Ireland Adventure, Part 1, Counties Clare, Limerick, and Kerry

Yes! We made it to Ireland!! How does it feel to have a dream come true? To me it feels completely unreal. I just can't believe it! We have been here 4 remarkably busy days--every day is so unlike the rest.

DAY ONE: We flew into Shannon airport and cruised right on up to County Clare. We saw our first castle overlooking Doolin Point. And can you believe the sun? Neither can the Irish! Apparently it's been raining all summer long, and just started being sunny. The forecast says it will be good all week. How's that for amazing?

We saw the Cliffs of Moher first thing. Aren't they absolutely breathtaking? The other 3000 tourists that day thought so too.

After the cliffs we headed to our B&B in Miltown Malbay, Co. Clare. It was Berry Lodge, a wonderful place to stay and an even better place to eat. Everything was delectable and straight from the garden. I had an apple & pear crumble (crisp) that was to die for and the pears came right off her tree. This view of the Atlantic I found right down the street from where we were staying.

DAY TWO: We went to the Limerick Branch for church on Sunday, and met the nicest people. Tom & Jackie Kelly invited us for a delicious Sunday dinner that brought back wonderful memories of my times as a missionary in England. And I discovered that I love parsnips. The day before I discovered that I love fresh beets. I still haven't had the courage to try black or white pudding. The black is blood sausage and I don't know what the white is, but ...Ick! Not that the Kelly's served that. We had a delicious plate of roast and roasted veggies with gravy over the whole plate. Mmm! And as if that wasn't enough, they then took us on a tour of Lough Gur, a lake surrounded by ancient sites, among them: an old church ruin, a communal grave from 2500BC, and the Grange Stone Circle which is 4000 years old and is the largest stone circle in Ireland (think Stonehenge). Interesting that we actually went on the Autumnal equinox too. So here are the Kelly's (minus their Eogan who was asleep in the car) in front of the Stone Circle:

I hope if they come to Chicago (he's doing an MBA through Northwestern) that we'll get a chance to meet again. (FYI Deb: She's originally from Queensland.)

DAY THREE: Monday morning we looked around Adare for a bit and then headed to the Dingle Peninsula. Can you say this 10 times fast?

Dingle Peninsula is serious Gaeltacht territory, so most of the signs were in Gaelic. While there we walked along Ventry Beach and found some nice shells.

One thing we wanted to do was go swimming with Fungie the local dolphin that lives in Dingle Bay. No such luck. The season is over so we had to settle with taking a dolphin watching boat.

We saw him!!! He was playing tag with our boat and coming up for breath every so often. I am sure I was as excited as any of the kids who were on that boat! I love watching dolphins so much. Next time I'll swim for sure!

That night we stayed in a gorgeous out-of-the-way B&B called The Shores in Castlegregory, Co. Kerry. The hostess, Annette, met us in a black evening gown. I'm not kidding. We must have been a disappointment in our jeans and what-not. It was so well-decorated and comfortable. And at a bargain price too. (Trivia: Apparently Dire Straits stayed there and so did the cast of Melrose Place.) Annette told us about little group of locals that got together to play music, sing, dance, and tell stories every Monday night, so we went to check it out. It was in this little cottage with white washed walls, low light, and a smoky fireplace The lady played the harp, 2 people played accordions, a few children played tin whistles and so did a dad, some different people sang various old songs. One little girl did an Irish reel (without a fancy dress and curly wig by the way). I just closed my eyes and felt myself go back through the generations of my ancestry. It brought tears to my eyes. I felt like I was extremely lucky to experience such an authentic piece of their culture. I'm sure it was only because we were staying so far out in the boonies, away from big cities and "progress". We were the only foreigners there. Anyway, here's the cottage of our "culture night":

DAY FOUR: Today we came down to start exploring the Ring of Kerry. We walked through some of the Killarney National Park, hiked up and around Torc Waterfall, visited Ross Castle, and here is the Muckross House:

Built in the 1840s and having about 20 chimneys, think of what it would have cost to heat that thing?? But other than that, it's my dream home. Gorgeous, isn't it? And here's the view from the front windows:

Hiking up and around Torc Waterfall, I didn't catch any leprechauns, but I found some shamrocks!

What other remarkable adventures to come? Hopefully Skellig Michael, Cork and the Blarney Stone, and Bunratty Castle. Stay tuned...