Kilkenny, Kensale and a bit of Kenmare

After landing in Dublin and walking across the tarmac to the terminal in light snow, we made our way to the car hire via shuttle. After a very friendly exchange with a very helpful Hertz employee, we got ready to jump into our VW Golf. The car was, aside from various beds and breakfasts, going to be our home for the next two weeks. Promptly, I opened the passenger side door to get ready to start our journey only to find that the steering wheel had been moved. After nearly exiting the parking lot using the wrong lane, we left the airport and headed south on the M50 towards Kilkenny.

As I acclimated to life on the other side of the road, Beth played the role of our navigator, directing us from country road to turnabout to country road as I threaded the needle over one-lane bridges and hung my tires off the edge of the asphalt on many an occasion. I'm much better adapted to it now, and feel a fair bit more confident after our initial trek to Kilkenny, where we were involved in two near-misses due to my tendency to look left rather than right when turning. I even earned a stern finger wag from an elderly local driver after I failed to give her the patch of road she was entitled to.

The weather has been cooler than we expected it would be. Along one stops along our way to Kilkenny, we witnessed a sunny day give way to a hail/snow storm, then back again. Twice. All in the course of about 30 minutes.

In Kilkenny, we settled in and headed out for dinner and a pint or two at Kyteler's Inn on Kieran Street in our attempts to stay up as late as possible to overcome our severe jet lag. As I drank the freshest pint of Guinness I have ever had in my entire life, I listened as a local talked down the local brew, explaining to me that the Irish Guinness would give me gas. He told me this while drinking a pint of Coors Light over ice (seriously, he emptied his bottle of Colorado Kool Aid into a pint glass full of ice). I like to think that I make an effort to understand and appreciate local trends and "customs," but this is something that I will probably never get.

After a night in Kilkenny, we meandered down to Kensale for two nights in the sleepy harbor town. There we discovered that Mondays and Tuesdays in the pubs are primarily reserved for the hardest of the hard-core patrons. We persevered, however, and were treated to an interesting glimpse of the local "culture" over a pint or three of our new favorite ales and ciders. For me, it's Smithwick's (or "smithicks") Ale. For Beth, it's a glass the Bulmers cider (known as Magners outside of Ireland so as not to be confused with British cider of the same name).

Given our experiences so far, the Irish have been most gracious and accommodating. Just about everyone has a nod or a quick "hello" for you as you pass them on the street. Even the initially cold will warm up with a little as a word or two, leading to a chat with a feeling of familiarity akin to one between old friends.

I've got to wrap this up as we'll be checking into our room in Kenmare shortly. From here we'll be heading up the western coast, stopping over for a few days in Dingle as we explore a good portion of County Kerry. Expect more in a few days!

Oh yeah, we've got some great pictures to share, but luck isn't with us at the moment. Expect an update when we find a computer willing to talk with my camera.

On Lenahan

Irish ears tend to perk up when they hear our last name. Our tour guide in Kensale called it a "fine Irish surname," and the proprietor of our B&B there mentioned that she knew of a few Lenihans in and around County Cork. According to her, our spelling of the name is uncommon, and that it's far more common to see it spelled "Lenihan" or "Lenehan." The differentiations, she said, are likely due to the aglicization of the Gaelic spelling, which can vary. She also mentioned that Irish names are sometimes changed by officials as Irish immigrants pass through Ellis Isle.

Here's the entry for Lenehan in an Irish surname book she had handy:

"Lenehan is the algicised version of the Irish O'Leannachain, possibly from leannach, meaning 'sorrowful.' It appears to have arisen separately in two localities, in Co. Roscommon in the west, and in the south in the Limerick/Tipperary region. Bearers of the surname are found in both areas today, but it is most common in the south. The most prominent contemporaries of the name are Brian Lenihan (b. 1924) and his younger sister Mrs. Mary O'Rourke, of the Roscommon family, who both served in a variety of ministerial positions in the Irish government from the 1970s to the 1990s."

So there you have it.