The airport in Germany is just a one level, very basic airport that this airline flys out of. We paid for priority boading so we could board first and then all sit together. When they are ready to board the plane you walk outside the gate doors and down a path to your plane and up the stairs to the plane. Of course Amber had slept the whole way to the airport so she doesn't sleep on the plane, and then naps on and off the rest of the day- ugh!
We flew to the Kerry airport in Ireland. It looks like we were landing in the middle of green fields. This is the smallest airport I had ever seen. It is just a little one level building with 2 gates. Can't get too lost here. So we exit the plane on the tarmack and walk into a room and right there is the baggage claim. Then you walk down a hall and you are outside. Here someone from our rental car met us and gave us the car. We rented a Ford. It is the same car Jason had before he got his new car. So it is like a mini minivan, so it was good for all the driving we were going to do here with all of us as it seats 7. But here you do drive on the opposite side of the road. So it was freaking Jason out for a few minutes. And as you leave the airport there is a bright yellow sign reminding you to drive on the left side.
Jason did good, but it was also freaky going around the roundabouts like this. You turn left to enter them. Everytime we stopped to get out Jason was going to the wrong side of the car to get back in.
From the airport we drove to the house we rented in Killarney about 20-30 min. away. The house is a nice size house up on a hill overlooking some fields, a few houses and then the mountains.
We open the door and there is oil, actually oil all over the floors. The kids had taken off their shoes and were sliding all over the floor. It was gross. So we told them to go upstairs and play. We didn't even know what to do with this. There was no cleaning towels or something to clean this up with. The house was also freezing. It was cold and cloudy here today. So Jason's dad gets the heat, water heater and the oil furance going. We unload everything and then go back out to eat lunch.
On the way to the house we had passed a Irish restaurant with a pub attached so we went there. The food was good. We were happy everything was in English. Sometimes with their accent it is hard to understand what they are saying so we just had to keep asking them to repeat it. Soups are very popular here, so a few of us had the potato and leek soup and it was wonderful.
After lunch we went back to the house to wait for the owner to show up. She was 40 min. late and we were still freezing. Finally she showed up and we went over a few things. She said she was going to mop up the oil that she had meant to get here before we came in but never made it. A bunch of lights were out in the house, at least every room almost had a light out. So she brought a bunch of bulbs over and said if we wanted to replace them we could. Here she said to heat the house can be very expensive so we were going to have to pay for the heat and electricity for our week. So she recommended that when we are not here to turn off the heat and then turn it on while we are home in the evening and then off or low at night. So Jason's dad was our heater man, turning things on and off during the day. The heat was put out by those european registers so if we turned off the heat before bed it stayed warm upstairs during the night.
The house was suppose to be a bed and breakfast for this owner but then due to other events she and her son decided to rent out this house and they had built one more right next to it as well. So upstairs there were 5 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms. Downstairs were 2 more bedrooms and a long family room, long dining room and then kitchen. But the floors in this place squeaked so badly that it was so noisy anytime anyone walked on them, especially the upstairs floors.
Three of the bedrooms upstairs had 3 beds in them, so they said this place slept like 19 people b/c of all the beds they put in some rooms.
After we met with the owner we drove to downtown Killarney. It is a cute small town. It reminded me of our hometown at home. There was a lot of shopping and restaurants and pubs.
We walked around for a bit, booked a tour for the next day and then went to dinner at this great place that happened to be open early. Here restaurants don't open until 6:30pm. The food was great, and it was a warm and cozy little place. After dinner we headed to the grocery store to pick up food for breakfasts and some lunch stuff if we needed it. We loved that everything was in English!
Sat. As I mentioned earlier this house creaks very badly and when Jacob got up at 4:30 in the morning to look for klneex and was walking in the hallway he woke everyone up! They had no klneex or any type of shower soap at all in the house.
We ended up postponing our tour until Sunday so today instead we went and saw the Muckross House. We got a little lost driving there, as Jason's phone died with the GPS on it and I forgot to pack my GPS from here so all we had was some random piece of paper with part of the town on it. Even Jacob asked at one point why we were driving around in a circle! We did see a gas station called "Amber"
So after we found it, it is like a mini castle.
