Not as We Planned

Started our day off with pouring rain! It was bound to happen…..Walked to the Westport House near our hotel and got the tour about the manor house, originally built by Grace O’Malley. Beautiful, restored house, including dungeon and wine cellar. We were supposed to go to Ashford Castle for lunch but a little GI bug kinda sidetracked that. Larry had it earlier in the week, we were hoping it was something he had eaten. Eileen was the next victim. So Larry went off to the Falconry at the castle with our driver and had a great time. We walked into town, hoping to grab a bite at O’Malleys pub but it was closed. Looks like they are dealing with the same staffing issues we have in the US. Passed a Lidl grocery store on our walk, found diet 7up, some little biscuit cookies and potato sticks. A little TV and early bedtime.
We were last here in Ireland 15 years ago, so we wanted to highlight the things that are still the same and things that have changed or improved. Certainly the roads are the most dramatic improvement. We were educated by Pat that the more numbers on a road, the smaller, more narrow and possibly unfinished the road is. M and N roads are the highways. The little ones are L for local. So a challenging road would be L34521. About the worse you can get. Major areas are now connected by M and N roads and they are great. Roundabouts and driving on the left are still the way of the land, so next 2 weeks should be interesting as we take the wheel.
Lordy, ice for a drink is still hard to find. Had major issues with this on last trip, most of the hotel bars will get for you but they give you a funny look, like, “why?”.
A big difference so far for us is that we have been staying in some very nice hotels with many modern conveniences, including USB ports, but suspect as we transition to B and Bs by Friday, we will see a varied level of modern conveniences.
Of course, the people are warm and welcoming everywhere we go. They are happy to have tourist back. Many towns were devastated by Covid closures and 1 out of every 2 pubs in neighborhoods closed. It is sad to see boarded up pubs and other businesses. Interesting that 85% of Irish population is vaccinated. We see some mask wearing among locals and tourists. Nothing has been so crowded that we felt uncomfortable. So we hope that continues.Read more