The Tuesday From Hell and A Wonderful Wednesday

Cead Mile Failte Ya'll,

The wonderful news is that my purse was returned to me at dinner on Tuesday with everything in it and, I only threw up once today!

I don't even really remember where all we went yesterday during the day. I know we stopped at Connemara Marble and I was still feeling pretty good. Then we progressed on up into the hills and stopped at a lovely Benedictine Abbey where Madonna was going to send her daughter but they wouldn't accept her. Then we got on a catamaran in the Killary Fjord and ate lunch while cruising down the fjord. That was very nice. But, let me back up.

We are on a very tight time schedule. We have to have our suitcases in the hall at a certain time, be at breakfast at a certain time. Get on the bus at a certain time and so on. They told us that if we weren't on time, they would leave without us. Fortunately, that wasn't true on Tuesday. I remember waking up enough to hear voices outside in the parking lot. I thought that someone was getting an early start because I have been waking up about 5:30 every morning. I dozed back off, waiting for our wakeup call. Presently the phone rang but it wasn't the wake up call we were expecting. It was Ken our guide saying "Laura love are you comin' with us?" I was wide awake then! Yes we were coming. I hung up' jumped up and so did Ken. We were dressed and down to the bus in less than 10 minutes! At least we had a good excuse-my alarm clock was locked in my suitcase and the key to the suitcase was in my purse which was locked in the CIE office downtown. And, our wake up call was never made. No breakfast, rough looking and embarrassed we joined the bus that hadn't left without us.

Back to the Catamaran tour. The weather was gorgeous, the food was delicious and we had a very nice time. Back on the bus we headed toward the village of Cong for our Quiet Man tour. A few miles into the trip, in the back of the bus, on a bumpy road, I began to feel very nauseous. I moved to an empty seat thinking if I could be cooler, I would be ok. Not so. I will spare the indelicate details but I became VERY sick. Several times. By the time we reached Cong I would have felt better dead. I did not enjoy the tour and spent much of it sitting with my head in my hands. One of our tour mates gave me a motion sickness pill that helped and I slept all the way back to the hotel. I felt sick most of the evening but I was able to enjoy the Irish Music and Dance show that we went to called Trad on the Prom. It featured several key performers from Riverdance plus a few of the local talent and was very good.

Today we left earlier than usual and despite the pill, I got sick once but was fine the rest of the day. Maybe it was the holy water from the Knock Shrine, I don't know. Our first stop today was the Knock Shrine. Back in 1879 I believe, a local woman and several other villagers saw a vision of the Holy Mother surrounded by angels on the wall of the Knock church. The vision was verified and in 1935 or so, it was officially .made a shrine. It was a holy place and I was able to step in for the opening prayer of Mass. In Ireland, most masses are 30 minutes or less. Meghan, you will have to tell Father Jim to cut it shorter from now on. We then went to the Museum of Country Life in Co. Mayo. It is one of 4 national museums and sits on the former Fitzgerald "farm". I thoroughly enjoyed it. Let's just say that real life in rural Ireland between 1865 and 1950 was much darker than what you see in the movies.

Our next stop was Drumcliffe Abbey and the grave of W.B. Yeats. Cute little church but since I don't remember much about Yeats it wasn't a highlight. The highlight of the day (besides not throwing up) was the Beleek Pottery Factory. We had a nice tour of the factory. I now understand why Beleek is so expensive. The pieces that look woven and that have the teeny weenie flowers are very labor intensive. One craftsman was working on pedestals for large candles. He said they would be sold on QVC in September. I said "Rose of Tralee Day" and he lit up and said Yes! I told him that I only watch QVC two days out of the year, Rose of Tralee and St Patrick's. He said to watch for his candle holders so I will. I spent way too much in the show room but the nice thing is that they are shipping it home for me for the same as I would have spent on tax if I'd taken it home with me.

Our last stop was our hotel in Stanolar/Ballyfoe, a little town in the mountains. It is a delightful family run inn called Kee's Inn. It is just what you would picture an Irish upscale inn to be. They treated us to a welcome drink before dinner. I also had a Bushmiller's Vintage Cider. Yummy! I guess I am feeling better. Dinner conversation was fascinating as we sat with an older couple who are professors in California. Several of our tour mates are going next door to a very traditional pub but I am being a party pooper. I don't want to push it. If I still feel well tomorrow night, maybe we will go.

I kind of had my crying jag yesterday and just decided to start over today. We are on the last half of our tour and it is going to be even better. I bought my own supply of Kwell's (same as dramamine) and will be very careful abo ut what I eat at breakfast tomorrow.

Slán go fóill !