It was built in 1843 in the Victorian Era. It is very pretty and the neat thing was we got to tour most of the rooms. A lot of times when we do castle tours you can only visit part of the rooms. It was 2 floors and then a basement. The first family to live here had 4 children and they had a side of the house with a bedroom, playroom and school room, dining room and their own separate staircase.
When this family owned it I believe was when the Queen of England came over to visit and stayed with them for a few days. They had sent her an offer to stay there when they found out she was coming to Ireland but not for 6 more years. So in those 6 years before the Queen came they remodeled the house and gave the Queen 3 rooms on the 1st floor. The staff got new uniforms, and they got new silver for the house. The Queen came with about 100 people/staff. Needless to say that after this visit the family started having some financial problems b/c of all the money they had spent on things.
The architect that built the house thought ahead that someday they would have running water and put in the pipes and the drains for it. And the house did get running water, but not for about 30 more years! Crazy that he was able to plan ahead. So then we saw the master bedroom and the room next to it on one side was the man's dressing room with a portable tub bin that he would have bathed in, and then the toilet chair with a bowl underneath it, yuck! The other side of the master bedroom used to be a the woman's dressing room, but once the running water came they remodeled that into the bathroom. After the first family owned it the Guinness family bought it and used it as a hunting lodge since it has a lot of land and is now in the Killarney National Park. The bedrooms were on the side of the house that faced the Muckross Lake and then the mountains behind the lake. There are a lot of trails around the property and lake.
The next man to buy the house bought it for his daughter as a wedding gift, not bad! After the daughter died the husband donated the house to Ireland and it now sits in the National Park.
The house has more informal nice furniture. In the basement we saw the wine cellar, the servants weren't trusted with this key only the head butler and the man of the house would have a key to it. Tea was an expensive commodity and was also not trusted so it was kept in a locked table in the woman's entertaining room. The servants would bring up the hot water for it and the woman of the house would have a key to the table and mix the teas for her guests. In this room they also had these shielded things the woman could put by them if the fire was too hot in the fireplace for their faces since their makeup was made out of lead, some aresenic and something else that I can't remember now.
In the basement up on the wall there were 22 bells of different size. When a bell rung depending on its size it would have a different sound and the servants would have to know which room was ringing for them to go to. The kitchen was also in the basement and the servants would have to carry the heavy platters of food, that would also have water underneath the tray to keep them warm, down the basement corridors and then upstairs into the dining room.
It was a very nice tour.
After the tour we walked around the house and down to the lake. From here we went back to the car and ate our lunches we had packed and then drove to the Torc Waterfall. It is also in the National Park, but you can drive there and then walk up the path to it. It was very pretty. A lot of moss all around it.
Jason and the kids hiked up a bunch of stairs by it and around the area on top for a bit.
Then we were done and headed back to the grocery store for our daily purchases. There were no adapter plugs in the house so we had to buy those and then we got some things for dinner to just eat at the house. Today we found a different bigger grocery store. It had better prices then the other store and a lot better prices then Luxembourg. This store was much more American and even had some foods from home. I wanted to buy things and just put them in my suitcase to take back. I was able to get a few things back!
The house was so cold when we got home I had my coat on for a few hours before I was warm enough to take it off. We watched a movie we had rented and Amber put herself down for a late afternoon nap.
Jason did a lot of driving on this trip and a lot of phone calls. Here is a picture of him on the phone outside the house.
The house was on a hill and the hill had been carved out to build the 2 houses, so the boys ended up outside later digging and playing on the rocks.
We turned on the fire place and had a nice dinner, and then the adults watched a movie we had rented.
Sunday the sky cleared up and the sun came out. We did our tour today of the Gap of Dunloe. This is where glaciers carved this dramatic mountain pass. So we met in town at the tourist office and got on a small bus which drove us out to the starting point of it and drops us off. This is also where Kate Kearney's Cottage is. This was the home to a local beauty who had an illegal drinking house for passing travelers in the mid 19th century. Now it is a restaurant and gift shop. From here you got on the jaunting cars, horse pulled buggys. Only 4 people can fit in one, so Jason and I were with Sean and Amber, and Jason's parents were with Jacob and another man on our tour.
So this horse ride is about 1 1 /2 hours through this path in the mountains. It was a bit bumpy esp. when the horse was running. The man working the horse either walked next to the horse or hopped on the back of the buggy. This trail takes you through the Gap between 2 mountains on this neat steep path up and down the mountains.
