Diary Limerick

Diary Limerick
Lost in Limerick. Got there about 6pm tired after driving all day. We saw our hotel from the motorway as we arrived but couldn't get to it. So we spent a while driving around heading back generally in the direction we had seen it until we decided to look for a petrol station or similar for a map. Found a set of betting-book maker, pharmacy and mini supermarket together all open but no maps so I asked the chemist and he said it was easy from there and it was just down the road through 4 sets of traffic lights. Impressive hotel with open spiral curving up the centre of all floors.
We walked just around the corner to get subway for dinner (2nd night running) and found a supermarket too so we got Munchen beer, Irish stout and Italian Chianti. At the check out the conveyor belt was so jerky the bottles all threatened to tip so I grabbed them to hold upright. The girl told me to lay them down but I didn't understand until the 3rd time she said it. The lady in line after me put all her various tall items laid down on their sides automatically. In subway a young man came in wearing waders as if he'd just come off a fishing boat. Paul couldn't understand what he said at all. He got a subway with meat and lots of sauce, nothing else.
We went to Adare the next morning, Sunday and enjoyed the quaint thatched cottages and souvenir shopping. We found Curran's Heraldry in the Information centre but they had never heard of Gurran castle. The man there assured Paul that Gurran was just a mis spelt version of Curran. Then we drove along the main road south and every side road looking for Gurran Castle without success.many of the houses are painted a pale mustard and some are more beige while there are also some white like the cottages in Scotland. Back to Adare for lunch where I had a scone that was more like a cake than ours. We drove out of a different road from Adare on another quest before returning to Limerick and Shannon airport to check our route for Tuesday morning when we leave for London. Saw Bunratty Castle on the way, they had a May Day picnic on. Had a short sprinkle of showery rain drops then the sun returned although we have yet to see blue skies. Cloudy hazy whitish skies yesterday and today.
Heard on car radio news about a gang of 6 who attacked a Bank ATM with a digger.
Noticed the judder bars here are split in half and off set for each side of the road. Even seperate when 2 lanes on one way road. Many empty pedestrian crossings have traffic lights which flash orange that you can drive through.
I love the chips here. Delicious and we've had them 3 times. We hear a lot of people mentioning magic here. On the Red Viking bus tour the driver told us the maternity hospital was known as the magic building as 1 person goes in but 2 or more come out. Saw rugby stadium and tour guide went on about how it is the only place in Ireland where the mighty All Blacks were defeated. He explained that a Limerick poem is a 5 line humorous verse and said one.
King John's castle is the main building of interest. It is on an island between the Shannon and Abbey rivers. Quite a good exhibit with life size models dressed in period costumes and a short movie to explain the history of wars the people have been through. Limerick was a Viking settlement then Norman hence the castle. In the movie an older Irish woman raved on indignantly about the treatment of the Irish blaming everyone else. It rained while we were there but only light showers. A grey cold day.
Had dinner in the hotel bar and we were the only ones there so the bar man chatted now and then. He told us one of the snooker players on TV was a cheat and he was quite indignant about the light punishment for throwing games. The Irish do seem to get indignant more.
Leaving Tuesday morning. Got up at 5:45 only to find the plane had been delayed for over an hour and a half so we spent a long time reading at the gate with a lot of US soldiers. Osama Bin Laden was killed yesterday and retaliation has already been threatened. Someone always rises to replace a person who is a figurehead so who knows what the few months hold? There has been 1 natural disaster after another all year, then each arab country rebelling against leaders 1 by 1, now another sort of disaster threatens. However Easter with the Pope and thousands of people and then the Royal Wedding have bothe passed without incident and I had thought they were great terrorist opportunities.