derry
I’m back! No post last night, it would have interfered in my New Year’s Eve pub adventure. The last two days were spent in County Derry, in the town of Derry. Disclaimer: This post is political in nature, as Derry is ground zero of the “Troubles,” in Ireland.
Steven and I spent New Year’s Eve in an Irish pub on Waterloo Street in downtown Derry. It was a Republic bar (Irish not British), we arrived about 10:00pm and the traditional music was just beginning. At the very first hint of a fiddle, the crowd became electrified and began stamping their feet and revving up. It was great to see that there was no apparent age break for the love of the music. The young and the old alike were excited with the coming music. Steven and I drank and sang along with the songs we knew until the strike of mid night. I almost missed the New Year; I was in the bathroom and in true Irish fashion, the girl in the next stall shared the last 6 squares of the toilet paper with me. After ringing in the New Year, we headed out, on foot back to our B&B just outside “Bogside.” Bogside is also known as “Free Derry.”
The B&B, “Rosemont Park,” is just outside the “Bog,” across the street from the largest Catholic Church in Derry. The owner, Thomas, told tales of the days during the “Troubles” and past conflicts in the neighborhood. Across the street from the 19th century home was a British Battalion Armory. It seems that the armory was bombed often in the 70’s and 80’s by the IRA, there are still parts missing from the ceiling. Upon our arrival we were joined by one of Thomas’ childhood friends. As a boy in the 70’s his family had owned the local dairy. He told the tales of his milk bottles being taken for “jelly bombs” used by the IRA to defend themselves from the British officers. The city is still divided, but there seems to be a cautious peace.
Derry is the last completely walled city in the world (video), we walked the entire wall, mom too! The city is the place where most of the violence during the “Troubles” occurred. Some history: Derry is the name used by the Irish when referring to the town and Londonderry is the named used by the British loyalists. This important fact is the basis for the “Troubles” in this lovely Town. Derry is the site of “Bloody Sunday,” (I know the song by U2 too). “Bloody Sunday, sometimes called the Bogside Massacre, was an incident on 30 January 1972 in the Bogside area of Derry, Northern Ireland, in which twenty-six unarmed civil-rights protesters and bystanders were shot by soldiers of the British Army. Thirteen males, seven of whom were teenagers, died immediately or soon after, while the death of another man four-and-a-half months later was attributed to the injuries he received on that day. Two protesters were also injured when they were run down by army vehicles. Five of those wounded were shot in the back. The incident occurred during a Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association march,” for the Irish civil rights movement (the right for the Irish to vote in North Ireland). Derry is now the site of 12 murals depicting the “Troubles.” (See photos). The murals include those representing: Bloody Sunday and the Hunger Strikes of the Irish political prisoners, including Bobby Sands, who refused to wear general inmate jumpers, when they were political prisoners, not in the general population. History: “Robert Gerard "Bobby" (9 March 1954 – 5 May 1981) was an Irish volunteer of the Provisional Irish Republican Army and member of the United Kingdom Parliament who died on hunger strike while imprisoned in HM Prison Maze. He was the leader of the 1981 hunger strike in which Irish republican prisoners protested against the removal of Special Category Status.”
Steven and I were both in love with Derry. This little town and all its history of the struggles of a people only wanting independence from Great Britain, like the much of the world has at one point.
We are now in County Sligo, in the small town of Ballymote. This is known as “Yeats” country. Tomorrow we will see some monolithic monuments, olds churches, graveyards, and I’m certain more than one pub. Our drive down the coast was remarkable today; the power of the North Atlantic Ocean is breathtaking. We had lunch in a little tavern where Yeats used to write some of his poems, and drank. We plan a relaxed morning and then we will head off again. We are at this B&B for two nights; it gives mom a chance to recharge her batteries. Logging off, until tomorrow
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