Limrick -- Our last stop in Ireland --Sunday June 16, 2013

Happy Fathers Day to all the Dads out there!

Today's a transfer day.  We are heading to Limerick, Ireland to get us closer to Shannon Airport.  The city dates from at least the Viking settlement in 812. The Normans redesigned the city in the 12th century and added much of the most notable architecture, such as King John's Castle and St Mary's Cathedral.  We fly out of Shannon Airport tomorrow for England.

Despite the threat of rain, and since it is only a few hours to Limerick, we decide to take one last try at the Ring of Kerry....from the other direction. We have another good breakfast, pack the car and try to beat the tour buses since they start in the direction, too.

Ring of Kerry view #1

Boy these mountains must be pretty spectacular on a clear day.  (I wonder how many clear days they get, though).  One of the really interesting little towns on this drive is Kenmare. Kenmare lies on two noted Irish tourist routes, the Ring of Kerry and the Ring of Beara, approximately 32 kilometres (20 mi) from Killarney. As a result it is a popular tourist destination and many of the businesses in the area cater to tourists. The town is noted for its

Ring of Kerry view #2

food and pubs. Kenmare boasts a range of restaurants and traditional pubs.  Looks like it would a great base when we come back another time!

By mid day we finish and head to Limerick.  We are booked in an inner city hotel.  I wanted to be near the pubs for our last night.  Good thing, too, since we never did make it to Irish Music in the evening.   They all start after 9:30!

Entry to The Boutique Hotel

Our hotel is called The Boutique Hotel.  We miss seeing it as we are driving thru these little side streets on what appear to be a seedy side of town. We are literally on the street and can't find it.  Instead of driving around, Ed has me wait in the car, and he walks back to find it.  Success.

The hotel has a glass front---just like a store--which is why we missed it.  It's probably the nicest looking front on the street. Scary, isn't it?

Clearly, it's a really old hotel with really tiny rooms, and the Internet only works in the common living area and breakfast solarium.  And finicky to get it started to boot. Nuisance.
We have wine and cheese for dinner as we sit in the living area.  There's a commotion outside. 
The breakfast area on the second floor is all glass so you get good views of all the comings and goings below.

Apparently there was a fight between some guys and some Travellers.  Now we had just listened to a radio program while we were driving on the Travellers today.  Apparently they are Ireland's version of gypsies.  They have been largely segregated in Ireland much like the black community has been in America.  The program told about how the schools would segregate them from the other children and not bother to teach them to read or write!  Can you imagine?  People tend to kick them out when they see them in stores and businesses.  Tonight there was a fist fight and one of them was bleeding!

About 9pm we decide to troll the street looking for our Irish music for our last night in Ireland!  A few bars we passed were jumping but none of their music is Irish....it's all hard rock!  What the heck!  Finally we found Phil Flannery's Pub.  Irish music!  A little bawdy but lively and fun. 

A couple women sitting next to us took a fancy to us and after a few drinks were chatting up a storm.  They had really heavy brogues so it was a challenge to understand them over the loud music. 

We must have had fun since we closed the bar down!