To Dingle & beyond!

     Today was a lot of driving for one day.  We woke up at what felt like the crack of dawn (but was probably closer to 7 am lol) to check out and start on our first trek to Killarney.  After leaving the "class" hotel in Cork, we sat in the car for the hour and half drive on windy roads to Killarney National Park and the historic Muckross House.  Addresses are a scarce commodity over here.  Even when you do get an address, it rarely comes in the typical format...you know, the kind with a house number attached.  This Irish tradition makes finding places tucked into the woods a tad difficult to find, but I guess it's all part of the adventure. :P  Killarney National Park was gorgeous!  The grounds, originally encompassing 11,000 acres of lush Irish land, now covers nearly 25,000 acres of land.  The house on the grounds was built in the 1800s and sold a few times, before being given to Ireland as a gift from the current owners in the 1930s.  There are immaculate gardens surrounding the house and vine and moss-covered trees overshadow paths that lead to waterfalls and lakes.  Horse and buggy rides clip clopping across the pavement around the house make you feel like you're in a whole different world.  It never ceases to amaze me how old everything over here is.  You will see brand new buildings put up around crumbling stone walls with ferns growing out of every nook and cranny.
     After touring the house that Queen Victoria once stayed in for a whole two nights, Dad, Ashley, and I explored a bit in the woods to the boathouse and through the aged woods.  We went into a weavers' shop in the park and then jumped back in the car.  The GPS (or "sat nav" here) directed us out along a spindly peninsula to the fishing town of Dingle.  Dingle reminded me a lot of Kinsale, with boats dotting an open quay and wall-to-wall streets filled with shops and cafes catering to camera-laden tourists such as myself...We found a late lunch in a side street cafe called the Goat Cheese Cafe.  Dad & I finally tried seafood in Ireland!  I can't believe it actually took us this long.  Ashley had a questionable encounter with something in her penne that may have even been eel...I really don't want to know what it is.  From Dingle, we wound our way back down the peninsula and onto mainland toward Adare.  Adare is a town with a bunch of thatched cottages.  When we finally got to Adare, the sun was setting and drowsiness was majorly setting in, so we looked around from the car and headed on toward Limerick.
   The hotel we booked in Limerick looked awesome online with blue lights on the outside that reflected down onto the river right next to the hotel.  We started to get a bit nervous when we were less than a mile from where the hotel is and we were driving through some of the sketchiest area that we have seen since arriving in Europe.  People were scarce and graffitti seemed more common than street signs.  Then we crossed a bridge and everything looked a lot better!  Luckily, the hotel is on the non-ghetto side of the street.  The hotel is majorly modern, with paintings of cartoon-esque flying sheep and a sheep eating cupcakes (don't worry...I definitely took pictures of that).  It's really classy...we decided it's neat to stay in for a night, but we're more Best Western people. :P  When we went in and asked for a table without having a reservation at the restaurant downstairs, the hostess looked at us like, "Good luck with that."  It felt kind of like the couple in Date Night when they wanted a table at Claw.  But hey...the Slavokian waiter told us he likes our accents!
   I forgot to mention what we did yesterday!  We spent the morning at the Blarney Castle, which was built in 1442.  It's amazing to think that something that old is still significantly intact after all of these years.  The stairs to the top of the castle were extremely small and slippery from wear of millions of tourists' feet.  You have to hang on to a rope bolted to the wall to make it up the dizzyingly spiral staircase.  If you're feeling brave, you can poke your head out of the random holes in the walls that they call windows.  It was a clear, sunny day (yes, they DO have them!) and we could see for miles out across the towns and fields lined by more hedgerows.  If you make it to the top of the castle, you have to walk around the outer edge of the castle past the Blarney Stone to get to the equally scary stairs heading back to ground level.  Ashley & I were not planning on kissing the possibly disease-ridden rock, but when we got up there, we figured that it's our only chance and it's ridiculously cliche...but why not?  You have to lay on the floor of the castle and hang on to the metal rails as you stick your head (& half of your body) out over the edge of the wall to reach the stone.  Was it worth it?  We'll see...maybe if I magically become eloquent.
     We drove to the quaint, picturesque town of Kinsale on the Irish coast near Cork after the Blarney Castle.  Wandering along the town streets and docks took a couple of relaxed hours before we headed back to Cork City.  Ashley and I went along the curvy main road to look at the shops.  We found a soap shop with chunks of solid soap with random bits of fruit and honey imbedded in it.  In search of a cafe that was actually open after the late late hour of 6 o'clock, we found a little cafe on a corner that served us brilliant banoffee (caramel, banana, graham cracker crust, chocolate goodness) and smoothies.  Perfect end to a good day. (:

Tomorrow we're headed up to see the Cliffs of Moher and Galway...can't wait!