Kickin' It in Killarney

We get to the bus station in the morning but the next bus for Killarney won't leave for a few hours, so we just bum around. Then we hop on the bus and enjoy another beautiful drive. Arriving in Killarney our first odservation is how spread out it is, it doesn't seem like a city where you can easily walk. Whereas most European cities are very compact, Killarney reminds me more of an America suburb. The bus station is inside an outlet mall, and the free shuttle to the hostel (which is about 7k out of town) won't begin till the 5th, so we wait for the next bus going that way. The hostel is beautiful, in an old country manor set on 72 acres. There is a beautiful grand staircase, a lounge, a reading room and a kitchen and lots to explore. I sit in the reading room till my book is finished and thenwe eat at around 11 before going to bed.

02-06-06 Tady we are doing a bus tour of the Ring of Kerry. We are lucky inthat the bus is practically empty. The first stop is a mock village, which is really cute but crawling with people. The Bog Ponies are cool though. Then we drive the Ring, the driver stops for lots of photos. It is really pretty, and there are so many different shades of green to be seen. We watch some sheep dogs work and stop for lunch, where Cook and I go grocery shopping since there is nothing near the hostel, and our last stop in Sneem. It is a very cute little town, there is a wedding going on and we watch the bride and groom drive away. When we get back Cook takes me to the castle she "discovered" up the road. It is a cool round tower in this field. We also go to the old church and look at the amazing view and the mama and baby horse. Then back to the hostel where we eat, read and go to bed. 03-06-06 We decided to head into town today. So first we walk 6 or 7k over to the castle, which is cool, but we decline to go in. It is so hot today! Then we walk out to the old copper mine and Governer's Point with some lovely views of the lake. From there out along neat swamps and not so neat city to the Muckross house. It is set in an huge national forest that doesn't allow cars, which is great. What isn't so great is that we arrive half hour AFTER they closed, so we do not get to go in. Oh well. Then we begin the long process of heading back. As I said, it is hot and a ton of pavement, so we were both pretty tired. The only thing that made it bearable was the 27 deer we saw along the way. Some of then were mere feet away, which was pretty awesome. We finally made it back to the hostel and after ordering a pizza went straight to bed. 04-06-06 Today we are doing a tour of the Gap of Dunloe. The company calls to say they'll be 15 minutes late, but by the time they show they are an hour late. The driver races to the gap and tells us we have to meet the boat at 2, and that we've plenty of time. We have about 2 hours and 15 minutes, maybe less. So we start walking, it is really beautiful, a glacier formed valley with lots of cut looking rock and green everywhere. We are passing every person we see and yet as we are getting ready to descend this jaunty car (horse and buggy) driver tells us if we do not cut through the sheep pasture below us we'll be late. So off we go down this steep pasture with long grass hiding big holes, one of which I fall in and twist my left knee (why is it always my left knee?). We reach the bottom and have to climb over a barb wire fence before practically running down the road. We get to the cottage where the boat leaves from (we were meant to have a leisurely lunch there) and catch the boat. The ride is beautiful, lakes with mountains rising from them. The water is drinkable, so I fill my bottle from the boat. They do lots of trout and salmon fishing apparently. At one point the water is so low that rapids have formed and all but 4 of us have to get out and walk to the other side. I sit on the very front of the boat and watch, it is really cool, although the boat hits a few rocks and bounces around. Kinda like Bigfoot Rapids, but real. After that the boat starts to take on more water than usual, but we make it to land and take the bus back to the hostel. Cook complains about the fact that they were so late, turns out they forgot us (like we thought), and so they issue us full refunds. So not too shabby for free.