For Johnny, who was born in 1966 while I was in London;
posted on his birthday, October 14, 2017.
posted on his birthday, October 14, 2017.
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| Ettelbruck Railroad Station |
Ettelbruck, Luxembourg - July 16, 1966
On the train from the
airport, when we want off, we are jammed in with those getting onto it. From outside a conductor slams shut the door. I am yelling "Raus! Raus!" which I think is German for "Out! Out!" Then the
people around us realize; one of them opens the door and shouts to the
conductor, who shouts toward the engine. I get off and turn around to see Dennis squeezing through.
We walk across the street and
into a hotel. We meet a man from Rotterdam who speaks English. He
makes inquiries about the price for us, and we book a room.
And now we have walked through the
town and are sitting in a famous hotel's cafe having coffee, and I'm
having a sausage sandwich. The sandwich is composed of many
one-to-two inch thin discs laid upon two good sized slices of well
buttered bread, some tomato and pickle on top. I like the way the
coffee is served. It comes in your own little china coffee maker.
In the top they put the coffee and water; the water drains into the
lower part and when it is finished draining you remove the top and
the bottom becomes the cup you drink from.
One of the bridges in
Luxembourg City is majestic. While walking around Thursday night we
happened onto it and decided to stay on through Friday and see the
city in daylight. We walked through the park which is in a valley
over which these old and new beautiful bridges span up and down; very scenic.
Lots of green. It's fun to watch the dogs – at our hotel was a
dog named Mac who begged at our breakfast. This morning I saved him
a bit of my roll but he refused it and later Monique told us he wants
only sugar cubes. The hotel room is good, roomy, and clean, and
Monique and the older couple there, whom I presumed to be her
parents, amused us. If they smile at you it makes you feel good.
On Thursday night we each had a filet mignon that was covered with a delicious sauce, and
french fried potatoes, and salad – no, no salad! - and a tomato
soup that had a liquor base, and green beans, and ice cream. I loved
it for only $3.00. On Friday night we had weiner schnitzel for less
than $2.00, but it was not good – I mean it was in itself tasty
enough and we enjoyed it, but it didn't taste like the good meals of
weiner schnitzel I had had in countless German restaurants when I was
a soldier.
We've gone to several bars;
we look for one with a jukebox; it's fun to see what English songs
happen to be on them, and also to listen to the foreign songs.
Yesterday we went into a record store and looked over all the
different record jackets. And I bought a pair of black sandals down
the street and a pair of sunglasses. Here today Dennis bought a pair
of sandals and a Harris tweed sports coat.
July
7, 1966 – Diekirch
We just arrived here by foot;
it is 5 kilos from Ettelbruck. I have a new rucksack that is jammed
with a hard bread loaf, a stick of sausage, two kinds of cheese, a
jar of pickles (the jar itself cost 3-cents), two oranges, a bottle of wine
and a package of what must be home-made potato chips; the latter was
given to me by the lady in the shop where we bought the food. We'll stop along the road on the way back and have our meal. The walking
is fun, but we must get more used to it as Dennis is getting a
blister and I think I may be getting one on my little toe, but
perhaps when we hike we should wear our shoes instead of new sandals.
Diekirch is a little smaller
than Ettelbruck, although it is the seat of the county which both are
in; the county is also called Diekirch. And here in this city is
made the Diekirch beer which is apparently the most popular in
Ettelbruck. All the beer has a better, more distinct taste than in
the U.S.A.
While walking around
Ettelbruck after my sausage sandwich yesterday afternoon we passed a
Famille de Pension – the
menu and prices posted outside looked good so after returning to our
hotel and cleaning up some we went back to this place. It was late
for dinner and we were the lone diners. But the waitress, Palmyra,
spoke excellent English, and had six weeks ago married an American
Airman. Palmyra jabbered and jabbered and we were there until 10:30
p.m. We had beef steak, french fries, salad, three beers, and two
coffees for only 162 francs or $3.24. Palmyra was very interesting,
showed us her scrapbook filled with pictures of the wedding and
honeymoon. And answered many questions we had about Luxembourg and
things we had seen. She confirmed that the people here have a low
regard for the Germans. I had wondered what had been Luxembourg's
fate in WWII. There was, Palmyra said, not a street which could be
looked upon without viewing great destruction; in Palmyra's own house
one could stand on the ground level and look up to see the sky. When
her parents came back after the war it was required that they have a
business – everyone was required to have some sort of business in
order, I guess, to get some sort of an economy
moving again. So her family opened this room and boarding business
and today they still have their very first customer – a Germany
from just over the border. She showed us some of their guest rooms
on the upper floor; they were beautiful and spotlessly clean as well.
Her father had a Chow-Chow dog with the cutest face and we asked her
if we could be introduced to the dog. So when her father returned
from a bar where he had gone to get the winning Germany lottery
numbers off the television, he brought the dog to us. His name was
Mickey. Palmyra was terrified that he would leave one hair in the
dining room.
I asked Palmyra about General
Patton and she said, “He is a god to us.” His forces liberated
the city in 1944 and he was, after the war, killed in Luxembourg in a
jeep accident.
Since
we were not pleased with out hotel room across from the bahnhof
Palmyra told us to come in the morning and take one of her rooms; we
checked out then this morning but we had overslept; it was past noon
when we arrived at Famille de Pension,
and she, worried that we'd not come since we had
said morning, had let our room to someone else. But we walked down
the street and got a nice, bright looking room above a beer room. It
seems that almost every building houses not only someone's home but
also a beer hall
or a hotel or a restaurant or all combined; I suppose this is a
result of the days when every building was required to house a
business.
