Ireland

We went on to Muckross Abbey - a set of ruins which must have been a nice abbey. The church is not too big but but the adjacent two-floor cloister around a courtyard (in which now stands a huge yew tree) for the friars is a good size. Leaving the abbey we came across a "fallow deer", the small Irish deer. It was a young spike horn (two prongs) in velvet. He tried rubbing his antlers on the clothing of Harriet, which really surprised her.

Continuing onward we passed through Killarney in very hectic traffic. Mike says it's really bad in the morning and evening.

Going on from there we stopped at Sammy's Restaurant (and coffee shop and small store) for lunch. The waves were really pounding onto the beach at the Inch strand on which Sammy's is located, so the surfers were having fun. There were several lorries holding gear for surfing schools. Some rain kept most of us inside.

D's fish-and-chips and my hamburger with salad & chips were good pub quality. D was going to buy something in the little store then realized we can get it in Dublin and not have to carry it.

Then we went on, stopping here and there, to Dingle and out the other side of it to do the Slea Head drive. Think narrow roads on cliff-side over the bay. Then some little settlement or some feature would come along that Mike would address. We then stopped at Gallarus Oratory, an ancient stone-on-stone arched early church. It was raining (again) so only three of us scurried down and back.

Mike drove us into Dingle and made the rounds of the streets to show things to us. Rather crowded streets, but we'll be walking so it doesn't make much difference.

We entered Greenmount House and we assembled in the dining room for an overview greeting. Then we were taken to our rooms (we're in #9, at the left (NW) end). The room is large and well appointed. We'll be quite comfy here for our two nights. We turned in clothing for laundry service.

Only two drawbacks - the internet is sloooow at times, and the hot tub is non-functional (rats, we had hoped to use it).

We received our washed clothing in an hour after turning it in. Super service - the lady said we were first in the queue.

After resting and typing the above notes we hiked down hill and up hill to the Dingle Pub. There, we discovered most of the rest of the tribe - at some point everyone but Gwen was in the place.

The bar side had music going - fiddle & accordion with singer. The food side was full when we arrived but John & Joanne had us at their little table as they were about to leave. After some talking our food arrived and they left. Then the Indiana ladies arrived and the Johnstons and Dowlings left.

We finished our fish-n-chips (D) and beef-n-guiness pie (O). D wanted profiteroles, so she had them while we had another drink.

About 2115 (still twilight) we left. We walked downhill and uphill to return to the House.

Now it's read and sleep time.

Saturday… 7/28/18

PhotoLink (very few)

This is our "day off" from traveling.

Actually, Irish law gives drivers a day off in each 7-day period - so he has to get a day off somewhere in our trip. And Dingle is a good spot for the tourists.

We had a good breakfast as we watched a shower pass overhead. Now we're loafing a little this morning and then we'll go to town.

We left Greenmount House and ran into John & Joanne returning. She showed us some very nice things she'd acquired and told a story of a person they'd met named John Barr who finally met his sister (they were separately adopted) after 60 years.

We got to the corner and ran into the ladies from Indiana but they wanted to get out of the breeze and kept going.

We eventually went to town via the road down the hill and then across Bridge Street and down The Strand. We got as far as the gift shop across from the tourist centre, then turned around to go up Green Street. Then we shopped for things.

We bought stuff in Strand House and Adrian Curran, also SuperValu. We looked in several other places for things appropriate to Florida, passing up a lot of Aran wool items. D finally said we have enough.

Up Green Street and east on Main Street. We reached Geaney's and turned in for food because D saw a lamb leg on the menu. I had a chicken-n-leek pie that was a new taste but good.