Monday, April 18, 2011

THE "Rings" in Ireland

So far so good with driving on the roads in Ireland ;). Yes they are super narrow, but I think I am going to become a race card driver after perfecting some of these loops and turns! We are about halfway through our trip in Ireland. Started off visiting the small town of Wicklow - we actually got a parking ticket on our first day but they were nice enough to waive it for us....silly tourists ;). We contemplated sleeping in out rental car that night because London broke the bank, but our mom was not very okay with that so we are just eating pbjs and apples to make up for the amount of pubs we have been visiting. We are going to continue visiting the pubs.

After Wicklow we headed to Glendalough which had some amazing hiking trails, one that led to a beautiful waterfall we ate our lil packed lunch at and spend a few hours exploring! There was a group of about 30 girls staying at the hostel we were at in glandalaugh. They were about 14, 15 years old and in their "free year" at school, or something to that effect. Basically, at that age everyone gets a year off from organized classroom schooling and instead does things like travel around and learn outside the classroom. They said they do it to recharge the kids batteries and decide what they want to study further before they have to go back and take their upper level classes and exams.....I think that's an awesome thing to do for kids! Catch on US ;)

We then drove to Waterford where I toured the Waterford Crystal factory, got to hold the replica/model for the super owl trophy they use each year...kinda cool to see! Waterford was a quick stop, but we chatted with someone in a small store for about 20 minutes about our trip and where to go and what it's like in the states...they are so chatty here!

Next was Kilkenny, another one of our favorites! A very small town which takes about half a day to wander, but once you stop and talk to the locals a full day to experience! We checked into our hostel that night and headed to a pub nearby where we met a bartender who was planning a trip to Vegas and California. We chatted with him for about 2 hours and told us about some cool places to go in Ireland! Went out that night and the next day went to an outdoor market and got some homemade pies. The popular one here is steak and Guiness, but I have not tried this once yet. We stopped at a cute coffee shop called choch o latte and visited with the store owner for a bit before heading out to our next destination.


Cork was a big city we visited after this and stayed for the night before heading further down south Kinsale. I should elaborate on Kinsale because it was one of the most quaint and adorable, colorful, friendly towns we have visited! We went to the well known Fishy Fishy cafe for some fish n chips and went out that night to the local pubs. Everyone knew everyone so we seemed to be the new people in town.

From Kinsale we drove further south west to drive the Ring of Beara. The Ring of Kerry is the more touristy route, which we are going to drive today, but we figured we'd check out the road less traveled first. It was an amazing drive, lots of windy turns overlooking vast valleys of green with yellow spotted shrubs and lords cows sheep and horses. Not tons of trees here like on the east coast, more shrubs and tall mountains. Side note, I told mike i really wanted for us to have to stop our car while driving because there was a heard of sheep crossing the road. You know like in any movie that takes place in Ireland this happens and the people get out of their car and have to scare the sheep away ... I wanted it like that ;) well I have not got my heard of sheep yet, but yesterday we did get a cow lying in the road, alive don't worry. This might have been even cooler than my hopes for sheep.

After the cow We stopped to check out a stone circle and had to basically walk through these people's farm to get there....literally, mike almost got charged by a goat and a cow nearby got in a combat position when we got too close to it's baby calf. I didn't know farm life could be so dangerous. When we got to the stones and they were on top of this mountain with the Atlantic ocean gleaming a deep blue in the background. After wandering the circle for a bit we started to head back and out of this little pin comes running these 2 little jack russel looking doggies. When they finally go to us they rolled over on their backs to be petted, it was one of the jilightx of my day because it was so authentic and just so adorable. Made me miss Liberty and Cooper!!! So, mike and I hung out with our new friends for a while, holding them, petting them, they actually followed us to our car and we had to bring them back up the hill and sneak away. Next we decided to drive to a nearby beach. I did not expect the beaches in Ireland to be a clear blue, but this one was. I'll let you know if they are all like this or if this was our diamond in the rough! Mike and I decided to take a swim and although the water was cold it looked so inviting so we just enjoyed the views until our toes went completely numb. I think about an hour lat we regained feeling in our feet. I wore my beanie in the water with me, it was a warm sunny day, but it was still Ireland ;)

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