Ring of Kerry and going home

We spent the first couple hours yesterday (after a delicious Irish breakfast) touring the Ring of Kerry. Here's one of the amazing views we came across:



An astonishing thing happened yesterday: the sun came out, the temperature shot up, and the wind died down. It's a shame we're going home tomorrow!! I actually documented the weather because I still can't quite believe it. This will be my parting picture. It's taken from our terrace. The patch of green in the middle of the picture is the golf course. Don is currently golfing his last game in Ireland (nah, he'll probably go out for another 18 this evening). Thanks for following my blog. Next fall, France!

A trip down south

Today we got up bright and early and drove to Cork. It was a gorgeous city with all sorts of cobblestone streets and unique shops. We continued on to Kenmare, the beginning point for a two-hour trip around the "ring of Kerry"--spectacular Irish coastline views. We'll do that tomorrow because it was a bit foggy this evening. However, that didn't stop us from golfing.

We let a couple of local guys play through. They were interested in our being from Canada and had all sorts of suggestions for places we should visit. At least I assume that's what they were saying because I COULDN'T UNDERSTAND A WORD THEY WERE SAYING!!! I just kept nodding and saying yes so I hope I said the right thing! Here's an action shot of Don in the sandtrap. I'm glad it doesn't have sound because apparently I snapped this during his swing and he made a terrible shot. I'm glad I have this moment for posterity, though. Besides, I let him take it again. Notice the ball already on the green. That's mine.

Belfast

Today we drove up to Belfast. It's only about 50 minutes away. We went on a tour and the commentator gave us a terrific history lesson which was perfectly enhanced by all the sites along the way. First stop were the dockyards where the Titanic was constructed. It was launched exactly 100 years ago today, so there was a big ceremony at the docks. We drove through both the Catholic and Protestant neighbourhoods with their political murals, gates, and high fences. It was quite interesting.

Have a look at the photo below. Blur your eyes and follow the ridge along the top of the cliffs. Can you see a man's forehead, nose, eye, mouth and chin? Apparently, this is what Jonathan Swift saw and what inspired him to write Gulliver's Travels:



JOKE I FORGOT TO TELL YOU:
Here's another joke from the Dublin bus driver. As we passed the old trainyards, he pointed to a big warehouse owned by an American movie studio. He named all the films that had been made there--Italian Job, a mini-series, etc.--and then he told us that Ireland was doing a remake of Silence of the Lambs. It's going to be called, "Shutup, you'se!"

Dublin

Dublin, in the Republic of Ireland, is only about an hour and a half away from Armagh. We parked in a suburb called Malahide and took rapid transit into the city. Then we climbed aboard a "hop on, hop off" tour bus and had a tour of the city. It was quite impressive, but the best part was the tour around the Guinness factory where the bus driver hiccupped and drove eratically while singing. While waiting in traffic, he told lots of jokes: example--This man takes his dog to the vet because the dog appears to be cross-eyed. The vet picks up the dog, looks at him this way and that, over and under, and says "I'm going to have to put him down." The guy, astonished, says "Why, doctor?" to which the vet replies, "because he's too heavy."

Here's a photo of Don beside a statue of James Joyce:

Royal Portrush

Yesterday we drove two hours north to Portrush, the home of pro golfer Graeme McDowell and the championship golf course Royal Portrush. This was a "links" course (built along the coast and nestled amongst sand dunes). Here's a photo:



So after four hours of walking, we decided to visit the Giant's Causeway where we walked another half hour (downhill) along the coast to see some amazing rock formations. These "rock columns" were formed by lava deposits 50 million years ago. The walk back up to the car-park, uphill and against the wind, was hard on our already-aching leg muscles, so we hopped in the car, found a pub in a small village nearby, sat in front of the fire, and self-medicated with some Guinness.

The Quiet Man

No, I don't mean Don.

One of our favourite movies is The Quiet Man starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara. Don has seen it about 40 times and has been known, after several glasses of wine at dinner parties, to re-enact the entire movie, Irish accents and all, to the amusement of strangers and abject embarrassment of wife and daughters. All this to say that we went on a tour of Cong, the west Ireland town where it was filmed. It was good Don was there because he was able to correct the tour guide on several occasions (okay, he didn't correct her, but he did add additional information. He told me later that he actually restrained himself because he could have said a lot more, and that he intends, in retirement, to work summer months as a golf marshall in Ottawa and winter months as a tour guide in Cong).

To prove that absolutely nothing embarrasses me, here's a photo of Don and me dressed up as the lead characters in the re-created cottage--White 'o Morn--from the film. (I think I may have picked up the rug instead of the shawl):



That's the sort of photo with which a person could be blackmailed.

My back teeth were swimming

Have you ever gone on a car trip during which you know you should have gone before, but you didn't feel like it and now here you are an hour from any potential relief station, searching the horizon desperately for a little forest but instead finding only neatly-manicured hedges, highway on one side, cute little Irish cottage on the other, or fields of cows and sheep lazily grazing, free to empty their bladders without moving an inch, looking at you unsympathetically from behind forbidding fences that offer no entrance to the poor soul who is beginning to sweat whilst crossing legs and gritting teeth until finally, you turn a corner in the middle of nowhere and see this:



It is at a time like this that you'll pay $10 for a cup of coffee and think it was the bargain of the century.