Day 14 : Knock, knock – Mary where?

[Written by mary, edited and published by brian]

Today was truly a Holy day. To start, we go to mass in one of the most beautiful churches we’ve ever seen. I know it seems like I say that about every church we go to in Ireland, but this was very nice for a Parish Church with many centuries use. (Truly, see for yo self)

Side note, the list of Parish Priests was around 20…..starting from 1340. Seems like St. Dorothy’s has had that many in the past few years.

Continuing with the Holy Day theme, our next stop scheduled was the Shrine at Knock.

On the way, Mary’s eagle eyes spotted a sign pointing towards a waterfall, and of course, the call of the waterfall got Brian (fair, I’m a sucker for these things). Of course, off we went onto some dicy roads with no clue as to our direction or distance.

BUT, some of the best things have come to those of us daring enough to traverse the lovely pothole dotted, unpaved, one lane roads. And this did not fail.

And, I might add while we’re in the vicinity, some of the nicest public toilets (cuz they are not rest stops, not restrooms, they are toilets) I’ve ever seen. Another side note (to the side note), the Irish, as well as most European countries do not use ass gaskets (toilet seat covers), and most toilets have a 2 stage flush, a light one for urine only, and the big one for, well, you guessed, kind of genius. And btw, lots of unisex toilets – as in no more with the long line for women and such.

Then off to Knock and the Shrine to the other Mary (Yup, the virgin). Like I said, a Holy Day (Way). Lovely, the complex was much bigger than expected. Quite awe inspiring, calming, peaceful – just what we needed and we both feel replenished.

And we were lucky as the day was mostly sunny, at least during our time in Knock. Next, we decided to return to the bustling township of Cong, the site of The Quiet Man movie (If you don’t know, don’t ask).

I say return because, unlike most other sites this trip, we’ve been here before. And again, another lovely dinky village; downtown or the city centre is less than one forth the size of Glendora. We are staying at the same place we did last time, and the owners upgraded the rooms since our last stay, nice to see business succeed. At dinner, the place had 2 private parties going, and the one next to the bar, they were singing at the top of their lungs, looked like fun. We both wanted to sneak in and enjoy. 

Brian here peoples – Cong is population 145. Total. So yeah, the bandwidth while better than last night is understandably insufficient to post Mary’s video of the waterfall or more than is already here. We’ll catch up eventually (soon?), I promise but right now it’s still like dial-up and AOL ;).