Day 6 - Ireland 2013

This morning after breakfast we had a went out to Kylemore Abbey and Gardens.  We drove through the Connemara Region.  There were beautiful mountains on each side of the valley that the Abbey is in.  This is the area where "The Quiet Man" with John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara was filmed in 1952.  As you can see we had wonderful blue skies all day.

 

On our way we stopped in  Oughterard because a couple of people needed a pharmacy and some needed to use the ATM.  One woman only brought US currency with her!  Some of us who had Euro's did a little retail therapy.

 

 

 As we drove to the Abbey we passed Killary Fjord.  They farm raise salmon in the fjord and there is also a boat tour that can be taken.

 

Beneath these buoys are five or six cages of salmon.  You can just make out a boat of people who are out there attending to the fish.

 

 

We had about 2.5 hours at Kylemore.  Some of us quickly grabbed a bite to eat in the cafeteria before starting out on the hike to the Abbey.  I went to the Abbey and then past it to the church that was built on the grounds.

First glimpse of the Abbey

 

I would have liked to look at the gardens, but I missed the shuttle and it was too far to walk and get back from in the 20 minutes I had left.  So I left that for another trip.

Tonight was the grand reception for the opening of the International Quilt Festival of Ireland. We had a champagne reception  at the Galway Bay Hotel.  We had a lovely dinner and Eleanor Burns received a beautiful crystal bowl.

Eleanor and Bonnie have both been staying at our hotel, so we have had the opportunity to see them and breakfast and visit with them.  Eleanor also went with us out to Kylemore Abbey as well.

After dinner we attended a program at the hotel called "Trad on the Prom."  Short I think for Traditions on the Promenade.  It was a wonderful Irish variety show.  They has 5 members in the band, 3 males dancers and 3 female dancers.  The music was wonderful and the dancing was good as well.  I picked up a couple of cd's from one of the pipe players and the girl percussionist, who was wonderful.

Champagne reception at Galway Bay Hotel. Almost 80 degrees this day.

It was a wonderful evening and got to meet women from all over the world.

Day 5 Ireland Vacation

Well today is the big day.  Off to Ireland. 

Jason called a car service in their neighborhood last night to arrange a car for me to JFK.  I got picked up at 2 pm, so I spend the morning repacking my suitcase and lounging.

Today the weather was much cooler, of course now that I'm leaving.  I am ar the airport 2 hours early.  Unfortunately Bonnie was delayed 3 hours getting out of Atlanta so she missed our flight.  She had to catch a later flight.  Something stupid about the flight, or maybe not.  For the first time I was able to fly without a belt extender.  Guess that 4 months of working out and dieting has it's benefits.  Also used a bathroom for the first time on a plane.  It wasn't nearly so small as I had always imagined.

At the airport in Dublin we were met by our bus drivers.  Bonnie's group on the right, Eleanor Burns's group on the left.  Met my roommate, Mickey Donahue, for the first time.

Then I started to not feel well.  When I was putting my medications in my pill containers I must have gotten distracted and forgot one of my blood pressure meds.  Wasn't sure if that was the problem, but I headed to the restroom.  By the time I got back the bulk of the ladies has left to walk to the bus.  We lost sight of them and were a bit worried, but eventually we found the group.

We had a short orientation drive around Dublin and then headed for Galway where we would be until Sunday.

Since our flight had come in soo early, the driver took us by Galway Cathedral so we could spend some time until our rooms were ready at the Menlo Park Hotel.

 

 

Today, since the quilt show hasn't started yet, we had a couple of tours.  We went to Celtic Crystal Factory.  We got to see a lot of beautiful crystal and heard the story of how Mary was the first woman head of a crystal company.  They were set up specifically to export their crystal, so if you don't buy it at the factory you can't buy it anywhere else in Ireland.  Didn't buy any crystal as I see too much unused crystal at estate sales.

Then we went to Connemara Marble Factory and showroom.  We were shown all the different colors of marble that they mine in Connemara. From the rare red to black with sea shells imbedded in it to the traditional green. Here I did buy a pendant that had a great variegation of dark green, grass green and white in one stone.

 

Day 4 New York

Slept late today.  Denise and Jason were both off to work.  So Denise drew me a nice little map of their neighborhood.  I wanted to do some laundry before I flew to Ireland tomorrow.  So after a shower I packed up my laundry and headed out. 

A big thunder storm had come thru last night and it was still raining a little bit this morning.
I went to the laundrymat and did 1 load.  Then walked to a couple of thrift shops in the neighborhood.  It was interesting to look at what they had, but I didn't buy anything.  I grabbed lunch and then headed back to the apartment.

During the afternoon I read a little, napped a little.  When Denise and Jason got home from work we went out to eat.  When we got back we watched Market Warriors on PBS and I think I have Denise hooked.

I told them that this had almost been enough vacation for me and I was ready to head home.  Denise insisted though that I continue on the trip to Ireland, he he.

Day 3 New York adventure.

