Health and Safety regulations and interference from the EU has effectively put an end to the Working Brewery tours of the past.  The need for Public Liability Insurance is another reason why basic industry steers away from allowing the general public into any commercially producing operation.  A working museum or interactive exhibition is covered by different legislation.  I know from experience working on the restoration of mechanical exhibits for the Maritime Museum in Liverpool that there are strict rules for exhibits which don't conform to modern day safety standards.

Enjoying the report, Dan.  Sounds like a good time, so far.  Glad you like "MY" house!

The Liability Issue doesn't just apply to Breweries...   

LOTS of landowners have restricted access to some pretty nice places, just because of the insurance risks ...    

The Irish Government TALKED about creating Legislation to provide SOME protection, but apparently, they never actually got around to it.   

A personal example that comes to mind is Coomeenatrush Falls, in Millstreet ...

We visited there in 2005 and haven't been able to gain access SINCE ...    

Bob

Friday April 1

6:30 AM wake up call, and off to Cork City.  Took the south route thru Macroom.  The tour bus from "Easy Bus Tour Co."(formerly O'Briens) was to load in front of the tourist office on Grand Parade, and we had directions from the bus driver, and no problems finding the parking garage across the street from the tourist office.

DW and I headed into the Cork Library, which was right on that same block.  Went up to the 3rd floor to the geneology department.  2 gentlemen there were very helpful.  Looked thru the information they had, and the most helpful was the location of the Dromtarriffe old cemetary, as depicted on a satellite picture of the area.  They also printed a copy of the Griffith Evaluation, and after looking thru the data base, we discovered  that a Denis Murphy had leased 2 parcels of land, #26 & #29 in Dromtarriffe Parish in 1851.  They were able to super impose one map over the other to find the location of these 2 parcels on the satellite map.  The outline of the fields were still the same after 160 years, mostly due, I guess, to the amount of stone used for fences in Irish fields.  We purchased photocopies of all these maps and departed after about 2 hours spent there 

We decided to wander over to the English Mkt. which was about a block or 2 down the street.  What a neat place to visit!  We especially liked the sausage booth, and sampled!  We were so impressed with the taste, that we decided to split a sausage/hogie sandwich for an early lunch.  From there we went to the tourist office to check on the HOHO bus.  Had thought about going out to the Cork Goal, but the time was getting too short to justify the cost of the all day pass, and the day was half gone.  Decided to go on foot instead to the Butter Museum....quite interesting, but not a must see in Cork. 

From there we stopped at a Cork Pub for an afternoon pint of Murphy's Stout and Irish Coffee.  We asked about buying a couple of "Murphy's Pint glasses" and they comped us 2 of them, since we had the right last name!  We asked about the location of the Murphy's Brewery, and it was just around the corner and up the street....about a 10 minute walk.  They gave us directions, and we headed over there.  Murphy's Brewery was bought out by Heineken some years back, and there was a big green Heineken sign on the building...and no reference to Murphy's.  We walked inside the reception area to inquire about a tour, and no luck.  Took pictures. 

Then we wandered back over to St. Finbar's Cathedral.  Anglican, and in need of much repair, which they were doing, so couldn't go inside.  Walked around the outside and took pictures. 

Headed back to where our friends were to arrive after their tour of SW Ireland, but we were about a half hour early for their 5:00 pm arrival.   While DW waited for them, I went over to the English Mkt to pick up some fresh veggies, including potatos, carrots, cabbage (Irish cabbage sure looks weird....really wrinkled!  They had a fresh gourmet coffee booth there, so bought a pound of coffee and had them grind it for the drip coffee maker. (we had survived on instant coffee earlier in the day!)

By this time the tour was back, so headed to the parking garage.  It was the most expensive parking of the entire trip...probably due to location....15 Euros/day.  Had no trouble getting out of Cork City during the 5PM rush hour, and arrived back at the Millstreet house by 7:30PM.  While at the English Mkt.  I had also purchased 6 sausages, all different flavors, so we split them lengthwise, browned them and cut each one in 4 pieces so we could all sample, all the flavors.  My German friend was in 7th heaven!  Boiled the cabbage and carrots and had German style fried potatos. 

