A limerick for Limerick

Now that we've made it to Limerick 

We're not quite so sure about this pick

Out on the streets there are no people

Not even by the church and steeple

Still, I hope this trip doesn't go too quick!

Ok so I may need a bit of work with my Limerick skills but who could resist!

We were pretty skeptical about this stop on the trip because in spite of being the third largest city in Ireland Limerick was nowhere to be found in our Rick Steve's  guide book. 

On our train ride we met a nice gentleman - older and we think autistic - who was full of wonderful facts and information about all the cities we'll be visiting. He even woke us up to make sure we didn't miss our stop. 

When we arrived in Limerick outside the train station was cute and we were told  that it was about a 10 minute walk to our hotel.  So, off we went. Within a few blocks It reminded us both, almost instantly of our time in Ketchikan, AK. Those of you who have heard some of the stories about that know what I mean. An odd little town with a combo of lovely and adorable paired with rundown and gritty all covered with a bit of confusing.

Only serving to reinforce this feeling, we shortly see a poster informing us that Limerick has been awarded the City of Culture 2014 Award for Ireland. This was made hilarious and strange by the fact that the banner was hung on a run down building with some panels missing. You would think they'd hang it in a more strategic place.

In the evening, armed with a list of potential "hot spots" from our hotel front desk we went out to find a good time.  We did find a delicious dinner at a pub close to us. However, after that we wandered to check out some of the other spots and found eerily quiet streets and anything that was open had barely anyone in there. Odd to put it mildly. 

There is a castle and a cathedral in town but we decided to book a day trip out to the Cliffs of Moher and they we're absolutely incredible!  We were slightly worried about the trip to start with but it far surpassed our expectations. That is actually putting it mildly in my opinion. It was an all day bus tour around County Clare and the areas surrounding the Cliffs as well  it was great to get out of the city and into the countryside. 

For my family, we passed right by Dromoland!  The tour guide even talked about it!

We're taking a break now and eating a grocery store dinner in our hotel room.  Haven't even mentioned yet our hotel yet. This hotel is a bizarre super modern hotel in the medieval part of the town, feels like an airport hotel but nowhere near an airport.

Still deciding what to do tonight, the town is having a 4th of July celebration but that just seems wrong...