We went to Ireland: 2018

So after a long delay to visit the Emerald Isle, we finally boarded a plane out of Boston, and flew into Dublin.  The basic logistics were to hit a vintage radio museum in Houth -just northeast of Dublin, then head to our hotel in Kilkenny.  It worked, but not without fighting our way out of a monumental traffic jam exiting the city.  Narrow roads make for easy accidents, and that bolloxes the end-of-day commute.  With the invaluable GPS unit, we circumnavigated the jam, and resumed our trip.  The Aspect Hotel was fine, accommodations totally up to date.   One more bonus on this:  the cars drive on the left side of the road, and we had a (very decent four-door) manual Renault.  Despite the odd feel of a stick-shift on the left, we did pretty well.  My wife only had to remind me once or twice about driving on the left! 

Now some comments about travel to the UK:  bring a power converter for any US style electronics.  I had an Apple white cube adaptor, which did work, but it is old fashioned; the current UK standard is a beefy three-prong plug, not the cute round two-prong variety.  We found the B&Bs had older bathroom mirrors with the two-prong outlets available, which saved the converter for other items, such as my super-wide-band radio! I was working shortwave and AM broadcast stations in the quiet evening hours.  Critical to any trip, we also could recharge the camera batteries while in the camera.  My electric razor did not require a recharge, which validated my brave decision to leave it at home. But an absolute must-have:  Rick Steve's Guide to Ireland (or any other country).  He is witty, includes relevant historical comments including sourcing idioms we have all heard, and truly useful warnings on what to avoid.  If you are going to have a "once in a lifetime trip," there are no do-overs.  We both brought warm jacket-style gear, and Eddie Bauer Mountain Shell Jackets with Weatheredge technology.  Ireland is wet and cold.  Think 45 degrees, rainy, and windy. Lots of wind.  If you hike, gear is everything, and Ireland has great hiking opportunities.  I packed LL Bean hiking boots as they were also waterproof.  

B&B:  Bed and Breakfast sites are growing in popularity and availability with the advent of apps designed to that end, so if your heading to Ireland, consider B&BIreland.com, as it was amazingly convenient.  We booked early and very late at different sites, there were no awkward conversations about payment or number of nights, all that was addressed through the website. I bought a Groupon's package which allowed two hotel nights, and six B&B nights, the rented car, plus airfare to and from Ireland.  Everything I have just typed is a first-time experience for me, so that it all worked as billed was a huge stress reliever! 

Pics!  We have Pics, including a 13th century church in Limerick.  The structures with that much history deserve a second look.  One church in Galway dates even earlier, and is purported to have been used by Christopher Columbus!   I will post this, and return to post pics once I figure out how!  

First stop: Hurdy Gurdy Vintage Radio Museum, Houth. In Viking fort, earliest sports race narrated by radio.  Marconi himself broadcast from this site, as it is right on the ocean.

Yours truly catching some serious ocean winds, while Fiona locks up.

13th Century Church with safety tower plainly visible.

Just gorgeous views over the ocean, we enjoyed Dublin so much.

 This "new" church was built in 1863, Galway.

 Near the Burren rolling hills.

 Having her "Highlander"moment touching the stone to drift back in time.

 Proof that we were between Boston and Waterville!

Lady Christabel Amptil owned this lovely Siera Radio, found at her residence in Dunguire Castle.
She wanted to get out of society life, and found an empty castle to call home! How cool is that?!

Castle Dunguaire, Kinvarra from 1520.  There are many great net photos of this, worth the look.

Streets of Galway, fun, colorful, and always photographer-friendly!

Bar Mural.

Home of the Claddagh ring, worth a snap-shot!

Whats this?  A Norman castle?  The Ashford is a delight, recently renovated, and enormous.

Gardens at Ashford, they go on for acres.

The castle peaking through the trees, just grand.

The castle grew over time, but was largely self-supporting in regard to food.

Cong Abbey has a Fishermans hut (like a mini-castle) with hole in floor to drop a net.

This was the view from a Limerick Museum(Grand home) of River Shannon. Viewed after visiting the castle/fort also on the river. Just a lovely city, historic, and the people very friendly.

