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| Ring of Kerry |
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| Dinner? |
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| Kells Bay |
August 30, 2007-Jaded Ring
It’s another beautiful blue-skied sunny day. We’ve had
scattered mist but, my oh my, we’ve brought the first good weather Ireland has
had all summer. Now that I’ve written it down we should get rain. I expect rain
in N. Ireland. Every weather map we’ve seen has a dark cloud in the North.
Thank goodness I’m not the only jaded person here. David has
joined me. We took a bus tour of the Ring of Kerry. It lasted most of the day.
We were picked up at our hotel by the wobbliest bus I’ve ever ridden. It
pitched and heaved from front to back and side to side. I’m a good judge of bus
stability since I’ve taken notes for these emails while riding dozens of them
around the world.
The bus driver/guide told us that it’s peak season in
Ireland, but we haven’t seen many Americans and where have all the Japanese
gone? St. Mary’s, however, is with us wherever we go. The guide pointed to yet
another St. Mary’s Church. This is about the third we’ve seen in this country
and I’m not counting the ones in Wales. I think she’s following us.
Here’s what we saw today: mountains, streams, hills, rivers,
farms, sheep, cows, and lakes. They were blue, green, brown, and white. Were
they lovely? Yes, they were. Did they look like others of their ilk all over
the world? Yes, they did. We stopped at a model peat farm and wandered through
thatch-roofed huts looking at artifacts that could have come from Hale Farm in
Akron or Williamsburg in Virginia. I did wonder about a pile of what looked
like huge animal turds lying about. Turned out to be peat set out to dry. Bog
ponies were about (they’re a separate breed unto themselves) but not the source
of the turd piles. (Did you know that spell check doesn’t recognize the word
turds?)
The bus driver played Irish music and tapes of an Irish
comedian to keep us amused between narratives. One song, Dicey Riley, caught
our attention. We couldn’t understand most of the lyrics but it seemed to be
about a whore. We struck up a conversation with a couple from the North Island
of New Zealand, and they joined us for lunch. Gaelic spellings
are more evident in this area and I faced a dilemma when I went to the rest
room. A man went through the door to one toilet but the other was marked MNA.
Evidently that signifies the women’s room since no one kicked me out.
We lurched along the seacoast near Dingle Bay, rolled
through mountain gaps, and crested their 3000-foot high “behemoth.” There were
musicians atop one peak but when we got out to see the views I was more
intrigued by the man with lambs. He let me hold one while David took my
picture. He got a coin for his trouble and I got coated in lanolin.
It was time for a snooze so I missed the story about Herzog
of Israel whose father was chief Rabbi of Ireland. When Herzog was President of
Israel he became close friends of the President of Ireland. Herzog came to
Ireland to honor the president at his death. He dedicated a memorial to him in
the town of Sneem where Herzog grew up.
The last part of our journey was on the perimeter of a
National Park. No truck or automobile traffic is allowed in the park. No need
for traffic “calming” here. I failed to tell you about my latest favorite sign.
It warns that there will be “traffic calming” ahead. We call them speed bumps.
Welcome Change
We bumbled our way along the streets of Killarney and found
a Thai restaurant that had been recommended. None of us could face another
shepherd’s pie or fish and chips. The dinner was delicious. It was everything
we wanted it to be. As we were leaving a lesbian couple whom we’d seen at three
other cities came in. They’re from Melbourne, Australia and one of them was
here for a conference on suicide prevention. We couldn’t think of a way to let
them know we have a connection but our paths may cross again. Short of handing
them a PFLAG card I’ll try to think of another was to get the signal out.
We’d planned to take a carriage ride around the city after
dinner but the horses retire at 6 PM. We ended up playing Scrabble and drinking
in the hotel bar. We only had one drink each but we’re cheap drunks and
staggered up to our rooms at 9:30. BTW Karen won.
Tomorrow we’ll visit around here before taking off for
Shannon. We hope to arrive early enough to beat rush hour traffic.
Toby
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