When we left Dublin, in the rental car, during rush hour, it was raining and cold. I had made the foolish mistake of packing for July in Indiana. I figured it would be cooler, but not this much cooler. I'd already purchased myself a sweatshirt/souvenir, but at this point I was wishing I'd gotten something more like a hoodie. Oh well, won't have room for another one in the ol' suitcase, so I'll survive. Anyway, as Tom expertly drove us to the southwest area of Kerry, I was cold in the back seat, covered up by my sweatshirt and I napped. I even slept through going through a toll booth, which means I really was asleep, not just cat napping.
After a couple of hours, we arrived at Muckross House - a Victorian era home of a variety of rich people. While we waited for our tour to start, we roamed around the grounds and gardens. Got some lovely pics. I also hit the gift shop and bought myself a jacket lest my arms freeze and fall off a la Venus de Milo.
Going through the house was very interesting. Having just finished reading a trilogy that took place in the Victorian era, I was able to imagine the book taking place in a house similar to this. What I had issues with was imagining where all 22 of the servants went! And at some point Queen Victoria came to visit and brought with her 50 servants! I'll be happy with my condo and cats, thank you.
We dined and pottied and hit the road for Killarney! After being mislead by the GPS, who we've named Eileen for the trip - on the grounds that she needs an Irish name. I suggested Shannon, but was vetoed... ok I realize that wasn't exactly a full sentence there, but after Eileen failed to get us to our hovel for the evening, we found it by asking a couple of locals.
We dumped the luggage and had a short rest and then piled back in the buggy to check out the Ring of Kerry. This was a 112-mile drive around a peninsula with fantastic scenery, mountains, coastal areas. We left in the late afternoon, feeling safe in the knowledge that the sun doesn't go down until about 10:30 or so. It was beautiful. But I'm pretty sure that Tom got quite a few more gray hairs on that time. At one point, the road was barely wide enough for our car, let alone the one coming head on at us. We saw tons of cows, sheeps, and goats, depending on our elevation.
I told Tom, during one of the especially terrifying parts, that I'd buy him a beer at dinner because he'd earned it. Unfortunately, by the time we got back to civilization, at 10:30, everything was closed. I needed some protein, however, so we inquired and were told about some "fast food" place where people got burgers and such for carryout. We were able to get food - I got fried chicken and was even able to take a piece back to the hovel with me for breakfast in the morning... after all free breakfast is fine, but when all it is is toast and cereal, there be protein-related issues. I set my boob (the chicken, that is) on my open window sill and it was nicely chilled overnight.
The wi-fi at this hovel wasn't working, for whatever reason, so I wasn't able to post any pics, but eventually, we'll get back to someplace with wi-fi and I'll get all of these posted on Facebook at least.
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