1300s Bar, no kidding!  Great meal, had my first Smithwicks Beer (300 year old label, for good reason!  Brewed by area monks, it gained popularity.  Kyteler's has history too, built by a woman.

View from the Limerick Castle, looking onto another medieval church. 

This website is for North American visitors. 

We went to Ireland: 2018

So after a long delay to visit the Emerald Isle, we finally boarded a plane out of Boston, and flew into Dublin.  The basic logistics were to hit a vintage radio museum in Houth -just northeast of Dublin, then head to our hotel in Kilkenny.  It worked, but not without fighting our way out of a monumental traffic jam exiting the city.  Narrow roads make for easy accidents, and that bolloxes the end-of-day commute.  With the invaluable GPS unit, we circumnavigated the jam, and resumed our trip.  The Aspect Hotel was fine, accommodations totally up to date.   One more bonus on this:  the cars drive on the left side of the road, and we had a (very decent four-door) manual Renault.  Despite the odd feel of a stick-shift on the left, we did pretty well.  My wife only had to remind me once or twice about driving on the left! 

Now some comments about travel to the UK:  bring a power converter for any US style electronics.  I had an Apple white cube adaptor, which did work, but it is old fashioned; the current UK standard is a beefy three-prong plug, not the cute round two-prong variety.  We found the B&Bs had older bathroom mirrors with the two-prong outlets available, which saved the converter for other items, such as my super-wide-band radio! I was working shortwave and AM broadcast stations in the quiet evening hours.  Critical to any trip, we also could recharge the camera batteries while in the camera.  My electric razor did not require a recharge, which validated my brave decision to leave it at home. But an absolute must-have:  Rick Steve's Guide to Ireland (or any other country).  He is witty, includes relevant historical comments including sourcing idioms we have all heard, and truly useful warnings on what to avoid.  If you are going to have a "once in a lifetime trip," there are no do-overs.  We both brought warm jacket-style gear, and Eddie Bauer Mountain Shell Jackets with Weatheredge technology.  Ireland is wet and cold.  Think 45 degrees, rainy, and windy. Lots of wind.  If you hike, gear is everything, and Ireland has great hiking opportunities.  I packed LL Bean hiking boots as they were also waterproof. 

B&B:  Bed and Breakfast sites are growing in popularity and availability with the advent of apps designed to that end, so if your heading to Ireland, consider B&BIreland.com, as it was amazingly convenient.  We booked early and very late at different sites, there were no awkward conversations about payment or number of nights, all that was addressed through the website. I bought a Groupon's package which allowed two hotel nights, and six B&B nights, the rented car, plus airfare to and from Ireland.  Everything I have just typed is a first-time experience for me, so that it all worked as billed was a huge stress reliever! 

Pics!  We have Pics, including a 13th century church in Limerick.  The structures with that much history deserve a second look.  One church in Galway dates even earlier, and is purported to have been used by Christopher Columbus!   I will post this, and return to post pics once I figure out how!  

First stop: Hurdy Gurdy Vintage Radio Museum, Houth. In Viking fort, earliest sports race narrated by radio.  Marconi himself broadcast from this site, as it is right on the ocean.

Yours truly catching some serious ocean winds, while Fiona locks up.

13th Century Church with safety tower plainly visible.

Just gorgeous views over the ocean, we enjoyed Dublin so much.

 This "new" church was built in 1863, Galway.

 Near the Burren rolling hills.

 Having her "Highlander"moment touching the stone to drift back in time.

 Proof that we were between Boston and Waterville!

Lady Christabel Amptil owned this lovely Siera Radio, found at her residence in Dunguire Castle.
She wanted to get out of society life, and found an empty castle to call home! How cool is that?!

Castle Dunguaire, Kinvarra from 1520.  There are many great net photos of this, worth the look.

Streets of Galway, fun, colorful, and always photographer-friendly!

Bar Mural.

Home of the Claddagh ring, worth a snap-shot!

Whats this?  A Norman castle?  The Ashford is a delight, recently renovated, and enormous.

