Poetry and perspective

We got an early start to head to the land of hearts desire. Our first stop was in Drumcliff at St Columba’s Church where WB Yeats, the famous Irish poet is buried. You can’t just say Yeats, as a Yeats Sr (father or grandfather) was the pastor there. Kind of feel sorry for the guy as the young lady he fell in love with turned him down. He waited for years until her daughter was eligible, but she also turned him down. Like mother like daughter 😉. He finally married one of the daughter’s friends. Hmmm. This seems to be a recurrent theme in romantic Irish history, as we heard a similar story back at the Ulster American Folk Park. We made a mid morning stop for tea and scones at the Yeats Country Inn. Scones will be the downfall of my waistline, but they just taste so good here. We pushed on to the Kylemore Abbey in Connemara and headed straight for lunch… eating again??? We’ll walk it off exploring I hope. The abbey was originally built as a private residence. Over the years it changed hands until finally being acquired by the Benedictine nuns who turned it into a school for young ladies. Evidently Angelica Huston had the pleasure of attending.. In addition to a great cafe with legendary apple pie among other delectables , the nuns also make a liquor similar to Baileys, only using wine instead of whisky. Party in our room tonight! The walled garden on the hillside is spectacular. In addition to touring the house, church and garden, you can signup to help feed the pigs. Those nuns never miss a trick! We finally made it to our hotel, Ashford Castle in Cong, County Mayo. We got off the bus and were greeted by a bagpiper, who led us across the moat to the castle where the staff stood lined up to welcome us Downton Abbey style. We could easily get used to this, but it’ll be a rude awakening once the tour is over and we’re on our own.Read more