DAY SEVEN - BALLYNAHINCH CASTLE HOTEL

This morning we went down to eat our final breakfast in Killarney. We met a sweet couple form Virginia on their honeymoon. We enjoyed talking with them very much and they told us all about their experiences in Galway (the county we are headed to).
I bid a farewell to Rosemary and got ready to make the long drive to Galway.
---SIDE NOTE: I did not get a picture, but Rosemary had many large portraits of her husband with an American Bald Eagle around the B&B. As it turns out, her husband had found the young eagle in Ireland back in the 80's. How it got to Ireland is anyone's guess, but her husband nursed it back to health and returned it safely to the USA. There are letters also hanging in the B&B from President Ronald Reagan thanking him for the safe return of the eagle. Very cool!
Anyway, we decided to take a car-ferry for part of our journey which cut about two ours off our driving time (still was 4 1/2 hours to the castle). I had never been on one before so I got some pictures:
The view from the pier while waiting on the ferry:
Driving on to the ferry:
Lighthouse on our journey across the water
I was really eager to just GET to the castle, as was Ty. we made the decision to drive straight through, no stops (other than a quick lunch). The problem with that is Ireland is SO beautiful. Around every corner is a postcard picture and we couldn't help but stop and snap some pictures.
I have taken so many pictures of scenery lately that I should really change my title from "Birth photographer" to "Nature photographer"
The mountains on our drive:

Little islands in the river:
So, it seems my husband is OBSESSED with blackberries. They grow all over the place in Ireland and he stops and pretty much freaks out ever time he sees some.
Ty: "OMG Blackberries!!!"
Hope: "Yeah??"
Ty: "They are everywhere, I can't believe it!! There's more over here!"
Hope: "Why, if you know they are everywhere do you still get so excited every time you see them?"
Ty: "Because they are EVERYWHERE!!!"
*sigh* enough said (this is a daily conversation, BTW)
I found it amusing when loading the pics tonight, from camera to computer, that I found this picture:
Guess who took it??
A man and his great love for blackberries:
During our drive to County Galway, we finally saw some stray sheep in the road (all of the sheep we have seen previously were behind fences). Autumn is dying for a picture of me walking with the sheep, so Ty and I stopped in attempt to get such a picture. The sheep weren't having it and pretty much walked away from me. Sorry Autumn, this is as good as it gets:
Ballynahinch castle (dating back to the 1700's) is now a hotel/manor located in Connemara - County of Galway. Here we are pulling up to the entrance (note the stray sheep all over the place)
Ballynahinch Castle:
Another view:
Now, I must mention - I am not well traveled. The majority of my hotel stays have been in The Days Inn on trips to amusement parks with the kids... or Florida cities with friends. I have never stayed in a placed where they carry your luggage to your room and serve you a five course meal for dinner. It was lovely to be pampered.
Our room:
The view from our room!
The reception area (real fire blazing)
The lounge (yet another fire blazing)
The sun room
Before dinner, Ty and I went exploring the grounds. They are stunning and there were many trails to follow, along the stream.



Ty had to touch the water and reported that it was freezing :-)
Me by the river (I felt no need to touch the freezing water)

Dressed for dinner:
The dining room:

I took a picture of my salad, because the lettuce was called "Lambs Lettuce" which I had never heard of. It sort of looked like little clovers. It was very tasty.
Candle lit dinner:
My Ty :-)
Hopee
The dessert was a berry cheescake with fresh cream. It was so pretty I had to take a picture. It was very tasty too!
We took our tea and petite fours in the lounge, so we could sit by the fire. It was so relaxing and wonderful. Ty read, as I sat and updated the blog /e-mails. We spent hours there... I often kept thinking I wanted someone to pinch me, because it didn't seem real.
I loved that when we went to our room to retire for the evening, that we smelled of fire.

DAY SIX – KILLARNEY AND THE DAY OF DOING VERY LITTLE

We decided to skip breakfast and sleep in today. We were exhausted from all of our days of sight seeing and wanted a day of doing as little as possible.

We strolled in to town centre for lunch and to check out the town Killarney.

Killarney is very much a tourist town and if you are not taking a coach tour… it lacks much to do other than shop during the day and party at night.

