Ireland

Dan and I just got back from 3 wonderful days in County Kerry, Ireland. This part of Ireland blows Dublin out of the water, in my opinion. While Killarney itself isn't that spectacular (just lots of pubs and gift shops), it is the perfect home base for exploring the surrounding areas which are BEAUTIFUL. It is literally a ten-minute drive to the National Park or the Gap of Dunloe and the bus tours for the Ring of Kerry leave from the center of town.

We flew over late Thursday night and immediately encountered our first hiccup of the trip - the rental car given to us at the airport was a stick shift. I had forgotten to specify that we needed an automatic. Oops! Luckily, they were able to swap cars for us pretty quickly and so at about 11:30pm we headed to our B&B which was only 15 minutes away in Bunratty. Friday morning we had an early breakfast (with yummy brown bread) and then made the 2-hour drive down to Killarney, desperately trying to find a good radio station the whole way. After dropping a bag at our B&B (5 minutes outside Killarney town), we drove to Muckross House & Gardens to explore the estate and neighboring Killarney National Park. We ended up walking through the park and around the lakes for 2 or 3 hours and found a nice waterfall to visit as well. After all that walking, we decided to take a much-needed rest and grab some lunch in the House's cafe. Next we headed into the center of Killarney to explore the High Street and try to figure out which pubs would be hosting traditional Irish music sessions later in the evening. The gift shops were pretty crazy - I've never seen sheep on so many things before in my life. Sheep salt and pepper shakers, sheep soft-boiled egg cups, sheep backpacks, sheep dish towels... At our first pub in Killarney Dan tried a Guinness (which is definitely better in Ireland) and I tried an Irish cider - not bad, actually. We had a great dinner at a quaint restaurant in the middle of town. The seafood tasted so fresh! At 9pm, we headed to a pub called "Crock O' Gold" to listen to some live Irish music.

Saturday morning a small bus picked us up for a tour around the Ring of Kerry. We got great seats since we were the first pick-up of the day. We sat right behind our driver, Mike, who was very friendly and informative. The tour went from 10:30am til about 4:00pm with several stops for picture-taking along the way. It's crazy how reliant on tourism this area is. There were several other Americans on the bus, and Mike pointed out that Americans in particular love the Ring of Kerry - apparently it's the biggest attraction in Ireland outside of Dublin. We had a great time taking photos, walking around, and chatting with the driver. I tried not to laugh as he looked at us with desperation through the rear view mirror when one tourist started asking him rapid-fire questions like, "Do the birds fly south for the winter here? Do you have bats here? What type of bush is that there?" Oh, and we totally lucked out with the weather! Mike said that the previous Saturday was awful - that the tour was much shorter because the views were all hidden behind clouds and fog. Apparently it had been raining every day for the past week. But this day there wasn't a drop of rain and we were able to take in some amazing views of Dingle Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. After the tour, the bus dropped us off right outside an outlet centre in Killarney so we stopped in for a quick look and then carried on down the High Street. It was fun looking in all the gift shops and sweater shops. After a few more pints of Guinness in various pubs, we decided to head back to our B&B for a good night's rest.

Sunday morning we drove about ten minutes to Kate Kearney's cottage, which is the entry point for the hike/pony ride/jaunting car ride through the Gap of Dunloe. The Gap of Dunloe allows you to walk through beautiful mountains and affords breathtaking views. (Photos do not do it justice.) This was my favorite part of our trip - just walking with Dan through the quiet of nature. We started walking at about 10:30am and decided to start turning back at around 12:45pm, since we had to drive back to the airport that afternoon. Just as we were about to turn around, a hiker came by from the other direction asking us for the time since he'd just lost his watch somewhere on the path. We ended up chatting with Peter the whole trek back, which was a great distraction from our tired feet. We learned that he spends a week in Killarney every three months and is an old pro at walking the Gap of Dunloe. He is from London so he gave us some tips about visiting London and we gave him tips about visiting New York City. It only took us an hour and a half to get to Kate Kearney's Cottage since a lot of it was downhill going back. Peter had planned to walk another mile or so out to a main road so he could find a bus back to town. Recognizing that he'd clearly done enough walking for the day, we gave him a ride back into town.

Our flight left on time and we were back at London Gatwick by 9pm. Unfortunately we still had to drive an hour and a half back to Winchester. The British apparently have not discovered street lamps yet, because a good part of the trip back from Gatwick requires driving on the highway in the dark. Not good. It was definitely a long day but our memories of the Gap of Dunloe, along with some coffee, kept us going.

The next day (Monday) we were still exhausted from our travels but decided to keep the dinner reservations we had made in celebration of our one-year wedding anniversary. Dan brought me home some beautiful red roses and we had to get a bit creative since we don't have any vases! We ended up putting them in our French press! So funny. Anyway, we pre-gamed with the bottle of champagne we'd put aside for our special day, and then headed downstairs for a very nice dinner at the French restaurant in front of our flat. The food was pretty good and Dan was a sport about trying Flaming Baked Alaska with me for dessert.

Dan and I will be spending next Saturday and Sunday in Edinburgh but this time we are flying out of Southampton Airport, only a half hour away. Yippee!

I have my first choir practice tonight and Italian classes start in two weeks.

Love,
Carolyn and Dan