Day 7 - "I'm gonna have to disrobe in front of everyone."

In Dingle, we stayed at a very nice bed and breakfast. B&Bs are so common, it's crazy. It seems like random women have houses with spare bedrooms or master suites and they use them as B&Bs. The ones we've stayed in have been very nice, and it's been a lot of fun. I've stayed in a few in the States, but I think my experience in Ireland has been that it's felt a lot less like a hotel, and a lot more like staying in someone's home (in a good way). Much friendlier and more personable. I've liked it. And the second B in "B&B" has been consistently wonderful.

Traditional Irish breakfasts for all!

Grandma enjoying her first true Irish breakfast (since she wouldn't permit Helen to cook anything fancy for her)

We left Dingle and enjoyed some more of its sights in the daylight (which had been fading quickly when we arrived). We saw tons more signs in Gaelic, lots more sheep, and some breathtaking views from a mountainous road that we decided to take out of the peninsula. We didn't know when we chose that road that it would be a twisty, windy, one-lane, two-direction sort of road, but we certainly enjoyed it. Well, I enjoyed it, and no one in the car vomited or died, so I consider that a success.

There are elections coming up in Ireland, and in Dingle, even the political signs are in Irish


Road signs, too. Turn left to... somewhere


Winding narrow road up a mountain? Sounds like fun to me!

One of the happily married couples on the trip

Do you think sheep appreciate the beautiful views?

One type of road block

Another type of road block

Our tour of the western part of Ireland took us north towards Galway but we had lots of stops on the way. The first was another ferry. Just when Grandma thought the ferries were over, we got to take another. This was the biggest yet, and rather than a short two minute ride, it was a twenty minute ride across a river that we could barely see the other side of.


We made it across, though, and Grandma stayed awake the whole time! She said it helped that she barely noticed we were moving, except for being able to see out a small side window. The ferry was quite large... it even had bathrooms and a snackbar/gift shop! So, the ride was quite smooth, which I think helped quite a bit.

Lots of cars on board

We went by a lighthouse... this picture's for Grandma

Stretching the legs

Along the drive, we saw an old windmill. And then we saw new windmills. It was a pretty awesome sight, actually, that got me thinking. Ireland is a cool place. I'm not saying that other European countries aren't the same, as I haven't seen them and can't compare, but it's so fascinating to me that you can be driving along and see things that are hundreds, if not a thousand years old, and then as their next door neighbor, you see a completely modern structure. That happened at Dunbrody Abbey - how old was it? 800 years or something? Across the street was someone's house. Someone actually lived there, right next to these ancient ruins. And this was another example of that. A really old windmill (obviously restored and in good condition from the picture), but they have modern things, as well, side-by-side with the old things. Quite cool.

The old...

And the new!

We were headed north along the coast, but we had to stop for lunch. We went to a restaurant called McCaughn's (or something like that) in a town called Doolin, because Helen had recommended its seafood chowder. And it did not disappoint. We got amazing seafood there... both seafood chowder and fish and chips. Mmmmm!!! And that reminds me, I don't think I've mentioned mushy peas. And if I have, they deserve a second entry. Mushy peas are... well, mushy ("moo-she," not "muh-she"). They are some special variety of peas that they soak and cook and then mash them up. They are an ever-present side when ordering fish and chips in Ireland. Not super tasty, but not too bad either. "

Relaxing at the table

Now, you may be wondering about now (or maybe you have been wondering for awhile... or maybe the thought has never crossed your mind), "Golly, Jonathan. You and your family are great photographers! How do you manage to get such beautiful pictures with excellent lighting day in and day out? Do you just have sunny days all the time? Isn't it supposed to rain constantly in Ireland? Did you really go to Ireland, of have you just been downloading pretty pictures off the internet and pretending this whole time?" Well, a funny thing has been happening that can explain the answers to all those questions. You see, it has been raining. Quite a lot, actually. BUT, for whatever reason, the Good Lord has answered our prayers for good weather while we're out of the car.

It's incredible... unfathomable, really, how many times we have been outside seeing some castle or Abbey, or whatever, and it's gorgeous and sunny out. Literally within 30 seconds of getting in the car: absolute downpour. I lost track of how many times that scenario has played out. At first we were so tickled by how it happened. Now, it's borderline hilarious how predictable it is. And just to prove that it's not really always sunny and pretty outside...