As for weather, it had probably been the most miserable day of our 14 in Ireland....had rained overnight and a cool front came in, and there was a blustery, gusty wind.  It didn't bother us in Cork City, but the tour group had some of their sight seeing curtailed....it just wasn't nice enough to get out of the bus during a couple of rain showers.  Overall, despite the weather, they were happy with "Easy Tours"

We studied the owner's manuals for the washer and dryer, and got clothes ready for Sat. which was to be laundry day....and a day to slow way down after 5 pretty steady days of touring.   More to follow....

Dan

 

Sat April 2

Woke up to a sunny morning, but there were small periods of partly cloudy skies on this day, with a few very brief widely scattered showers, with temps in the 50's.  Weather was my biggest concern with the time frame of this trip, and we were pleasantly surprised!  Our friends said some birds woke them up with their singing....a bird not found in the US, but one they recognized from their time in Germany.

Wow...was this self cater well equipped!  Discovered this morning that we have no less than 3 ways to make coffee...coming from the Pacific NW, the self proclaimed coffee capital of the US (based on consumption) we we extremely pleased!  The main coffee maker was a combination espresso/drip coffee maker, and there was also a French Press.  We used the French Press for the first quick cup, as the hot water in the electric tea maker took mere minutes, while the drip coffee maker went to work.  The fresh-ground medium blend coffee from the English Mkt was great!  We didn't get into the espresso realm...1 lb of regular grind would take most of the week to use up.  We had our usual self-cater breakfast consisting of cereal, fruit, toast, and coffee....a far cry from an Irish Fry-up....but a welcome change as we actually were now able to have a regular "lunch" in Ireland!

The gals started the laundry process.  This was much better than our normal routine of doing sink laundry with light-weight polyester type clothing.  Due to the self cater, we were able to bring heavier pants and shirts...DW even brought a couple pairs of  jeans.  The washer and esp. the dryer were quite different than what we were use to.  The dryer was slow on low setting, and very hot on the high setting...didn't seem to be able to find the medium setting....maybe didn't have one.  It also had a  water drain pain that had to be emptied during and after loads of laundry.  Worked fine once we got use to it all.

While the laundry process was taking place, L. and I went down to the local supermarket in Millstreet for groc. for the rest of the week.  It was a fairly nice groc. for a small town, and we enjoyed walking around looking at all the various products that were different, and not available here.  Since alcohol sales don't start untill 10 AM, we had to kill about 10 minutes waiting for the magic hour.  In the process, we found a couple of more things that we needed that weren't on the list.

We found the "3 for 10Euros" sale in the meat department, so started out with that in our meal planning process.  Since there were 2 of us "men" making these important decisions, we hoped the ladies would be happy with our choices!  For meat we ended up with Bacon (for bacon and cabbage) pre-formed beef meat balls  (for spagetti and meatballs) and boneless, skinless chicken breasts (for Irish Enchaladas......Grace is an excellent chef in the Mex. food department!).  To compliment all of this, we got an assortment of veggies;  carrots, cabbage, potatos, mushrooms, onions, and a few cans of my new favorite: mushy peas!  By the end of the week, the other 3 were hooked too!  Besides beer and wine, we needed some chips and paper towels to round out a fairly full cart of groc. for 75 Euros.  Not bad, considering it would feed 4 people for the next 5 days!  We estimated that meals such as this in a self cater would be about 1/4 of the cost of eating out.  Of course, you are using valuable vacation time cooking and cleaning etc. but it worked out well, as usually we teamed up and 2 would do the cooking and 2 the clean up afterwards.  May not have been tempted to do quite this much cooking if it would have been just the 2 of us.

Arrived back at the cottage just about in time for lunch....cold meat, cheese, mayo on brown bread.  Our friends were rapidly becoming hooked on the bread in Ireland!  Got the last load of laundry into the washer, but decided not to dry it till evening....we hated to leave with the dryer running.  Decided we all needed an afternoon outings, which started downtown, where we located  the Drug store "Chemist" which had a Kodak camera center in it.  L & G were both having battery issues with their camera, and wanted to get that taken care of.  While there, DW and I decided to leave our partially filled camera sandisks there to be backed up on a disk.  The price was 2.99Euro for each of us.  We alway worry about losing a camera with ALL of the pictures on it, and some travelers back theirs up on disk every day.  Probably good advice.  They had some impressive looking photo processing equipment in there for a small town business. 

We asked one of the employees to suggest a good pub, one that was friendly and where we could become one of the "locals" for a week.  She suggested Pomeroy's on the corner of Main, and the road that heads to Macroom.

