Lazy Friday

The group boards the bus and goes to Parke’s Castle and Lough Gill. Paula and I have done this day’s excursion twice before, so we stay behind.

The castle is from the Elizabethan era when English were granted lands in Ireland to shore up English rule after the Irish nobility were crushed or expelled or fled to Spain. The English process was called plantation, not involving agriculture but planting English to exercise authority over the Irish locals. Parke built a secure castle enclosure to house his family and protect them from the locals. And the building and enclosing walls are still in good shape, so the castle is a very good example of architecture and fortification, living quarters, and demonstration of building techniques.

Below the castle is a dock on Lough Gill where an excursion ship moors, the Rose of Innisfree. The trip on the Lough is about 90 minutes out to the island of Innisfree, made famous by poetry of W.B. Years. No stop, just a cruise. The small ship was formerly captained by George, now by his son, but who still does the commentary and recites Yeats poetry in a fine trained voice. The ship also provides lunch.

Afterwards the group goes to Sligo Abbey which ties into Bram Stoker and Dracula, and rounds out the day with a stop at the church where Yeats is buried. This is mostly Yeats country, with a museum, house, festivals, contests, theater, and celebrations. More about that tomorrow.

Paula and I spend the day lounging about the hotel and watching preparations for a large (300+) wedding reception in the evening, rumor has it for some footballer and wife. We talk about mischief, like signing the guest book from Wisconsin or putting a card in the card well, but we don’t follow through. Our dinner is buffet style in the restaurant as the kitchen, servers and runners are flitting about coping with the demands of the wedding crowd. Kudos to our tour leaders who had ensured that none of our group are rooming above the ballroom.

The wedding appears to be very upscale, lots of very tailored dresses, fascinator headwear, very high heels, and men in tailored suits, formal wear with fancy vests. The staff say next morning that the dancing and band went until 4.

Paula and Lexi bid fair to crash the reception as the wedding party makes it’s grand entry.