Ireland, Day 3 Cont'd - Bantry/ Schull & the Black Sheep

We ended up getting to Bantry in plenty of time to do the check-in and change thing, as well as meet up with a few friends from NYC in the hotel's residence bar for a spot of dinner, before the buses were to depart for Schull. Since there was a time crunch Sarah didn't take even one photo of the hotel, the view, the room... shocking, really, when you think about it. So all the pictures here were taken after we arrived in Schull.

A few notes to remember:
1. The groom in the wedding is the co-owner of our local NYC pub is from Schull. Our local was named after the pub he worked in back home. Although that Courtyard was having a different private party this night, we were still headed to a big hometown celebration for Pat & Julia.

2. A hotel's residence bar never really closes all night. The night staff working at the desk is also responsible for making sure that ANY HOTEL GUEST who would like to have a drink gets served in the residents' bar. Seriously, this is the most wondrous concept - and when you think about it, an extremely dangerous precedent to set...That being said...

At the appointed time we all shuffled outside to board our buses for the 30 minute ride to Schull. The first thing we should explain is that "bus" in this case refers to more of a shuttle-bus by American standards. Twenty-some odd people, no bathroom, light on the shocks.

Did I mention we'd already been to the hotel bar? Beer and cider flowing... if you know David at all, you know that in spite of the fact that he'd hit the loo before we got on the bus, 5 minutes into the ride he was desperate to stop. No matter how much he didn't want to be known for stopping the bus, and that deep down he knew he could probably make it, he finally couldn't take it, and asked for the driver to pull over. Amid shouts & collective assurances that we were only 5 minutes from the bar, David hopped off and ran to the closest pub.

Sure enough, about 5 minutes after he joined the rest of us (jeering him) on the bus, we stopped in front of The Black Sheep - our destination.

We admit, much of this night has been lost to the fuzziness of inebriation and time past, but a genuinely good time was had by all. We can report the following:

• As you can see from the photos, while you can no longer smoke inside an Irish pub, you can take your drinks to the street to have a smoke! By the end of the night, it looked like a block party up and down the main road where The Black Sheep is located, what with so many pubs' patrons milling about.

• There was a gent singing & playing guitar at The Black Sheep. Eventually, there was a little karaoke-type thing going on... which Steve gladly got photos of our friend Elizabeth & Sarah participating in! (thanks Steve!)

• On the bus-ride back to Bantry, there was a little "incident" - causing far too much sobriety to be injected into the festivities.
  

• Due ward off said sobriety, many of us (Sarah & David of course included) adjured to the aforementioned Residents' Bar to raise our glasses, our blood-alcohol level, and a bit of the staff's ire before heading to our beds for a much needed sleep.
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