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Published: June 19th 2010
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Excellent lodgings
Right next to the O'Keeffe pub...no need to drive! We arrived at Shannon airport (9 June) at around 7AM. Flight day was mostly uneventful except for the last leg of the flight. On the way from Denver to Newark, we were informed by the pilot that we would be arriving early. We thought that we would have time to stretch our legs, go to the loo, and get something to eat so as to avoid the flight meal. We thought wrong. As it turned out, we did arrive early, deplaned and took the shuttle to the international concourse and walked up to our gate...just in time to...board! If we hadn't arrived early we may have missed our flight! Sheesh.
We didn't get a chance to stock up on water or food. I was starving and thirsty by the time the drinks and food came around. That pretty much upset the equilibrium for the flight experience. The only upside was that a very nice Irish woman traded places with me so I could have the aisle seat. We chatted with her and she gave us quite of a bit of inside info on aspects of Irish life and the current state of Irish politics and their economy. The angry anti-incumbent mood
Cooraclare, County Clare
Main street...no tourista crowds to be seen...just the way we like it. isn't just happening in the US. She thought the idea of term limits was a good one. I second that emotion.
One of the things that she talked about is GAA football (Gaelic Athletic Association). This is the big deal going on in Ireland at the moment. As I understood it, this is an amateur sport. Each county fields a team that plays towards a national championship. All of the players are the top amateurs of each county and playing for the glory of the county. This isn't soccer. Players can advance the ball by dribbling it on the ground with hands or feet. The ball can be passed to another player by punching the ball or kicking the ball. They try to kick the ball into a soccer type goal or through uprights above the goal similar to our football goals. It sounds like fun and I would like to watch a match.
The flight itself was a bit bumpy and I didn't get to sleep as I would have liked to. We did arrive on time however. We flew into Shannon which is a small efficient airport. We were off the plane, picked up one piece of checked
O'Keefes's
Run by a lovely couple...Art & Ann...perfect place at the end of the day for a pint. luggage, walked through customs, and picked up the car rental in less than an hour. We were on the road in no time at all. I would have liked some time to drive around the parking lot to get the hang of the left hand driving. Verrrry different and it is also very stressful. By the end of the day the driving & shifting was a little easier...but not much easier. Maybe it was a combination of fatigue and the weirdness of shifting with the left hand. Maybe...but we'll see on day two.
We drove to Cooraclare which is about 45 minutes away from Shannon. As you can see, Cooraclare is a 3 pub village. There is a pub right next door and the two others are within crawling distance should we be compelled to do a pub crawl.
We arrived and met up with the landlord. He advised us to go to a larger neighboring town for groceries. We unpacked and hit the road for Kilrush. We hadn't had breakfast yet so the first thing we did was get a bite to eat. We ate at Crotty's,a pub which was recommended by a lady where we purchased a parking
Next door
Where the older locals get together. permit. The meal was b-l-a-n-d. The pub itself was exactly how one imagines an Irish pub, so that made up for the uninspired food. We didn't have a drink as I thought it wouldn't be prudent.
One of the small supermarkets was located at the other end of the town so we drove there so we wouldn't have to lug the grocery bags too far. I pulled into a parking space and looked around for a place to buy a parking permit (disc). A lady was climbing into her car adjacent to us so I asked her where I could buy the permit. She directed me across the street to the machine that was hidden from view by the vehicles. “I'm here visiting and I don't know where things are located, I'm sure you can't tell I'm a tourist.” I said. She smiled and said, “Well, you don't look Irish.” Ha, ha, ha, ha
We headed back home after shopping and promptly took a nap. After the nap, we got up and took an exploratory walk around the village and on a local lane. Yup, just the way I like it...not a tourist in sight! After we had dinner we
Overlooking the village
Taken from a point overlooking Cooraclare during our evening stroll. watched a bit of tv. There was an educational channel that had the narration in Gaelic. It is totally foreign to my ears.
Then it was time to head next door for our first official beer in an Irish pub. We headed next door to O'Keeffe's. It is a cool little pub run by Art & Ann. The first thing that caught my eye as we came in were the countless number of photos that are on the walls. Ann believes in capturing people and events with her camera and then posting them for everyone to see. What a great idea...instead of squirreling them away in albums or on computer files, place them where everyone can look them over.
Hilariously, there was another couple there when we arrived. They are Americans from Oregon. He (I've temporarily spaced their names) has relatives in Vale, Oregon!!! How funny is that?? We came way over to Ireland just to visit with folks that have relatives in the same little town that my daughter and son-in-law live. It is a very small world.
The funniest part of the evening came later when some locals came in. At first I thought that they were speaking
Another View
from our backdoor...nice view. in Gaelic. I was wrong...they were speaking English! How funny is that? We got to chatting with them and I had to really pay attention in order to decipher what they were saying. I was like "What the feck are you saying?"
It was a great evening. It is just as I had imagined it would be sitting in an Irish pub with a Guinness in hand bullshitting with the locals. Ann told us to come Saturday night as they will be having traditional music. Oh yeah!
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Judy Liedtke
non-member comment
Wsih we were there> Have pint or two for us!