After
leaving Famille de Pension
last night we went into a bar in which we had spotted a jukebox on
our afternoon walk. The big song to hear here was “Long, Long
While” by the Rolling Stones, which, on this side of the ocean, is
the flip side of “Paint It Black”. After we'd been there a while
and Dennis was in the toilet, the youngest waitress came and sat
beside me, saying, “Excuse me.” And there she sat talking with
us until the place closed at one a.m. … sat with us except when one
of the local boys asked her to dance. She was not so interesting,
except inasmuch as any foreign person being friendly to you is
interesting. I spoke almost as much German to her as English, and
she understood me fine; I had been having trouble making myself
understood. This cafe was run by this girl's mother and two of her
sisters. This girl claimed her name was Baby. We witnesses
a very funny incident: One of the local men asked of one of Baby's
sisters at the bar if she were, as Baby put it, “a girl for money.”
The mother grabbed one arm and one ear, the insulted sister grabbed
the other arm and the other ear; there was much shouting and they led
the man quickly to the door where they farewelled him with a loud
slap on the face.
And now we have rested
enough. Dennis Little just snapped a picture of me writing, and we
must start back to Ettelbruck.
Paris, July 8 , 1966
I didn't keep up my diary while in Paris, but we did pose in our hotel room's window for pictures:
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| Farm boy from outside Williamston, Michigan |
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| Small town boy from Mentone, Indiana |
Nor did I keep my diary while we were in London camping on the floor of a friend before taking the train out of Euston Station for Holyhead in Wales where we caught a ferry for Ireland.
Dublin, August 6, 1966
Dublin, August 6, 1966
So I've gone all this time
without writing. I didn't intend to ignore my diary but in Paris and
London there are so many impressions I wouldn't have known how to
begin. But Dublin is a smaller and quieter place and we are heading
for even smaller and quieter places. We left London last night at
11:30; the seats on the train to Holyhead were terribly
uncomfortable; I slept but seemed to wake every five minutes and
change my position. The ferry was comfortable; in fact it was almost
like a nice chair in a living room and I slept at least three hours
of the four hour crossing. We landed at Dun Loaghaire at about 10:30
this morning. A guidebook we
have describes Dublin as a beautiful
city and as far as I've seen it couldn't be less accurate; I don't
like it at all, and if all of Ireland is similar to it I'll leave
quicker than planned. First of all, it is the dirtiest city I've
ever been in – there is litter all over the sidewalks, a bad odor
almost everywhere, and those openings beneath sidewalks covered with
gratings are usually piled with a foot or more of trash. Give me the
bright cleanliness of Holland or Luxembourg! The people here seem
wretchedly poor. We had a long walk through a residential area,
composed of large brick apartment buildings, each window covered
with tattered and dirty lace curtains – or so it seemed. Children
played on the sidewalks and they were filthy, their clothes little
more than rags. On the main streets there are girls soliciting funds
for some charity – you give coins and they stick a little badge on
your lapel. Two nuns were standing at either side of an entrance to
some building with tin cups held out. A little girl tonight begging
us for six pence because she hadn't bus fare home. Such poverty upsets me. All those people making donations on the street probably have poorly
clothed children in their families. And the church probably has more
money than any other institution.
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| Dennis Little at Dun Laoghaire landing dock; that's a torn spot on the photo, not something white he's holding. |
August
7, 1966
A better day as far as sights
go. But it started off in our hotel where we were served a lousy
breakfast. Dennis couldn't eat his except the egg; I managed to eat
the bacon but left the sausage which was not tasteless but of a very
bad taste. But the hotel is cheap and we should have expected this.
The
single reason I wanted to stop over in Dublin was to go to Dun
Loaghaire, to a place beyond Dun Loaghaire actually, called Sandy
Cove, to visit a James Joyce museum. So out on the street this
morning the newspapers informed us that the busses were not running –
a strike. So I asked directions of a man and we began walking the 7
miles to Sandy Cove. We would begin hitchhiking when we were out of
Dublin but just as we passed a house where Oscar Wilde had lived,
a Volkswagen stopped and the driver shouted that we could have a
lift. I crawled in back with his two children; Dennis sat up front.
“You must be a couple of Joyce disciples,” he said. Yes, we
were. So he began talking a storm; he obviously did not approve of
Joyce's picture of Dublin (Ulysses
is banned in Eire!), and he defended the actual character of a man
whom Joyce, according to our host, had maligned in his novel. He was
a good friend of this man's (Gogarthy?) son. Our driver was
obviously very religious; he made the sign of the cross often,
presumably every time we passed a church, so it is easy to see why
he'd knock Joyce.
August 8, 1966
I
was writing in a pub last night and it became so crowded that I
stopped in order to watch the people. But I should add to yesterday
that we were let off two miles from our destination and we walked
along the coast which is beautiful – many places they were swimming
and the sun was bright. We visited Martello Tower, an old tower on
the coast in which Joyce once lived with two friends – it is now a
museum in his memory, housing photos, original manuscripts and
letters, and various items
which belonged to Joyce. Returned on train.
We
began this morning in Dublin trying to rent a bike but there was a
rush on them because of a bus strike so we began hitchhiking. While
still in Dublin a very pretty and young teacher picked us up in a
tiny Morris and took us past Dun Loaghaire. Then a man in a Jaguar
sedan took us quite a distance, as far as Enniskerry I believe. I
told Mother in a letter from London that hitchhiking was “safe”
over here but this man's driving was hardly safe. Then we began
walking along a mountain, going up and around it. We were on a
less-travelled road and we walked for nearly four miles for our next
ride which was then only a mile long! We walked over a mile more and
were picked up and brought to within a mile of Glendalough, our
destination. We were too tired to look at the nearby ruins of an
ancient monastery this evening so we walked back a mile to this place
where we have a nice room for the night. We bought twice as much
groceries as we needed and had our supper in the lawn – we were
hungry as we hadn't eaten since Dublin. We'll look at the ruins in
the morning and then try to make Kilkenny by tomorrow evening –
probably won't be so lucky but it doesn't matter – wherever we are
in the evening is where well spend the night. As for tonight, we're
tired and though it's only 8:30 we're going to sleep.
