Blog 8

Blog 8 2 Rings

I am writing this while in our car on a ferry crossing the river Shannon.

The most famous ring in Ireland is the Ring of Kerry. It is usually so crowded that tour busses snake along the road bumper to bumper I’m not sure why! We spent three days doing 3 rings, and it was our least favorite. If we had to do it over again, we’d skip it.

We spent our first day in Kenmare driving the Beara Peninsula. It was a wild ride that started out on a beautiful (what road in Ireland isn’t!) narrow road lined with huge ferns. We went up and up a windy road over a mountain of stark beauty with huge boulders through the Healy Pass (take note, Michele and Tim). While it started out clear and sunny, half way on our journey it turned windy and rainy. We were headed for a cable car that holds 5 people and a cow going from the mainland to Dursey Island. Unfortunately the operator was taking a 3-hours lunch, or maybe it was fortunately because I wasn’t exactly thrilled about hanging high above an inlet of the Atlantic on a wild and windy day in a cable car so old that it used to carry cows! We continued past a beautiful lake and through tiny fishing villages, stopping in a town so small that we only had one restaurant option for lunch. For lunch, we had only 2 options: ham and cheese sandwich or a cheese sandwich. We opted for the ham and cheese. It was one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever eaten, with 3 layers of delicious bread, tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, onion, delicious ham and cheese. On the wall above our table was a picture of a very elegant lady dressed in a wide-brimmed pink hat and coat. It turned out to be the owner’s mother on her 100^th birthday. She lived until 102! I could only think of my mother!

The most interesting part of the Ring of Kerry was an ancient, prehistoric (is that redundant) round stone ring fort. Its only entry was a very narrow hole in the wall. I seriously think no one over 200 pounds could get through. In ancient times, the chieftan and his people would all live inside. On the outside today were many sheep and cows. It was obvious that they somehow squeezed inside because telltale droppings were all over and it was imperative that we watched where we walked. It was too rough to go out to the Skellig islands, where monks had settlements prior to 1000 AD. We did cross over to Valencia Island, which was the eastern terminal of the first transatlantic cable, whose western terminal began in Newfoundland. At one end of the bridge was a public toilet that won the award for “tidy toilet: (I kid you not!) Throughout Ireland, villages complete for the “tidy town” awards, and we passed through many of them.

Kenmare, where we stayed for two nights won the gold medal of tidy towns. . Half way along the Ring of Kerry, in the middle of nowhere was a chocolate factory, selling world famous candy. They were very generous with their samples, and even the non-chocolate eater (me) liked it enough to buy some. Leaving the ring of Kerry, I nagged and nagged dan to go to the Muckross House, which was only 20 miles away, but which took an hour going and coming. Muckross House (meaning pig house) is the most beautiful Victorian in Ireland. We were surprised to find a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area. The house at one point, had been purchased by the family who built Filoli. They were owners of the Empire gold mines and owned the water rights that supplied SF). I didn’t realize it, but there are pictures of Muckross House on the Walls of Filoli (If you’re not from northern CA, you may not get this reference. Filoli is a large garden estate between San Jose and San Francisco.) Again, an excellent tour! My favorite story:

The owners prepared 6 years for a visit from Queen Victoria and Albert spending an enormous sum on new carpets, wall coverings, furniture, and even new uniforms for their servants. Victoria stayed only 2 nights. The owners were hoping to recoup the money by gaining a title from the queen, which she had planned to give them. However, shortly after she and Albert returned to England, Albert died unexpectedly, and she went into severe mourning. The owners went bankrupt and had to sell their beautiful house and grounds. (I think this is when the Americans bought it). I have a lot more to write, but I’m used to the attention spans of special ed kids (nothing personal) so I’ll write more in a another blog.