Day 19 The Big Cousin Reunion John and I are heading off on a Thames Boat Cruise to the Tower of London. Roger has opted out as he has seen The Tower so many times before. First we have to figure out how to get there: The Circle Line (I think it was) is our direct route and it is closed in the section we need. We ask the not-very-hospitable person in charge (owner?) of The Vicarage Hotel for help and she thinks we can get straight there. We can’t. (She also didn’t know of a good pub in the area….strange…could be why she is such a sourpuss.) So we ask the nice man at the tube entrance and he gives us complete directions and we make it to Westminster Pier lickety split. We are hampered ... read more

Days 16 and 17 Goodbye to Dublin, Goodbye to Ireland. We have one full day left here on the Emerald Isle: tomorrow we leave for London. We spend most of the day at the wonderful National Museum of Ireland, Archaeology. The Museum is set up on a time line that helps us put into perspective all that we have seen: Newgrange; The Hill of Tara; The Grange Ringfort; The Rathurles/Kennedy Ringfort, Church, and Castle Keep; The Treasury Exhibit; Hill of Slane; Monasterboice; The Book of Kells; Rock of Cashel; Trim Castle; The Yellow Steeple ; Cahir Castle; Ormond Castle; Kilkenny Castle; Cobh and The Dunbrody Famine Ship; and everywhere signs and information are in English and Irish- that once forbidden language. However, the most impressive part of the museum for us is the display developed from ... read more

Day 14 So far we are not doing so well at finding ancestors. On the plus side, John has a long list of people to call once we are back in the states, and hopefully they will not be out, on vacation, not working that day, or have left early. BUT, we did find a Kennedy Castle Keep, Church, and Ring Fort. However, our day in Trim will prove to be frustrating for my search. We are staying at the highly rated Cranmoor House B&B and we are just finding it inhospitable. There are “Don’t” signs scattered around the room, and in the usual Welcome to Our B&B binder, you are faced first off with a set of House Rules; we haven’t seen that at any other B&B. The Innkeeper showed us the bathroom and explained ... read more

Day twelve: Droghedha, County Louth A Note to Our Blog Friends: Some of you are writing to ask if we are now home. Yes, sadly we are. We had a difficult time with internet connectivity while we were on the road, and to be truthful, we were just having too much fun to come home early to write, so we are playing catch-up as we get over jet-lag and homesickness for our two favorite islands. The blogs will continue as this is the way that I make up our trip scrap books. This year I also created a journal prior to leaving and was somewhat faithful in keeping daily entries. The scrap books are something to look forward to when we are in our 90’s and too old to walk 5 or 6 ... read more

Day Ten: Nenagh, County Tipperary , to County CLare After our day of cow pasture trekking and ring fort and church discovery, we awake to soreness of leg, hip, knee, and ankle. John was wearing shorts, of course, for our adventure and the scratches on his legs from trying to dive through the hedge are a mess. We make our bleary way down for breakfast and meet another couple from the US. We compare “Driving in Ireland” horror stories—John’s attempts at christening as many Kennedy Memorial Kerbs with the tires and wheel rims as possible, the other gentleman’s amazing record of blowing out a tyre only 15 minutes after picking up the car. We wives commiserate on the state of our stressed out and permanently hunched up left shoulders as hedge, trees, posts, and pedestrians come ... read more