A few pictures of the town:

Celtic Cross Monument in front of a hotel:

Coming up to town centre, beautiful view of church in background:

Killarney is in County Kerry, and the colors are green and gold:

The beautiful church again:

I took a picture of this tree while driving by… which stands in front of the church. The church served as a hospital for sick children during the great potato famine. This tree was placed as a monument to all the children who died there during the famine. They estimate about 3,000 children are buried beneath that tree. So unbelievably sad.

Killarney sits with mountains in the background

Horse and buggy rides

Crazy decorated car on side of the road

I never knew there was such a thing as a Tobacconist!!! Neither did Ty.... boggles the mind:

We ate dinner at Four Star Pizza… which has one less star than our hometown pizza place, but it was still tasty

Finally we decided to see a movie before heading back to the B&B for the night. We saw “The Surrogate” which wasn’t too bad. I never thought I would go to Ireland to see a movie, but it was actually very nice and relaxing. The perfect end to our day of doing very little.

DAY FIVE – KILLARNEY B&B, THE RING OF KERRY & IRELAND NIGHT LIFE

Just as I feared our new B&B doesn’t hold a candle to our Kilkenny B&B. I don’t want to be totally negative, so let me say – It is a really pretty house on the outside. The gardens are beautiful and everything inside is very clean.

Our bedroom is very plain and our bed is two very hard twin beds put together.

Rosemary, our hostess, is nice enough… but not nearly as warm and personably as Val and Tom were.

There was no wireless connection like I originally thought there would be. This bugs me a bit as feel really out of touch especially regarding my children. The walls are paper thin and you can hear everything going on in the neighbor’s rooms.

We went down to breakfast this morning and sat in the only two available seats. We shared a table with a couple from Canada. I am going to stop complaining now as the woman at our table was griping constantly… and I don’t want to sound like her. So… attitude check – onto more pleasant topics…

After breakfast Ty and I walked the few blocks into town and met our bus for our couch tour of the Ring of Kerry.

We wanted to see the Ring of Kerry, but it is an all day drive. We chose the couch tour to give Ty a break from driving and we are glad we did. It was a nice day (a bit over cast, but no rain).

The Ring of Kerry is a journey through some of Ireland’s most beautiful scenery. I am posting some of the best pictures we took (we once again took a ton).

Ring of Kerry Tour:

The water was so clear, you could see the pebbles on the bottom

Artist on the side of the road selling paintings.

Met some friends along the way (Bog ponies!)

Ty and I on the Ring of Kerry Tour

AUTUMN – THIS PICTURE IS FOR YOU!!!

I think he likes me

Stopped for lunch and saw this sign (aka Coffee to go)

The Following are more pics from the Ring of Kerry. I feel so fortunate to have witnessed such beauty, it really took our breath away.

We got back to the B&B around 5:30pm. It was a long day but we enjoyed the tour so much. We changed clothes and decided walked into Killarney town centre for dinner.

On our way to dinner (Ty’s expression cracks me up)

We noticed Killarney is a very touristy place and has quite the night life. Ty and I had yet to have a true Irish Pub experience, so we decided tonight would be the night to do so. We wandered into an Irish pub that played live Irish music. The Irish music started about 9 pm and the pub started filling pretty quickly. People were clapping and singing along and it was very close to how I had always pictured it.

What I didn’t picture was the nite club in the back of the pub which opened at 11pm. Ty and I wandered back there to see what it was like and we were met with some very familiar electronica music. It was a cute little club and everyone inside was dancing. There was very little sitting or just standing around going on. Ty has never been one to dance very much at clubs, so I was shocked to see him out on the dance floor. I guess he figured, why not – we were in another country where no one knows him. ;-) It was awesome to see him having a great time.

I promised I wouldn’t post any pics of him dancing. Here is a cool one of the lights on the dance floor:

We then made our way back to the pub side which by then was wall to wall people. A new live band was now on. We walked in as they were playing Garth Brooks “Friends in Low Places” The whole pub was singing along and I found the whole scene to be hysterically funny.

We left and walked back to the B&B. It was definitely an experience, and though we had a great time, one night of pub-ing is enough for us