Rathdrum,
August 9, 1966
This
is a beautiful little town, apparently about the size of Mentone. We
are having high tea – a pot of tea, 4 cups each, several slices of
bread with butter and strawberry jam, and a cupcake each. But getting
here was all hiking – not one of the few cars which passed stopped
for us, and at times it was pouring down rain. We have come only
seven miles from Larogh! But the country-side is beautiful, not quite
mountains, but very close. Very green; cute little farms along the
road – really the nicest scenes I've seen. We rested half way here
at a tiny store along the way – the lady was friendly and would
have got us a ride to Rathdrum with the bread man except on Tuesdays
he goes another way! We mailed our letters with her little post
office, bought an ice cream bar (3 pence) and a banana (5 pence),
then came on our way.
The
worse of all this rain is that we didn't get to leave Lilac Cottage
until noon and we decided to get started on our journey rather than
back-track a mile to see the ruins. So we saw only what we saw last
evening – the tower, which is almost perfect after over 1000 years.
And we also trudged a steep hill and saw the St. Kevin's Church in
use today.
We
were served a good breakfast this morning, started off with crushed
grapefruit. When we went out on the road and looked beyond us the
hill tops were half hidden in fog – it really is one beautiful
scene after another!
As
soon as we got into town here we went to a “drapery” shop to
purchase raincoats. The shop had none large enough for us but the
two women running it were friendly and we talked for fifteen minutes.
They laughed at my Irish name, thought Indiana was near Texas, and
that Chicago was not hot or cold but just windy. At the third shop we
went into they had our size and we bought thin plastic raincoats for
70-cents each. They were regularly 76-cents but were on sale!
Enough
– we'll try to get to Arklow, on the sea, before dark.
Arklow
We
made it; our luck changed. We left Rathdrum around six and three
rather quickly gotten rides put us here by seven. And the sun even
began shining this evening. This is a beautiful seacoast city of, I
would guess, seven or eight thousand. We got a clean bed and
breakfast for a pound, then went out for a walk – first down a row
of sweet little residential houses all cement with brightly colored
frames for doors and windows, down to the sea, then up along a
“river” which is really just a stretch of backwater from the sea.
From a bridge across it you can look northwest and see hills, green,
green hills, as far as the eye can see – Ireland, so far, has been
beautiful in the countryside – I couldn't even begin to make a
picture in words that would convey to anyone how beautiful the
scenery is – to be walking along a country road lined with trees
and a stone fence, to look down into a valley and see a river running
through it, and a footbridge crossing the river, then to look up and
see an infinity of green hills, to see clear to the top of some of
these hills where there are neatly divided and cultivated plots. To
stop at a country store and compare it to a supermarket – one of
these stores usually serves as a post office as well, and they sell
mainly only those things which the farmer can't get for himself from
his own land.
After
getting back to the bridge we walked up and then back down Main
Street, looking in the shop windows, and ending up in an upstairs
restaurant where I had a bowl of good oxtail soup with bread and
butter, and a large pot of tea for 30-cents.
Coming
into our guest house, called Elsinore, the hostess invited us into
her living room where we chatted with her and a friend of hers, Mary
Redmond, who lives on the edge of town. This was our largest taste of
Irish hospitality. They were immensely entertaining, witty,
broad-minded. They don't like the President of Ireland –
particularly they dislike the recently enforced requirement that
Gaelic be the official language.
After
our chatting the hostess served delicious coffee and toast; I then
had my first bath since we left England, feel clean, and tired and
ready to sleep
Kilkenny,
August 10, 1966
Often
during the day we didn't expect to reach this far by dark. But
despite the fact that we waited so long for rides it turned out that
we got some good ones. Quite a day it was, beginning with a good
breakfast at Elsinore; then we stood outside Arklow for an hour
before two boys from Bristol, England, in a Gazelle convertible, gave
us a lift. At Gorey they were heading over secondary roads to
Courtown on the sea; we preferred to stay on the main road south so
they let us out. We walked a short distance, heading out of town,
when I discovered that I'd left my camera in their car. My heart was
broken. Dennis said, “What do you want to do?” and I said, “I
want to cry” All I could think of was all the pictures we'd taken
which were still in the camera, and all the pictures of the rest of
the trip we wouldn't now be able to take.
We
decided to turn around and head for Courtown ourselves, hoping to
find the Gazelle there, though it really seemed doubtful we could get
a lift on that road. Luck! A doctor from Dublin stopped for us. As
soon as I told him my dilemma he accelerated and, sure enough, there
on the street, the green convertible was parked. I stayed at their
car and Dennis went to the beach to look for them. They returned to
the car before Dennis, and my camera was again in my hands. More
luck: They were disappointed with Courtown and had decided to get
back on the main road and drive further south, so they gave us
another lift, this time to Enniscorthy, where our route to Kilkenny
split from theirs to Wexford. As it turned out we left them in
Enniscorthy with a broken down car – something suddenly gone wrong
with the gearbox. Outside of town we jumped into a wagon pulled by a
tractor which took us four miles. Then a man delivering bathroom
fixtures took us to within one mile of Clonroche. We thumbed for an
hour and eventually walked into Clonroche, a tiny place where we
couldn’t even find a place to have tea. And we waited over an hour
for the next lift; a woman with her two daughters took us to the
junction one mile north of New Ross, which, incidentally, is where
President Kennedy visited his relatives on his trip to Ireland. From
there a man brought us clear to Kilkenny. He was very talkative and
friendly and stopped a few times along the route to allow us to get
out and see the view. One vista was especially beautiful – far
below in the green valley was a river and in the river were some
islands. And this scene was framed by the trees right in front of us
so that we had to stand at a certain place to see.