Wet roads, rainy windshield

Not nice weather

Blah!

The rain here, when it comes, it comes hard. And apparently it has been coming a lot. Helen and her family were telling us that farmers here are hurting because there has been way too much rain, and not enough sun, so the ground has been too muddy, and crops haven't been growing well. But when the rain has come during our trip, it hasn't stayed for too long, and as you've seen from pictures, we have had sunny drives, too.

During a sunny drive - if I had a castle, I'd want it to be on the beach, too.

And when we arrived at our first touristy place of the day, the Cliffs of Moher, it was bright as could be. Who would've guessed? It was, however, the coldest it's been on our whole trip. We got to the visitor center, and Grandma told us that she wasn't going to see the cliffs. We hadn't realized it would be such a climb, and she was tired. Plus, she didn't have enough layers on. We solved both problems, though: with a spiffy red jacket borrowed from her grandson, and a spiffy speedy wheelchair borrowed from the visitor center, she had no excuse left, and we dragged her along to continue her trip of a lifetime (though I think she wasn't a bit displeased at all).

On our way up!

Where'd Grandma get that snazzy jacket?

Wow.

Pretty view

No attraction is complete without a castle

It's cold!


As I pushed her up the hill, it was very windy. In fact, it prompted Libby and Grandma to be talking about how the wind might just pick up and carry away one of the cows that was perched atop the hill beside the cliffs. I was silly and not thinking, and I asked how much Grandma thought a cow weighed. "What? You think I weigh that much that you can't push me?!?" I didn't live down that comment for quite awhile.

The hill Grandma got to ride... and cows perched at the top (small cows in picture means big hill)

How great is our God?

Happy as a clam!

Very patriotic picture

It was very cold out, though, as I mentioned, and we were going to drop Grandma off in the Visitor's Center while I picked up the car. She protested, though, since it would be so much warmer inside than out. "I'm going to have to disrobe in front of everyone!"

The good thing about the rain while we drive is that occasionally we reap the benefits of a rainbow. We saw our second rainbow of the day as we headed to our next destination: the Burren. In fact, it looked like the rainbow ended within the Burren, so we thought we'd look for a pot of gold.

Where's the end?

Now, the place is called the Burren, but it really should be called the Barren. It looks pretty desolate with rocks EVERYWHERE. Literally as far as the eye can see, nothing but rocks. Quite incredible. However, despite its appearance, it apparently has some pretty unique life growing there. The land has a thin layer of limestone on the top and when rain comes, it dissolves the limestone, and it is carried down through cracks in the land, eroding away the land, and it has formed a network of underground caves that are very extensive. (We could have toured some caves, but it seemed like it wouldn't be the easiest walk, and we didn't want to rush, so we skipped it.) This combination of caves and limestone and rocks makes an unusual environment, and as a result, some plants grow here that don't grow anywhere else in the world. Now, we learned all this from our tour book, so we weren't actually able to identify any of these unique plants, but it was fun to be there and see the ecosystem, anyhow.

Can you see the rock in this picture? You might have to squint a little

We found these rocks about to topple, but fortunately Libby got there just in time

After Libby stabilized them, they stayed just fine. This is actually an ancient tomb marker

Is this unique plant life? Who knows?

And what to do with all those rocks? Build walls, of course!

The day was winding down, and we had to make it to Galway before too long, since we had reservations at a B&B there. So, we headed out while it was still light outside. Guess what we saw along the way.

A castle! How'd you guess?

But that's where the pictures end for the day. Why? Because frustration tends to cloud the mind of a budding photographer such as myself. "Frustration?" you ask. You see, Galway is a happening place. It's a decent-sized city. AND there's some around-the-world sail boat race sponsored by Volvo that just HAPPENS to be visiting Galway this week. So, it's an EXTREMELY busy place. People everywhere. No parking. Construction. Detours. Craziness.

