If you must arrive in Ireland at 6:30 a.m. after a turbulent ocean crossing and very little sleep, the fact that your ancient castle awaits is a consolation.  Our hotel, Dromoland Castle, was built around the year 1000 and is now a luxury hotel. Gorgeous ground and interiors.

Between five hours to NYC and another almost six to Shannon, Ireland, some serious turbulence and a 90-minute delay, we were thrilled to see our bags come off first, our driver waiting, and the castlekeepers awaiting with hot coffee and croissants.

Everything was very green on our ride to the castle.

“Get used to it,” Patrick our driver, told us.  He said Shannon was a “cozy little town” of 10,000, that the weather had been unseasonably hot for several weeks, but the next few days were forecast to be “dull and cool.”  It’s probably about 60 degrees right now.

We had time for a little personal chat with Patrick,  who mentioned that he had an uncle in the San Francisco Bay area.
“Yeh, and he’s on his seventh wife,” he told us in his Irish brogue.
“That’s a lot,” I responded.
Patrick smiled. “He loves a good weddin’, me uncle does.”

We’ll rest up the remainder of the day and meet our fellow travelers at cocktails and dinner tonight. Tomorrow, we’re off to the Cliffs of Moher. Photos of the Cliffs kind of remind me of the headlands in Mendocino, or Big Sur. We shall see.

I know you are all in dreamland still, whether you’re east coast or west. So sweet dreams and tune in often, more to come.