In
Kilkenny we first had soup, bread, and tea, then got a room for only
15 shillings each; the landlady possesses a subtle wit, very friendly
and amusing. Then we went to 35 Friary Street, the address of my
pen-pal, Flo Brennan; we’ve not corresponded since ’60 or ’61.
No one was home so we went to a pub a few doors down and had two
beers. The bartender told us that Flo still lives there with her
mother, and that she works in a “drapery” shop on the main street
so we’ll be sure to see her tomorrow.
August
11, 1966
After
breakfast we set off down High Street stopping at each “drapery”
shop asking if they knew Flo Brennan. Someone at the third one knew
her and said she was married, had two children, and lived in
Tipperary. We knocked again at 35 Friary; no response. In the
grocery store next door the lady confirmed that Flo was married and
she said she’d tell Mrs. Brennan we’d called, and that we should
try later.
Next
we went to what is called the “Design Center,” – a place where
people do exactly what the name says. In laboratories and studios
they design various items and they sell these designs to factories
where the item is manufactured and then marketed. This center is
semi-government sponsored and its purpose is to design goods mainly
which can be exported, thus strengthening Ireland’s place in the
Common Market. The items were beautiful, made of marble, of silver,
of wood, or of various fabrics; some things were for sale, one of
which was a silver ring, very unusually designed. It thought it was
beautiful and bought it for the amazingly low price of about $9.00.
The lady was very nice and took time to answer our questions and tell
us such things as that the building they are housed in was originally
the stables for the Kilkenny Castle across the street.
Later
we went to the castle, a huge grey building that is beautiful from
certain points, such as from the bridge on the Nore River behind it.
The inside was not much to see – a number of empty, dark, dreary
rooms really, the same as all old empty buildings. But they are
going to put the Castle to use by putting in an art gallery and also
making some areas into studios to be rented to artists.
We
visited also St. Canice Cathedral, a 13th
century Gothic monstrosity – Dennis loves such things. The yard
around was full of graves and a strange assortment of markers. As
well, the inside of the church was full of tombs and inscriptions, in
remembrance of such and such “dearly beloved” person. I thought
it very eerie. The most interesting fact in the Cathedral’s
history is that during an English occupation, Cromwell’s men
desecrated it; among other things, his men used the baptismal font as
a trough for the watering of their horses.
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| St. Canice Cathedral; Kilkenny |
At
about eight tonight we knocked again at 35 Friary. Mrs. Brennan
answered and welcomed us. In the living room we met Flo and her
sister, Rosemary! The grocery lady had told Mrs. Brennan about us.
Mrs. Brennan then telephoned Rosemary, who lives 18 miles away, and
Rosemary drove and collected Flo, who lives 35 miles away and has no
phone. So all were there to meet us, including a batch of children.
Flo has two girls with Gaelic names – the oldest one is Maeve, the
youngest is, Aoife. Flo is as pretty as the several pictures I was
sent over the years, lovely blue eyes, and a wonderful smile.
Rosemary is also good-looking, wearing thick glasses, and clever and
really really funny, always something funny to remark upon. Dennis
and I like them both so much. They have poise and such friendliness.
Rosemary has four children. Mrs. Brennan is friendly, too, and we
were served high tea and, later, coffee. I found out why I like
their instant coffee: it is made with milk instead of water, very
good. After a while a girl of about 28, named Bridey, came home. It
is she who works in a “drapery” shop and she makes her home with
Mrs. Brennan. She is also Flo’s long-time best friend. She, too,
is fun and friendly. Foreigners seem to have so much more fun
together than do Americans; it’s fun to be with them – they seem
to have no petty ideas or prejudices, are completely content to
merely have a good time among themselves.
We
intended to leave Kilkenny tomorrow but Rosemary was very anxious to
take us pub-crawling tomorrow night so we willingly extended our
stay. Flo is staying overnight and tomorrow we are having dinner
[lunch] at 35 Friary and then are being driven to wherever we’d
like to go in the countryside.
I
wish I could say in words how wonderful and interesting these people
are. Everyone is equal, no-one is a show-off, and everyone loves to
laugh. We Americans, especially me, could learn so much from them.
But perhaps it’s some quality that can’t be explained and I
shouldn’t even try.
August
13, 1966
We
lunched yesterday at one o’clock with Mrs. Brennan, Flo, and Bridey
Dunne. We had just had our usual big breakfast 3 hours before and
were afraid we’d have no appetite, but the food was good and we
stuffed ourselves on cod, boiled potatoes with a white gravy, peas,
and a delicious dessert made up of custard drowned in canned pear
juice and topped with a couple halves of canned pears.
Then
we set off in Flo’s Fiat to visit ruins in the countryside. Our
first stop was at an ancient Cistercian Abbey. The sun was so warm,
the grass so thick and green, and the Abbey is a gorgeous place. I
don’t know much about architectural styles – if you say Georgian
to me I’ll know what you mean; if you say Gothic I’ll know what
you mean, but if you say anything else to me I probably won’t know
what you’re talking about. And I don’t know what this Abbey was
in architectural descriptions, but it was beautiful to me and I’m
hardly ever impressed by such things. The tower was still intact and
we climbed to the top via a narrow winding inside-stairs. Up there,
Flo, who stayed down, said we were little specks. The Abbey was
built around a courtyard and between this yard and the buildings was
this cathedral window pattern of what I surely shouldn’t call a
fence of archways. Whatever I should call it, the courtyard was
enclosed by these designs shaped like a cathedral window, perhaps ten
feet high, and four or five feet wide on the ground. The Cistercian
order, like the Trappists, have a vow to remain silent and maintain a minimum of
contact with the world outside their Abbey. This place is officially
called the Jerpoint Abbey; it was founded in 1158, and suppressed in
1541.
