Limerick City

Let's be honest - if you're planning on visiting Ireland, you don't particularly want to stay in Limerick. It's main points of interest are the river Shannon, King John's Castle, the Georgian quarter, St. Mary's Cathedral, the Hunt Museum... and that's about it. It's centrally located, but not very picturesque. However, we set out one night (on a festival night where every major monument was free) to discover the best and brightest of Limerick!

Sorry about the pictures not being in order, but I'm having issues with downloading pics onto the blog in order, so I'll just go through them as they appear. First, above, preparing Spencer for dinner on a spit in the courtyard of the medieval St. John's Castle. Mmmm.

Below, the castle is on a strategically important location on the river Shannon, and layers upon layers of civilization are to be found built one upon another. This excavation work shows some of the earlier settlements from about 800 AD; most of the rest of the castle was built around 1200 AD.


Look, the whole family in one picture! Glad captured the moment!
Sophie in the stocks.
The ancient city wall of Limerick, which circles, in crumbling bits and pieces, most of the medieval quarter of Limerick. I love studying the stones, and thinking of the hands which put them there so long ago. Those stones have seen a lot - Maggie was a little traumatized by one of the films they show in the visitor's center portraying the violence of the 17th century wars and sieges. It was a bit brutal; life here has not always been very pretty, between constant Anglo-Irish battles, internal clan spats, the unspeakable ignorance and cruelty of the Middle Ages, and through the civil wars of the 20th century. Luckily I think most of it went over Spence and Sophie's heads.
Spence hunts down the cannon everywhere we go - he loves the big guns!
This is one of the loveliest views of the city, taken from the bridge on William Street. The castle is down on the left, and St. Mary's cathedral (the oldest in the area) are the spires to the right. Wild swans live on the river; once Spence and I were sitting on some stairs leading down to a dock eating some chips (fries). We'd been there for about 30 seconds when suddenly, from all corners of the river, about 30 gorgeous white swans started swimming towards us. It was truly a magnificent spectacle, so we stayed as long as I dared. But I've been bit by the vicious white birds before, so we hightailed it out of there before they had a chance to do serious battle for our snack.
Back to St. John's castle, in the battlements (and gangsta Maggie). Lovely views of the city. We also went to the Hunt Museum that night; it houses the personal collection of a wealthy family who had spent fortunes gathering relics from all historical periods. We saw a Greek statue 4000 years old (wow!), gorgeous medieval jewelry including a "beloved" ring (made with gems that begin with each of those letters), collections of miniatures of generations of aristocracy (very Pride and Prejudice), rusted swords from the dark ages, Greek pottery, ancient Irish cloak clasps, works by Renoir and Picasso, and all kinds of similar goodies. Then we stumbled into the kids craft area where the girls made paper crowns and Spencer decorated a paper sword and shield. Great night.