County Galway, Limerick and Tipperary

in order to see Ireland in a detailed perspective you really need to rent a car and drive around. Every time you stop in a town you need to go to a pub and talk with people. People are very welcoming and you will get a good glass of Guinness wherever you go.

A glass of Guinness County Galway
A perfect pour every time. I spilled a little on the way back to the table
Harp recital Bill Smale
A harp recital to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day
County Galway Dancing at King John’s Castle
Outside King John’s Castle a group of dancers gathered
The Pogues Bill Smale
A fellow in the pub indicated I needed to listen to this song

two days before St. Patrick’s Day in Limerick

A band County Galway
The Pipers Bill Smale
Of course the Pipers were there
Daniel O’Connell statue
Daniel O’Connell statue
People waiting Bill Smale
people lining the street
Small cars
In Ireland people like to buy small cars for economy and to fit the narrow roads. In Thailand everybody wants to have a big truck or SUV even if they can’t afford it
Cleaning crew
The cleaning crew after the parade
Chinese noodles Bill Smale
A restaurant called Wokking had some fairly good noodles since it’s a Chinese restaurant, basically. However they had no sauces at all which is very strange for a Chinese restaurant so I could not give it a really high rating.
Daley gelato
And of course you need to have gelato every day

The CODFATHER

The Still house pub
The still house. The place to come for music in Limerick
Limerick flag Bill Smale
Just approve I was here
Five euro  coupon
This is an interesting solution. Since Covid it’s difficult to get people to work in hospitality especially in cleaning. This hotel, the George, gives you five euro a day each day you do not use the cleaning for the room. This can be used in the restaurant downstairs. This benefits the hotel since it cuts down on the need for cleaning crew, it benefits the customer and it also benefits the restaurant since a large number of Hotel customers don’t use the hotel restaurant.
St. Patrick’s Day decorations
The hotel restaurant was all decked out in St. Patrick’s Day decorations
St. Mary’s
Saint Mary’s
Pre-Latin language
The pre-Latin written language, Ogham, a clever series of strokes
A catholic grave
I thought this was interesting since after Henry VIII the churches were modified for the protestant Bent, the Church of England and they were called “the Church of Ireland“.
King John’s Castle
King John’s Castle
This castle was built after King John’s reign but named for him
The Norman sections
Excavating the Norman portion of the castle
Ocean
This fellow is named Ocean. He plays the harp and he explains the traditions and so forth of Ireland.

Ocean explained the Ogham system of writing which is a series of strokes or lines. In the very north of Ireland, in Donegal, there is a standing stone with this old writing on it. It was deciphered. He explained it has the traces of the Irish sarcastic humor. It says, “turn around“.

Norman portion of the castle
The old Norman portion of the cast
Arthur’s Quay Park festivities
The festivities begin in Arthur’s Quay Park
Patricia
She is Patricia to celebrate Paddy’s day
I met some interesting people to chat with here
And of course another perfect Pour
Guinness lined up
All lined up and ready to be topped off
English language school?
It’s nice to see English is taught properly
Old store
An old store, green grocer and news agent
At Doolan’s pub the Kilkennys were playing
Experienced musicians
And then a small group of experienced musicians and singers playing for the pub goers
Time clock
How do you spell day? It doesn’t really matter. It’s not a language clock, it’s a time clock. I guess somewhere you punch your time card.
Deep Divers
The deep diving outfit
Bike balancer
A very skillful man
Cart racers
Take me back to my childhood
Limerick shopping District
The shopping District in Limerick
Funny sign
A little humor
Clean undertaker
If you want a clean undertaking this place looks very spic and span
Graffiti
Beautiful graffiti
It is this organization that Frank McCourt’s mother used to get charity from as you will find from reading the book “Angela’s ashes“.

““Angela’s ashes”. This book is an accounting of Frank McCourt’s childhood in Limerick and his house is a tourist attraction but it’s not really his house it’s just a museum. If you happen to be interested in this book which some describe as dark and dismal”Angela’s ashes“. This book is an accounting of Frank McCourt’s childhood in Limerick and his house is a tourist attraction but it’s not really his house it’s just a museum. If you happen to be interested in this book which some describe as dark and dismal. Get the audiobook version in which Frank McCourt himself does the reading, narration. If you do that you will encounter Irish humor as he reads it and understand that part of the culture and why he words it the way he does but it must be through his reading that you get this humor.

This was the pizza that only cost me €3.50 because of my five eurocoupons for not requesting the room cleaning
Add to now you can see the “Codfather”. Go to the Still house pub at about seven or 8 PM and you might bump into the 87-year-old Paddy Fish.

Nengha

The birds started nesting

Terryglass

Some of these boats at the harbor needed some repair
A beautiful swan on the lake
The garden at the church with some religious flexibility
Look at these decorations. I would never expect to see gremlins or fairies here

Portumna

Portumna castle
This is the castle which is fairly interesting but has been greatly renovated since most of the large large houses in castles fell into repair at different times in the past eight centuries. Many large estate homes after the revolution were burned by the army in order to discourage the England affiliated wealthy from continuing their power in the country.

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