GCHA homepage
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||
| Day 8 |
Adare, Limerick, Bunratty |
Friday,
November 8
|
|||||||||
| We left Killarney and drove north to the village of Adare, well known for its attractive main street of thatched houses and colorful gardens. |
 Thatched cottage in Adare |
||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
|
Adare was truly photogenic, with it's gardens and houses, the cathedral and attached cemetary, the city park across the street, and the world-famous golf course just down the road. |
 Adare Cathedral |
||||||||||
| We left Adare and continued on to the city of Limerick. |
 City park across the road from the cathedral in Adare |
||||||||||
| Limerick is noted for King John's Castle on the banks of the River Shannon, and its many Georgian houses . |
 Along the road to Limerick |
||||||||||
|
Limerick also happens to be home to our driver, Tommy Keane, and the base of operations for CIE tours, which runs a corporate health club for employees. Tommy, being the great guy that he is, made some calls the day before and managed to get the club, and it's handball alley, opened for us. |
|
||||||||||
|
Tommy dropped the handballers in Limerick, took the rest of the tour on to Shannon for sightseeing, and came back to Limerick to watch the proceedings. Tommy also arranged for us to have a game with "some of the local guys." What Tommy didn't tell us was that the local guys happened to be two champions from Limerick College. When they walked into the court to warm up for a match against Bob Bardeau and Jim Krailler, Jim pulled Bob aside. "They're young, they're tall, they're fast, they hit the ball a ton with the Irish whip. Now what?" |
 More action at the CIE athletic club |
||||||||||
|
Bardeau replied, "We're in trouble. We better cheat!" Bob's game plan didn't work, though, as the Irish kids jumped to a quick 7-0 lead. But somehow, the cagey U.S. players managed to play a bit harder, execute some shots, and ended up winning the game 21-17. |
 Limerick College players v. Bob Bardeau and Jim Krailler at the CIE athletic club |
||||||||||
| The picture above was taken after the game. Notice the Irish players on the left, who barely broke a sweat. Notice the US players on the right -- stunned, exhausted, gasping for air, happy with a win and grateful this wasn't a "best of three" match.. | |||||||||||
|
After a couple of pints in the athletic club's pub (again, the Irish do things right!) it was on to Shannon, the Bunratty Castle and Folk Park, and our hotel for the night, the Bunratty Castle Hotel. |
 The windows in back look down into the handball court |
||||||||||
| The evening fun started at Bunratty Castle with a medieval-style feast. We were greeted by pipers, then taken to the entry room for mugs of mead, accompanied by live renditions of medieval songs and stories. |
 Entertainers at the Bunratty Castle Medieval Banquet |
||||||||||
|
As we were being escourted up to the Great Hall, "Skip The Scoundrel" Dixon was arrested for trifling with the serving maids and thrown in the dungeon. (Type-casting indeed.) The only way out was to entertain the crowd with a song -- Skip's selection was the traditional Irish lullaby, "My Baby Does the Hanky Panky." Yeah, indeed! Luckily, the entertainment was turned back to the professionals, who sang and played for us while we enjoyed a full 5-course meal. |
 Skip sings for his supper |
||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
| After the feast came the mandatory visit to Durty Nelly's, a notorious Irish pub located halfway (about 70 yards) between the castle and our hotel. Our group managed to squeeze into one of the back rooms at Nelly's for lots of group singing, and a special visit from the "see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil" bobblehead dolls. (Ask Barb Lehocky about this one.) |
 Toasting at Durty Nelly's |
||||||||||
| The evening ended back at the hotel pub, where "Skip the Scoundrel" somehow managed to end up in an arm-wrestling contest with some of the other hotel guests. |
 You can take the boy out of the westside, but you can't take the westside out of the boy |
||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||
|
GCHA homepage |
(back to top) | ||||||||||