Then
we stopped at a pub along the road where Dennis and I had a half-pint
and Flo and her daughter Maeve had a form of apple cider. If you
order apple cider here you would be served an alcoholic drink, but
they had some other product based on apple cider. Later in the
evening Flo asked for a Bitter Lemon in a tavern – in the States
this would be an alcoholic drink; here it is not.
But
after our afternoon refreshments we went on to a place called
Burnchurch – the name of the ruins of a castle inhabited in the
13th
century by a family of Fitzgeralds; across the road were four or five
Fitzgeralds buried! But this place was not beautiful, just
interesting. Again Dennis and I went up narrow dark stairs to the
top – the passageways and nooks are fascinating. All that is left
of this castle though are two sections, both about 100 feet high, and
about thirty feet from each other.
After
returning to Kilkenny and having supper with Mrs. Brennan we went
with Rosemary and Bridey to a nearby town called Freshford where
Rosemary had to pick up some pork – her husband, Paschal, is a
victualer – a butcher – in Johnstown, another small town 18 miles
from Kilkenny. But the pork wasn’t ready so we headed back to
Kilkenny to collect Flo. One of Rosemary’s daughters, named
Jacqueline after President Kennedy’s wife, is a cute little six or
maybe just five year old – she knows she’s cute and is really a
flirt! I played games with her and one of these games was that I
would imitate her facial expressions and I was amazed at how much of
an actress she is. I told Rosemary that she’d become a great
actress, no doubt.
We
first went to a county bar where a girl was badly playing the piano;
then to a place on High Street called Jug of Punch, owned by the
Clancy Brothers, who are folk singers with some repute in America.
The songs were all Irish and very interesting because we’d heard
none of them before – for instance, there was one about last
Easter’s blowing up of Nelson’s pillar in Dublin. For 157 years
Nelson’s statue stood there to remind the Irish of the English
rule. So on the 50th
Anniversary of the end of the Irish rebellion the pillar was
mysteriously blown up at one in the morning. According to this folk
song, Nelson is Ireland’s contribution to the space race; he is
their astronaut!
Cashel
To
continue the above: The bars close at midnight; out on the street we
were all feeling good and Rosemary said we must all ride to Freshford
to pick up the pork; it was decided that Rosemary was too high to
drive, and as Flo was sober, she took the wheel. Rosemary, Dennis,
and I sat in the back; Bridey rode in front. Oh, how we sang! And
what we sang! It was so much fun. We tried to sing Irish folk
songs; we sang some pop tunes; we sang even “Bicycle Built for
Two.” Everyone was happy and in the bar we had all done the Irish
custom of entwining our arms and drinking to eternal friendship.
“Isn’t it lovely?” Flo had said. And it is. We collected the
pork and headed toward Kilkenny. At some point, Rosemary, whose
voice is good, was singing “Rose of Tralee.” Just before she was
to sing the last words a noise in the rear of the car had become a
loud bang-bang-bang. Suddenly the car swerved slightly; there was a
loud scraping on the pavement, and we came to a stop many feet down
the road. Throughout this Rosemary finished the last few bars of the
song. We all piled out. We had no rear wheel on the left side!
Flo
and I flagged down the first passing car. Everyone but Rosemary and
I ran up to this car, and the tire was found in the road. Rosemary
clung to me and said she was worried, she was afraid she’d spoiled
our holiday. I told her it was nothing of the kind, that we were
having the best time of our life. And we were!
The
car couldn’t be repaired on the spot so were lifted back to town by
the kind man. At 35 Friary Mrs. Brennan had had our tea ready for
two hours, as well as my favorite sandwich – cheese and tomato. It
was decided that Flo would drive Rosemary and her pork to Johnstown.
We loaded everything into the car, including Rosemary’s son in a
basket, and the car wouldn’t start! What luck! We pushed it and
got it started. It died and we pushed again. No luck this time. So
Rosemary and family and Flo and family would spend the night with
Mrs. Brennan. While pushing the car Dennis noticed a very funny
thing – the Irish are very strict Catholics, and invariably cross
themselves when passing a church. While pushing the car we went past
a friary and Bridey lifted her right arm from its task and crossed
herself. “Cross yourself, Rosemary!” Dennis said.
So
the three girls walked us home a short cut down back roads. We
laughed a lot; how much fun we had I haven’t time to record. At
our guesthouse we rang the bell, wondering if we’d get in the house at two a.m. No response. We rang again. In a moment Miss Coogan’s
voice came: “Who is there?” “Fitzgerald and Little,” I said.
And she let us in. Dennis told her our car had broken down but up
the street a short ways, watching to make sure we got in, were the
girls, and Miss Coogan heard their heels, peeked her head out the
door, and looked their way. She gave us a disgusted look; we’re
sure she doesn’t believe us!
In
bed at last I thought for a second that the room around me was going
to spin. It didn’t, and I didn’t hear the breakfast knock on our
door this morning. Fortunately Dennis did.
We
ate, paid Miss Coogan, and went to a shop and bought a selection of
fruit and a box of candy for Mrs. Brennan. At 35 Friary we were
right away served tea and again my favorite sandwich. Such
hospitality! We were beginning to feel part of the family! Rosemary
had already gotten a ride to Johnstown and Flo’s car was being
repaired. Bridey had not gone to work at all. My girlfriend
Jacqueline had stayed with her grandmother. Jacqueline is very
beautiful – blue eyes, dark, pixie hair, and the darlingest face
you can imagine.
Flo’s
car was returned. We said some of our goodbyes – to Mrs. Brennan,
Bridey, Jacqueline, and a couple of dogs and a couple of neighborhood
children who seemed to be hanging around the front to see the
Americans! Then off we went with Flo to Johnstown where Rosemary was
expecting us for lunch even if, she said, we didn’t arrive until
midnight.
