I Will Never & Final Thoughts from Heaven

I will never be the only female traveling with guys. I will never travel with Germans. I will never travel with people who take longer than me in the bathroom.
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Written at Coole Park -
The crunch of your feet as the soles of your shoes hit the gravel. The swish as fabric brushes fabric. The birds calling to one noather, singing their morning song. Every now & then, a bee buzzing close to your ear & then quickly flitting away to a flower. It's all familiar to you, but then again not. There wasn't a constuction supply store down the road a few yeras ago. You know the house next to Thoor Ballylee is new. So you try to remember how it was. How you want it to be. And who you're with doesn't add to the memories you are making. These Germans don't appreciate these historic sites for what they are. Celtic history. Literary history. It's all lost on them. They have no clue who William Butler Yeats or George Bernard Shaw are - why they are important. They complain because they can't hike. I offer them Coole Park - a plethora of walking and hiking trails. But still they complain. It doesn't suit them. They don't, or won't, appreciate the beauty of the park that inspires awe in me. They take their photos & then walk away. They don't see the beauty of which Yeats wrote. They don't like my fairy land. Maybe the fairies will disprove of their thoughts, kidnap them, and return them where they came from - to Germany. You can't be close-minded when visiting this land of Eire that I so dearly love. You only offend me. You miss out on the people, the sites, the history. YOu can't say you want Irish food & then not eat in a pub.

I want to come back to the Ireland I know & love. See it again through the eyes of people who care.

Day 4 - From Limerick to Co. Clare & "Heaven"

Leaving Limerick at 930, we headed north with me navigating (Johannes was not at all thrilled because he "couldn't see from the backseat." Well, now he knows how I felt for 2 days!) I was in heaven as soon as we crossed into Clare county. I knew where I was. I knew where we were going. And it was wonderful. We were originally going to spend the day at Coole Park, but because we left so early & it only took an hour to get to Gort, we decided to detour to Thor Ballylee, home of Yeats. I knew it would be closed, but we could at least get out & walk around the grounds.

Thoor Ballylee







From Thor Ballylee we drove the 6km to Coole Park, home of Lady Augusta Gregory & the haunt of many well-known writers - William Butler Yeats & George Bernard Shaw are the most notable. There I was able to wander for hours & just be happy. I wish we had time to run up to Ballyvaughan as that would have put me in the best of moods, but the Germans would have none of that.

Coole Park

Day 3 - Adventures to the Ring of Kerry & Limerick

Photos of Cork

Foster's Brewery

Cathedral in Cork
Cork is a good 150k from the Ring of Kerry. According to Lonely Planet, the Ring of Kerry is 179k, beginning & ending in Kilarney. No, we did not do the entire Ring of Kerry. In fact, I don't think we did much of it because we got lost inside the ring! And we only had enough petrol to get us 50k! Luckily we stumbled across a bigger town that had a petrol station!! (And a bathroom!!!! I don't have the luxury that guys do when it comes to finding a wall to climb over for a bathroom break.) The plan for the day was to make it to the coast & chill for an hour or two & then be in Limerick at the B&B by 7pm. Well, we were in Limerick by 7, but we never really found the coast & put another 350km on the car.

Macroom castle! No, we didn't stop. :-(

Imagine meeting this on a "two-lane" Irish road. We did! Here's proof!

Possibly the coast?
Of all the cities we visited, Limerick is my favorite though there's nothing to it. Our B&B owner was fabulous, giving us a map & circling a place to eat where we would hear live music (I'll try to post the video) & then noting a night club that was open until 2am.
Our B&B

Rowing on the river

That's what I call a proper Irish sunset.
Well, we made it to the pub, but after putting a way several beers & Fat Frogs, we decided to call it a night & get to bed since we had to be at breakfast at 830.

Yes, those are mine. I enjoyed them immensely.

