Ireland 2014

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LAST NIGHT IN IRELAND



Tuesday was our last full day in Limerick. Time to track down anything I still needed to see or photograph.

I opted for another big walk along the canal to the Shannon River. I had seen signs along the canal that the walk up to the University of Limerick, formerly the NIHE, was only about a forty minute walk once I got beyond the canal to the Shannon.

Well, I had a picture in my album of the National Institute of Higher Education I needed to update and a roundtrip to the University seemed like a fun idea.

For the last four days, the weather forecasters had predicted rain for every day. They had been wrong for every day, too. This morning seemed to be no different with just a scattering of clouds making for a glorious sunrise.

Originally, I was going to walk hands free all the way to the Shannon, but the sunrise over the St. Mary’s had me pulling my camera out as I walked over Sarsfield Bridge. I made a detour to the laundry to take the picture I promised my mother.

By the time I arrived at the point where the canal met the Shannon, the weather forecast for rain was looking more and more accurate. Clouds covered the sky in gray. A light drizzle fell making me rethink my idea of not carrying my rain coat. Too late at this point.

I walked along the trail my parents always raved about but I had never traveled. My father used to walk this trail from our house in Castletroy, near the University, and I would pick him at the terminus down in Limerick City. The spot where I parked to get him has been turned into a pedestrian walk way right near the new Ball’s Bridge.

It’s a great trail with wonderful views of the river. You spend a lot of time covered by a canopy of trees but you still get lots of views of the Shannon. My father liked this walk so much he has a painting of the trail hanging on a wall in the house in Saratoga.

It would have made a better hike if it wasn’t raining and if I were wearing a rain coat. But it was only a soft day, nothing too torrential. There were only a couple of times I wished I had cover. I did have cover for my camera back-pack, so that wasn’t a problem.

I think I found the spot I took the picture of the NIHE thirty five years ago, but I’m not quite sure. The University has grown quite large since I was here. Where the NIHE used to sit on one bank of the river, the UL now covers both banks connected by two bridges.

One bridge, which I wanted to photograph, was called the living bridge and was only for pedestrians and cyclists. It’s called a living bridge because it sways and moves when you traverse it.

This is a great idea for art, not so great if you want a stable platform to take a photograph. I haven’t looked too closely at the photographs I took while the bridge swayed beneath me, but I don’t think they are going to be clear.

Since I was at my farthest point from the hotel, the rain really started to come down. I was also out in the open trying to make my way back to the coverage of the foliage tunnel along the river. I kept reminding myself it was only a soft day and to soldier on.

I took the turn off at the canal to follow the path I had taken on Sunday by the exercise equipment and toll house on the Corbally road. I was packing up memories for later use.

I had another group of Swans fly over head. I snapped some shots but the exposure was off. I resisted the urge to make another foray out into the river on the stone path but did stop to disappoint the hungry swans at the car park.

By the time, I had arrived back into town, the sun came out from the clouds. I had noticed this strange arrangement of flowers in this field, almost as if a planter had dropped buckets of seeds in a diamond pattern. I tried to get a good photograph but It looked like one of those things you could only see from the air.

I snuck passed the open gate of the Athlunkard Boat club to photograph an unusual grey swan sitting by the river. He was nice enough to flex his wings for me for a photograph.

Mick and Lilly Goggin were nice enough to come to the hotel for lunch. My father was a bit confused about the lunch date. I told him we were meeting them at 12:30. He said we should leave at 12:15, then. I figured he knew something I didn’t and agreed to meet at 12:15.

When my parents arrived in the lobby, I led them into the bar for lunch. He then figured out we were actually meeting in the hotel. We now had fifteen minutes of chitchat before our guests arrived.

Lily Kelly now Goggin was the face of Verbatim in my day. She ran the phones and pretty much greeted every one that came to the plant. We always got along very well and it’s always a treat to see her. She would be my pick for quintessential Irish person.

Her husband Mick came, too, taking off from his duties of running Munster Football. Everybody but me ordered soup and bread for lunch. I was still committed to my Calories don’t exist in Ireland program, so I decided to have pizza for the third time. What can I say, it’s tasty.

Too bad the oven in the kitchen wasn’t ready and I had to have another dish. I went Irish and had Banger’s and Mash.

The fairy ring quest still burned in my mother’s brain so we headed out to Raheen where we knew there was a fairy ring. We knew this because it was on the site of the Verbatim building and great care had been taken in the construction of the three Verbatim buildings to avoid harming the ring. Not that anyone was superstitious but it is supposed to be very bad luck to touch them or even enter them.

We did a quick stop at my old High School, the Crescent College Comprehensive so I could take a few pictures. As I have done for the last several times, I took the photos in the rain.

My father’s old buildings in Raheen have been bought and used by other companies at this point. One is a start up that John Hurlihy visited a few weeks previously. The second building is used by the National Health service. The third building, the coating plant, remains vacant and is home to taggers and squatters. Pictures have appeared online of the trashed interior.

I had to argue with my father a couple of times about the location of the Fairy Ring. Basically, it was directly in front of the car. My father didn’t think that was the case. I had to drive around it a bit until he agreed with me.

I got another chance to use my mother’s camera to take her picture with the Ring in the background. Being a stupid american, I ran through a break in the trees to check the interior.

At this time, the center of the ring is full up with bushes and brambles. I could only go in about four feet before I had to stop. It used to be you could see all the way across the ring. If I had the drone I would have taken some great overhead pictures.

The funniest thing about taking pictures of my mother is her continued vanity. Whenever I point the camera towards her, she hides her cane and whips off her glasses. She never wants to be caught unprepared either. When she sees the camera, she will point her face towards it and smile.

We went back to Adare to my father’s favorite restaurant, the Dunraven Arms for dinner. And as we had done for the previous five nights, we dined with the Bradshaw’s. This time the party was down to just Anne and Brendan. I can’t for the life of me think of why they continued to seek our company.

The sun hovered at the horizon as we pulled into the restaurant parking lot. I had a few minutes and a camera of all things, so I ran back up the road to get a last picture of Desmond castle in the glow of sunset. I would have done the same to Adare Manor but I didn’t feel like going through the hassle of breeching security. I’ll save that particular picture for another trip.

Anne brought gifts for my mother and I. They were thrilled by the pictures of the wedding and wanted to thank me for them. They bought me a nice Lacoste sweater from a fancy shop in Limerick called Leonards. It would have been so much better if the sweater was in my size.

As you enter, the lobby of the Dunraven Arms, which is a hotel as well as the restaurant, there is a distinctive leather chair just inside the door. The chair has a wrap around top and my father has been taking pictures in the chair as long as he has been going to the Dunraven arms. This trip was no different. We also took a picture with the Maitre D, even though this was the brother of the Maitre D from the last time we took the picture.

As usual, the food was great. I made it a point of beating Brendan to the check. He had paid for enough dinners on this trip and others.