Right
away Rosemary, a truly charming and vivacious and fun-loving girl,
opened beer for us. Her husband’s butcher shop is next door to her
house and he came in to meet us – his name is Paschal Tynan. Their
home is so cozy and secure to our minds. I can’t describe it, but
I will say that it looks like a home where love lives. Everyone seems happy and fun-loving.
Our
lunch was delicious, beefsteak, peas, and boiled potatoes. Dessert
was a combination of jello and cake, topped with ice cream. Farewell
time came too soon and I should die if I thought I’d never see
Rosemary again … and my girlfriend, Jacqueline. Incidentally,
Rosemary’s mother telephoned her while we were there; Rosemary
talked to Jacqueline and Jacqueline said, “I am lonesome for
George!”
We
went to the shop and said goodbye to Paschal. And then to Rosemary
and the girls. Rosemary gave me a little package which I’ve found
contains fifty Players cigarettes, the brand I’ve taken up as I’ve
run out of the Camels I bought on Icelandic Airlines.
Flo
brought us to Cashel, where there are exquisite ruins for us to
visit, some from the 9th
century. We said good-bye to her and her two little girls; she said
we must come again, and stay with her next time. I forgot to mention
that Flo earlier had given Dennis and me each a little doll dressed
in the native Irish costume.
I’m
so happy! These words are inadequate to convey to anyone my
happiness. I shall become sentimental and say that sometimes when
I’m riding through the green hills of Eire I actually feel that I’m
a little boy again and that all the world is mine. And while riding
I invariably feel sleepy and almost feel as if it is 1948 and we are
riding in our 1936 Chevrolet and because I am sleepy I can lean my
head on Dad and have a nap, while Tommy, an older brother, is driving.
It’s a strange and wonderful feeling to have at the age of 26!
And
somehow, sadly, we realize that the highlight of our journey is in
our past. All those wonderful moments in Kilkenny will never occur
again the way they did this time. We entered Kilkenny as strangers
on Wednesday; now it is Saturday and we love some people there. For
that is all we can say: we love the people who gave us so much
kindness and friendliness.
Now
Cashel. We checked at four bread & breakfast places and then
came back to the first one. A nice room in a place that has some
gorgeous furniture, although neither Dennis nor I is interested in
antiques, we both thought the twin chairs in the foyer were what we
call sharp. I cannot, of course, describe them. After putting our
packs in our room we went to a pub, had two beers, and now, at 11PM,
it’s time to go to sleep.
[Note in 2017: It amazes me that on what was one of the most memorable times of my life, I took no pictures, not of Flo, not of Rosemary, not of anyone. I don't know what I was thinking ... no film? ... having too much fun to think of needing a reminder of it? ... I just am kind of stunned that, for whatever reason, my camera went unused in Kilkenny. And just now, on Oct.14, 2017, I note that in my next entry, I bought a roll of film in Cashel, so presume I needed it in Kilkenny but just didn't get it bought.]
August 11, 1966
August 11, 1966
Outside
the town of Cashel, north, is a huge rock, upon which are well
preserved ruins of a cathedral, a palace, two towers, and Cormac’s
Chapel. We have just visited for nearly two hours and now are having
minerals on the terrace of a little shop. The sun is very bright –
I can hardly stand the glare of it on this white sheet.
 |
| Dennis on Rock of Cashel |
It’s
a fascinating place. We went to the top and the view is tremendous –
green hills on three sides and the village on the other. These old
places fascinate me – the all rock construction, the dark
passageways, the winding stairs, often very steep and very dark. I
can’t begin to record all the interesting points about the Rock of
Cashel – it would become a many-paged guide book. But I’ll
mention some highlights. In the North Transept of the Cathedral is a
stone about three feet high on which is carved an image of the
Goddess of fertility – this stone is placed on a ledge about
fifteen feet above the floor. She has an ugly face, huge breasts, a
swollen womb, and, as a symbol of virginity, the legs are grotesquely
twisted. This stone was discovered buried under the floor of the
Round Tower ninety years ago. It was customary to bury the evil
people face down, and that is how this stone was buried. Neither of
our guidebooks mentions this small statue and our knowledge of it
comes from a chemist in town where we’d bought film; he’d told us
where to find it and to be sure to see it.
Carmac
Chapel is a cute little building, beautifully constructed of stone.
Each stone on the inside has designs on it, and each design is
supposedly from a different craftsman. The architecture, a book
tells me, resembles the Romanesque of the Rhineland. One of the
stones inside in an inner doorway has carved on it an ugly
face—smiling and with huge protruding teeth.
When
Ireland had Kings, Cashel was the residence of some of them. It was
here that St. Patrick, in a.d. 450, baptized King Angus and received
the King and “all his people” into the Church.
Imagine
all this on a rock overlooking the town; it’s an impressive place
to see from near or from the south side of the village of Cashel.
Cork,
August 14, 1966
This
is the second-largest city in Ireland and I’m uncertain as to why
we’re here; we prefer visiting the small towns. We thumbed outside
Cashel for 45 minutes and then a car with two ladies and a young boy
lifted us all the way, some sixty miles, the longest lift we’ve
gotten. Compared to Dublin this is a clean and pleasant city; we
enjoyed walking around and window shopping.
Yesterday
three policemen in London were murdered and everyone has been alerted
to watch for and beware of a bearded man. Dennis still has his
beard; I shaved mine off on Tuesday. When we knocked at the door of
this last bed and breakfast place, the lady peeked at us through the
letter slot, and she connected us with the murder. But we told her
we were from the U.S.A. and she made us prove it by showing our
passports. When she saw my name was Fitzgerald she said her name was
also Fitzgerald and thus she could not turn us away.
We’re
going out now and sit in the pub as we did last Sunday night –
they’re open from five to nine p.m. on Sundays. The Irish national
drink, Guinness, is too bitter tasting but I like some of the light
beers.
