The Burren, County Clare: This area is fascinating; filled with Megalithic tombs, Holy Wells, underground Caverns, Ring Forts and disappearing lakes. I would have to say that this area was my favorite area of Ireland. This was also my favorite picture from my trip in 2006.

Ireland
 2002

Ireland. I have been thinking about the land across the sea since I was very little. My grandmother always said she would like to take me there. It never happened in her lifetime but I did have the good fortune of traveling there twice.
 In 2002, I went with my mother-in –law, and her sister. Also on the trip was a family named Martin who have been several times and have also rented cars so we really saw the countryside. Their family consisted of six altogether. We rented a small van which held 7 of us comfortably and we also rented a small car. Before we left, we decided which places were most important to us so we could plan our trip accordingly. What I found interesting was that we stayed in hotels each night, and only had accommodations the first night. From there on, we had the hotel clerk make our arrangements for the following night for us. I am not certain this was customary, but the clerks had no problem with the request. We wanted to try to find places that could hold all nine of us. Our trip was for 10 days. Many of the hotels had bars inside them which stayed open all night if you were a guest there. In Killarney, we stayed at The Brooks which I highly recommend. It was quaint and the clerk went into his kitchen to get us a pint as we chatted by the fire. Many of the hotels only have hot water in the morning and late in the evening. They are very much into conserving energy and in some places I was told they had a meter outside where you deposit your change to have electricity. I did not see many paper items such as matches, napkins, condiments in the restaurants. There is not much waste there and that was impressive. I would also recommend to frequent pubs with signs which advertise Traditional Irish Music. This is where you will experience the pub atmosphere. If you go in October like we did, it was very chilly, lots of rain and the pub was a welcome place where we could stand by the fireplaces and smell the turf and feel its warmth.
 We landed in Limerick at Shannon Airport, and headed for Killarney, a manageable drive after a long flight. We headed for Blarney Castle where none of us kissed the Blarney Stone, much to the dismay of the fellow who wanted to hold our legs. The trip was one adventure after another as by the end of our trip, we had visited 30 pubs. That is 3 pubs each day. We ate breakfast, lunch and dinner at the pubs.
 One day we went to Ballyvaughn near the Burren and stayed at a very nice hotel with a restaurant and pub. While eating dinner, I penned a song onto a napkin. I told everyone in our group that I had written a song about our trip. They all wanted to hear it. I sang it to the tune of an Irish song. We stayed there about 2 hours when the entertainment came for the evening. He got all set up and the room was filling up. The microphone was turned on and he introduced himself. He tells us a bit about the songs he will play and thanks us all for attending. Then he said as he looked at me, “I hope before the evening is over that my friend in the back row will come up later and sing us the song she wrote.” My mouth dropped. I had no idea how he knew I had written a song and looked to my friends to see who the rat was. They swore they told him nothing. He was waiting for an answer from me……. OK I could do it, I nodded, but a bit unsure about the whole thing. Later he called me up to the stage. First I asked him how he knew I had written a song. He said he had been there all afternoon. It was a comical song I had written about Guinness all that goes with a pint of Guinness. I asked the audience for permission to sing this song as it had 2 objectionable words. They were not terrible words, just descriptive. I told them and they said, “Sing us your song”. As I sang, looking like a nut of course, the whole crowd was very quiet. They were truly a good audience. After I finished, applause broke out and the dancing commenced. I had a fellow ask me to dance and a few pints were sent to my table, which I gave away. That was a fun time.
 The most exciting part of that trip was a visit to Corrandulla to Clarke’s Pub. It was a very cold and rainy day. There were a few older men at the bar and they were very happy to see these visitor’s from away. They asked what brought us to Corrandulla. I told them my family had lived there many years ago and I wanted to go to check out the cemetery nearly. We had a drink and a bite to eat and sat by the fire. One fellow sang to us in Gaelic. He was very involved with theatre and gave me a copy of a play called ‘Thy Will Be Done” which was excellent. I read it on the plane ride home. Tim Martin and I drove down to the cemetery in the rain and he watched me run all over the cemetery to see if my ancestors were there. I found a few of them and took many photos in the rain. That was the highlight of my trip. I was thrilled to be there, rain of not. It rained every day we were in Ireland. Some of our group had gone to the Beleek factory in Co. Donegal, near Northern Ireland.
 We also visited Dingle Peninsula which I highly recommend. I think the scenery took my breath away especially the drive around Slea Head. If you want to find good areas to shop, I think Killarney, Co. Kerry and Galway City, Co. Galway are probably the best places to find Irish goods such as jewelry, linens, maps and music which is where I spent most of my money. Keeping in touch was difficult by phone. I had a phone card, however always had to go through an operator. A card for 1 hour maybe was really good for 10 minutes. I don’t think cell phones are too practical as you would need to convert the voltage, same as if you had a video camera. I bought a digital camera with a couple of memory cards and lots of batteries. The Internet cafes are excellent. I had no problem finding them and they cost about 1 Euro for 15 minutes. This trip was a blast….much different from my second trip where I rarely visited a pub. My second trip was spent in hostels for the most part and the experience was very interesting.