Swans on the river at Cork

Day 2 - Exploring the Coast

I am not sure how well this map turns out, but I'd like to give you an idea of where we went. If it's not of great quality, then go to this link http://www.discover-ireland.info/pics/maps/ireland_roadmap.jpg to see the actual map. We went from Dublin to Enniskerry on the N11, to Glencree, Glendalough, & Devil's Glen, & down to Hook Head where we stumbled across a ferry that took us to the other side of the bay for 2E a person (including the car!) to Waterford to Cork. Leaving at 11am, we arrived at our hostel around 9pm. I think we put about 400 km of the car today.

I woke up around 6am because my back was hurting but managed to fall back asleep until 9am when we all straggled out of bed. Breakfast was at 930 & quite good (Johannes & Flor weren't impressed). We had italian loaf bread (or at least that's what it looked like) & bagles with butter & jam. The tea & orange juice weren't good. :-( Freddy left to find the car (which I think was on the other side of Dublin!) so the rest of us checked email & sat around in the lobby. The owner immediately pinpointed my American accent & asked if I had seen the news lately. I had read some of the articles on the AOL website when I signed in to check my email account, so I asked what news he meant. He then talked for half an hour on the VA Tech shootings, US gun control laws, & how much he liked Clinton (policies, but not choice of women). Then we began discussing the Irish National Army (rubbish in his opinion) & the war in Iraq (originally a good idea to go in, but now it's just a bunch of boys wanting to play with their toys over there). He was really quite entertaining.

Freddy finally arrived with our light blue Ford Focus (25E a person until Friday). We got lost getting out of Dublin, but finally made it on the correct road - the N11. We drove to Ennisberry which Lonely Planet said was a cute town. There's nothing there. Just a square & some local shops. Nothing to write home about. Freddy's driving is beginning to make me sick - imagine taking curvy, tight, little Irish roads in a little car at 100k/m. Not my idea of fun. Plus his gear shifting needs some help - he blames the gear box. Johannes is also rubbish at navigating - he got us lost a few times (& they won't let me navigate because I'm female! How sexist is that!). Freddy & Johannes began arguing in German, from what I guess was over stupid stuff. Sometimes I'm glad I travel with Germans. Most of the time I wonder what I got myself in to.

A good use for the river in Dublin -






Our next stop was Glencree where we passed a German cemetery. Being Germans, the guys had to see it. We doubled back for a photo stop.




German - translation please!

The English version ...



Looking down on the cemetery from the hill.


Johannes


I think literacy is a big problem in Germany these days ... especially among the male population.
Eventually we made it to Glendalough which means valley between two lakes.




Some people don't read the signs that say "Don't cross the rocks!" ...


Not sure where this is, but it's pretty!

Devil's Glen is "the meeting of the waters" made famous by Thomas Moore.







Freddy was determined to see the ocean, so we headed for the coastal roads & found our way to Hook Head. We took tons of photos of the ocean & the lighthouse. Wanting to travel along the coast, we fell into line for a ferry (luckily we figured it out before we got on the ferry!). It only cost 2E per person for it, so we drove on to the ferry to cross the water, managing to cut 40k off the trip to Cork.



Can we leave him there? Please?




Freddy, on the lookout?

Playing with the camera!

A map of the Ring of Hook

Our carriage across the waters

Racing the barge! Luckily we lost!!

Our ferry's destination

Looking back at the little village we left - from the ferry
By the time we hit Waterford, it was closing in o 7pm & we were getting hungry for real food. We passed a pub too quickly to stop, so we went to the next. It has just closed its kitchen at 7! So we doubled back to the next one which served food until 8pm. I had a pasta dish that was quite good, but spicy! At 830, we were back on the road with the sun setting in front of us.

Sunset over Ireland

Making it to Cork, we drove in circles trying to find the hostel. Finally, I noticed it on a hill. We parked the car & headed in. Apparently our reservation was messed up (we should have had a 4-bed ensuite) & they thought they may have to separate us. By this point, I didn't care since I was the lone female throwing things for a loop. They managed to put us in a 4-bed room that was smaller than my bathroom at home! And it didn't have a bathroom. Oh well, we saved 5E each by doing that. The guys proceeded to argue in German again. I yelled at them, saying that if they were going to argue, they had to do it in English so I at least knew what the hell was going on! They finally turned the light off at midnight & I could sleep.