Gardens at Ashford, they go on for acres.

The castle peaking through the trees, just grand.

The castle grew over time, but was largely self-supporting in regard to food.

Cong Abbey has a Fishermans hut (like a mini-castle) with hole in floor to drop a net.

This was the view from a Limerick Museum(Grand home) of River Shannon. Viewed after visiting the castle/fort also on the river. Just a lovely city, historic, and the people very friendly.

1300s Bar, no kidding!  Great meal, had my first Smithwicks Beer (300 year old label, for good reason!  Brewed by area monks, it gained popularity.  Kyteler's has history too, built by a woman.

View from the Limerick Castle, looking onto another medieval church. 

This website is for North American visitors. 

100 dollar bill comes to town....

 

It is a slow day in the small South Dakota town of Pumphandle, and streets are deserted. Times are tough, everybody is in debt, and nearly everybody is living on credit.  A tourist visiting the area drives through town, stops at the motel, and lays a $100 bill on the desk saying he wants to inspect the rooms upstairs to pick one for the night.  As soon as he walks upstairs, the motel owner grabs the bill and runs next door to pay his debt to the butcher.   The butcher takes the $100 and runs down the street to retire his debt to the pig farmer.   The pig farmer takes the $100 and heads off to pay his bill to his supplier, the Co-op.   The guy at the Co-op takes the $100 and runs to pay his debt to the local prostitute, who has also been facing hard times and has had to offer her "services" on credit.   T he hooker rushes to the hotel and pays off her room bill with the hotel owner.  The hotel proprietor then places the $100 back on the counter so the traveler will not suspect anything. At that moment the traveler comes down the stairs, states that the rooms are not satisfactory, picks up the $ 100 bill and leaves.  No one produced anything.   No one earned anything.  However, the whole town is now out of debt and looks to the future with a lot more optimism .  And that, folks, is how a Stimulus package works.

********************************************

I like the ending, but I think the story needs an overhaul:

One day a travelor stops in town, and offers the unemployed hotel clerk $100.00 for being unemployed.  He thanks the stranger, and asks where the money comes from, and receives this reply: "Its money I printed up, but don't worry, you can pay me later."  The clerk thinks about it for a minute, he has bills due, he has been layed off for a couple months, what is there to loose? and takes the check.  Every other person in town is in the same straights, except the local prostitute. It turns out that prostitution is the one occupation that gets better with downturned economy, and this has always been historically true.  Why?  Because as people loose hope, they stop saving, and start rebelling.  However, very soon the community realizes that because they cashed the "free" checks, they now are in dept approximately $42,000.00 for every citizen in the US.  It was only $33,000.00 last year. 

The unemployed clerk is alarmed by this news.  He decides to follow the trail of this IOU.  He discovers that the government prints the money in the form of treasury notes.  The notes are sold to investors, but mostly by the Chineese and Japaneese.  While this is unsettling, he pursues it further.  Turns out the treasury turns to the federal reserve in the financing of these notes.  They collect interest based on the size of the US debt.  The clerk then tries to figure out who exactly is collecting the interest, but is thwarted by a wall of inaccessability.  Turns out the recipients of the interest don't wish to be named.  Which raised a question in the mind of the clerk.  Since the congress and president were the ones authorizing the stimulous that increased the debt, exactly who were they working for?  The prostitute knew who she was working for, they paid her face to face.  No money, no service.  The clerk took the government money because he was being paid for not working,...not working was easy.  But he wan't sure he wanted to be in debt to unknown people.  His experience with unknown bill collectors wasn't that great. 

One day later the clerk watched television.  He watched as the Greeks finally realized they had no more money.  Their country was officially bankrupt.  He watched the riots which ensued as Greeks finally got message, the gravy train had ground to a halt.  Greeks were told life would be difficult.  The people blamed the government, but surely they knew there was a price to be paid. 

The clerk turned off the tv.  He could not believe the ending of the story.  After all, this was as easy as kitchen table economics.  Don't spend money you don't have, pay the bills before buying new stuff, and regard credit cards like the plague they are.