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Published: June 16th 2019
View of the Shannon River
Our singing venue of St Mary's Cathedral Irish rain at last introduced itself – overnight and this morning after breakfast. My plan for a quick departure from the hotel worked well, and I had a last breakfast at Ann’s Bakery. Two blocks in the light rain to get to the airport bus stop, and the bus came a few minutes later. I thought we were driving through a more working area of Dublin, when suddenly I recognized the central bus station from my random walk yesterday. From there we travelled at a fast pace directly to the airport, arriving in twenty minutes, half the time scheduled.
Which meant I arrived before the slightly delayed arrival of the plane with all the
Westwinds travellers. After considerable time, I finally saw the other members who had travelled on their own and joined them. After more time, the flyers poured into the arrivals area, and we left as “Bus 2” and “Bus 1”, rushing through the now pouring rain. Somehow, I got on Bus 2 and had to switch to Bus 1, as places had been assigned months ago. Bus 1 holds mostly choir people, and singing is promised.
Driving away from Dublin was all on motorways, one of
St Mary's Cathedral
Giddy tourist in front which was being widened. The driver/guide said that this was a commuter route because many people worked in Dublin and lived in the countryside or in smaller towns. Ireland’s economic growth has soared to first place in the EU, having languished around last place after the bank’s collapse about ten years ago. Unfortunately, from the tourist’s point of view, the motorways are shielded by high bushes and trees, thus the scenery was hard to see. Most of the fields were also bordered by bushes, emphasizing the patchwork of fields in varying shades of green.
Lunch was at a service stop with almost a dozen food outlets. My fresh lemon chicken sandwich was probably the healthiest meal I have eaten since arriving. By the time we were boarding the bus again, the sun had come out, generating some warmth and a bit of breeze. For quite a while we travelled as if in a corridor between two banks of soaring clouds, billowing white on top and menacing dark showers on the bottom. Occasionally we got both sun and showers.
Limerick is a small city. We drove directly to the medieval centre to see
St Mary’s Cathedral, where we will sing tomorrow.
King John's Castle 1210
Castles are artifacts of war and invasion. Some of us crowded into the church for a look, and one of the docents offered to give us a brief talk about its history. I think other people had to pay, but she didn’t want to charge such a big group of us (about twenty) since we were going to perform. Built in 1168, in the cruciform style, chapels were added through the ages, giving it a distinct shape. In Victorian times plain windows were replaced by stained-glass, a common story in Ireland, reflecting growing wealth. One curiosity was the Leper’s Squint, a small space where lepers could listen to the mass and even take communion while isolated from other worshippers. If only they had realized that not sharing vessels would have been a better precaution than not sharing space!
With some free time, Christina, Albert, Luxi and I joined up to walk around the area. A church down the road drew our attention - a Franciscan Catholic Church. Inside we admired the polished wood and modest altar. Complete silence hushed our tones. Our next idea was to visit
King John’s Castle. As we debated the best route, an old fellow came by and advised us, just like in an
River Shannon
Limerick as interruption to rural life Irish folk tale. The crenellations I had taken for the Castle from a distance were in fact on the tower of another church further distant. The Castle was of undecorated Norman design, meant to fortify the coast line. It was shaped like a shamrock, with very high walls and the narrowest of arrow slits, making it almost impregnable, I imagine.
Albert spied a coffee house, and we retired from battle to enjoy refreshment. When it was time to make our way back to the bus, we chose a different route. The bridge over the
Shannon was further away than we thought, and we had to walk very fast indeed. Arriving on the dot of 4:30 meant escaping Director Nicole’s threat of a fake tiara for the last person onto the bus.
Entry to the modern
Clayton Limerick Hotel was as painless as possible when 100 people are trying to get into two elevators that hold six people each without luggage. On my trip up, we squeezed in five people with suitcases. In our room, Susan and I have a wide view of the Shannon River. For a while we chatted and got to know each other; we are quite compatible
Clayton Hotel
Modern eminence in an historic environment as room-mates. Dinner was served from a three-course menu. My starter of carrot soup was good; unfortunately, the plaice that followed was over-breaded, but we did get a bit of salad and vegetables. Of course I bought a Guinness at the bar, as did many others.
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Isabel Gibson
non-member comment
Churches
Your photos nicely illustrate these exquisite structures with their soaring ceilings/roofs, as well as the distinctive residential architecture. Good acoustics in the church, I presume? And did they make a video of your choir's performance?