Saturday started out cloudy as far as weather was concerned, but it did get much better.
No genealogy was even attempted over the weekend. Imagine, two full days of food, fun and friends was not interrupted by searching for records. It was glorious and for a non-genealogist probably easy to imagine.
A very early start on Saturday (06:30) was a bit of a challenge. The overnight bag was packed and loaded into the trunk of my trusty rented Ford Focus. The GPS was at hand if needed. House keys and some cash were stuffed into my handbag and after a bite of a granola bar, I was off to Craanford to meet Margaret #1.
Once Margaret was safely stowed in the passenger seat, I pointed the car in the direction of Gorey and off we went. Life is always an adventure with Marg, who never runs out of good ideas and instructions. Sometimes we pay attention to her and when we do, good things happen. Her original idea was that we would take the scenic route, and I'm usually all for that, but had we spurned the motorway we might still be en route to Maynooth.
So, we took the road more traveled, and got to Maynooth in good time. Finally breakfast! We stopped at her sister Michelle's place, parked our vehicle in Michelle's spot and turned ourselves over to her capable driving skills.
First stop was The Coffee Mill for a tasty brekkie and COFFEE!. From there we drove and then walked around the campus of Maynooth University - well, around some of it. It's a very old university with beautiful stone buildings and enough places to walk to keep you going for a month. We narrowed the possibilities and walked around the Church (no admission to outsiders), seminary (where we did sneak in for a wander through a couple of corridors), and the cemetery. The best part of the cemetery was the arched trees forming a wonderful canopy that would rival The Dark Hedges of Northern Ireland, leading up to it. There was even a sprinkling of snow drops (the flowers, not flakes) along the sides of the path. Apparently we will have an opportunity to enjoy (???) snow FLAKES later this week on more than one occasion.
From there it was off to Rathfarnham to visit the Padraig Pearse museum. Quite the teacher and patriot was he. The building is furnished, if not with original desks, beds (it was a boarding school), and other furniture, then replicas or similar items were used. The description of the uniforms for the boys of this school was interesting. One of the words to describe them was 'hygienic'. The boys wore brown kilts. Hygienic? Well maybe. Airy for sure.
Leaving behind the world of academia, we headed to the world of the rich and famous. The storied K club, where for a mere 379 Euro we could have played a round of golf. There were players on the course. Conditions were, in my humble opinion, a bit short of ideal - the temperature was 5C. My lower limit is 10C. It was also windy. With a green fee of 379 Euro, I would expect to be fed, wined, dined and have a score below par. So, we decided to just have coffee and a scone instead. Oh yes, I did a wee bit of shopping in the pro shop. No, there were no bargains, but I met a vest I couldn't resist. With this week's forecast I might start wearing it right away.
My golfing dreams, well a photo op, satisfied, we headed out in another direction to Castletown. The grounds were open for walking and of course the cafe was open, but the building itself is closed until March 16. This was, and is, the largest estate home in Ireland. Built back in the day when no building could exceed Buckingham Palace in the number of windows, the owners were forced to brick up one window so that it had fewer than the Palace.
Not to be outdone by either of the preceding two stops of the day, we proceeded to Carton House - another golf resort which offers much more - a hotel, spa, training facility, reception rooms and a pro shop that was (mercifully) closed. Folks were playing golf there too. By this time it was quite sunny but still very chilly. From what I could gather online, you could play a round of golf there for just over 10% of the cost at the K club. We declined the availability of afternoon tea, and golf, and just ogled several of the reception rooms. It must have been a slow weekend - they were all vacant and available for exploring. Well, nobody stopped us anyway. One room had a wall of pipes for a pipe organ but there was no sign of an organ.
At this point we had walked miles and were a bit weary, so adjourned to Michelle's where we ordered Chinese take-out for supper. Then Margaret and I got back into the Ford and headed towards Ashford. There I left Marg in the capable hands of her son who was going to drive her home, and stay the night visiting his parents.
I drove a mile down the road to Rossanna Farm, the home of Margaret #2, where I'd spend the night. I got a warm welcome from Margaret and Eugene, a cup of herbal tea and simply could not resist a bite of dessert. And then to bed, where I slept soundly and woke up ready for another adventure.
I will add a post with photos later.
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