When it came time to drop everyone off for dinner (the chauffeur always drops his passengers at the door, since parking is often a distance), usually a navigator (in addition to my little lady GPS) usually comes with me. Just happenchance, no one stuck behind this time. So, when the arrows that "pointed to parking" didn't really point to parking. I got lost. I found my way again and made another pass by the restaurant, but when the arrows on the street that told me I could turn left really put me the wrong way on a one-way street, I ended up getting diverted down to the docks to see the boats (and stuck in a ton of traffic). When I found my way and made a third pass by the restaurant, I was golden, right? Until that street where I wanted to turn right was blocked off, and I again got diverted by the boats. Argggghhh!!! Can't get worse, right? A fourth pass by the restaurant. This time I see the parking! YAY!!! Only, I'm in the wrong lane. Do you think anyone's going to let me get over to the other lane so that I can get where I want to go? Of course not. No one let me in. I ended up parking about a mile or so away at our B&B (where I knew there was parking) and walking. I got to the restaurant at least an hour after everyone else. That was a long day.

The day ended fine, but since not too much happy/exciting happened, that's where I will end this entry, and leave you on the edge of your seat as you wonder what happens on Day 8, perhaps our best day so far in Ireland...

Day 6 - "I'll keep my bags packed."

It was our last day in Waterford. It's funny how quickly you can settle into a place, but it had been quite nice to have a steady place to come "home" to every night. But, alas! Our own little castle - overshadowed by the actual castle on the island - was ours no more. So, we packed up our stuff and took our last ferry ride off of the island. Grandma was practically weeping when she realized that. Well, not really. But she did admit that she had gotten used to it and didn't mind. Again, I think it was the perfectly timed naps that helped.

Heading off the island

The boats always parked nearby... in the middle of the river

Awake on the ferry! A rare sight!

We didn't head far from home to start the day. Our first stop was the Waterford Crystal Factory. Waterford Crystal is known worldwide for their high quality crystal (apparently... this coming from a male who is severely in debt from med school... not the expert). It's been around since the 1700s and has a reputation for its hand craftsmanship and attention to detail. However, that meant that its prices were high. And that meant that the economic recession has been rough, and Waterford has shut down its factories.

Cheers!

According to one of the Waterford people, the cost of restarting their gigantic ovens for melting glass is astronomical, and the odds of them actually restarting production are virtually nonexistant. Originally, we were going to do a factory tour, but as you can imagine, that's no longer a possibility. But they still have a large store where they display their items, from relatively simple, to unbelievably elaborate. Since the elaborate is so much more interesting, I'll mention some things. They had a crystal mail box that people could actually use to mail their post cards. They had amazing chandeliers. There were trophies from lots of sporting events (like rugby and tennis and golf). There were crystal statues of eagles and lighthouses and all sorts of other things.

Libby with a large crystal bear



Why make a grandfather clock out of wood?



We ordered this chandellier for Grandma's kitchen



This is what it looks like from below



They custom made this just for Grandma because they knew the Egles were coming

And who said crystal was a girly thing? Football helmets don't have to be plastic, you know

The stuff they had was fancy. I mean fancy-pants level of luxury. Let's play the Price is Right for a moment. If you saw this chandellier for bid, what would be your price (the closest bid without going over will be the winner).

What's your bid? Any guesses? $100? $500? Now, don't forget, this price is before taxes, since if you don't stay in Ireland, you apparently don't have to pay their sales tax. Ready for the answer? You'd better be sitting down, though, or at least have your checkbook out, because you would hate to miss this deal: we can finance this one for you for just 1000 installments of $71.99. that's right, folks. This beauty will cost you right about seventy-two thousand US dollars. Look, but don't touch. You break it, you bought it.

We watched a part of a 30-minute video about the history of the factory and how to make crystal, but we missed the beginning, and we didn't stick around when it started over. We had places to go and things to see. So the chauffeur picked up the passengers again, and we headed west. We were driving coast-to-coast, pretty much, in one day. a lot easier to do in a country like this than back home.

It was already almost lunch time, so before too long, we paused for a moment at a pretty roadside park and had a picnic lunch. It's crazy how no matter what, if you have a picnic lunch with you, you're basically guaranteed in this country to have a gorgeous place to be able to enjoy it if you just drive for 5 minutes somewhere.

Picnic with an outlook over a river

Don't have a spoon for yogurt? No problem if you've got celery!

Not THE prettiest flowers in Ireland, but a small boquet, nonetheless

Along our drive, we were talking to Grandma about her trip so far. She told us she was kind of miserable but she understood that she had to stay at least until our return flight, since we had already paid for it, and all.... Of course that's a lie. she told us about how she was thrilled and loved being there. When asked if she would consider coming back, her response was simple: "I'll keep my bags packed." And who wouldn't want to with such scenic drives? Every drive, it seems, we just see more and more beautiful castles and churches and pastures.

