The Ring of Kerry...The Ireland I was waiting to see

A few weeks ago I did another solo mini trip around the Ring of Kerry. It has by far been one of my favorite experiences, mainly because I think I was waiting for so long to see THIS Ireland. You really got all of the beauty, magnificence and grandeur that is Ireland and I have been recommending this experience to everyone. In this instance picture would do much more than words so I hope to divulge on my experience through a pictorial narrative...hehe...let's see how it works out...

Our tour started in Killarney and the cathedral, St. Mary's Church, is the tallest building in the county of Kerry! It's a beautiful cathedral built in the 1800s.

Much of Kerry is covered in bog land or "peet". Basically it is decomposing land which they dig up, dry and use to burn in fire places. It is the cheapest form of fuel in Ireland and is still popular today.

In the town of Killorglin, nicknamed "Puck", each year they have a festival call "Puck Fair" and name a wild goat the king of the town, hoist him up on a stage in the middle of town and party for three days straight. After that goat has fulfilled his royal duties, they tag him, never to be king again and release the goat back into the wild wondering what the heck just happened. I plan on making it to this festival someday.

We visited the Bog Village and it was a very interesting place. The original houses remain and each house was fitted to each individual person and their occupation.

Each house also had these creepy wax figures with glass eyes...

Inside the house, this was actually the second biggest...the biggest being the blacksmith's house.

Piles of Peet...

Bog Ponies! They were so curious...they always remained together and always stood in order from biggest to smallest. The reason the bog village had these smaller ponies were because back in the day Catholics were not allowed to have full size horses and if they had a full sized horse that cost more than five pounds they were required to sell it. Therefore with these smaller ponies they could still get work done and not have to sell them off.

This was one of the coolest things I have ever seen. This man is an honest to goodness sheep herdsman and he demonstrated how he commands the dogs to herd the sheep. There are some videos below.

Each dog has a different command and he likes to have up to five dogs. It's amazing how the dogs recognize their own special commands and only responds to their own special whistle.

He set up the dogs to pose for us...cutest old man ever.

Charlie Chaplin lived in Waterville, Ireland in Kerry County after he was accused of being a communist in the United States and this is his monument. There is a Charlie Chaplin Film Festival in Waterville that occurs every year and some of his children & grand children still own property there.

It is said that the tradition of painting the houses different vibrant colors came from the town of Sneem. The women painted their houses these unique colors so their husbands could recognize their own house from anothers when they were coming home drunk from the bar. Smart women.

This mountain is called the "Purple Mountain" due to the hue of mountain because of the vegetation that grows there.

The weekend we were in Killarney/Kerry it was the Ring of Kerry Bike-a-thon (approx. 100 Miles) and there were thousands of bikers raising money for charity. Even the Prime Minister of Ireland was participating in this event and this was the last stop before the end.

This spot is called the "Ladies View". It is named after the Ladies in Waiting of Queen Victoria because when the Queen was visiting, the ladies in waiting were suppose to prep the area for the arrival of the queen but when they got there, they were so enamored with the view that they forgot and were not prepared when the queen arrived. In memory of the "Ladies" and not the queen, the spot was named "Ladies View".

This is the other side of the Ladies View with the Gap of Dunloe.

Under this cross, the former owner of Muckross Estate is buried standing up. Why? because he loved the estate so much he wanted to always be watching over it and at his funeral party, he would be the last man standing. Clever.

And so ended my tour of the Ring of Kerry. I had such a wonderful experience doing this tour and learned more information that deepened my understanding of Ireland and made me fall in love with the country that much more.

"If we are always arriving and departing, it is also true that we are eternally anchored. One's destination is never a place but rather a new way of looking at things." - Henry Miller


Peace & Love,

Monique

Drenched but DELIGHTED...The Burrens & Cliffs of Moher

Our second school trip was to The Burren and the Cliffs of Moher. It would probably have been life changing had it not been torrential downpour the whole entire time but it was insane how wet we were the entire day. Once we got to the Cliffs of Moher we were all pretty much getting abused but the elements and all we could do was laugh. Regardless of the weather, the scenery was still amazing so I can only imagine how breathtaking it would have been had it not been raining.