Ballyvourney,
August 15, 1966
The
landlady in Cork had a great accent and I could understand only about
one word in ten. So the visiting she did this morning at breakfast
was mostly in vain. She was friendly enough, though, and after I
admired her Fitzgerald Coat of Arms that hung on the wall she gave me
a smaller one made of plastic. She brought her parakeet into the
room and it promptly flew out of its cage and lit on Dennis’s
shoulder and began saying its name – Jackie!
We
walked to the end of the city and promptly got a ride right to
Blarney Castle, five miles north. It’s quite an impressive
building, particularly from the front when much of the lower half is
hidden by large trees. Some of the walls are a fourteen foot
thickness of concrete! You go up winding enclosed cement stairs and
can stop on many landings and see in some of the rooms – a couple
of them were cute little bedrooms with the walls rounded up to a
point at the top. At the end of the stairs you come out onto the
open top of the castle and this is where we kissed the Blarney Stone
– an act that according to legend makes you gabby or gives you keen
abilities to persuade. Contrary to what you hear and contrary to
many guidebooks the kissing of the stone is not dangerous. You set
on your rear, lean back over an opening while an attendant hangs onto
you; you have your hands on two iron bars above the stone; then you
slide down and kiss the stone which is just above an opening in the
castle wall on the level below. But if you did slide you’d have
only a foot to fall and what with all the bars and so forth it’s
unlikely that anyone could fall. But a man who gave us a ride later
today said that 30 or 40 years ago a few people were killed –
evidently before the bars were installed.
We
had two minerals as the day was very hot; then we got another quick
lift back to the center of Cork. Then we walked to the opposite city
edge that we had walked to earlier and began thumbing. Our first
ride was only four miles. We then lay on a concrete abutment for an
hour reading our novels and then waiting for nearly an hour for our
next ride, which was by an Englishman on holiday – although he had
three of his children and a friend with him he was still kind enough
to let us pile in. We sat in the backseat, I on Dennis’s lap, next
to two very poised and interesting girls of about 22.
They
let us off here and we first planned to go on to Killarney, seventeen
miles further, but a lady in a grocery told us of this guest house
which charges only 15 shillings, so we decided to spend the night
here. We were served tea in the dining room, then walked to the
bridge over the creek off a side road where we read some more – it
was very beautiful scenery from the bridge, each way you looked there
were green mountains and then the water flowing over stones below us.
And as soon as you jumped off your seat on the bridge the noise of
the water flowing seemed instantly far away.
Killarney,
August 16, 1966
Within
a minute after we began thumbing this morning we were picked up by
two men and brought here. We had tea, and I had two cheese and
tomato sandwiches. We got a room and some of our tiredness caught up
with us – we lay on the bed for over an hour and washed out our
clothes before we left the room. Then we walked around the town and
had tea, bread, butter and jam, a double helping of it. Then we took
what is called a jaunting car – a horse pulling a buggy – on a
ride through Kenmore Estate – it was not worth the $1.40 each we
paid because we could easily have walked where it took us, but we did
have what is the most beautiful scene of anywhere I’ve ever been –
and that was a view of green mountains shrouded in fog and clouds
across Lough Lean. Then we came back to our room, slept for two more
hours, then went to two pubs. At the last one, as soon as the
bartender found out we were Americans, he insisted on playing a tape
of some bad voiced friend of his singing Irish songs – if we had
planned on a second drink there this would certainly have changed our
minds. That joker was too friendly for our taste. [In 2017 I don't know what I meant by that last comment!]
In
the morning, Tralee, only 20 miles north and a little west of here.
Tralee,
August 17, 1966
I
had often imagined that this would be a pretty little town surrounded
by beautiful green hills. But it has in fact a population of around
11,000 and there is not much quaintness about it – it looks as
progressive as any city I’ve seen in Ireland. And it is very clean
and there is much painting going on, apparently getting the town
ready for the Festival of Kerry, which is a celebration somehow
connected with the song “The Rose of Tralee” and which will
commence later this month. But the green hills are true and they are
beautiful, especially on a damp day like today when some of the hills
are hidden in mist and clouds.
We
waited slightly over two hours for our ride here, as the road was
peppered with hikers on this side of Killarney. We were lucky to get
a ride at all.
Our
room is nice and is 17/6, about as inexpensive as we’ve gotten
except for the 15 shilling room night before last. Right after we
deposited our packs in our room we went to the rectory of the main
Catholic Church where, we had been instructed, we should ask for Mr.
Joe Doyle, who would check on birth records for me. A maid answered
our knock and said that Mr. Doyle was not there but we should come in
and maybe someone else there could help us. We were ushered into a
small room off the hall that was furnished with only a round wooden
table and three chairs. In a moment a priest in his black cassock, who appeared to be about 40, came in and we stood up. He was very
kind, asking what we thought of Ireland and of the people. I gave
him information about the birth records of my father that I wanted
and he wrote notes on a piece of scrap paper and told us to come back
at 2 o’clock Friday and he’d have the information for us. He
said the church birth records go back to about 1770 and it would be
easy to find the name of Dad’s parents except that Fitzgerald is
such a common name here.
Then
we splurged on a dinner, but we’ve done so much economizing that we
can afford it. I paid $1.12 for a cheese omelette, a large serving of
chips, bread, butter, and tea.
But
worse than that extravagance I later paid 80-cents for a pack of
stale Lucky Strikes. I ran out of American cigarettes last Saturday
and have had nothing satisfactory since. I certainly can’t afford
another pack of 80-cents cigarettes so guess I’ll have to cut out
smoking. Even plain English cigarettes are 50-cents a pack, more or
less.
And
worse than the above two items, I went in a pub tonight and thinking
of having a Bloody Mary I ordered gin and tomato juice rather than
vodka. Dennis thought it was very funny. It tasted bloody awful and
I did not drink it. The lady looked at me rather funnily when I
ordered it but I never thought I’d make such a stupid mistake. I
knew well what a Bloody Mary is!
