Erin Go Blog

Greetings:

Donna Masi brought us to Concord with Gini’s 48 pounds of luggage (Chris – 37lbs) and our new digital camera. Can you believe Chris is bringing his computer also?! Lo and behold Chris runs into one of his former students in the bus station (Alan Brown). We all board the bus and arrive at Logan airport in good form.

With a delayed flight increasing our several hour wait for a plane to New York we find a sports bar to watch the NFL. We pass the Crown Lounge in our walkabout and as Chris is finishing his Sam Adams, Gini decides to investigate the Lounge. Soon after she returns, she announces she has finagled a free invitation to the lounge – a $60 value!

Parking ourselves in front of a 60 inch LG plasma TV, we sipped our complimentary drinks and nibbled our appetizers. Tearing ourselves away so as not to miss the boarding call we arrive at our gate to have our boarding passes scanned. Oops – they fail to be accepted by the scan. Chris’ light alcoholic buzz begins to diffuse as he prepares for all-out outrage. Wait – here comes the gate agent with replacement boarding passes that somehow direct us to row 4. Row 4? Yes, that’s right folks, business class! Gini sees this as an appropriate start to our retirement adventure. Chris figures he can have some champagne and a good meal before the plane crashes.

Much to Chris’ shock and disbelief we land safely (Sunday, Jan 4) and are soon met by Peadar, Chris’ second cousin. We immediately revel in seeing him again and fall into clever and witty conversation (oh those Irish!) despite Gini having slept only a few hours and Chris not at all. When we arrive Noreen has prepared an Irish breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausage, juice, coffee, tea and toast. Peadar and Noreen are new grandparents and are aglow with grandchild narratives.

Dinner is duck and it is delicious. We feel at home. Sleep comes gratefully and both of us sleep well into mid morning. Peadar does not have to go to work (assistant principal) until Thursday after we return from our trip to Northern Ireland. In the meantime we visit Carlingford, Ireland and enjoy Noreen's curry for dinner.


Noreen has made our travel arrangements and on Tuesday we soon arrive in Bushmills in "the North". Our accommodations are splendid at the Bushmills Inn.





Breakfast and a stipend for dinner are included for our two nights.








The rooms are wonderful:


Each room has a sitting area and a king size bed.

We were especially impressed with our tea alcove:




Fires are fueled by sod and the aroma fills us with Ireland. We also fill ourselves with champagne:





wine, excellent food and Irish coffees:







Our goal was to enjoy all the hearths in the place and we took our challenge quite seriously. Another goal was to visit, finally, the Giant’s Causeway outside of Bushmills (sadly we forewent the Bushmills Distillery tour).

We foolishly thought that the sunshine of our travel day to the Inn was a constant occurrence in Eire. Well Irish reality emerged as we started out with the temperature hovering at freezing and a constant drizzle in the air. The causeway was still spectacular. It was created when incredibly hot basalt made contact with the sea and produced hexagonal columns on the beach:







Here are a couple of fine Colleens that we encountered at the Causeway:





We also wended our way to Dunluce Castle:





which overlooked the sea. It was built in the 1300s but when the kitchen fell off in the 1600s the inhabitants lost interest and left.

After a visit to an Orange bar (no Harp here) we decided to continue our fireplace tour back at the Inn instead of more touring. This was a good choice.

Alas we had to leave the next day (Thursday). Peadar had to return to work. Our vista-filled return drive along the Causeway Coastal Route resonated to the news reports of the Irish economy. Dell had decided to close its Limerick plant thus releasing 1900 workers. This is not a good thing. News of Israel and Gaza along with US economic reports balanced any carefree indulgence. Still we are having so much fun with Peadar and Noreen that we feel fortunate to be here with them.

Skype-ing with Michele was a little sketchy (Tom W did appear nude however before the broadcast failed). During the conversation we were contacted by Jan Donahue and managed to cheer her up a bit since she was not pleased with the snow, rain and ice that had filled her day the day before. She and Cliff are hoping to join us in Miami Beach in February.

So long for now. We are scheduled to travel to Milano this Saturday and then on to Sicily on Sunday. Ciao!