Ireland Days 3 & 4

Wow, two days. I can't really remember what we did. Too much Guinness and not enough note taking, or maybe just killed off enough brain cells! I woke up early, wanting to go for a run prior to getting in the car. We had a full day of driving and some touristy site seeing to do. I looked out the window and it was raining. There was a momentary thought of, "I'm not training, I am supposed to be resting, it's raining, go back to bed". I am glad I didn't listen to myself. I ran across the river and into the park and got to run next to a 16th century castle. How cool was that! Not something I ever get to do. That made it all worth it. It was only 3 miles, but that is enough to make my leg hurt for a couple days.....ergh!

We drove from Kilkenny and ended up in Kinsale. We bypassed the city of Cork but drove around it 3 times (poor planning). We stopped at the Blarney Castle. I was supposed to kiss the Blarney stone. We stood in line for about an hour at which point someone came out of the tower and told us it would probably take another hour from where we were in line. FORGET IT! We got there when all the cruise ships were there..Bad timing. I decided that when you get old, instead of wearing your race t-shirts, cruise people where their past cruise t-shirts around (kind of the same idea) pretty funny. So no kissing a piss covered stone - oh well. I don't really want the gift of gab. I think it would take more than kissing that to work on me! Next stop...Jameson distillery. What? Really? That's on the other side of Cork.....ok. It was ok, but we got thrown in with a dutch group and the movie presentation was in dutch so we had to leave. The next english tour would be in another 1/2hour (darn - wish they would have told us that before we bought the tickets) Anyways, the tour of the old factory was cool, but I don't really want to see how they make alcohol anymore on this trip. I would prefer to see other things and drink my libations. They gave us "free" Jameson's to drink at the end. I was nauseated for a couple hours afterwards...yuk! Don't know why I thought I might like that stuff, I guess I figured it might be like Guiness...better here than in the US (wrong).

Anyways, we drove to Kinsale. Lisa is really good at the driving thing and I have figured out (mostly) the navigating. Here's the thing though. We can get to our destination..ie the city we are going to....but then we don't have street maps for the towns so we drive around in circles trying to figure out where we are supposed to be going. This night was no exception. We were looking for our B&B. We had the street name and actually found it on a map. But none of the streets have signs on them so you have no idea where you are! Frustrating! To get our B&B I had to call them on the phone while Lisa was driving to see if they had rooms. Lisa did not want to call them b/c it is hard to understand them and figuring out the numbers is difficult. I didn't really want to call either, but decided that since she was driving I would suck it up and make the call. Lisa was cracking up. I guess I reverted to some weird form of Irish/american accent about 2 octaves higher than I usually speak. Hey, we got the room. I understood her, she understood me. As a side note however, when we left the B&B the next morning, the owner asked where we were from. She said she couldn't tell we were from the states except every once in a while it would "flash out". Haha, must be getting better at me accent.

Day 4 - Kinsale to Killarney

We were going to stay in Kenmare but it was torrential downpours and really strong winds so we decided it was a good day to just drive to Killarney. We figure this is a good headquarters to see a bunch of stuff that is close by. I am tired of packing my suitcase. I like to nest (for those of you who don't know me). So 2-3days in one place will be a little like heaven! We went to the grocery and got two baguettes, cheese, apples and cookies for a little lunch. We went to some stone circles in the middle of nowhere. Lisa (the formally known horse whisperer) is now a cow whisperer. Some cows were grazing as we got out of the car. Lisa had to keep rushing them along the path to get them to move. She broke out her mad intellect and informed me that cows kick out to the side (followed by a brief but hysterical demonstration) unlike horses who kick backwards. (ok brainiac) Anyways, the cows parted and we saw the circles. Cool b/c is was rainy and eerie.
We then drove over the Cahal Gap and down into Killarney natl park. It was very pretty, although rainy. Once we got there, the rain stopped. We walked around town, had some beer, dinner and then walked to the Ross Castle. I will have to start writing down all the funny things as I am drawing a blank. I am going to bed now. Since I have internet(for next 2 days) I will have to catch up next time.

Turdy Tree is:
A. a smelly bush
B. the place your dog goes to the bathroom
C. the number of euro's you owe for your dinner