Day 9 : Give the man his Dew

[Written by mary, edited and published by brian]

Today, we both woke up ready to take on the world. Ok, maybe not the world, but Brian did go into town around sunrise and take some pictures, something he really hasn’t done much of (yet).

The day started out cloudy and rainy (and since) this was a buffer day for yesterdays unplanned difficulties, we decided to take a short trip to the lovely town of Tullamore for a stretch of the legs and some lunch….annnnnd yes, you guessed it, Tullamore is home to the Tullamore Dew Distillery.

Really not much different than a drive into Pasadena for Lunch.

(Brian here) On arrival in Tullamore we went for a walk through the town, nice place we might return someday. Two visuals stick out from this stroll.

First, I am always affected by the constant presence of water in Ireland. Through the middle of town we have this, which in the USA we’d either commercialize or re-route around the town. The Irish simply build around it.

And second, Street Art always cracks me up. Here’s a new way to host flower pots. Irish Street Art, who knew?

So then we moved onto where we’d decided to eat lunch. As we were looking at the outside menu , a local, said, come in , the foods great, and when we entered he told the waitress to be nice to us, we were guests. I just love the Irish politeness. And he was spot on, the food was delicious. I got a basically ham and cheese sandwich, but the local farm where the pork came from was noted, as was the cheese. 

Of course after a fabulous lunch and before heading back to Athlone, a pit stop was in order. Nicely done pub, nicely done.

For the drive back the sun was out, (scattered) clouds everywhere. That’s the thing about Ireland, the weather changes on a dime, always be prepared.

Back to the hotel, as I needed to repack us, instead of hauling 2 suitcases to every hotel, I have streamlined us into the smaller suitcase with 5 days of clothes, so we (Brian) only has to haul one suitcase into the hotels.  Getting smart in my old age.

Brian is currently pulling his hair out trying to make reservations for a three-city tour of Northern Ireland. We shall only venture into Northern Ireland, or as Brian (rightly) calls it, Occupied Ireland, for about 5 days. There really is a different feel to it, the north (Occupied North); last time we were here (2006) we couldn’t wait to leave. 

FINAL TIDBIT : Last night Brian was jonesing for a late night snack. There is a Centra (7-11) about 3 blocks from the hotel but when he looks at his phone, it’s 7:55 (Three blocks in four minutes, no problem). He runs over, and the lad working is outside sweeping the street, cuz that’s what they do here, and Brian asks is it too late, the lad replies, “I’m here till 10, spread the word”. Cute.