The Ring of Kerry

Well, today was the Ring of Kerry. It is simply a road that goes in a circle on a peninsula in the County of Kerry. We started out and it was a bit cool and windy. I was hoping that it would warm up and be a clear sunny day for the drive. God really blessed us. The first stop was actually for those who paid for the optional tour of Muckross House. It is supposed to be a beautiful home but I passed on that tour and instead was able to spend a little over an hour in the town of Kilarney. I just walked around. I finally got a chance to stop in at a post office and get some stamps to mail some postcards home. So hopefully I will get those written tonight so I can place them in the mail tomorrow morning. I can pretty much guarantee that I will beat them all home to the US. If they are there before me, I will be really surprised. We got back on the bus and went to pick up those on the tour. We then headed out on the Ring of Kerry. We made a few photographic stops on the ride around and Jim talked a lot. I listened but really a lot of it kind of just went in one ear and out the other. I was too busy looking out the window. It was really pretty. We stopped in the town of Waterville, which is where Charlie Chaplin lived for many years back when he was banned from working in Hollywood during the McCarthy era since he was accused of being a communist. The home he lived in is right by the water and is currently still owned by his daughter, although she does have it up for sale. The town was really pretty. We had a while here and I just decided to go down and sit by the water. It was really beautiful and you could smell the sea air. I love the feeling I get when I am near the water. The beach isn't a sand beach, it is really rocky. I took that time to catch up on my journal and grab a small bite to eat. We got back on the coach to finish up the drive. We did make one other stop at a scenic area. WOW!!! I can't wait till I get home and can post the photos. It was so pretty. We were up on the hill and the ocean was down the hill from where we were. I really don't think there are words that would do the beauty justice. When I see things like that, I can really see and feel God's presence in the beauty. We then headed back to the hotel. We have the evening free as dinner is not included. I was invited by a group to go with them for pizza. I am hoping it is better than most of the other food I have had so far. I will let you all know how Irish pizza is when I write again tomorrow. Miss you all and REALLY wishing you were here with me!

I Kissed the Blarney Stone!!

Well, here I am Tuesday of my trip (although I had to ask someone earlier what day it was cause I couldn't remember). They are all mushed together in my head and I think it is from the trip over here. I guess I didn't totally avoid the jet lag. But other than that I am doing pretty good. I didn't wake up early this morning but I have found myself snoozing on and off on the coach in the afternoon.

Anyway, enough about that... what about today? Right? Well, we were out of the hotel at 8am again. It was already raining, but that is to be expected in Ireland. Our first stop was at Youghal (pronounced Ya'll). This is the town where they filmed Moby Dick with Gregory Peck. We only had about a half hour there but it was right on the water, a little pretty. On our way there Jim (the Tour Director) was talking about Ireland and the history as usual and today he was asking who had Irish heritage etc, etc. Well, I of course know that I am Irish from my mom's side. So Jim was asking me a little bit later while we were standing there if I had Irish and what the family name was, well I told him that it was Barry but that I wasn't sure where the family was from. He told me that they are from County Cork and then continued on about the family and a whole bunch of stuff that I couldn't begin to remember. I thought that was pretty interesting. He really knows a lot of things and it really astounds me that he remembers all this.

Well, we left Youghal and headed for Blarney and the Blarney Stone. We were going to have two and a half hours here since this was also our lunch stop. The Blarney Castle with the Blarney Stone was the first stop there. There are something like 136 steps to the top and they aren't just any normal steps that you would see in a modern building. No, they are a stone winding stair case. You know how you see the really narrow stair cases... yeah, that's what it was. It wasn't nearly as bad as I was afraid it would be. The one thing that I was concerned about was that since it was raining (still) that the steps would be really slick. They were in spots but you just made sure you held onto the rope that they had there... no railing here as it is too narrow. Then to kiss the stone, you sit down, lean backwards and kiss the stone. At least now I can say I kissed the Blarney Stone and acquired the "gift of eloquence" or the "gift of the gab."