Don't ask the name... just an impressive random castle

Ditto

Our first stop along the way was a place called Muckross (sounds pleasant, doesn't it?). There's a house there, conveniently named the Muckross House. It's a huge estate with a large mansion and gorgeous property with tons of gardens. The gardens were free to tour, but the house wasn't. So, since there were lots of steps and walking for the house tour, AND it cost money, it made us easy to figure out which to spend our time on.

Now, we all know that Grandma is a very, very sweet woman. What we didn't know, is that the bugs think so, too. She was absolutely attacked by these gnat-like bugs from the moment we started walking around the property. I was getting swarmed a bit, too, but not nearly as bad as Grandma. Libby, Grandma, and I decided that we sweet ones needed to take refuge from the attack bugs, and we headed inside to the little cafe they had. Meanwhile, my parents wandered throughout the gardens. It ended up being a ton of fun for us, though, because Grandma told us stories about random things that came up in converation... stories from her childhood that I'd never heard before. Lots of fun. Fun that never would've happened if it weren't for those gnats. A blessing in disguise, I suppose.

This house was a little small for Libby and me, so we didn't put an offer on it

The yard was mediocre, at best

And those darn people were walking around all the time in the gardens

See what I mean?

Eventually my parents returned with boatloads of pretty flower pictures, and it was time to move along. We passed some random castles along the way, and of course, got some obligatory photos.

Incredible view

In case you forgot your umbrella

And we eventually ended up in Dingle. The Dingle Penninsula is on the west coast, just north of the famed Ring of Kerry. However, unlike the Ring of Kerry, it's not overpopulated with tour buses all day every day. It is absolutely gorgeous, though. We checked into our B&B quickly before taking a self-guided driving tour.

The elusive sheep

Stare down

We had been trying our whole trip to get good sheep pictures. Dingle was the money spot, though. Do you know what the population of the Dingle Peninsula is? About 10,000. Do you know what the SHEEP population is? About 500,000. Fifty sheep per person. That's a crazy ratio.

Beautiful hills

More sheep!

Right on the water, of course

How pretty

Winding road + cliff + water = careful driving

There were stone walls everywhere, dividing people's fields

Better view of stone walls

Ancient "beehive" ruins, thought to be ancient graves

Giant crucifix on a hillside

Our van with the Blasket Islands in the background, as well as the western-most tip of mainland Europe

ESCAPE!!!

Island that looks like lying man with hand on belly, according to tour book

Dingle is a very traditional area, in terms of its language. Everyone speaks Gaelic (AKA Irish), and in fact, many Irish people from throughout the country send their children there to learn the language. Many shop signs and street signs are only in Gaelic without English. Go Mall means "Slow."

This is unclaimed land. It's what the land looked like before people moved in. They had to clear all the rocks by hand before they could use the land for farming. And thus, all the stone walls. They had to do something with them.

More sheep

A really old church. This cross used to be a normal porportion, but the ground has gotten higher and higher as more and more people have been buried there. Libby is putting her hand into the "friendship pole" (or something like that). It has a hole in it that people put their thumbs through to make a pact.

The old chuch... note how the door isn't as tall as it once was

A really old tombstone. No writing left visible

Before the driving tour we had gone out to dinner at a restaurant called the South Pole. It was founded by an Irish gentleman named Tom Crean. He had actually been on at least one expedition to Antarctica and the South Pole and then returned to his homeland and founded a restaurant. He was quite a local celebrity. Well, his memory, anyway, as he passed away decades ago.

Fancy burger with Irish beef and pineapple! The seafood chowder was fantastic, too!

The South Pole looks warmer than expected

And what do you do after dinner in Ireland? You go to a pub, of course! This was officially Grandma's first real pub experience. We had eaten in pubs a few times, but it was always early, and we never really had the full deal. This was the real deal. The pub was huge... it had probably about 6 different large rooms in it, but only the front two were really being used. And the reason was that there was live traditional music there. The people were PACKed inside. It was a really good time. the music was great, and the people were fun. There were these middle aged male twins seated near us who started singing along to some song in Gaelic. SO fun!

Outside the pub

The band... musicians seemed to wander in and out, so the performers fluctuated

An attentive audience

Is that water in Jonathan's glass?

Of course, it was a late night, and guess what we did the second we made it back to the B&B... ZZZzzzzzz....