There are some little lakes and rivers here. A lot of sheep and rams on the mountain sides. Those are the white dots in the picture.
A lot of people on bikes. Jason biked this about 15 years ago or so when he visited Ireland. Some people walking, and a few cars. There are a few homes out here b/c this area is the town of Dunloe. Talk about a deserted area to live in. We saw a few deserted stone houses and barns. At one point the drivers of the buggys stop and yell "Hello" and the sound bounces back to us. The kids thought that was neat. Sean tried it but surprisingly wasn't loud enough to make it work.
So here in Ireland everyone we heard spoke English, but some people like the people walking the horses also spoke Gaelic. This language you have no idea what they are saying. All the signs on the roads were in both English and Gaelic.
Sometimes they needed to give the horses a break and had us get out and walk.
On the way down on the other side of the mountains the horse was running quite a bit and Amber fell asleep on my lap.
Our horse coming to sniff out Jacob!
How anyone could sleep with all that bouncing I do not know! At the end of the horse ride they drop you off at another cottage and we had lunch. Their tables were all outside. We had packed part of our lunches and then had wonderful mushroom soup. All of us had a bowl of it. It was yummy! Today the sun was so bright and we were outside all day, not super warm as we all had like 3 layers of clothes on, but Jason and Sean actually got sun burned on their necks and faces. This area around here they called the Black Valley because it didn't get electricity here until around 1976, phone service came 25 years ago, and cell phone service 2 years ago!
From here you get on a little motor boat. Just a rowing boat with a motor on the back so all open. The problem is we can't find the boat! It was early for boarding but we just wanted to find it. The sign by the lunch place tells us to go down by this little dock to catch the boat. We get there and there is a man in another boat that tells us our green boat can't get over here b/c the water level is too low on the lakes right now. I guess it is way down, like 6 feet or something. So the man tells us to go back up the path and just follow it around, then other people from our tour get the same instructions from him as well. So we are all wondering this trail and we walked all the way around this side of the lake and there is no boat dock. So we head back and are confused where to go. We end up walking around for like 30 or more minutes just trying to find the boat. Jason even calls the tour office. So we go back up to the cottage where we had lunch and ask them where to go and it turns out there is this little trail, it looks like bikes have gone on it and that is it, to the left after you are on the main trail around part of the lake you turn and go on this. But there are no signs or anything. So we finally find the boat. It seats 12 and everyone wears a life jacket.
It is a cold 1 1/2 hour boat ride through the different lakes and rives that comprise Lakes of Killarney area.
Amber fell asleep again!
Our boat driver reminded us of popoye and he had the cutest dog named Charlie.
Almost everytime the boat driver talked to us he had one eye closed, like squinted shut. He kept calling us lads. So this ride is just seeing nature as well. Lots of moutains and different views, and vegetation. No houses on these lakes. They do tours on these lakes and fishing and that is all that is allowed. The waters here are down very low this year and at one bridge he made everyone get out of the boat but Jason's mom, another lady and me since Amber was asleep on my lap. Everyone else had to walk along the river and over the bridge. We just scraped along the rocks under the bridge and down the river a bit and then picked everyone back up.
The boat ride ends at Ross Castle and here the bus picks you up and takes you back to town.
That is Jacob and Sean.
From here we went home and then latered ordered a pizza and Jason and I ran to pick it up and then a quick stop at the store for some salad and a few things. Here we had to buy sacs as you have to bring your own bags and bag your groceries as well. We put the stuff in the trunk, and then we both walk around to the wrong side of the car to get in.
Pizza was good, and we did some laundry and watched another movie. More lights burnt out in the house today.
Monday. Everyone is sleeping in well, probably because everyone is waking up if one person gets up to go to the bathroom. Today we decided to do the Ring of Kerry. So it took us 5 1/2 hours to do it! We started in the morning and about an hour into it Amber was bored looking out the window so she leaned her head on my shoulder and went to sleep.
This is basically just a pretty drive with places to stop along the side of the road and take pictures.
You see mountains and cliffs. It is on the south west part of Ireland. You drive toward the coast and then back up and around so in a circle. The road gets so narrow and very bumpy.