I climbed back down (the staircase going down isn't nearly as narrow and it had a railing on both sides. I then walked over to the Blarney Woollen Mills which is a big store that carries Irish goods and as Jim said some things that were made in China. I tried to make sure I got things that were from Ireland although there are some things that won't be from here. I did a good share of my gift shopping which includes my Christmas shopping. They aren't real big gifts but they are at least something since I couldn't bring everyone with me.

We then loaded up the bus and headed for the hotel in Kenmare. We are here for two nights which will be nice cause since I did a bit of shopping today, I have to rearrange a lot of things. I have two nights to do it. I did wander down to town for a little while. Dinner is included tonight but I haven't decided if I am going to join them. The food hasn't been too impressive and those of you who know me should not be surprised. Dinner last night wasn't too bad. Well, I should get going. Internet isn't free here and I have to catch up on my journal from yesterday still.

I will try to be back tomorrow night!

I'm here!!!

First off I am going to apologize for taking so long to get on here. Saturday I was travelling all day and Sunday was a bit crazy and my mind was not with me all day. My flight actually got in an hour early to Dublin. Who has ever heard of that?!? The thing is... when you arrive that early, you have to wait in line for a gate to get off at. I cleared immigration pretty quickly and since I didn't have anything to claim in my luggage I got out of there fairly quickly. I didn't see anyone from Trafalgar there (I think I had just missed the first transfer) so I just caught another bus into the city and walked to my hotel.

The rooms weren't ready yet so they stored my luggage and I was able to shower and change in the locker room at the pool area. That was probably the most enjoyable shower I have ever taken in a locker room ever. I walked all the way to Guinness and spent a little time there. By this time, I was exhausted and I caught a cab back to the hotel and just spent some time in the lobby until it was time for our sightseeing tour... still didn't get into the room.

We went to Trinity College and saw the Book of Kells. This is a handwritten copy of the Four Gosopels written and intricately illustrated by some monks in something like the 8th or 9th century. My favorite part of this stop was the Long Room of the library. It holds some really old books and it is absolutely beautiful. There were no pictures allowed so when I get home, I will have to find some pictures online to post on here so you can see what I mean. It really is a long room. Then we drove around and saw some of the city. We drove in the areas where they have some of the really pretty and colorful Georgian doors that you see in pictures quite a bit. I didn't get many pictures since we were on the coach the whole time.

We got back to the hotel, had our welcome drink and then I went for a walk toward St. Stephen's Green and Grafton St. with the other solo traveller who was on the tour. I stopped and grabbed a bite to eat and headed back to the hotel to rearrange my luggage for the rest of the tour and get some rest. I was trying to write in my journal and didn't make it, I was just too tired. I think it was around 9:30 last night when I fell asleep.

I was up bright and early... 3am... I stayed up for a short time and then was able to get back to sleep for about an hour and a half before my wake-up call at 5:45. We had to have our bags out before 7am when breakfast started. We ate breakfast which was a pretty expansive buffet. I didn't eat much but I am thinking tomorrow I may stick with a pretty hefty breakfast so I am not having to eat as much through the day.

We headed out at 8am and our first stop was Kenmare, at the Irish National Stud Farm and Japanese Garden. This is a place that mostly provides stud services for race horses. They have one Stud there valued at €60,000,000!!! With todays exchange rate it would be about $90,000,000!!! That is alot of money for a horse. My favorite part of that stop was the Japanese Garden. I don't remember a whole lot of the history of the garden but it was really pretty.

