Day 15: John, John and Paul

On the evening prior to our departure from Rossmore Manor, we had a thrilling sunset at 10:40pm..and the nightfall continued past 11pm...amazing...
Importantly, in the morning of our departure, we captured some of the eclectic Rossmore Manor knick knacks in side by side photos...so we can remember when we are out shopping, that just 1 more is not really necessary...

Now the first John of our day's Title...at Hanna Hats! On the entire "concept" map of Ireland, where Jim Jordan gave us ideas on what to see and what was worth doing in various regions around Ireland, he made special note to declare,"You MUST go to Hanna Hats in Donegal". Hanna Hats was the only MUST do on the entire trip, according to Jim. Well first finding it was quite the adventure. Jim mentioned it was behind the old church in town. And yes that's true, but it was actually off a side road behind the church, and then you had to take an alley off the side road, and then tucked into a driveway off the alley off the side ride...if you didn't blink at 4 kph, you would barely catch the sign...but oh what a joy it was, on our 4th circling of the town, to see the sign even if they were closed for the day. Wouldn't you know as I asked our hosts at the Rossmore Manor if they knew when Hanna Hats would be open, they said 1st...they will not be open until Monday morning at 8am and 2nd...did you notice the gentleman that was having dinner with us last night...his name was John Hanna! So with great joy, and hopes of a little discount perhaps for knowing his friends, we set off for Hanna hats on our departure from Donegal town. When we arrived, John was actually there, and he was giving an impromptu tour to 32 folks from Chicago. (This was a 75th birthday gift that a grandma gave to herself, to host her entire family, including the 20 grandchildren, on a 9 day tour of Ireland.) When I spoke to him, I had to show John the map where Jim had written MUST next to Hanna Hats. He was thrilled and actually signed the map with a nice note to Jim..which I will bring back and offer to Jim, along with his gift hat, upon our return.

The tiny (or as they say in Ireland...wee) little hat factory was actually quite amazing...and John's willingness to refit and iron and mold hats to your exact head was a treat. You be the judge when we come back with two or tree of them.

The most important lesson we learned from John Hanna was that "caps are for fashion, and hats are for conversations". Come into a room with a sweet looking cap, perfectly fitted, and the crowd will say, wow that looks great. But come into the same room with a perfectly fitted Irish Walking Hat and folks will ask, where did you get that? And then the conversation is off and running... Classic story was told of how the Hanna Hats become world famous in the 60s and 70s , worn by nearly every Irish American. Daniel Patrick Moynihan was wearing a Hanna Hat when having a conversation with another politician in New York who was also wearing a Hanna hat. When the other politician was heading to the bar to order a drink, he left his hat at the table next to him. Moynihan quickly said, "You never leave your Hanna Hat unattended...it will walk away!" And with that, the name Irish Walking Hat was coined..and within months every single somebody who was anybody on the East Coast was wearing one. We bought one for Danny!

On our way to our next stop, Castle Leslie, we were actually wondering if we peaked too early. If we have such amazing times, weather, music, food etc., that we couldn't appreciate any more. And then the castle! But prior to the castle, we must say that Ann was able to do some excellent genealogical research on her great grandfather, John Turner at both the American Folk Library and the Library in Omagh. This is the 2nd John in today's title. It was exciting to see how close she was able to get in narrowing down exactly which Parish, which town etc. that he may have been buried in, and this after finding records of his return from Philadelphia to County Tyrone, in the southernmost part of Northern Ireland. Now armed with websites and more detail, she may be able to answer all the questions about this part of her heritage!

While Ann was in the library researching with Peggy, Jon and I were patiently waiting, as husbands always do, and I got on a library computer to research Castle Leslie where we were heading next. When a librarian overheard me mention the name, she gasped a bit and said, isn't that where Paul McCartney got married to Heather Mills in 2002? She was right! This brings us to the Paul name in today's blog title. Here are some wonderful pictures of our entry in to the castle: Jon and Ann's room...the Green Room

The front view:

The main stairwell:

The back side (oops, can you say that about a castle?)

The dining hall for large receptions:

And the starter that I had...confit and truffle pate:

Peggy's starter, lobster and langoustine tortellini with a seafood foam: By the way, although the food looks excellent, the meal was actually a bit expensive, and as Peggy proclaimed..uneven in service and quality...

The intermezzo sorbet of pear and apple:

The filet mignon with beef cheek and potato mash:

Pan fried Stone Bass:

We have decided to eat in town tonight, but when we blog about today, tomorrow, we will tell you about yesterday, which is today now but will be yesterday tomorrow, and explain the joys of the breakfast and tea service we are experiencing now...today..which will be yesterday when you read this tomorrow! We slept great on day 15!