Some cars and trucks going the other way are going so fast. At one point there was a rock wall coming up on our left, right up against the road, and a truck on the right over too much in our lane coming at us. Jason's mom, Amber and I think Sean all yelped a bit. I closed my eyes! Luckily we didn't hit anything.
One thing we have started to notice this trip is that sometimes when Jacob is talking he has a British accent. It is so funny! We think it just must be from school. When most Europeoners learn English it is the British way and alot of people do have that accent at school, so he must have picked it up.
So this drive and view was very pretty. We saw mountains, sea, green areas, rocks and sheep.
We stopped at a little diner overlooking the cliffs for lunch. It was a great view.
Jason and Amber had the lamb stew and Amber loved it. It was a bit too lamby for me. At the gift shop here Amber got a little lamb stuffed animal with a shamrock on it and played with it in the car the rest of the trip. If she only knew that is what she ate!
After lunch we continued on our drive on the narrow, bumpy, curvy road and soon after Sean started to feel car sick. Thankfully he ended up getting dreary and just fell asleep and then was fine after a little nap. I was suprised Jacob wasn't feeling sick too as he sometimes feels car sick and the 2 boys were stuck in the way back of the car. It started raining a bit too so that didn't help with the drive.
This view here is called the Ladies View, but the boat driver was joking the other day and said it was nicknamed Ladies Last view. So Jason is trying to push me off the rock for my last view!
After the drive we went back to the house in the afternoon. We noticed the cow across the street in the field was laying down and seemed restless. A little bit later we noticed that she had given birth and there was a little baby calf next to her. So we watched the cows for awhile as the little one kept trying to stand up and kept falling down or over. Earlier in the day while we were gone another cow had had a calf as well.
We stayed in for dinner. After dinner Jason and I went down the street to a Pub and had a drink. It was nice. We then had to make our daily run to the grocery store and pick up some more water and a few things. So much better selection of foods here then in Luxembourg.
I washed the whites today and the kids socks are so dirty and black. I think all that oil just soaked in their socks. They didn't get much cleaner after washing, yuck.
Here they have the roundabouts as well. But here if the roundabout is too tiny to have a piece of land in the circle that you need to drive around they just paint a white circle on the road. It looks very funny.
Tuesday it was cloudy and rainy in the morning so we went to a Cave visit north of Killarney. They found this cave in the 1980's. It is a short 20min. tour of it but neat.
Attached to the cave place is in indoor climby play area for the kids.
Here it is Ireland's spring break as well so it was getting crowded here. But we found a big table to sit at while the kids played. Amber blends in well here with her red hair. You see it all over in Ireland.
We ordered lunch here and it was a nice lunch. After lunch the kids finished playing and then we drove to another town further north called Tralee. Jason dropped us off and we walked around town and got some ice cream while he took a call in the car. It was pretty cold and windy and quite crowded here. It was a bigger town. There were a lot of shops, but nothing that we really wanted to stop in. So when Jason finished his call he picked us up and we headed back to the house.
When we got back we noticed a 3rd cow in the grassy area where the other 2 had just had babies and it looked like she might be in labor. She was up, down, laying on her side, putting her leg up a bit. Sure enough. About an hour after we got home there was a baby calf by her side and she was licking it clean. We are wondering if this is a busy cow birthing week!
For dinner we went into town and into an Irish Pub. The 1st part was a small pub with little tables and then you walk in the back and it was a restaurant. So we sat here as there was no room for us up front. Jason and I both had the duck dish and it was very good. They had a nice kids menu here too. Jacob's was delicious. He had a vegetable stir fry with noodles. Sean got a kids pasta. They both finished their meals and ate off the rest of our plates as well. They may be moving off the kids menu soon!
After dinner we ran to guess where, the store. Tonight as we pulled up the driveway across the way there was one of the most beautiful rainbows I have ever seen. This half of the rainbow just came down from the sky and opened up into a very wide and bright rainbow and seemed to be touching the ground.
They boys wanted to go see if there was a Leprechan and gold at the bottom of it.
Amber picked out a postcard from Ireland and it says "The Leprechans made me do it" That is perfect for her!
Tonight we watched the Muppets movie we had rented. We hadn't seen it yet. Jacob was totally cracking up during the movie. I told him that is what I used to watch when I was little.