During our tour of the Burren, our tour guide showed us the landscape, talked about the history of the area and pointed out peculiar tropical vegetation that grew in the area along with the local plants due to the compatible nature of the environment in the area. Some of the interesting things he told us was that many of the rock wall partitions in the area actually had no real practical purpose. The Protestants made the Irish Catholics build the walls to "keep them busy". Also, the ground in the Burren is like a sponge, so the water goes straight down and is conducive to creating massive caves. There are several in the area.  Our tour guide was awesome and he ran it out of his grandmother's old house with his some of his family members. They gave us hot apple pie and coffee at the end, which was DELICIOUS, while we waited for our tour bus to pic us back up.

The Cliffs of Moher were amazing and there is a vast array of wild life that inhibit the area that you would have never expected. For instance...Dolphins! Actually, they seem to be quite a regular sight in Ireland (who would have thought!) and there is even a famous one that's call Fungi. There are also puffins, basking sharks and many more. It is definitely a must see in Ireland and although the weather stunk, it made for a wonderful story.

Our tour guide

The Burren

This I have to mention because it was so cool and erie all the same time! This tree is called the "Wishing Tree" which dates back to pagan times in Ireland and people would tie cloth or whatever to this tree and make a wish. There is also a practice in Japan where you tie your "omikuji" or wish on trees in certain shrines and temples. Our tour guide also mentioned that people from Mexico, Chile and several other countries did it as well. It just shows that even across the globe, we are all interconnected in some way.

Wishing Tree

Poulnabrone Dolmen, Megalithic Tomb

Looked right at me right when I took the picture!

Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it. 

-Greg Anderson

Peace & Love,

Monique

Week Two: One of sports, good music and lovely company

Happy 4th of July to all of my American people! It's definitely weird not watching the obligatory movie "Independence Day" with Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum but I am will to let that go to be here in Galway. I am already in my 4th week of my 6 weeks here and time is flying by so fast! I am definitely playing catch here so I hope to crank out some blog entires in the next couple of days. Here's a look at what I have been doing on a daily basis...

Street performers are a regular sight down the street we live in. It's never a boring walk to the grocery store or just a stroll through town...

Double rainbow...IN IRELAND...I had to do it...it's so beautiful, WHAT DOES IT MEAN?!

There is this place called Goya's right across from where I live and they have an AMAZING breakfast menu, especially on Saturdays. Yummmm.

My first Euro football game! (or soccer for you Americans, haha) Galway United is SUPPOSED to be a professional team but it was probably the worst game I have seen in a long time. I love the game of soccer and this was just a sad sight to see. According to the locals, they are the worst team in Europe and they haven't won a game since last year. They have lost 18 games in a row...and counting. But it wasn't the game but the fans that really made the experience special. There was one man I met who has been to every game for almost 20 years, now that is dedication.

They ingrain fandom at a very young age...

Here is a video of the cheering squad. There was no alcohol allowed in the stadium but these people somehow managed to either come smashed or smuggle in alcohol which made them that much more entertaining.

Live music presides in almost every bar here and I have yet to experience a bad one. This band at the Quays were pretty amazing and we are starting to recognize the musicians in each bar. The guitar player (not show here) is also the musician that plays at our weekly spot for sundays, Busker Browne's, and he now knows my name! I guess that just shows how much I actually do go out.

I will leave you with their rendition of Bob Marley's 'No Woman No Cry', hope you are all having a fantastic holiday!

"The one advantage of playing with fire...is that no one ever gets singed. It is the people who don know how to play with it who get burned up." - Oscar Wilde


Peace & Love,

Monique