Staying at Denise and Jason's reminded me of the good old days when I was their age and living in apartments that were sweltering in the summers.  It is still in the 80's here.  Hoping that Ireland will be cooler.

This morning we were off to the Brooklyn flea market.  It recently moved to a little different location.  It was right on the river with a great view of Manhattan.

Lots of food vendors at the market, and quite a few antique vendors. When we were done there Jason and Denise didn't seem sure what to do next.  But the weekend before they had gone to upstate New York with some friends.  So we headed to a town where they knew there were a lot of antique shops, Cold Spring.  It is right across the river from West Point.  I was surprised by the mountains and understood now the draw to the Hudson River painters.

We found one more flea market but the vendors were beginning to shut down so we had a quick look and then headed back to the City.

All in all a fun day.

2013 Vacation - International Quilt Festival of Ireland

I am a big Bonnie Hunter fan.  Bonnie has a blog, Quiltville.blogspot.com and specializes in scrap quilts.  I began following her blog a couple of years ago.  Then last November she came to our guild, Capitol City Quilt Guild, Lansing, Michigan and did 2 days of classes and a lecture at our guild meeting. I took classes both days and had a chance to get to know Bonnie.

She was talking up a trip to Ireland to the International Quilt Festival with a tour through Sew Many Places.  I had not taken a trip in 2 years and started thinking about this one. And then decided what to heck, why not.  Since most of us would be quilters, it would be a ready make group of new friends.  So I signed up at the first of the year.

We departed from New York on June 4.  Being the ever cautious traveler I decided that I didn't want to chance missing connections.  And since I have a lovely niece living in Astoria, I decided to go to NY a few days ahead of time and spend some time with her and her fiance, Jason. 

I arrived Friday night and they were kind enough to pick me up.  They live in a lovely tree lined neighborhood in Astoria made up of multiple family dwellings.

The weather was really, really hot while I was there.  80+.  That evening we went for a walk and ended up at a beer garden just like in Germany.  There was a high wall and big gate surrounding the garden.  I was surprised when we went through the building and ended up in a huge garden stuffed with picnic tables and people enjoying drinks, the hot weather and each other's company.  There was no music that night, but lots of activity.  Then we walked home and turned in for the night.

More adventures to come.

Day 2 of Vacation

The first time I sent to New York a few years ago we visited the "Garage flea market" in Manhattan.  So it was a stop again this time.  Denise and I sent to the flea.  I found a couple of treasures.  One was a ribbon from the AKC Carroll Kennel Club show that I'm adding to a picture of a dog that I picked up at an estate sale.  We looked through both floor of the flea and then headed over to City Quilter which is across the street and just down a little bit. 

We spent quite a bit of time at the quilt shop.  I found some good NYC fabrics and a cute quilters newspaper fabric to share with my variable star friends.  Denise found some cute bicycle fabric as well.  She and Jason bicycle quite a bit.

They have added a gallery next to the city quilter where they display artists quilts.  They had a very nice display of Deb Hyde quilts. (www.cityquilter.com)

By then is was almost lunch time, so we decided to go to our favorite tea shop, Tea and Sympathy.
We had a great lunch and then caught up with Jason who has to go into work for a little while to take care of a problem.

I had told them that there was an exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum called "Workt by Hand"; Hidden Labor and Historical Quilts.  There had quite a number of beautiful quilts on display.  I had ordered the show catalog a couple months before.

While there we discovered there was also an exhibit of John Singer Sargent Watercolors on display.  So we enjoyed those as well.

We also walked through a display by El Anatsui http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/el_anatsui/.  Denise found this display particulary inspiring.  It was amazing what he did with metal pop bottle tops and metal cans and twist ties.  We took the subway back to their neighborhood and stopped by Basil a very good local restaurant for supper.

International Quilt Festival of Ireland

A friend asked about my last post and what I needed Euros for.

Well when Bonnie Hunter was here last October she talked about 2 tours she was doing with Sew Many Places, a tour company that caters to quilters.  One was an Alaskan cruise in August and one was a 10 day tour to the International Quilt Festival in Galway and a tour of Ireland.  A friends wanted to do the cruise but I work at a college and that was scheduled close to the start of classes. And she wasn't sure about traveling abroad, so I am going on the trip by myself.

To alleviate the chance of problems with connections, I'm flying to New York early to have a visit with my niece and take advantage of her spare bedroom.  In New York I will meet the lady that I will be rooming with who is from Illinois.  We both agreed we rather have the extra $1,000 to spend on fabric than to room by ourselves.

So I am very excited about going.  I have been to London now about 5 times, but never Ireland.
We will be in Galway for 3 days.  Then Killarney, Adare,the dingle peninsula, Blarney, Avoca and County Wicklow.  Then on to Dublin, Belfast, Lisburn and then return.

I am looking forward to traveling with a group instead of by myself.  I know it can sometimes be a drawback traveling with others, but all in all I think it will be a good experience.  Will try to make entries on the blog while I'm gone if the hotels have business centers.  Otherwise you might not hear a lot until I return.