What Would You Name Your Pub?

I should have taken more photos of pub names.  The Irish and Scots are imaginative when they come to naming pubs ... well, sometimes.  You've already seen the picture of this pub which simply states it like it is.

We saw this one in Dublin and others in various places are The Three Jolly Pigeons, Biddy Early's, Nick Tam's Bar & Bothy and Whistlebinkies.  In the little village of Spean Bridge a bar was The Black Bitch and had a picture of a Black Lab on the sign.  What would yours be called?  Ours would have to have King in it, but I haven't figured out the definitive one yet.

In both Ireland and Scotland we saw empty kegs waiting for pick up. 

 

Scotland has this soft drink which is supposed to be very good for hangovers. 

Ireland has this Coke promotion that has names on the bottles.  I found Elizabeth and Crystal but couldn't find a Rob or Robert.

I'm surprised I found their names as there were so many that aren't commonly used Canadian names.  Below are some personalized bottle openers you could buy in one of the tourists shops.





We stayed in great inns and B & Bs with the exception of one.  This one in Stirling had a fruit bowl containing bananas, apricots, mandarin oranges, grapes, and plums all for the two of us.

Here's the house I thought we should buy.  Bob was quite happy to notice it wasn't for sale.  I loved looking at the real estate ads in the daily papers and found that we would have trouble affording a home in either country.

If I was going to spot pixies or leprechauns anywhere, this little glade would have been the place ... nope, not a one.  Those little folks sure know how to hide.

 

 

 



Back in Weyburn, the Home of Blue Skies

While we've been away, we heard that Weyburn mostly had gloomy skies and rain.  On FB I promised to bring blue skies home with us for that's what we had wherever we went.

 

Here you can see us hauling the blue skies from Toronto.  It seems to have worked as I am looking out at blue skies tonight here in Weyburn.  I hope it lasts as I want to do yard work tomorrow.

While we were at the Toronto airport, Bob was figuring out how much we spent and it mustn't have been too bad as he is smiling a bit.  One reason our budget wasn't outrageous is because Bob spends cautiously.  Some of you know the story of him buying a pair of shoelaces on one of our trips to NYC.  That was his total souvenir and he wouldn't have bought that if one of his old ones hadn't broken.  On this trip he bought exactly one shirt, the one he's wearing here.

 

 



Almost Home

We stayed in Toronto overnight and are now waiting for our flight to Regina.  It will take awhile to assimilate all we have seen and done, but I'm already starting to formulate my "what I liked best" list which I'll complete and post here at a later time.

 

I do know that one thing on that list will be Bob's incredible driving skills on motorways, two lane roads, and one lane paths.  However, I know he's glad to be driving on the right hand side of the road again.  Only once did he turn into the right hand lane and that was on our first day there so all is forgiven.

 

While away we got many reports of Weyburn's gloomy, rainy weather so I have promised my FB friends we will bring the sunny weather home with us.  The weather was superb in Ireland and Scotland and it's a beautiful morning here in Toronto.  I'll see what I can do.

 



Last Hurrah in Ireland

Initially we planned to use today to zip up to Northern Ireland but we realized that would be a lot of traveling with very little stopping so we modified our plan to have less traveling and more stopping.

 

We went to Kilkenny, Bennettsbridge, and Newbridge.

 

In Kilkenny we succumbed to one more castle.

And visiting castles consumes endless calories so Bob and I had to get some back at the tea shop across the street.

We enjoyed Rothe House and Garden.  The antlers and head above me are of a long extinct deer which stood as tall as its head is hanging here.  I'm glad it's extinct!

The arched ceiling in this room has no metal parts and no nails.  It's totally held together with wooden pegs.

Many places have umbrellas handy in case you need them.  These were waiting by the garden, but we didn't need them.

The garden had both flowers and vegetables

and it is a very happy place for bees.

Cherry trees were esplaniered against the wall

and apples are already forming in the little orchard.

We stopped at the Black Abbey to see the beautiful stained glass.

I couldn't get them all into my picture, but there are seven bars in a row on this street!

We ate at a pub on a different street

where I had the bacon and cabbage meal.

In Bennettsbridge we visited the Mosse pottery where we were eager to look, but not to buy.

You'll get an idea here of why we didn't buy.

Even upstairs where they sold seconds, a salt shaker (pepper shaker not included) was 17 euros.

Then we headed to Newbridge where a silverware manufacturer has a free museum of iconic clothing including this dress of Princess Di's.  There are many gorgeous costumes from movies there and I think I'll put a lot of them up on our guild's blog once I get home.  Lots may not be interested, but I know a number of our quilters started sewing clothing and Hallowe'en costumes before they got into quilting.  The detailing on the clothing is amazing.

The main floor of the building is where the company sells their silver products.  This baby is the size of our barbeque.

During our whole time in Ireland and Scotland we had only 5 minutes of rain until we were driving back to Dublin tonight.  Then we had about an hour and we didn't care because our adventures here is over.  There's nothing left to do but pack our bags and get ready for our departure tomorrow.

Good times.  Good memories.  This trip was worth every euro and pound we spent.  At least that's how I feel until our credit card bill comes!

 

 

 



Riverdance in Dublin

We left Scotland and landed back in Dublin where we picked up another rental car and found our B&B.  Way back in March, Bob bought "Riverdance" tickets for my birthday.  The day finally arrived when we could use them.

 

The show was amazing.  The older woman beside me kept murmuring "fabulous" after each bit.  Too bad I didn't have a book of other superlatives to hand her.  On the other side of us was a netball player from Castle Hill, NSW.  She became very chatty when she found out we were somewhat familiar with her northern suburb of Sydney and those around it.  She has been playing in a women's netball league in London for two years and now is heading home.  If you ever have a chance to see this show right in Dublin, do it.

 

Here are a few other things from yesterday:

 

Here I'm conversing with either Gogarty or Joyce; I can't tell these Irish guys apart.

Bob had cottage pie for supper while I had chowder and mussels.

We ate at the Quay Restaurant at Temple Bar.  We don't belong to the demographic group this area is geared for, but we enjoyed it anyway.  We sat by a couple from Trenton, NJ and heard of their trials since their house was flooded by Hurricane Sandy two years ago.

People squash their bottle caps into the roads in the Temple Bar area.

I love T.J. Maxx in the States so had a quick look in its sister store. 

Here's how Bob spends time in shopping malls.

Not too many signs have confused us, but this one did.

Here's what happens when you put a t.v. outside your bar when the World Cup is on.

Skip this if you don't want to hear my political commentary for today.  Young women of the world, I don't care how toned you are, how skinny, how athletic and muscled, you do NOT look good when your butt hangs lower than your shorts.  I will be so happy when this fashion fad ends.  Elizabeth and Crystal, don't even think about it!

One full day to go in Ireland.  We plan to make the most of it.