Trip to Ireland
September – October 2006
Thursday 28 September
9.05 Galway to Limerick
11:15 Bus route 51
11:35 Limerick to Tralee
13:40 Bus route 13
Grand Hotel, Denny Street,Tralee
The Grand Hotel Tralee
is located in the centre of Tralee
Town , making it the perfect
base to browse the many
shops, restaurants and activities Tralee
has
to offer. Also ideal to explore Kerry and the South of Ireland
with its numerous beauty
spots, including the Ring Of Kerry and Killarney's lakes.
Established in 1928,
the Grand Hotel boasts open fires, ornate ceilings and mahogany
furnishings.
The hotel offer guests old world charm in a town centre setting. There
are 44
bedrooms, beautifully furnished with bathroom/shower ensuite,
multi-channel tv,
direct dial, telephone and tea/coffee welcoming trays in all rooms. Our
staff
are on hand at all times to help make your stay a memorable one.
One of the real stupidities in Ireland
is the wash hand basin taps
which are separate for hot and cold water.
This means that you must either use one or the other or grab a
handful
of cold and then hot. This is compounded
in many cases by the hot water being too hot to use.
Some places cover themselves by putting up
notices warning people that the water is hot.
Wouldn't it be better to channel the water through one exit
where hot
and cold could be mixed. Even better
would be to turn down the thermostat to make the hot water cooler- they
might
even save some money as well.
The travel went according to plan.
We went through Clarenbridge which is the
home of the Galway oyster and
Ardrahan where
the cheese is made. There were two 51 buses, one to Cork and a second
one,
which we took, to Limerick which cut out Shannon and gave us 30 minutes
for the
connection to the 13. The Limerick bus station was integrated with the
rail station
which looked like a freight shed. The 13
bus was much more of a local one and there was an old lady with a
crooked nose,
no teeth and a shawl who talked non-stop from Limerick
to Listowell. A man got on at
Newcastlewest and sat next to her. We
thought he would shut her up but they both started talking together
incessantly. He got off, defeated, at
Abbeyfeale but she continued talking. It
looked after about 90 minutes as if she would flag but she found
renewed vigour
as she approached Listowell.
There is plenty of room under the bus to put the
bags
but
somebody had put others in front of ours which had been pushed right to
the
other side. Colin went right in, a bit
like dumpster diving.
Kerry have just lost the All Ireland Gaelic
Football Final
in Dublin. The town was festooned with green and yellow
chequered flags and there were banners on many cars.
Most businesses had signs up wishing the team
luck.
Dinner at the Market Pub:
Warm salad with bacon and croutons/smoked salmon
Rosemary roast stuffed lamb with new potatoes,
green beans
and mashed turnip.
Apple crumble/white and dark chocolate mousse
Guinness/Smethwicks (we had asked for the
Argentinean red
but the closest they could get to this was Valpolicella!) The early
bird menu was available until pretty
late - it is
really just a table d'hote. The chef was
pretty busy when things began to pick up both in the restaurant and in
the pub
itself.
The flashing Belisha beacons
make quite a study in themselves.