As we got ready this morning, we turned on the news. The news here is all business with a man and woman anchor taking turns reporting and sometimes reading and holding up newspapers. They cover news all over the world in depth with, of course, a concentration in the British Isles. We heard there had been an earthquake in Wales which was felt in Dublin, where we will be on Friday. Yikes!
As the program progressed, they did cover some human interest items. When they talked about women's images because of magazine models, they said they were trying to improve that by using more realistic looking ladies as well as men. Well, it seems that did not fix it. In their words, "It didn't unbugger the women. It buggered up the men."
On the way down the hall to the bus, Henry called out, "Bring coats, jackets, sunscreen, umbrellas, and sun glasses." That pretty much sums up what you need. In a day, we use them all. Off we went to see the Ring of Kerry.
Killarney is a very nice town with it's quaint city center, modern clean outskirts and fabulous National Park. There are mountains visible around Killarney and the sound of horses clopping by. They have jaunting carts which hold about 8 people, pulled by one horse, to take people on tour through the city and out through the park. At night with our window open, I could imagine I was on Mackinac Island.
We stopped at a beautiful gift shop with quality woolens, linens, china, etc. and they served us all lovely glass mugs of Irish Coffee. It was perfect for a cool, rainy morning.
I wondered how they could afford that, but soon, everyone was talking, laughing and buying. A term going around among some of the ladies was their pride in having a "black belt in retail therapy."
I wondered how they could afford that, but soon, everyone was talking, laughing and buying. A term going around among some of the ladies was their pride in having a "black belt in retail therapy."
We stopped in a lovely spot high on a hill over looking a river and I felt tingles for the beauty of this land. I could have stayed all day. Bob badly wanted his fishing pole. The birds were singing and we were smiling. Peace.
More lakes, grassy fields and mountains in the distance.
More Henry -
Driving up a mountain, we passed an ancient church with a crowded graveyard. Henry told us that the inventor of the crossword puzzle was from Ireland and buried here. "Don't worry," he says, "You can easily find his grave to view. It's two up and six across."
One more. Whenever we've had a stop, when we get back on, Henry has to walk down the isle of the bus counting before we leave. Towards the end of one day, in a fit of frustration, he shouted out, " oh for Heavens sake, if there's anyone not here, raise your hand."
OK, the last one for today. When we stop for restrooms, it's called a comfort stop. One day people were surprised we stopped so early after breakfast, but Henry says, "If you put something in one end, you might want to take care of the other."
Higher we went with green glens, misty mountains and rushing streams. Then a house will pop up with a palm tree in the yard looking like Florida. The road was narrow and winding in a tunnel of trees and then back out with breath taking views of the sea.
Henry hustles us along to keep us ahead of other tour buses, which we all appreciate.
Henry hustles us along to keep us ahead of other tour buses, which we all appreciate.
We stopped at Scariff Inn for lunch and a break. The view was incredible in this narrow little cafe. It felt elegant to spend time there with delicious stew and coffee.
Driving on there were more awesome views and we spotted deer. As we came into mystical, dark woodland with big old bent trees, moss covered rocks and sparkling streams, Henry told us stories of leprechauns. It looks the perfect place for them to live with all of the nooks and crannies in the trees and rocks and you could imagine feeling the magic.
This is the Ireland I pictured. I'm a happy girl.
We stopped and hiked a lovely trail to a waterfall. Killarney National Park is a beautiful place.
We came back into Killarney and road the bus in to get our laundry. At this point, we were both tired and Bob was a little queezy so we went back to the room to repack clean clothes and rest. We decided to stay in the hotel pub for dinner and met up with Bruce, Joan, Val, John and Mary for a perfect relaxed early night. We discussed religion, politics, and being homesick for our family. It was great fun, then we promptly left without paying having become used to eating with the tour.
We could only get Internet in the lobby so we decided to go back down, post the blog and check email. On the way, we ran into JoAnne who asked if we knew who had the fish and soup as they hadn't paid. We were mortified. Bob went right in and paid and covered John and Mary too. That set up a lot of teasing the next day about Bob getting stuck with the tab. In the morning, Doug said, "Good morning. Glad to see you aren't in jail." Bob finally asked on the bus if it was an Australian custom to buy a bloke a drink and then walk out sticking him for dinner." Good fun and good sports and wonderful laughter.
