Skip to main content

Day Seven

Diseart Celtic Cultural Center

Diseart Center Grounds

Diseart Center Chapel

Harry Clarke Window

Murphy's Ice Cream Shop

Music Session At
John Benny's

This morning the weather is just like yesterday, in and out of rain. Staying primarily around Dingle, doing shopping, eating lunch at one of the pubs that is suppose to have the best sea food chowder in the area.

One of the highlights of today's activities was a visit to the Diseart Celtic Cultural Center next to St. Mary's Church. The building is wonderful and the grounds are also special. This building was originally the Sacred Heart Convent and played a very important role in Dingle during the famine. The nuns in this convent were dedicated to serving the educational, spiritual and physical needs of the young people in Dingle who were ravaged by the famine. The building is no longer owned by the church, but there is still one nun remaining who will be allowed to live out her life at the center. In 1922, the nuns commissioned Harry Clarke to create a series of stain glass windows which are displayed in the chapel. This display is a major attraction for visitors to Dingle. The center is now being used to teach young women about the Celtic language, culture and history.

Tonight we are going to another music session at the little pub that is close to our cottage. This will be a "pick up " session with local musicians, Dona may even decide to sit in with them.

We need to say something about the people we have met here in Dingle. No matter where you go there is someone who is willing to just sit and talk to you about the area, their specialty or whatever. They really are living at a slower pace!

We are headed to Murphy's Ice Cream Shop next. One of the owners is a person who has been emailing/blogging with me for the past 2 months or so and has become a friend. His Ice Cream is heavenly!

Comments

Anonymous said…
Sorry to miss you in the shop, but someone has to make the ice cream. I'm glad to hear you're having fun, and we may meet yet. It looks like you're putting the camera to good use...
Anonymous said…
Well you know how to make a grown woman cry (apologies to the Stones)— — Irish musicians at the source, pub food and brew, heart-tugging landscape, people with stories to share. The one thing you haven't talked about (I don't think) is Irish whiskey. Perhaps they don't have hundreds of kinds of whiskey, as the Scots with their scotch, but they undoubtedly have a goodly number. Will await a report. Jean

Popular posts from this blog

Upcoming Trip To Ireland

As most of you know, Dona, Ann (Dona's sister) and I will be traveling to Ireland from February 16th to February 27th. We will be staying in one location for our entire trip and taking day trips out from our "home" base. We are staying in a self catering cottage called the Rambling House, which is over 200 years old. It is located at Kilmalkedar which is 5 miles from Dingle Town, Co. Kerry. See the links next to this posting. The weather should be okay; temps in the 50's, but with the promise of rain and mist. However, the number of tourists will be way down this time of year. We plan to spend a lot of time exploring castles, monastic sites, old forts, etc. Also on the agenda are considerable nights in the local pubs listening to traditional Irish music. Dingle is one of the great centers for this. Of course, Ron will be spending many hours every day taking pictures, which we will share with everyone. We have access to an internet cafe in Dingle, so we are planning on

A Funny Story From Dingle

I wanted to pass along the following story from Dingle. Click on the following Link http://www.davethefox.com/lost/lucy.htm I can just imagine us getting into a similar situation. At least we will be prepared to better function in this situation than the writer of the story. Why will we be better prepared you ask? Because Dona is taking her flute with her, and we all know that "music sooths the savage beast"! Your next question may be; Why is Dona taking her flute to Ireland? She says that it has been her dream to be able to sit outside of an Irish cottage with the sheep grazing nearby and play Irish folk tunes on her flute. Pictures to follow once we get to our cottage.

Tenative Itinerary While in Ireland

For those of you who are planning on following our upcoming trip to Ireland we want to give you a general itinerary. We say general because for most of the trip we will be living in our "self catering" cottage. ( http://www.kilmalkedar.co.uk/ )It is not our intention to be held to a strict schedule that will dictate our every hour of the day. Friday, Feb 16 Leave Milwaukee on a bus to go to O'Hara airport, Chicago about 12:30 pm. Leave Chicago at 6:00 pm Saturday, Feb 17 Arrive in Shannon Airport at 9:00 a.m. Shannon is in the west central part of Ireland. We plan to take it easy going from Shannon to Dingle what with learning to drive on the left side of the road and on narrow roads and jet lag. They say that Dingle is 3 to 31/2 hours from Shannon. We will probably stop at a few places along the way. Once we get to Dingle we will plan to look around a little, buy some groceries and then head to the Cottage (5 miles). I'm sure we will plan to go to a pub that nigh