MY LAST DAY IN IRELAND

June 8, 2004

..... Rather sooner than I thought but reassuring because my fuel gauge registered "E", I reached Limerick once more and could tank up for 36.54 euros. Next came Bunratty, on the way to Shannon Airport, and my last sight-seeing target: the Castle. I decided to forego the inside when I saw fluorescent lights, but the sign "oysters" brought me into the cosy pub where I sat in a backroom slurping a half a dozen while a continuous flow of female tourists of several nations passed by searching for the bathroom atop some steep stairs. I even helped an Indonesian lady who looked lovely but lost and in obvious distress, addressing her in her own language.
The waiter told me there were dozens of B & B's on the backroad, so I found one first: Castleside - Bunratty B & B where I slept like a log from 15:00 to 18:00.
That evening, I walked through the village and was just a few minutes too late to buy anything, so ended up in :

Kathleen's Irish Pub & Restaurant
 Found a description of
Côte du Rhone D'Aigues'90
"rich, smooth, well-knit and warm and nicely balanced"
and surmised the same could be applied
to the Aran sweaters I had just seen on display . .

I also read Kathleen's story: she had been here in 1954 and fallen in love with a local boy with whom she danced all night on the square outside; she came back 40 years later and bought the place."The real story she'll have to tell you herself... " - so I looked around for her and saw some grey haired elderly person sitting at a table who might ....well, I walked over and saw the person craning "its" neck to watch the sexy posterior of a passer-by. I joined him and also asked about Kathleen, to which he answered that she was rich and owned everything around but was right now in Blarney..so one more reason for me to get back to Ireland, I thought, then drove home to pack and spend my last night in Ireland.

BLO fecit 20041026 (20050218) - stories