Limerick,
August 20, 1966
We
actually left Limerick some 15 minutes ago, are on a train heading
for Dublin. It is an uneven ride and too difficult to write so I’ll
continue reading Lions
and Shadows
by Christopher Isherwood.
Dun
Loaghaire, August 21, 1966
We
were in Tralee and on Thursday there it rained practically all day
and we did nothing worth noting unless it was our visit to Rathass
Church, a mile east of town. We saw the ruins of a 9th
century church, but there wasn’t much left to admire – only the
two ends standing, and a doorway in each of them. But it was possible
to imagine how it once was and it is interesting to wonder how they
built it and to notice the size which, considering the vastness of
some ruins we’ve seen, was very small. Surrounding the church, as
usual, is a cemetery, and we walked around it, noticing many
Fitzgeralds, and Dennis noticed the strange practice of recording
only the date of death on the marker, and, since part of the fun of
walking through a cemetery is to see how old such and such a person
was, it isn’t nearly so interesting; the date of birth seems more
important to me.
On
Friday morning we visited St. John’s church in Tralee, a building
109 years old which recently has been renovated. It is, on the
interior, the most beautiful church I’ve ever been in. The colors
are light and the place is huge. The altar is about three quarters
of the length up from the vestibule and is canopied, giving it the
effect of theater-in-the-round.
At
2 o’clock we knocked on the rectory door and were again led into
the sparse room; within a minute Father McCarthy came in – a very
friendly man, and so kind; I was very impressed by his character and
so was Dennis. An examination of five years of birth records around
the time of Dad’s birth had revealed seven Thomas Fitzgeralds. And
the only one near May 20th
in 1878 was born on 17 December, the son of John Fitzgerald and
Catherine (Slattery), who lived at Lisbusa, a place in the country
near Tralee. So it is likely that Dad was from the countryside
around Tralee and was registered in the records of a parish nearby.
Father McCarthy took us into the sacristy and showed us the birth
records – huge ledgers with fancy penmanship. He said that if I
want to investigate further that he’d be glad to assist, and that I
should write directly to him. If only the priest at our church in
Warsaw, the awful Father Reddington, were like Father McCarthy.
 |
| St. John's Church; Tralee; 1966 |
We
left Tralee at six p.m. and two rides got us no further than
Castleisland, only twelve miles away. We stood outside this town
until dark, at which time we walked into town and got a room above a
pub. The pub owner’s son talked with us for about an hour – he
was very smart, has been to England “a dozen times” and, of
course, all the things he said about life in London interested us,
since we’re going to be living there soon.
In
the morning, after the best breakfast we’ve had – we even ate the
fried tomatoes – we stood in the rain for an hour and a half and
finally got a ride to Limerick with a couple who were here on holiday
from Glasgow, Scotland. They were very nice, as almost everyone
we’ve met has been; he is a professor of mathematics at a
university in Glasgow.
At
Limerick we got thoroughly drenched standing along the road and after
two hours we gave up and took the 3:30 train to Dublin.
---
[I didn’t continue my diary after Dennis and I went to London, where we found a flat in Kilburn and stayed through until close to the end of October. I gave my written diary to my mother. She wrote on the last page of it:
February 10, 1984 – This letter from Amsterdam was written following a subsequent visit by George to Ireland and he continues his story of his pen pal Flo Brennan and tells of the death of Flo’s sister Rosemary, so I thought I should add it to his story. I really wish he’d continued it (the diary). (Signed) Iris Fitzgerald.
When
I found my diary in her home after her death, I saw that she’d
tucked in an Oct. 28, 1977, letter I’d written to her from
Amsterdam, reporting that my brother Gerald and I had been in Ireland
and found our Dad’s birthplace:
Dear
Mother – Gerald and I had a very nice and interesting time in
London and Ireland, including seeing the remains of the house Dad was
born in! We spent only two days in London, taking in the sights,
then on train and boat to Dublin. There at the official records
place we got Dad’s birth certificate, but he was born on May 20,
1878, rather than in 1879, as I’d written down. He was the son of
Francis Fitzgerald and Mary Bunyan, born in a small town called
Castlegregory, about 15 miles west of Tralee on a quite mountainous
peninsula. Francis Fitzgerald was a farmer. So we rented a car and
drove first to Kilkenny to visit my pen pal Flo. Went to her
mother’s house and was shocked and saddened to learn that Flo’s
sister Rosemary died four years ago, age 37, of cancer. I liked
Rosemary so much, you can read in my 1966 diary what a good time
Dennis Little and I had with her. But Flo came into town for the
evening with the two oldest of her children, which were all she had
in 1966, but now has 8 more, including a set of twin boys! Her
husband is a dairy farmer. Flo does just fine with her big family,
despite, as she put it, having 200 fingers, 20 ears, 10 faces, and so
forth to wash on bath day! Her oldest child is 14 or so. We went to
a bar for drinks and had a nice reunion. Then Gerald and I drove to
Castlegregory. We were very lucky and almost immediately met a
couple in their fifties who as things turned out both would be our
distant cousins. They were Michael and Eileen Killiher. She was a
Fitzgerald and her mother was also so they themselves were 3rd
or 4th
cousins to each other. Michael remembered his dad talking about our
dad and dad’s mother, Mary Bunyan. Dad was very young and was
nicknamed Crumper because he had bad feet – Crumper being a Gaelic
word for someone who has bad feet! Dad had older brothers &
sisters who all went to America. Then his father was killed as a
result of an accident, either falling off a hay wagon or loading
things onto a train. He leg was injured and gangrene set in. So
after he died Dad’s oldest brother, Frank, came from the states and
took Mary Bunyan (his mother) and her son, our Dad, to America to be near her other children.
I Loved this, George. I can imagine my mother saying " Isn't it lovely!" The craic was mighty, I'm sure!
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