Up to Limerick.....

We depart Killarney today to make our way north.  Given our Jaunting Ride yesterday we had a late start this morning with a departure at 11AM.  

Ordinarily this would mean a wonderful opportunity to hit the town again and explore and shop but it is raining.  Not a deluge, but enough to give one pause given our upcoming time on the bus.  I imagine that with all the Irish woolens everyone is wearing we might smell like the sheep pen if all were wet.

Some did return victorious with interesting and lovely jewelry. I, however, am having trouble of getting rid of the things I already have so I've been  a purist about shopping. Except for some mementos for a literary friend of Irish heritage, grandkid postcards and a hat for Paul, I have bought nothing.

Watch out, it's history time!

We touched yesterday on James II's ouster by William of Orange.  This is happening near time of the French Revolution and the War of Independence in America where the colonials or underclasses unseated government and declared their freedom.

Frenchmen tried to aid the Irish in 1798 in their quest to remove the English from Ireland but were rebuffed by the weather and had to return to France.  In County Mayo, the workers refused to harvest the crops for their U.K. landlords so the British government sent in Capt. Boycott and a slew of his troops to do the work. But it was such an expenditure of time and treasure that this action essentially broke the back of the British and gave us a noun still used today...boycott.

But that still leaves the problem of Northern Ireland.  Remember that their cultural identity is British so they were opposed to Irish Home Rule where an Irish Parliament would manage the domestic agenda and U.K. the foreign policy.  There was talk of a civil war.  But the advent of WWI changed everything.  The British promised to give Ireland dominion status if they would help in the war effort.

230,000 Irish citizens joined the British forces and were present for all the major battles.  But back home the rebels were still agitating for independence culminating in the Easter Rising, where the rebels took over the General Post Office for one week and were finally overcome and later executed.   So many citizen were against demonstrations because their families were involved in the war effort with the British.

By the end of 1919, the troops returned and set about fulfilling the promise of dominion with Eamon de Valera, the politician, and Michael Collins, the soldier, to negotiate.  The British set provisos that every politician would swear an oath of allegiance, the ports were to be controlled by the British and Ireland would be partitioned.  Michael Collins agreed to this, thinking of revision later, but Eamon would not accept the terms, leading to a civil war during which Michael Collins was assassinated.

Tragically, things then began to settle down with a constitution ratified in 1931, the return of the ports to Irish control in 1939 and the granting of the Irish Republic in 1949.

Northern Ireland, in an attempt to keep a Catholic majority jettisoned three counties back to the Republic of  Ireland.

Things were tense there.  No house, no vote and the granting of only the most menial jobs to the Irish Catholics began a time of brutal terrorism between the IRA and the British.  Fueled by interest in the American civil rights movement in the U.S., IRA president Jerry Adams petitioned for a visa to America.  Britain wanted it denied.  Not only did he receive the visa, but an invitation to the White House was extended.  Bill Clinton then gave a speech in Dublin extolling peace between the two countries and sent Sen. George Mitchell to lead the negotiations.

The stars aligned with the reelection of Clinton, and the arrival of Tony Blair as the British PM and Bertie O'Hearn as the Irish Prime Minister leading to the Good Friday Agreement that established the peace.  This was 24 years ago.

Some parts of this agreement are behind the chaos of the Brexit negotiations.....I'm still working on that.

After all this talking we reach Adare.  Small, with only a few hundred residents, Adare has a small high street, a section of sweetly thatched cottages and Catholic and Protestant monasteries all restored beautifully.  

I stroll around the area, enjoying a small park and touring a grocery store.  I can really get my fingers on the pulse of al place in a grocery store.  

This price keeps you on the straight and narrow

I notice a lot of men with high visibility vests entering a pub which indicates to me a good place. I need to start burning Euros, so I pop in for some great coffee and a small Irish stew.  

They had wifi so I called Paul and talked him into getting a hat (more Euros)

I stumble across a wedding in the restored Trinititarian Monastery.  The groom and his groomsmen greet the guests.  The bride and her coterie of attendants plus father wait at the side entrance.  Rain is gone and sun is out.  All good omens!

Interior shots courtesy of Deanne Burks

It is only a short drive into Limerick, synonymous with the jaunty poem.  Sitting on the intersection of the Shannon River, the longest in Ireland and the UK at 300 miles, and the Abbey River, Limerick straddles both in the area of King John's Castle.

 You remember him...the bad guy in the Robin Hood saga.  

The Shannon, with a 60 mile estuary, is tidal and today the waters are roiling.  Our hotel is The George and it is more a big city hotel. Limerick has a population of 85,000.  I have a small but comfortable room.  I'm glad I am a single or there would problems moving around....bye- bye bathtub.  I miss the country.  Where's my lamb?

I have skipped the Medieval Banquet tonight, afraid that I'll think it hokey and wish I had my money back.  I'm off walking and duck into the White House Pub.

A little Tipperary Sparkling water and gabbing with the locals is just what I needed!

Texas is never far from mind!

I'll be skipping this one.