Welcome back folks, me again! I know we say this is a joint blog but my sister is busy scribbling away in her travel journal and has left a majority of the blogging up to me! Lucky me I have no problem going on and on about anything and everything, so we here we go! The excitement started at 9:00am when we got up and had a breakfast of bread and jam (and jam and bread) as we prepared for another road trip around Killarny, this time to new and different stops we'd missed on our first road trip with John Francis the other day. We were planning on leaving at 10:00am so Jess went upstairs to finish assembling our trusty Paris Purse while I went for a walk in the backyard as I hadn't gotten to take one the day before and really wanted to before we left. It's beautiful out there! Towering mountains of emerald green as far as the eye can see, each dotted with stone walls and small houses that just add to the rural beauty! I got back inside around 10:00am and Jess stepped outside with me to wait for Catherine. We went to sit on the swing overlooking the fantabulous backyard but ended up swinging and chatting for about 40 minutes as Catherine had forgotten to turn the laundry on and wanted to put it out to dry before we left. Jess and I had no complains about waiting, especially as she was being so kind as to include our clothes in that wash, and happily swang and enjoyed the view.
At more or less 11:00am we were off and running towards Inch Beach, a popular surfing beach in Killarney. It's only 5 euro to rend surf equipment for the day there! Unbelievable! Now, we had packed swimsuits in case it was nice enough for a dip, but it's Ireland and we're Floridian girls, so of course it wasn't. Even without us being used to Daytona-temperature water, it was particularly chilly even for the Irish folks and we instead settled for a drive down the beach and a few pictures during a brief stop before loading back up and heading back out onto the open, if narrow, road!
We traveled the roads of Killarney, snapping pics out the window as we drove (which Jess and I lovingly refer to as 'drive-by shootings') all the way until Dingle. Dingle is in fact the legitimate name of this town and all I can think of when I hear it is Dinkletown from VeggieTales 'The Toy That Saved Christmas' which is niche, I know, and not the best joke or reference on could make about a town named Dingle, but that's what I have! We just drove through town quickly, but we did stop at the Aquarium very briefly because I seriously had to pee and it was the only place we saw that probably had free bathrooms. They did and Jess and I got to see the gift shop, so that was decent!
As soon as we hit to road again we found our way to one of Catherine's favourite places for food and drink, a place called Paide O Se's. I have no idea what it means, but it had excellent chicken curry! We were told in advance that the curry in Ireland is particularly good, which one wouldn't really expect but these people really like their curry I guess! The restaurant was a short walk away from a beach so Catherine, Jess, and I took a lovely stroll down there to see what we could see. It was warmer than it had been earlier, but still windy and brisk, so we only looked again. There were no waves on this beach at all really because, according to Catherine, the wind is higher in the air making it a prime location to parasailing!
Back on the road we did more drive-by shootings of some fabulous views as we entered basically the Historical Epicenter of Killarney and possibly Ireland. The stretch of road was filled with signs directing tourist (and Irish people with school-age children doing projects) to prehistoric houses and sights which somehow all exist on the same street. We passed Bee Hive Huts and Iron Age rock structures, most of which were swarmed by tourists who apparently love super old stuff but only in foreign places.
Not that it's not interesting, but I guarantee none of these people would visit a rock hut if they were back home unless someone paid them to go. We did stop for a few seconds at the Iron Age rocks to quickly run up to the gate and snap a few pictures as we just couldn't part with the 2 euros it cost to go see them super close. They probably looked about the same there as they did outside the gate anyway.
Taking the long way back to the town of Dingle we saw two girls hitch-hiking on the side of the road and decided they looked like a fine pair and picked them up, as they were going to Dingle as well. Along the way we all talked about ourselves, Jess and I explaining to the girls what we were doing in Ireland (and Europe) and vice versa. Paula and Matilda told us in they're beautiful accents that they're from Leon, France and they're here to work for the summer.
The pair do gardening during the week then hitch hike on the weekend in order to travel across Ireland. Once the summer ends they'll head back to Leon where Matilda will return to her studies to become a nurse and Paula will go back to art school for her drawings. Both girls were lovely and we had a grand time driving together to Dingle. I've never picked up hitch hikers before (cause I don't have a car obviously), and I've never been with anyone who has, but it was a nice experience. I'm not saying I'm gonna pick up a legion of hitch hikers once i get my license, but it was a fun adventure! And that is what we came here for!
In Dingle, Catherine went for a coffee and to see some friends at their work, leaving Jess and I to wander the town for an hour on our own. We popped into the Dingle Library first to see what that was like because we're like that. Jess and I have worked in libraries almost all of our lives and it was marvelous fun to be in a foreign one! The library was small, and not much different from our own except for the prevalence of Gaelic writing and much larger selection of foreign movies and books. Not even just Irish books and movies, ones from all over the world shelved with everything else. In the states we have separate sections for foreign films, so that was cool. Side story, but I say 'in the states' because cousin Michael informed us that most, not all, Irish people and probably European people think it's silly to call the US 'America' because they use America as a term referring to North and South America. Canada is 'America', Mexico is 'America', the US is 'America' and so on. We're all lumped together. So here we say the US or the states. I'd never thought of that before! How interesting!
Back to business, after the library Jess and I strolled about town, window shopping and comparing the price of Irish goods to US ones. They're about the same, more often than not cheaper, if you're wondering. We found ourselves back in the Aquarium gift shop where we discovered a big craze in Ireland is Squishies! These toys are essentially softened and themes stress balls that are definitely building off the Slime Craze as they're very much stim-related items with a soft touch and texture. All the kids in the shop wanted and them and I wasn't surprised because they were fun to hold! Pulling ourselves away from the shop empty handed we walked by the pier back to the car where we met with Catherine, at a granola bar for endurance, and carried on.
Our last stop on the 'adventure' part of the trip was to Ross Castle! Jess and I got a last burst of energy as we roamed the old castle grounds and took a series of particularly silly pictures all over the place. I managed to figure out how to climb up the rocks around the castle and we must have looked a sight as Jess and I both rock climbed around the castle for pictures and a laugh (#parkour). We also picked up a rock each from the grounds of the castle as souvineers, a tradition when Jess and I go someplace we have a magnificent time exploring. We didn't spend a long time at the castle though as Catherine had to get to work by 8:00pm and it was 6:50pm. On the way home Catherine realized she needed dinner before work and we stopped a a SuperValu and picked up a frozen pizza, black forest cake, and a box of mini rolls.
At home we all had dinner while Jess and I presented Catherine with the gifts we had bought her: A 3D printed dragon (which we pre-unwrapped this time), a bottle of maple syrup, and Dunkin Donuts coffee. We also brought two packs of Dunkin coffee for John Francis and Mary Carmel. John Francis we met but Mary we didn't get a chance to see. Catherine called to see if she could come over, but she was driving home from elsewhere and wouldn't likely make it in time to see us. Regardless, Catherine was thrilled with her gifts and we were equally thrilled that she let us stay with her in her fabulous home. I think we know who got the better end of the deal, but she did seem delighted with her coffee and syrup! With that matter handled, Catherine left for the night shift at work and Jess and I retired to bed to pack our bags and settle in for our 7:44am train ride into Dublin the next day!
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