Well over the past few days we have not been able to blog. The castle that we stayed at had internet access for 1 euro a minute (which equates to $1.50 a minute). So for those of you who know me, I am NOT paying that much for internet. If it is not buy one get one free, or half price...well forget it we do not need it LOL.
The castles, however, continue to be wonderful. The most recent castle had a most interesting attraction...Authur an Irish wolfhound. He appeared to be the mascot for the castle. Although rather large, it was very gentle. He had full run of the castle and the guest loved him.
Upon leaving the castle, we were flagged down by an older (60ish) Irish women and her family (son and grandson as it would appear). They simply stated - "a part of the bumper is hanging down." We seem to have knocked the lower bumper off the car some how. Easy enough, it is snap on so Steven gets out and snaps it on. Well as the story would end, the lady declared we should simply remove it and put it in the "boot" and started laughing. Then her son stated "mom the Americans call it the trunk." She corrected herself and said, oh yes...the trunk. Then readily declared "and you know you guys have that one wrong right?" Of which I simply pointed out to the lady...of course we realize that we are wrong, as we are younger. She loved it. Americans ONE...Ireland ZERO. The Irish are very friendly people.
Steven and I drove to Dingle, the country side continues to be beautiful....but I have to be honest, there are only so many lakes, oceans, and mountains one can see....so now we have committed to passing the rest of the time to shopping for local artist and items from Ireland.
Major things to know over the past few days:
We experienced an Ireland traffic jam (picture of the day)
We decided to eat some American food, pizza hut. It seems eating American food here is a luxury. By the time the four of us had some pasta and a pizza the bill came to 109 euros (about $150.00). In short, if we are going to eat at those prices we will continue to eat at nicer places.
Steven and I made our way up the Blarney Castle to kiss the Blarney Stone. Well we are not sure which will regret the decision more....kissing the stone gives you the gift of gab. A fast note here - Queen Elizabeth used the term blarney and introduced it into the English language. Back to the story, Steven kissing the stone brings up a great story of when Steven and I first met. We were on our way to Greece and I flew to Jersey to meet his mom and aunt. We were sitting at lunch and I asked both of them...."is there anything I should know about Steven." Their reply:
- HIGH maintenance (remember what I said about a suitcase for shoes)
- Never ask him about a movie. He will tell you the first word of the movie all the way to the last word of the movie. (so him kissing the stone might be the bigger issue) hahahaha. Either way, I kind of like him.....so I will keep him.
I digress, we did find a gallery for local artist...we got a very nice painting. We pretty much will be able to pay for the rooms with the tax returns that we will get at the airport. Between all of us, we will have to take on a second job.
Mom and Dave continue to be troopers on the trip....they have both declared Ireland to be their favorite country of all the ones they have traveled (and once again that is an extensive list).
We are completing our final day in Ireland (tomorrow) by driving from Cork to Dublin. So far the stats for the trip:
Total Moving Time: 54 hours 40 minutes
Moving Average Speed: 51.6 km/h
Max Speed: 134 km/h
Total km: 2822.3
Total Miles: 1753.7
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