After the kids went to bed Desperate Housewives was on the local TV here. The house said they had satellite but it wasn't working so we only had 3 channels. I was surprised it was broadcasted here and it was an up to date one too. They don't have shows like this on local Luxembourg TV stations. Our local cable in Luxembourg went out about 2 weeks ago and we only have a few channels on it. In January our sling box stopped working on our other TV so we haven't been watching much TV for awhile. We can still watch the sling box on the Ipads and computer so it is possible.
Wednesday we drove out to the town of Dingle and did the Dingle Peninsula drive. It is a peninsula on the west side of Ireland. So todays drive was about 6 hours. The peninsula has beautiful beaches, but I am not sure how much the weather or the water temperatures ever warms up for people to use these great beaches. It was so very, very windy today. The 1st beach we stopped at was blowing sand around so bad. The boys wanted to walk all the way down by the water and so Amber started walking with them. About 1/2 way down she turns around and starts screaming and running back. She thought it was too windy for her and the wind was going to blow her hat off! Too funny!
So we saw beautiful cliffs, green pastures with sheep right up along the cliffs, old stone houses, those stone fences only about 4 feet high, houses just out in the middle of these mountains, and houses right on the road.
It was a very windy, narrow road here as well.
Jason must have been driving in the middle of the road here!
We got to Dingle and got out and saw the Marina and found lunch at a little Irish Pub.
A lot of us had soup, Ireland has some good soup. Today most of us had the broccoli, potato soup and it was good. Soup is probably popular b/c of the weather here. Even Jacob ordered the soup.
After lunch we walked around the little town, but it was so windy and then started to hail a bit. There is a shirt here that says "Seasons of Ireland" It has 4 sheep on it. The winter sheep has ear muffs, a scarf and an umbrella b/c it is raining. The spring sheep has an umbrella b/c it is raining and rain boots. The summer sheep has on sunglasses and an umbrella b/c it is raining. And the fall sheep has an umbrella b/c it is raining. We thought that shirt would also be good for Luxembourg!
Next we walked over to the Aquarium in town and went through that. It was pretty small, but they have a huge turtle, huge stingrays and some sharks. So the kids enjoyed it.
From here we just got back on the little road and continued on.
On our way we stopped at an old fortress at the end of a cliff. It was so windy I had trouble holding the camera up to take pictures.
When we got back into the car Amber yawned once and then just layed her head on my shoulder and was out.
Then we drove back to Killarney and stopped at the store to pick up food for dinner. We decided to just make spaghetti and got some salad stuff, frozen veggies and bread for garlic bread. Dinner was good.
Tonight the kids watched their Dolphin movie and the adults watched a movie. Nothing like 4 adults trying to watch a movie on the little Ipad screen.
We have been having nice fires in the family room in the evenings.
The kids have been doing well with all the driving and we started bringing some of their things in the car to keep them happy.
Thursday was a beautifully sunny day, still cold though. We drove to Blarney Castle. It was a little over an hour away. It is in a cute little town called Blarney. The drive was pretty. Flat, green land today. Not too many curvy roads, some wider roads and here more cows then sheep. So were driving East across Ireland today.
The castle is in a nice garden, and walking path. And of course it was a bit windy here as well. So the castle is actually in ruins which I didn't know. So they have inside rooms of the castle marked but it is funny b/c you will walk in some of the main floors rooms and it will say this is the greeting hall and you look above you on the wall and way above your head is a fireplace- spooky. And it will say that is where the second floor used to be and that was the dining room where the fireplace was but over time the floor gave way and is now completely gone. So it is now like a 2 story room. The Blarney Castle is famous for kissing the Blarney Stone. Kissing the Blarney Stone is suppose to give you the gift of gab. It was built in 1446.
The stairs to walk up to the top of the castle are very tiny and scary. They are whindy, stone, spiral stairs. I am not sure how a lot of people can make it up there.
They had rooms you could go in along the way up.
But I was getting scared near the top and Jason's mom decided she didn't want to go up those stairs any more.
There was just a rope on your right side to hold on too. But by the time I reached the top my feet were having a hard time stepping on the tiny steps and I was using my hands to basically crawl up and it was so narrow I was almost getting stuck with the backpack on - crazy!
So once at the top it is a beautiful view.