We then headed up to see the Toy Soldier Factory located SW of Macroom near the tiny village of Kilnamartyra.  Missed the turn off north of Macroom, so went in on tiny narrow roads from the south.  Was an interesting place to visit.  They had miniature toy soldiers already casted, painted and in gift sets, and it appeared the most popular was "Chess" sets.  We really liked the "Nativity" displays but wow....were they expensive.  Of course there are many hours of labor involved in the casting and hand painting of this type of product.  They had a casting demonstration for every group that walked in, right at the front reception desk.  It took about 10 minutes for the explanation and casting, as they kept a small pan of hot liquid metal substance ready and waiting on a hot plate/burner.  Next to the desk was a table that was available for anyone who wanted to make and paint their own toy soldier/figure for 5Euros.  There were 2 kids there painting and we watched them for a while.  This would be a great rainy day activity for families with kids!  It was good stop on a lazy Saturday afternoon, one that we had to do since it had been on our radar back in 2006, and we didn't have time for it then.  Took the short route back to Millstreet.  We were proud of ourselves....only lost (in a vehicle) 2 times in 5 days!  Stopped at Pomeroys for a pint on the way back into town...since it was already 5:00.  It was a friendly place, and got acquainted with Mrs. P who had lost her husband, and was running the place with the help of a couple of daughters.  We inquired about buying some more "Murphy's" Pint glasses, and she assured us that she would come up with some before we left.

We decided it was the night to try our hand at a truly Irish meal; bacon and cabbage.  We were prepared to slow cook the bacon in a dutch oven in the the big oven, but Noel stopped by briefly to see how we were doing, and suggested that the best way to do it was boil the bacon till it was tender, then add the par-boiled carrots (we blanched them in the microwave) and finally the cabbage near the end.  The cabbage doesn't take too long.  Of course, we had to do mashed potatos and mushy peas.  It turned out great, if I have to say so myself!

For our evening entertainment, we only had 3 TV stations to choose from....a little disconcerting for our friends, but I can, and do get by without TV most of the time except for news and weather.  Katherine and Noel mentioned this at the outset, but mentioned that they were hopeful  cable or sat.  service would reach this property within the next year.

I took a long, late evening, sun-down walk up the road to the dead-end, then back past the property and down towards the dairy farmer neighbor's place.  The cow dog came out to greet me, and he had a plastic muzzle tied around his nose and jaws.  Don't know if that was to keep him from biting cows or humans, but didn't wait around long to find out.

It had been a restful day, about like I had figured a day at a self catering cottage might be.  A sharp contrast to the way our days usually go, when we aren't self catering.  If you haven't done so, I urge everyone to try it at least once...even if you can only fit in a 3 or 4 day stay.  Some property owners will do this in the shoulder or off season...it doesn't cost anything to ask!   more later.....

Dan

 

 

Monday April 4

Our appointment with Evelyn, the Dromtariffe Parish Secretary, was scheduled for 10 AM.  After breakfast, we headed that direction.  L & G didn't have any specific plans, so decided to tag along with us for the day.  Got there about 30 minutes early, so went to the new parish cemetary to look around.  It was a lot newer than I thought...the oldest head stone that we found was 1995. 

Went back to the Parish office for our meeting.  We suggested that L & G could tour the new church (1700's...new by European standards!) as well as the foundation and remnants of the old church that had been burned down.

Our meeting with Evelyn went well despite not gaining as much information as we had hoped.  We got to look inside the actual book that GG Grandfather Denis's baptismal records were entered, as well as 3 of his siblings.  They were unable to find any marriage or burial records for his parents.

The subject of the townland, Carrigague (and various spellings!) came up, and Evelyn had asked a 94 year old parish member about that.  He believed that that townland and another one had been combined to form a present day townland.  He also indicated that at one time there was a castle and King in that exact area, and they employed quite a number of area farmers...so our ancestors could have possible been involved in that.

Evelyn gave us a copy of the list of all the head stones of the old Dromtariffe cemetary, and while more complete than what we could read the day before, there were some graves there that couldn't be read by who ever compiled the list. 

Evelyn also mentioned that there were "Murphy" relatives in her family, and she someday wanted to start what no other family member has yet done....geneology.  I still have hope that someone on that end will some day email, call, or come knocking on my door, and turn up as a long lost relative from Ireland!

