Pre-wedding days in Ireland

 Some faithful readers have noted the abrupt end of the blog. Unfortunately I experienced some illness in Ireland and was not up for writing. Possibly this was a mild case of food poisoning from fresh seafood at a restaurant in Bermeo or a reaction to fairly new blood pressure medication I went on right before leaving. The scariest symptoms have subsided and a visit to the doc has revised those meds, so fingers crossed for the upcoming trip to France. 

The malaise did not affect our good times though we probably had earlier nights than we might have. On Wednesday evening, after our boat ride to Howth, we went to Mary’s for pizza. She had invited a fun and eclectic group of friends to her beautiful condo, and we truly enjoyed a night of conversation about books, beers (Nick does not agree that English bitters is sweet) and Irish politics. There was a beautiful sunset that we watched from her deck. We got reacquainted with Mary Flaherty and met Alma; both will be at the wedding. We walked back to the Haddington House and tumbled into bed. 

On Thursday morning, we checked out (for 2 days - we were able to leave 2 suitcases there), and Mary picked us up in her camper van. This is a rather new purchase in her life and she’s really warmed to it. She has been on several camping holidays with her Irish pals, and we could tell she loves it. She maneuvers it deftly (if a bit fast for my taste) around the narrow streets of Dublin. I felt the ride (on the highway - about 2 hours) was a bit noisy. It sounded like a window was cracked open, but she assured me it just sounded that way. We stopped at Ciara and Jack’s to pick up a lot of stuff for the wedding, including the wedding dress, the dress for the party after the wedding and Jack’s suit. Mary has a lot of room in that camper. She even has a storage area she calls a garage. It was fun to see Ciara and Jack’s place in Dublin - a small and narrow townhome - but on a sunny street and decorated very cutely. After hearing that the wedding theme had evolved to “citrus disco” and packing the camper, we headed for County Tipperary, the destination for the wedding. 

We texted with Paul and Liz, who were traveling separately in a rental car, and arranged to meet at Cloughjordan House, the wedding venue. We arrived in mid-afternoon and looked around the grounds. There were several stone buildings, including the 8th century manor house where Mary was staying and the bridal suite was located. There was a separate building where they were setting up for the ceremony, a small hotel, a number of “glamping pods” (like Quonset huts) and a separate building for the reception. All of this was located on lush green rolling hills so typical of Ireland. We ran into Leslie, who called herself the wedding planner (later a waitress so I’m not sure we have the same definition), and she took charge of the wedding dress. We left Mary’s camper van (she had knocked over some chairs holding signs designating the camper area so we all agreed to go in Paul’s rental car) and drove a short distance to Cloughjordan for lunch. The first pub was closed but a friendly local directed us down the street to another. This pub did not serve food but allowed us to bring in food from the local cafe that Liz fetched. It was great to be all together. Paul and Liz have moved from the Chicago area to Reston, Virginia, so we don’t get to see them often enough. After lunch we dropped Mary back at Cloughjordan House, and we drove the 20 minutes or so to the Abbey Court Hotel in Nenagh (yes, pronounced the same way as Neenah, Wisconsin). 

The hotel was 4 floors, though we were on the 3rd floor, the elevator kept saying 4, and just on the outskirts of town. They had a nice pub and restaurant that we frequented. I asked if we could have a room with shower only to avoid the treacherous situation at the Haddington. The answer was we have those but none are available. That was too bad. I ended up taking only one shower as it was too much of a hassle. We started to walk to town but it started raining so we let Paul and Liz soldier on and we returned to the pub. 

At 7 pm, we took a taxi to Cloughjordan House for the night before dinner. Our driver (name escapes) was super friendly but we were surprised to learn he took only cash. Nick had enough Euros for the trip there but we didn’t have enough for the return trip. Friendly driver said he would try to bring a credit card machine. The dinner was great. About 30 guests were all seated at a long table and we were seated across from Paul, Liz and Mary. I was next to Amir, Caitriona (Mary’s daughter) and the adorable Seamie (age 10 months). Seamie is a big fan of bread. Nick was next to Mike (Mary’s son) and Louise. Next to Mary were some friends of the bride and groom (now living in Philadelphia) and then Jack’s best friend, and next to him, Jack and Ciara. The food was great - the entree was a pork roast. After dinner, Jack stood and gave a speech of about 15 minutes, mostly in tribute to Ciara, but also recognizing some special friends. The evening was winding down so Paul called the cab driver - who said unfortunately we had to pay cash. Panic in Cloughjordan! We dug in purses and pockets and found we were 5 euros short. I decided I would ask the Philadelphia woman if she would front us a loan. Her money was in her room but Jack’s best friend stepped in with a ten-spot. Saved by the man from Nenagh! (Not sure if he really was from there but Jack is, so it would make sense). My big concern was would I recognize him to pay him back. I just kept reminding myself - tall with beard - and hoped there weren’t too many of those. We returned to the Abbey Court for a drink in the pub before retiring. The photos above are from the night before dinner, including Mary and Ciara, Mary and Liz, Cait and Seamie, and Mary’s reaction when Mike and Louise entered the room.