"You're very welcome here" (Part V)

Day 11 was our last day together. We left Killarney, bound for an overnight in Limerick. Our first stop that morning was in Foynes, to the Flying Boat Museum, a.k.a. the birthplace of Irish Coffee. This stop was a great example of the “off the beaten path” gems that this OAT tour provided (other examples being the Great Famine memorial and St. Brigid’s Shrine and the evening discussions/presentations), that very much added to my tour experience, and to which I would have been oblivious had I attempted to travel here independently.

Our next stop was in the town of Adare, where I was able to secure a family crest at the Heritage Centre.

Next we arrived at Bunratty Castle and Folk Park. This is a very popular tourist destination, and the castle was overpopulated with tour groups; the Folk Park was a much more interesting area to explore. It’s a reconstruction of a 19^th century Irish village – in that spirit, it reminded me of Plimoth Plantation in Massachusetts.

That evening we had our farewell dinner at the hotel in Limerick. Appropriately, we capped the dinner by sharing self-composed limericks with one another. I’m grateful to have been matched with such a great, compatible group of people, all of whom I now consider friends. Thanks to all of you!