The Shops And A Walkabout

As in any trip you spend a lot of time on sometime things just don't work out. So you have to regroup, redesign and let go.

On day four I took the train to Sligo a 3hour journey.  The a taxi to the garage where my car was supposed to be. I rented an automatic but alas they couldn't get one.  I haven't driven a stick in 11 years. I took up the challenge and it was frickin hard. The stress was all across my shoulders and down my back.  I drove the 40 km to Carrick on Shannon, not sure how because it was not pleasant by any stretch of the means.  

That night I could not sleep worrying about having to drive. Take the fact that I recently had a car accident so I am not comfortable with driving yet.  Then add the manual transmission issues and that I am driving on the wrong side of the road. You shift with your left hand and the rear view mirror is now on the left. Then add driving in a foreign country with unfamiliar road signs and you put it all together no wonder I stressed out big time. For my well being I decided to let go of the car.  The company will pick up the car tomorrow and then I will leave Carrick and head back to Dublin for some more adventures.  

I also cancelled my car in Wales and will have to rethink what I may want to do for those days. I've let go of many of the plans I had initially.  Gone is the idea to visit all the locations.  Now I will find some of them, I'll explore the areas to get a feel of what it was like living in these places.  Sometimes when you get somewhere you realize it's not as easy as you thought it would be. Or that it will take far longer than you ever imagined.

The shops and a walkabout

I spent the day in Carrick on Shannon. I went to see all the shops and so forth. In my walking I came across this.

And a sign pointing to the Famine memorial graveyard so I followed.

Nano information on who was hung and why but I thought it was interesting.

Next was this cairn and time capsule I. Honor of the ancestors.

In the graveyard there were places with information on them. 

This was a soup cauldron mentioned in the above plaque.

A poem or prayer to a fallen victim.

This was in the center of the area, no information about it.

Another monument to honor the fallen from the famine.   There was also a workhouse but it was closed so I'd didn't get to see more.

A Ride on the Shannon

This is the boat The Moon River, that I took a little one hour cruise on.

The marina at Carrick on Shannon, Ireland.

There was a bar with drinks and snacks and live entertainment.

The view out the window.  I saw several swans on the shore.  The ride was quite peaceful.

Weaving Show

I found this weaving show on display.  The exhibitor was Barbara Falkowska from Poland. The pieces were fabulous.

This was my favorite piece, it was very big and stunning.  I see a woman in there, can you?

I thought these addled like onions.

At first I thought these looked like feathers but some of them look Iike people.

This was just a sampling of the tapestries, what an amazing collection it was.