Things to mention

There are so many topics I haven't touched on during each of the daily blogs, so I thought I might cover a few of them here. These are observations form a variety of things we saw and experienced.

First let me start with the “hen parties”. Everywhere we went we saw groups of girls and ladies as part of the hen party. This is pretty much a bachelorette party. Girls and their bridal parties and friends go from Dublin to Glasgow,or vice versa, or from outside of Dublin to the city for a weekend. At the airport when we left for Galsgow there were groups arriving and groups departing. They all had t-shirts on like – Karen's Herns, or Susie's Hen Trip 2009. Even on our Hop-on-Hop-off trip in Galsgow there were a group of hens who boarded to ride around the city.
Not so different from the groups I see going to Las Vegas for a weekend, except for the fact that these girls/women can be adorned with ribbons, or rabbit ears an the bride weaaring a decorative short veil. They definietly want it to be known they are all together. If they don't leave town they may be in a limo or celebrating in a local pub one evening.
Great craic for everyone.

The next thing I want to mention are the showers in Ireland. Or maybe I should say shower stalls. As far as getting enough hot water there is no problem. The Triton, heat as you need it power showers are great. Most of the shower stalls are very small. If you don't stand diagonal when you reach up to wash your hair, you will probably be bumping your elbows agains the walls. That should give you a good idea of the size. The hotels usually have bath tubs, so that works better, but B&Bs are the ones with the tiny showers. If I remember correctly, some of the self-catering cottages from my last trip had the same if the bathrooms were ensuite. And I do have so say I have seem some of the smallest bathrooms – sink and toilet- as can every be created. In some of the restaurants they had the Dyson hand dryer that I've seen advertised on TV. Very cool.

On to the wonderful sunny weather we had while traveling. The day we arrived in Dublin it was raining, but soon stopped. We had one very rainy day in Glasgow and a few sprinkles other days along the way. But for the most part the weather was sunny and beautiful. The reason Ibring this up is I wanted to mention about how many people we saw at the beachs around Ireland. And no wetsuits in the very cold water. Now when I say it was warm, I'm talking about 75-80 degrees, and 80 is really pushing it. So here were all these people at the beach on a sunny 75 degree day in the water. Mostly just up to their knees, but still in the water.
The one thing that really made me smile was when we checked into our B&B in Sligo. On the side of the house was a stone rock driveway that lead to an area to park and a place for the family to BBQ. No patio just all a loose rock area. When we arrived about 5PM there was the owner's daughter, home from college in her bikini on a lounge chair working on her tan! Just something I found quite unique for the weather and location.

I could definitey understand this by the beach, but here in the back driveway/bbq area just looked so out of place. Made me smile as Ireland has always surprised me in many ways.


So on to my last subject for a while. In Irland there is a known precidence when you are at a pub. If you sit at a table, or in a snug (both) you are not bothered. It's an unwritten understanding that you don't want to be disturbed. But the story is totally different if you take a stool at the bar. So one night Sarah and I ventured down to the pub that was attached to our Inn. (I should mention that while most stays were B&Bs, some were guest houses or inns to accommodate our room needs).
We took a couple of stools at the bar and after a few minutes we were engaged in conversation first with the barman, and then with a few gentlemen sitting a ways down from us. Before we knew it as we were getting ready to purchase a second round, one of the gentlemen bought us a round. Now the rule of courtesy here, is that you reciprocate with a round. But we hardly had a chance when the second gentleman bought a round. So by now I've had 3 glasses (not pints) of Guinness, and Sarah was on her 3rd whiskey. Sarah is a whiskey drinker and I love my Guinness.
We had not even had dinner yet and were due to leave. When we asked for suggestions ffor a place to go to dinner one of the gentlemen suggested we go to his place. By then Sarah and I were full of giggles, made our excuses and left to go eat. We tol the gentlemen that we “may” be back later that night, but would probably see them the next night. From what we heard, I guess they thought we'd be back for sure that evening and they went home and got all spiffed up and returned. We were tired after a long day and after dinner went to our room not realizing what had happened.
The next night, as we had planned, we stopped by the pub again to basically an empty bar. Our two new Irish friend, Paul and John were no where in site, so we “chatted it up”, as they say with Eugene the barman until closing.
We diid leave some money with Eugene to buy the 2 guys a reciprocating drink, which Eugene promised he would do. Not quite sure what would have happened had we returned that first night! LOL