On the Road to KilKenny, October 1992
This trip we went to Ireland and Wales with our friends Alison and Pietro. My notes say it took a long flight from Boston to London and then a short 55 minute flight to Dublin then taxi to Merrion Hall to meet our friends in the guest hallway. Note: The Merrion Hall is a former Plymouth Brethren church built by Alfred Gresham Jones and completed in 1863 that was located near Merrion Square in Dublin, Ireland. It has been reconstructed and renovated and is now a hotel but the facade has been retained. We took a taxi to Donahue’s Pub to listen to some music but left early because of all the tobacco smoke (It is 1992 after all). Spent first night in Dublin at The Merrion.
The next morning (October 12, 1992) leaving the Merrion we took a bus to the city center Dublin and to the college bookstore to get a notebook to write vacation notes. Saw also the Book of Kells, a fancy book I remember learning about in art class. Next, went on a rather long journey to get the car hire.We picked up a 4-door Toyota Carrola around 1:30 PM and raced out of town!
The above ruin was sometimes called St. David’s Castle, and sometimes called King John’s Castle, dates from about 1200. I can’t imagine anyone living there, but you can see a TV antenna sticking out from the roof. It’s in the town of Naas, where we stopped on the way to Kilkenny for food.
Got into Kilkenny about 3:30 and took a look around with a walking tour before we go to our place for the night, the Bregagh.
Killkenny was an overnight stop for us, but the town was rich in history. Apparently the Butler family dynasty originated here. Our guide told us that Michael Butler, the producer of Hair is related somehow. Michael was the famous person in Oakbrook, Illinois who I remember while growing up in nearby Villa Park. In 1993 Mr. Butler left Oakbrook for good, never to return!
After we got our things to the B&B and parked the car, we set out to the pubs for some “action”. I brought my banjo: This would be the first time for me in a pub in Ireland. It works like this: If you want all the free beer you can drink, just bring a musical instrument to an Irish pub.
The musicians hid out in the corner and were treated like royalty. We played until the place “closed” and then kept going because: Ireland. At the time, the John Cleere was a lively little pub, a nice place for the locals to gather and have a pint and listen to music. I learned that a few years after I played there they added a 100-seat theatre to the back of the pub.
Since then, it has been at the heart of every major arts festival in Kilkenny and become a cultural institution in its own right.