There was no one else up there yet. I think the tourist season only started here about 2 weeks ago, so it was a nice time to visit Ireland before all the tourists arrive.
Since there was no line to kiss the stone we went right up to it. We all kissed it except Amber who was too young, since you have to lay on your back and there is an older man sitting there to help you slide backwards and you lean your head back and grab onto these 2 rod iron rods and pull yourself down a bit under the edge of the castle and then kiss the stone. And then he helps pull you back up.
Jason's dad
Jacob
Me
Jason
Jason's mom
So above the window you see some rod iron bars. This is where we were leaning our heads back to kiss right above them.
It is just a regular looking stone, but is very smooth probably from years of people kissing it. It is a little scary as you are upside down and there are just a few rod iron bars there at the bottom preventing you from falling to the ground from the top of the castle. Janet was able to walk up the exit stairs to the top and then she kissed the stone as well. The exit stairs were a lot wider and easier to walk when we went down.
We walked around the castle and the gardens. We saw a funky tree.
Jason on the phone working as we are walking around the grounds.
Then there is a beautiful private house that was built in the 1800's called the Blarney house. This house has been passed on and stayed in the family since then, crazy. It was closed now but not sure if it opens later in the season.
After this we drove to the town of Cork. We were going to stop for lunch but when we got there it is a big city, compared to what we had been seeing. And we really didn't see anyplace we wanted to stop and it was hard to find any parking spots. It is along a river and we drove around it a bit and then decided to head out of town. So we stopped at McDonalds for lunch. The kids were very happy! From here we drove back to the house. Today we were gone about 5 1/2 hours. Amber fell asleep in the car about 1 min. before we pulled up the steep driveway to the house. The driveway is all gravel. If it was icy I am not sure you could get up or down it.
We hung out here for a bit and then Jason and I ran to the store for our usual nightly run. We picked up some food for dinner, mostly mushroom soup. It was so good!
After dinner we are looking out the window and all of sudden we see one of the mama cows bolting for the road in between our houses. We run outside, we are on the hill overlooking the road and the house. I guess her baby had gotten between the fence and got out in the yard near the road. Some random people driving by had even seen it and stopped to shoo the cows back. So the mama got the babies attention and started back to their field, but to get back there they had to go up on the people's deck, which is how she got over there as well. It was so funny to see this big cow walking on a deck.
There was a beautiful full moon tonight and the sky was so clear. We are kind of out in the middle of nowhere here so you could see the stars. Very pretty night!
Friday we got up and packed up to fly back to Germany. The owner came by to read the meters so we could pay for the heating and electicity for the week. It came to about $130 for the week, and that was with the heater off for most of the time during day since we were always gone. We drove back to the tiny airport and our flight was a bit late. The plane lands and the people get off and about 5 min. later is when we board. That is how our flight over was too. The planes don't stay at this airport long.
Amber was a bit restless for the flight and then in the car about half way home she falls asleep. Once we landed we had to drive back to Luxembourg. Once back at home, Jason and I ran my car over to the dealership to get the light bulbs fixed and we asked if they could put the summer tires on. She looks at her screen and says that 2 of the summer tires are no longer good and you need to replace them. Jason was like great, we never even used them since the winter tires were on when we bought the car and now we have been paying to store 2 useless tires, lovely. And you can imagine how expensive 2 tires are here.
Then we had a quick dinner of things I had already bought before we left. Then I took Janet and we went to one of the big grocery stores. She was in sticker shock of the prices of food here.
Sat. morning I dropped off Jason to pick up the car. Then I headed over to the butcher shop to pick up our ham and get some shish kabobs for grilling tonight. They took a fresh ham and deboned it and then it looks like they just threw the meat together and tied it with a string. We will see how this goes tomorrow. It was very busy and he had to make more shish kabobs as they were all gone. The bill was quite expensive for this so hope it all tastes good!
Then we all headed downtown to the farmers market and walked around the city center a bit. We showed them some views looking down into the Grund, and then took the elevator down there.
We came back for lunch and then Jason and his parents went out to see the American Military Cemetary. We had already seen it. And he drove them also by where he works.
We got a lot of laundry done and some baking of things.
We colored our Easter eggs.
We had a big BBQ for dinner and that was good, and then we had picked up a Strawberry torte that is very common here and had that for dessert.
No comments:
Post a Comment