A Typical Irish Day

Yesterday at Blarney Castle, the sun shone. Today, rain drops drizzled on our heads as we took our jaunty ride through Killarney National Park. Our driver Michael and his horse Sweeney kept our spirits from dampening as we huddled under blankets and drop clothes and peered out at a genuine thatched roof house located in the park.

Sandy did his best to stay dry, despite the rain.

We rode by the second tallest church in Ireland, sadly used as shelter and burial site for over 300 children during the Great Famine.

Light rain and fog clouded our drive around the Ring of Kerry. Our only dry points were stops for Irish coffee, shopping and lunch. Our driver added to our knowledge of Irish history explaining the bogs, churches, farms and medieval remnants that we passed.

This nautical monument honors St. Brandon the Navigator who legend says sailed in a boat made of cowhide to what is now Newfoundland in 600 A.D. In modern times, another navigator succeeded in duplicating the voyage proving that it could have been done.

The O’Connell Church is the only Catholic one in Ireland named for a lay person. He was a rebel leader who tried to gain emancipation and independence for the Irish by peaceful means. He did succeed in getting the Penal Laws repealed so that Catholics could take part in governing their own country as well as owning property and participating in the professions.

The statue of Charlie Chaplin is here because of his visiting his daughter Geraldine’s home.

Richard Nixon, when he was President, stayed in this home while on a fishing vacation.

What is left of one of the houses abandoned by Irish who left during the famine of the mid 1800s. The Irish will not move into someone else’s house, even though they believe them to have left for good, just in case someone in the family decides to return. The countryside is dotted with ruins such as this.

After a lunch of shepherd’s pie, we went to see a demonstration of border collies doing their work as sheep herders.

Three of us dined on hamburgers at the International Hotel. By the way, the Irish have made an art of French fries. They are always good and sometimes even better.

Looking for evening entertainment, we went to the local cinema to see Tower Heist. Review: amusing and entertaining.

To warm up after our walk back to our hotel, we had Irish coffee and Baileys coffee. Lois must have been warm because she had three scoops of ice cream; Sandy must have been fairly warm since he had ice cream on his apple pie.