I went to Ireland for a few days and have plenty of pictures to process, including ones of Dun Laogahaire (pronounced Dun Leary for the uninitiated), the coast, and the castle hotel I managed to get several days at. I did manage to even DRIVE on the WRONG side of the Road… (no pictures of this) without any drinking involved. (ha ha) It was fabulous – bright, sunny, and well, relaxing as heck. Just up the road from the place I was staying was a place called Victoria Park, where after much walking up the hill, you got a beautiful view of the Irish Sea coast and the surrounding town, including Dublin (cell phone photo):

Not far off from there I went into Dun Laogahaire proper, and went to the harbour where I got to see a pair of lighthouses – which were built in the 1800’s and walk along the harbor walk in shirt sleeves. I even got a bit of sun – so my cheeks turned pink (cell phone pic):

I was supposed to go home tomorrow morning. The problem? A big huge Volcano exploded in Iceland and sent lots of volcanic ash into the atmosphere – at between 20,000 and 40,000 feet (cruising altitude). The result? All the flights from ireland are cancelled and I’m stranded.

Oh well.
At least the sun is shining (6 days straight now!) and the ash makes for fabulous sunrises and sunsets, and truly, there ARE worse places to be….

Oh – and just something I thought was cool. 30 years ago, May 18, 1980, I remember Mount St. Helens erupting – and the 1/4 inch ash fall in Georgia. Thing is that I didn’t know I remembered the scent of the Volcanic Ash (very distinctive)- until Thursday night, here in Ireland when a window was opened and I went… yep – that’s the same smell – that’s the underlying scent of Volcanic Ash powder in the air.. Weird the things you remember, eh?

Volcanic Ash colored Sunset over half penny bridge (upper right) in Dublin.

BTW – if anyone is counting, I’ve now been through Hurricanes, Tornadoes, minor Earthquakes, Floods… and this makes a Volcano ash fall… so – that leaves… meteorite, major earthquake, and tidal wave. 😛 Isn’t travelling fun? (MY ASH it is!)