A couple of years ago, Carole and I took a Tauck Tour to Ireland.  As it was wrapping up, I wrote a poem regarding the adventure.  There are a couple of things you need to know so that the poem makes sense.  Mary, our guide, spelled out the name of every town, castle, hill, lake – you name it, she spelled it.  Things we were not interested in, she would slowly spell.  It was the groups inside joke.

The second inside joke addresses the Dublin Castle.  We had a special Saturday tour set up, but no one showed up to let us  in.  So, we spent about an hour and a half waiting in the “courtyard” of the Dublin Castle.


The Really Really Best of Ireland

With Mary as our guide, and Gerry with the van,
We set out with vigor, to discover Ireland.
(That’s spelled IRELAND, which comes from Eire, which means a mystic goddess)
We’re heading North, we’re out the door,
We’re right on the way to the Cliffs of Moher.
Sleeping at Ashford Castle – not too shabby,
But, we didn’t see the schoolgirls at Kylemore Abbey.

Then it’s on to Sligo and Donegal Bay,
Stopped at Drumcliffe and Yeats by the way.
Poets are strange and I’ll tell you why,
They write weird things, like “horseman pass by.”

Then it’s on to Dublin, Ireland’s fair city,
Yes, saw Molly Malone and she looked so pretty.
With traveling and touring, it was a heck of a day,
But we finished it off in an Irish cabaret.

We saw Trinity College and the Book of Kells,
Dubliners partying and two AM yells.
St. Patrick’s Cathedral, that was no hassle,
And we saw the courtyard of the Dublin Castle!

Hotels became spectacular, of that there is no doubt,
Mt. Juliet, Hayfield Manor, places of which to shout.
Waterford crystal – money will not be saved,
But, somewhere on each piece, there’s space to have engraved.

So we kissed the Blarney Stone, and drove the Ring of Kerry,
We shot down treacherous mountain roads,
Mary and Gerry – – did not tarry.

We arrived at Dromoland Castle,
Our tour is coming to an end.
Thirty-nine people from all over the States,
And, each has become a friend.

So we give our thanks to Mary,
But, there’s no need to shed a tear.
We’ll get out our catalog from Tauck,
And, we’ll do it again next year.