VISIT TO IRELAND---Jun 8: Fly to Shannon, Continental Airlines. * * * Jun 9-10: Glin Castle, home of the Knight of Glin, Desmond Fitzgerald, Pres of Irish Georgian Society. Life in a castle, as you always dreamed, with stadium-sized rooms, a multitude of servants, and a genial, knowledgeable, funny knight as your host. Mushrooms and sausages at breakfast were scrumptious. Highlights: champagne in the drawing room, open fires in the downstairs rooms, ancestral portraits in the entrance hall and the dining room, beautiful flying stairway to the second floor. Visit a crannog (a lake dwelling), a tower and a replica of St Brendan's boat on which he sailed to America (so the Irish say). We heard a graduate student say that there were no Celts. Visit to Mt Ievers Court, a beautiful Queen Anne house recently restored by the Georgian Society. Great commentary by the Knight on bus. Marian's lecture 1: From mythic beginnings to the land of saints and scholars. * * * Jun 11: Lunch in a country inn (Molly D'Arceys) where we saw the Irish anxiously viewing their team playing Saudi Arabia in the World Cup. Visit Ross castle in Killarney, 15th century castle. Stay in the Park Hotel Kenmare. Visit a prehistoric circle of 15 stones. * * * Jun 12: Beautiful gardens on Garinish Island in Bantry Bay, created by Annan Bryce in the early 20th century. Lunch at Ballylickey Manor Hotel.  Bantry House, an elegant but somewhat rundown stately home with 18th century furniture, tapestries, and art objects. Beautiful view over Bantry Bay. Marian met the retiring owner. Marian lectures on 18th century classicism. * * * Jun 13: Honan Chapel in Cork. Beautiful stained glass by Harry Clarke. Visit the Crawford Art Gallery. Stay at Mt Juliet Estate in Thomastown in the 18th century Manor House. On the edge of a great golf course. On the other side a stud farm. * * * Jun 14: Rock of Cashel. Formidable fortress and church on a huge boulder. Ruins of the ancient capitol of the kings of Munster. Tea at the Cashel Palace Hotel. Marian lectures on the Celtic revival in late 19th and 20th century Art and Literature. * * * Jun 15. Kilkenney, the Kilkenny Castle and the Kilkenny Design Center. Fine Irish crafts. Visit monastic ruin of Jerpoint Abbey, founded in 1172, rebuilt in the 19th century and one of the most interesting and beautiful ruins of the middle ages. Beautiful figure sculptures in the cloister. Marian lectures on 20th century revolutions in art and literature. * * * Jun 16: Stop at Glendalough, an important early Christian site. A beautiful lake with a cave said to belong to St Kevin, a sixth century monk. A beautiful 10th century round tower, an ancient church and a pub where we watched Ireland play Spain. A visit to Russborough House a Palladian mansion owned by Lady Beit, with a great collection of paintings, many of which hang in the National Gallery in Dublin. The Beit collection was robbed three times. Two paintings were taken last year. Finish up the day in the lap of luxury in the Merrion Hotel in Dublin. (Two Jack Yates paintings in the entrance hall). The best private collection of Irish art in Ireland. A good internet connection. The hotel spreads across four Georgian houses on Merrion Square. * * * Jun 17: Lecture by Peter Harbison from the Royal Irish Academy on Irish art thru the centuries. Visit the Provost's House at Trinity. Talk by Prof Edward McParland. See the Book of Kells in the library. Lecture by Sheila Lynch curator of irish art at the National Gallery. Saw the Detroit Show there. Loved the Hudson River paintings. Dinner with Desmond Guinness at Leixlip Castle, a very cosy, homey castle filled with art objects. Desmond was the son of Diana Mitford. * * * Jun 18: Newgrange, a passage site dating from 3000 BC. The stone surround partially restored by limestone in the past 20 years, making it look new. Set up to allow the morning light to illuminate the cave on the winter solstice. Tour of the National Museum. Plenty of finds from the gold hoards and the bogs. Private reception by the mayor at Mansion House. * * * Jun 19: Tour of paintings at the Merrion Hotel by Sheila. Visit Malahide Castle, home of the Talbot family for nearly 800 years. The family lost 14 of its men at the Battle of the Boyne, which sealed British rule in Ireland for two hundred years. In the dining room hangs an enormous painting of the Battle of the Boyne. Tour of the Hugh Lane Gallery of Modern art (Marian's old gallery in Parnell Square, where I met her). Cocktails with Barbara Dawson, the director. See Pride and Prejudice at the Gate Theatre. Good acting, but too familiar dialog and plot. * * * Jun 20: Visit the private collection of modern Irish art  at the home of Patrick Murphy at Woodlawn House. Early 19th century house with the smell of fresh paint in the air. Extensive collection of Irish art, from classic to contemporary. Paintings everywhere, including the bathroom. Farewell dinner at the Wellington Room of the Merrion. * * * Jun 21: Transfer to Kay Patton in her house off the Malahide Road in Athlane. The customary warm greetings and hospitality.