Side view of Muckross House

Jaunting Car going down the lane

Front of Muckross House

Killarney National Park

On Wednesday we checked out of our hotel and headed over to Muckross House.  This is a huge mansion that at one time Queen Victoria visited for 2 days.  Apparently the owners at the time were given 6 years to prepare for the visit and the preparation bankrupted them.  Beautiful and stately the house is now owned by the Irish Government as the estate was donated after the American wife died.  Gorgeous gardens and views are in every direction.  We spent several hours here wandering the estate and taking pics.  The house is now part of Killarney National Park.  Jaunting cars can be hired to take you to town around the lake,  etc.  These horse drawn carriages seem appropriate given the period of the house. 

Once we left the house we went further into the National Park and walked up to Torc Waterfall.  Again it was a beautiful day with no rain and partly sunny.  Dense vegetation and the high moisture combine to give the ferns and moss what they need to thrive.  After another 1000 photos we went back into town to head for our next hotel in Galway. 

Before we could get out of town, we decided to pop in at the local outlet mall.  I know that is shocking that we would go to such a place, but there was a local mill outlet that we wanted to see.  The mall was very small and not many stores were open.  You can tell the economy is struggling here, but the people are wonderful.  As we parked at the mall, Ed went to pay for the parking and a lady came over and asked me if we wanted her parking tag.  She said she only used 10 minutes of it.  That was very nice of her so we accepted.  Then as she drove by she stopped and said not to worry about the time on the ticket as once you had the ticket no one really cared how long you stayed.  Good information!

After our brief, again hard to believe, shopping expedition we headed for Galway.  We stopped in Adare along the way.  Here there are a row of thatched roof houses that are very picturesque.  We stopped at the TI, Tourist Information, and walked around a little.  I saw the thatching process on TV one time and it is quite amazing the work and skill involved. 

We finally made it to our hotel and then went out to dinner.  We stopped at a local seafood restaurant which was very good.  I have had rhubarb here a couple times for dessert.  The food was good and we walked around a little.  We saw the Galway Dog Store and will have to come back when they are open to get the girls a souvenir. 

Our hotel is not exactly downtown, but it has a very large room.  More later.

Ring of Kerry View

Sheep Dogs at Work

Beach by Chaplins house

View at lunch at Ring of Kerry

Even professionals hit the weeds

Ring of Kerry  view

I think we are being watched

Maybe the internet connection wasn't the only thing that was low last night?!  Yesterday while on our bus tour, we stopped along the way for a sheep herding demonstration.  No matter how often I see these demos, I am amazed at the dogs and their ability to follow commands.  Apparently tourists aren't the only ones that hit the bushes and weeds with their cars. While waiting to get back on the bus, I noticed grass in the left hubcap of the bus.  It isn't just Ed!

My internet connection is very slow and unresponsive, so no telling how much I will be able to upload tonight.  Ed and I went on a tour of the Ring of Kerry in a tour bus.  While Ed was happy he didn't have to drive down these very narrow roads today, the tour bus was a little warm which made us sleepy.  Plus the bus did not have a lot of room as it was not the size of a greyhound bus.  It was again unexpectedly good weather today which the locals say is unusual with no rain and warmer than average.  We drove around the peninsula counterclockwise and saw beautiful scenery, sheep, cows, and horses. 

We stopped multiple times around the peninsula and ate lunch at the top of a cliff overlooking the ocean.  It was gorgeous.  We didn't get back to our hotel until about 5 tonight.  Ed took a short nap and then we went searching for dinner.  We stopped and ate at a place called the Smokehouse.  Ed had a steak and I had sea bass.  Very good food, would recommend it.  We then walked around town some more and instead of going back the way we came, we ended up walking through a residential area that took us probably 2 miles out of our way.  Dark clouds were moving in and I was thinking we might get very wet, but it didn't rain until we got back to the hotel to pick up our slickers.  We then went out in search of a pub with Irish music.  One was very loud and crowded, so we went back out and listened for music as we walked.  Headed down a street that would take us back to our hotel, we heard some music in a pub and it was IRISH!  A guitar player/singer and an accorian player were playing.  They were pretty good and there was a lively crowd.  Once we finished our beers, we decided to go back to the hotel down an alley and get ready for our trip to Galway tomorrow. 

We have not seen any Wheaties, but today we must have seen about 5 Westies!  So hoping to see a Wheatie while we are here!  Stay tuned.  Tomorrow we head for our next hotel in Galway which is about 120 miles from Kilarney. 

Rock of Cashel

Rock of Cashel

Rock of Cashel

There are sheep in Ireland!

view of church from Rock

Roof is gone, but stone structure remains

St. Colman's Cathedral

How did Morgen get here?

Inside St. Colman's

Altar

View from Cathedral to port in Cobh

Today we left Kilkenny for Killarney by way of Cashel, Cobh, and Cork.  We were winging it to see what we could and wanted to.  Blarney was bypassed in favor of Rock of Cashel.  It was a great decision.  We loved the Rock of Cashel which was built for Choirs.  All our choir friends would love a place like this!  When you are there you can envision what it looked like when it was being used.  It must have created a wonderful sound for music.  It was also the place of a massacre.  To cover up the massacre, they set the building on fire.  Intending to rebuild after the massacre, the residents had to give up that dream as it was too expensive and there weren't enough people in the community after the massacre to pay for the renovations.  Currently it is being restored in some areas in order to save the structure from the elements.  Quite a magnificent piece of architecture. 