We visited with her about the "Denis Murphy" contact we had uncovered thru 4th cousins here in the states that thought the family had originated from Aghabullogue, north of Coachford.  She thought we should do some research  to either prove or discount that possibility.  Of course, it could be another Denis Murphy...but how likely would it be that they have 4 children with the same 4 names.  We will try to do most of this research on line, probably using the Mallow Heritage Center, but if another trip to Ireland is necessary....I guess we could go?!

After about 2 hours of her time, we asked Evelyn what we owed her, and she said nothing.  We gave her 20 Euros and asked her to submit it as a donation at Dromtariffe.

We decided to find the local famine burial pit.  Evelyn indicated it was about 3 miles down the highway toward Kanturk.  We found a small white cross in the hedge-row on the south side of the road, but no other marker.  We headed on to Kanturk.  My cell phone needed to be topped up, and while there were no Tescos close by, we found a small convenience store (The American Store!) to buy a 10 Euro top-up.  We left our car parked there, and walked about 6 blocks downtown for coffee and a bite to eat for lunch.  Ended up seeing the pot pies at the Centra, and we had never tried one.  We got chicken and mushroom and steak and mushroom and p-chips.  They were ok....for a quick hot lunch.  Not much else to see in Kanturk, so asked directions to  the Kanturk Castle.  It was out on the edge of town, not too far away, on the road toward Mallow if I remember right.

Kanturk Castle was worth the stop.  The shell is quite well intact, but of course the interior has not been restored.  It is unattended, has good informational signs around it, and free admission.  Worth a stop if you are in the area.

Our next stop was Mallow, with the intent to visit the Geneology Heritage Center.  A primary search for the Denis Murphy connection at Aghabullogue would cost 40 Euros, and an extended family search would be 65 Euros, and it took minimum 2 weeks....not a time line that would help us on this trip.  They indicated that all of this could be done online using paypal, so we took the application blanks and info, and left.  Stopped at the local Mallow groc for a few items we were running low on, plus an Irish turnip....I was so impressed with their sweet light flavor, and then headed back towards Millstreet.

There is a rural pub on the Millstreet turn off, at the intersection of N72 and R583, called "The Sandpit"  It had been our landmark to find the Millstreet turnoff after dark the evening we arrived in town.  Since it was "5:00 somewhere"  we decided we owed it to science to check it out so  stopped in for a pint.  It was a lively crowd of 8-9...mostly farmers and we enjoyed visiting with them.

In the course of our conversation, a local chap asked us where we were staying.  We told him Millstreet, and he asked if we had been to the Holy Well.  We had not.  He went out to his vehicle to get us an empty plastic pop bottle...he says he saves them for tourists who want to take some water home from the Holy Well!  Needless to say, after we left there, we decided to go check it out....just a short way west of Millstreet town.  We were quite impressed.  He said it was one of the nicer Holy Wells in all of Ireland, and after seeing it....that is quite possible.  We spent about a half hour there...very peaceful and quite....almost like being in church.  Several miracles of healing were documented there.  The water was bubbling up out of the ground, and was cold and pure.  I think it supplied the water to Millstreet.  There was a little "cup tree" beside the bubbling water, and they were intended for those who wanted  to fill a container.  Several people showed up with 1 gal jugs and larger, to fill and take away, while we were there.  Also well worth a stop (no pun intended!) if you are in the area.

Arrived at the self cater cottage about 5:30, and proceeded to prepare the boiled/buttered turnip, along with chicken fajitas wraps, mashed potatos, and mushy peas.

Since we had already earlier made our nightly pub-call, we decided to forgo a trip down to Pomeroys, and elected to spend the evening in.... playing rummy...since the TV had nothing very interesting to offer on a Monday night.

Dan

 

 

Dan,

What a wonderful adventure doing your family genealogy. It is certainly a different kind of a trip than most tourists to Ireland make.

I'll never forget when my neighbor visited Ireland. She and her sister were very into genealogy but didn't have a lot of facts. They knew their family was from Sligo and the names. I suggested they stay at a small B&B outside town. They were chatting with the owner and he said "Wait a minute. The man I work with has a similar name as what you are looking for." Turns out that man was a 4th cousin and had an genealogy database for the family. He entered their line into the database, took them around to see the old family farm, etc. They were absolutely over the moon to have found their long lost family line and a cousin to boot. Serendipity does happen in Ireland all the time.