We headed out toward Waterford, our stop for the night. Before heading to the hotel, we stopped at Waterford Crystal and took a tour of the factory. It's not like a lot of factory tours where what you see is set up just for the tours. They actually take you through the actually factory and aside from a few rails and ropes, you are actually on the factory floor. At the end, you actually get a demonstration by a Master. It is amazing how precise the work is. I learned that if a piece is imperfect, it is rejected, smashed, melted down and the materials are reused... and worst, the craftsman doesn't get paid for it. They get paid per piece that is completed and have no base salary! Talk about making sure you are at work and on your game. Your livelihood depends on the quality of your work. The guide said they only have about a 10% reject rate in the blowers department (where they actually blow the crystal into the desired shapes) and it is even lower than that in the engravers department. It was actually a really neat tour. Then as with any tour, they dump you out in the store. I actually caved and bought a small piece that was actually pretty affordable. Probably the only piece of Waterford Crystal I will ever own. I would love one of their vases but there is no way I am going to spend that kind of money on a vase.

So that is a quick overview of what I have done so far. There is an optional walking tour here tonight (I am not going) and then dinner at 7ish. I will try to post again tomorrow night!

Until then, I miss you all and I really wish you were here with me (really)!!

I'm on my way!!!

Well, I am on my way today. I will arrive in Dublin at 8:15 on Sunday morning (that will be 1:15am mountain time). My plan is after I get in, to check into the hotel (if my room is ready), freshen up and then hit the pavement. The worst thing I could do is go to sleep when I get there. I will have time to sleep that night. I hope to make it to the Guinness Storehouse, Temple Bar, The Clarence Hotel (Bono owns it... yes, if I see him, I will tell him hi for you Ben ;-)). Then if there is still time, I hope to be able to take a walk down Grafton Street. We will see though. It will be a lot to stuff in, since we do have a scheduled "sightseeing tour" with the group that afternoon, I may skip that if I am getting around pretty good. Time shall tell. I will post an update when I get a chance on Sunday!! See/talk to you all in a week!!!

The Plan for this Blog

Well, for those of you who are visiting this blog in hopes of following me on my trip to Ireland... WELCOME!!! I am really hoping that I will be able to update this blog on a regular basis from the Emerald Isle but that will all be dependent on me finding the time and affordable internet access while I am over there. I will not likely be posting pictures until I get back but I am truly hoping that they will be worth the wait. For those of you who don't know much about my trip, well, let me fill you in on the details. I am travelling on a coach tour with Trafalgar Tours. I am going over there alone but will meet up with a group of people who I will travel the Republic of Ireland with. I don't know who they are, how many there will be or where they are from. Chances are most of them will be a bit older than me (40-60ish), and many of them will probably be from countries other than the US. I do know that they will all be English speaking as the tours are all conducted in English. I am actually looking forward to meeting new people from all over the world. We will only be travelling in the Republic of Ireland (not Northern Ireland), starting the journey in Dublin. I will arrive in Dublin on Sunday morning October 5th after an overnight flight with a layover in Chicago. I will hit the bricks right away to hopefully fight off the inevitable jet-lag as much as possible. We will have a city sightseeing tour around Dublin later that afternoon as well as a gathering with the group that evening. Starting the next day, and over the next 5 days, we will travel to Kildare, Kilkenny, Waterford, Youghal, Cork, Blarney (yes that is where you kiss the Blarney Stone), Macroom, Kenmare, the Cliffs of Moher, Bunratty, Limerick, Ennis, Galway and back to Dublin. If I am unable to post on a regular basis, I will update my blog when I return with entries from my travel journal as well as the many photos I am sure I will be taking. So for those of you who are interested, come along and join me as I Daydream my way through Ireland!!!

1 week to go...

Well, I leave one week from tomorrow. That means I have just 1 week to get ready. I think I will be okay but I am a little worried that I am going to forget SOMETHING. Yeah, most stuff I could just pick up when I get there, but let's face it, it is a bit unnerving to think of being at home, without your favorite shampoo or toothpaste. I know it sounds petty but being that far from home, who wouldn't want to have those little comforts. I am planning on packing up everything I can, this weekend, that way I can actually get a good nights sleep next Friday so I am nice and refreshed before my flight on Saturday.

Documents are here!!!

I just received a call from my travel agent and my tour documents are here! I am headed over there on my lunch break to pick them up. I can't believe it is soo close! I leave in 18 days!!