August 14, 2011, Day 8

1. Three days at Adare Manor were dreamlike. The morning we left we saw the most sunshine we had seen in a week. It's no wonder this is a depressed country. In addition to its economic woes, the sun NEVER shines for much more than half an hour. The newspaper proclaimed that this was the worst summer in Ireland in 47 years. Alas, we didn't know what lay ahead.

When we left the cliffs, we set off for Cong, the city in which Ashford Castle is located. Along the way, a rather humorous story surfaced. We rented a car from Hertz when we drove from Dublin to Adare. The second day at Adare, we went to the parking lot to drive somewhere and I noted that the cover was missing from what they call over here the left side wing mirror. I had not hit anything that I remembered with that mirror and was shocked to note that the cover was gone. Before I left, doing my due dilligence, I checked with Chase, my credit card bank, and was assured that they covered me for damage and collision and that I had to specifically reject damage and collision coverage, which I did. But I also read blogs on the internet that Ireland was the only country where this coverage did not apply...which was specifically disaffirmed by Chase. Regardless, I was a little panicky as to whether the entire mirror would need to be replaced. I searched online for mirror covers for a Renault Fluens and could not even find the "Fluens" acknowledged as a car that exists. However, it appeared that only the cover needed to be replaced, that they just clipped on, and would sometimes just fall off. I began to search for Renault dealerships and told Margaret to be on the lookout for a Renault dealership. I suggested to her that, when we got to Hertz, the story would be that the cover just fell off and we could not find it, hard as we tried. Well, this story is getting to be longer than I wanted...but, on the way from the Cliffs of Moher to Ashford Castle, I was stopped in traffic and decided to look at my rental agreement. Inside was a notation of the damage that existed when I picked up the car and...you guessed it...the cover was missing from the get go. My thorough walk around exam had not noticed the cover was missing. Margaret chimed in..."lucky we never found that Renault dealership".

We arrived at Ashford Castle and our jaws dropped. Driving in through its nine hole golf course, we came to the bridge that crossed the moat and there was this incredibly beautiful castle dating back to the 12th century. It has been a hotel since 1939. The movie, The Quiet Man, with John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara was filmed at the castle in 1951. It had been owned by the Guinness family for many years and was their private summer home. I didn't know there was so much money in beer. Everyone at the hotel was incredibly friendly. We were upgraded to a huge suite in the "old" part of the hotel with lavish antique furnishings and a view of the gardens and the lake on which the castle sits.

Margaret decided that we would have dinner in their "fine dining" room which was purported to be one of the finest restaurants in Ireland. It was terribly disappointing. Margaret ordered duck which was not edible, and, if Margaret can't eat it, you know there is something wrong. I had lamb which was all right, not as spectacular as the surroundings portended.

After dinner, we went to a lounge where they had a piano player and a beautiful singer. We were having an after dinner drink at which point the singer asked us where we were from. We never say Danville...we always say San Francisco. When she heard this she asked me if I knew the words to I left my heart in San Francisco. I said I probably knew most of them and she handed me the microphone. So, I became Tony Bennett for just a minute...until I forgot the words and started ad libbing about "my world champion Giants"...everybody had a good laugh. Then, as we were about to retire, the singer asked if there were any more requests (she had sung "Don't Cry For Me Argentina and various other Phantom songs I had requested)...so I got up, announced to the room that it was our 40th anniversary the next day and asked if I could sing "Have I Told You Lately That I Love You" to my wife. Margaret will fill you in on the rest.

Returned to the room to watch Michael Bradley's incredible comeback win.