Michele

Dan,
Very interesting read.
" the car made an unexpected veer to the left" You must be on your toes things like this happen without warning. LOL

Frank

Wed April 6

This was the day to spend in Killarney.  L & G were not able to get a tour to Dingle through O'Briens out of Cork City....thank God!  So we had made phone reservations with Duros tours for one out of Killarney.  This was our chance to do some research on the ground for our proposed Murphy family reunion/gathering  planned for summer of 2012.  As luck would have it, we found parking in front of "Murphy's" Pub, and walked a couple of blocks down to check on the status of their tour.  Everything was a go.  We decided to put the car in a nearby parking lot, about 2 blocks north of "Murphy's" for an all day ticket costing 3 Euros.  From the car park, G&L headed for Duros, and we headed over to check out Murphy's Pub and B&B.  Looked over the whole facility, including 3 rooms that were ready to rent but not occupied.  They looked satisfactory to us.  There is a nice pub on the ground floor, and a fairly upscale restaurant upstairs.  There is another breakfast room opposite side of the bar/pub area that could be used for family functions a couple evenings if we needed it. 

Next we went to the opposite side of the street to see the Royal Hotel.  It was 4* (Murphys was 3*)  It was very posh.  Super friendly and eager young lady showed us around.  The guests at this hotel would have access to a pool in a sister hotel near by.  They treated us to a latte and scone...very good!  Then went to the guesthouse just west of Royal....can't remember the name now, starts with an "L" .  It also was 4 * but not quite the quality of the Royal.  We could plainly see that there was plenty to choose from in Killarney, and a great central location for numerous day trips during our week long family event, yet compact enough that we can do some pub/restaurant/shopping excusions within easy walking distance.

Went up and down the 2 main shopping streets, looking everything over, then went over to Dunnes Dept store and picked up a medium size carry-on bag for gift items.  We planned to check our luggage with all the dirty clothes, but carry on our gift items so they don't get broke/stolen.  Went to the 2Euro store for a cell phone cover, some camera batteries, and a pocket size magnifying glass...all for 2 Euros each!

It was lunch time, so went to a small snack bar/sit down place next to Tesco for Fish and Chips....was just ok enuf to fill a hollow spot, but wouldn't go back.  Went to the bank and got $500.00 changed into 340.23 Euros for an exchange rate of 1.469 to use on B&B's the next 3 nights.  Also got a SW Ireland Ord survey map for our swing through SW Cork County over to Kenmare which was planned for the next day.  By this time, the arrival hour for L&G had come, and we met them in front of Murphy's pub as planned.  Of course we had to go in for a pint of "muthers milk" after a strenuous day of research!  DW found a black t-shirt with "Murphy's" on it displayed behind the bar, and bought it. 

It was time to head back to Millstreet for our final night at the Buckley House.  It was left-over-clean-up night, so emptied the fridge and made good use of the microwave. Wanted to go in and bid our new friends at Pomeroy's goodbye, but decided to do a last couple loads of laundry instead, to tide us over for the next 3 days-nights remaining in Ireland, and we were kind of wore out from the day's activities, so stayed in and rested up for the final push through SW Ireland enroute to Kenmare, and final stop; Shannon.

Dan

Michele, I apologize for this lengthy drawn-out trip report. It has been a hectic spring, but with the school year drawing to a close, gearing up for the summer tourist season for our business, and a 80th b-day celebration for my mother in Nebraska this weekend, would it be alright if I wrap this up next week? I only have a few days to go if you all can bear with me! Dan

Thursday April 7

OK, here we go again....I'll TRY to get this wrapped up soon!

This was our get-away day from Buckley's Self Catering Cottage.  We packed up and spiffed up the place-- as best we could, and was checked out and on the road by 9:00 AM.  Headed south toward Macroom, then SW for a ways, and we soon had to stop for a latte and petrol.  We bought 13.34 L for 52.23 Euros, and had traveled 487 K.  Don't know how that figures by US standards of measure for mpg.  The metric system and math are not my forte! 

Headed SW thru Dunmanway, thur Drimoleague till we reached our next stop which was Baltimore.  Drove out to the pier, and then beyond on the small roads for a spectacular view of Baltimore harbor.  Back northward to our next stop which was Skibberean at the Famine Heritage Center.  It was well worthwhile; we learned a lot about the famine from this stop, and found out how hard-hit this region of Ireland was....the most severe of all.