Once we had finished taking about 1000 photos at the rock (maybe a little bit of an exaggeration), we headed toward Cobh.  It was beginning to get a little nippy on the water's edge, but we stopped for lunch across from the water at Taste Cafe for coffee and a sandwich.  Very tasty.  We saw a huge cruise ship in port and toured a Titanic exhibit located on the same pier and ticket office where the Titanic passengers left Cobh.  There were some 120 passengers who left from this, the last port of the maiden voyage.  We then went up the very steep hill to St. Colman's Cathedral.  It took 47 years to complete and was finished in 1915, new compared to many structures in Ireland.  It contains the largest carillon in Ireland totalling 49 bells. 

We proceeded to Cork where we quickly toured the English Market which reminded me of Pikes in Seattle.  I was looking for an Irish Craft store that I read about, but it appears to be out of business.  Since it was getting late and many places were closed, we left for our final destination, Killarney.  We checked into the International Hotel.  An older style grand type of hotel with a beautiful staircase and very nice people.  We decided to eat at Hannigans which is attached to the hotel.  I had pork medallions and of course there were potatoes!  It was awesome!  Best meal so far with the best service.  We then took a stroll around the streets and found several places (pubs) we will try to visit tomorrow night after the Ring of Kerry tour. 

Ed Here:  Sorry for the delay for posting but we are still adjusting to the time and quite frankly once Deb is done with her blog entry at night I am already asleep!  Technology has made this trip so much more enjoyable.  We have been able to Skype to some family members which has come in very handy, especially in keeping up to date with my mother's progress.  All is sounding good on that front.  I thank my family for coming together to help out in any way they can.  Thank you.  Now..on to the adventure!
If I were to take away just one experience so far from our trip it would have to be Deb's finger..no not that one..  I see a finger pointing to the right when she feels I am not completely in my lane as I drive on the left (wrong) side of the road.  Let's just say I see that finger a lot...no more so than when she was picking out vegetation from the passenger side mirror after our trip yesterday!
Other highlights for me so far has been the food.  From the flight over on Aer Lingus (business class) to the pubs we have frequented, I have been pleasantly surprised by the abundance of seafood and the quality of the meals.  Seafood pie is the local delicasy I have seemed to focus on. From what I can tell it seems to be a seafood chowder made with salmon, crab, and other ingredients baked with a layer of mashed potato and some cheese.  I am also trying to partake in the local, local beers as we travel so for our Kilkenney stay I had Smithwicks, which is available in the US..but just seems to taste a bit better here.
Today we are on our way to Killarney via Cork and Cobh.  If you are interested in where that is..get a map and travel along with us!  Basically we are in the southeast part of the emerald isle and will be traveling west.  Thanks for reading...

Today started as another beautiful day.  Our drive to Waterford was easy on the highway.  It seems that there are more cows than sheep from what we have noticed.  Perhaps when we get to another region, we will see some sheep.  The tour of the Waterford factory was fantastic.  So beautiful!  We spent much of the day walking around Waterford seeing the sights.  There were many placed closed because it was Sunday.  The countryside is green and lush with rolling hills. 

Hook Head Lighthouse was our next stop. There was a shortcut to the lighthouse.  Thank goodness for the ferry, because the rest of the road out to the tip of the countryside was winding and very narrow.  I am certain that when we return the car there will be my handprint in the seat....permanently.   There is so much vegetation around the roads that you can barely see anything beyond the road.  Once we got to the lighthouse it started to rain.  We were 5 minutes late for the last tour of the day, but they took our money and said go to the lighthouse and knock and someone will let you in.  Sure enough, we made it to the tour.  The Irish have been very pleasant and accomodating.  We are enjoying ourselves and trying some different foods.  Ed seems to like the seafood pie.  Tomorrow we are off to a new hotel and more narrow roads!  Maybe I need a blindfold. 

Ferry we took from Waterford

Crystal at Waterford

Hood Head Lighthouse

Molds at WAterford

View at Hood Head

View on other side of lighthouse

Waterford Crystal

Bowl I would love to have

After a very long day, we are in Ireland!  It is sunny and in the 70's.  Warmer than predicted, but a gorgeous day.  Our travel started the night before driving to Austin.  We woke up at 3 am after 2 hours of sleep and headed to the airport for our 6am flight to Boston with a stop over in Chicago.  Uneventful flights.  After arriving in Boston, we had to get our luggage and check in at Aer Lingus.  We had a long layover until 9pm when our plane took off for Ireland.  Business Class was nice and we are both spoiled.  The service and added room was nice.  I managed a couple hours of rest/sleep on the plane.  Had dinner and breakfast on the plane. The line at the airport was very long, but we got our bags without incident. 

We have a rental car and it is a tad scary driving on the left!  Ed is doing well driving, but I am a little anxious!  We drove to Kilkenny and went to the design center for lunch which is across the street from Kilkenny Castle.  It was a gorgeous day and we walked the grounds of the castle.  After lunch we were dragging, so we headed to the hotel for a nap.  We ate at the pub in the restaurant which was very good.  Enjoying taking it easy.  Took a stroll after dinner down the street and it was still light at 10pm.  Because of the long days, we should be able to see so much. Stay tuned.