Headed on west bound, and found a layby for a quick picnic lunch of sandwiches, crackers, cheese and fruit.  Turned northward at Ballydehob, on up to Bantry.  Bantry looked to be a nice size town that may be worth checking out on another trip!  Went on up to Glengarriff.  Stopped in the center of town at the fountain plaza area and got out for a stretch and to walk around a bit.  Both Schools were just letting out, and there were students in their bright colored uniforms going every which way!

On Northbound and almost into Kenmare we came across a Chocolate Factory, so had to stop and check it out.  It was "Lorge Chocolateer" and we bought some and it was excellent.    Got into Kenmare about 6 PM.  Found our B&B right away...after seeing all of the lodgings on Google streetview, you would almost swear that you had been there before!  We lucked out with on street parking, which can be a premium in Kenmare at times.  Neal and Noreen were great hosts at this B&B.  The rooms were upstairs and streetside, but I didn't notice any noise from down below...a pretty quiet town at this time of year.

Went for pub-grup, at a place I believe was called "Worley's"  DW had fish & Chips, and I tried the Guinness Stew.  Good food and service.

Went to Foley's for the only music in town on a Thursday night.  One guy, playing a guitar and singing.  Had a full house, and he did quite well.  Had a pint, and called it a night, getting in about 10:30 PM.

This was a long day's drive, but wanted to get an overview of SW Ireland, and I  came to the conclusion that you could spend the better part of a week in this area from Clonakilty to Kenmare,(maybe 2 weeks if you also took in Beara, ROK and Killarney) and explore all the tiny roads and small and large peninsulas, esp Mizen Head, and even Sheep's Head.  Also would like to explore Sherking Island, Clear Island, and Whiddy Island....just go peninsula and island hopping so to speak!  I think SW Ireland deserves a minimum of a week, maybe 2....just like we did in NW Ireland 2 years ago.

Dan

 

Friday April 8

This was the day I was most looking forward to on the entire 2 week trip.  Up and ready for the earliest seating for breakfast.  Noreen's breakfasts rank right up there with the best!  I was intrigued by one of the menu offerings, pears with a melted blue cheese topping on toast, and cooked under a broiler .  Wow was it good.  Good enough to have it both mornings! 

Headed out for the Beara Peninsula.  Neal advised going clockwise, over Healy pass then west along the south shoreline.  Healy pass lived up to expectations and then some.  Stunning views of the the Irish countryside, and green valleys and lakes etc.  Spent several minutes at 2 or 3 pull-outs to just soak in the spectacular views.  Stopped at Castletownebere at "Murphy's Cafe" for lattes.  Then on to the western most tip of Beara, ultimate goal:  Dursey Cable Car.  There were some pretty tiny narrow roads at times....just the kind I have grown to like!  We reached Dursey just shortly after the last morning cable car run,(11:30 I believe) and the next one would be around 1:30...those Irish know how to take a lunch break!  At anyrate, we killed about 2 hours there, including a mid day lite lunch.  Were disappointed that we couldn't ride the cable car, but it was just going to run us too late.   Back eastbound along the north shore for some of the most stunning scenery....mile after mile, I have ever seen.  I say it rates better than the ROK or Dingle Peninsula.  We really maxed out the "fun-meter" on this part of the Beara.  

It worked out that we were close to "Josie's Restaurant" so stopped in for some tea and scones.  This was one place that I think Michele highly recommended, and it was awesome.  Headed on to Kenmare, arriving about 5PM.  DW and G went shopping, and L and I went to a pub for a pint.

Walked over to the Supervalue (they have moved to a new store-new location 3-4 blocks north of the Tourist information office.  From our B&B about a 15 minute walk.  Needed just a few supplies for our picnic lunch on Sat, our last day in Ireland.

L & G were tired....I think we finally wore the older folks out (they're only about 7 years older than us!)  DW and I went to the Landsdown Arms Hotel Pub for a late evening meal.  We split a "minute steak" dinner complete with fries, onion rings, and green salad.  It was the first time I ordered a steak as a main entree in Ireland, and comparing it to Nebraska corn-fed beef....it was quite good!  Also split a piece of banafi pie....all washed down with a pint of Guinness.  Since there was no music to be found in Kenmare on a Friday night in April, we turned in early, about 9:30.

Dan