Friday, June 29, 2012 The Ring of Kerry

 Jaunting Car Tour of the Killarney National Forest

 Ross Castle in the distance

 Irish Wolf Hound at the Kerry Bog Village

 The hound says "hello" to Flat Stanley

 Peat pile outside of cottage

 Flat Stanley resting in front of peat fire

 Irish Cottage

 Flat Stanley and Claire

 The Ring of Kerry

 Foxglove flowers are everywhere in the park

 The Sheppard and Timmy

 The Ring of Kerry

 We stopped for an Irish Stew lunch

 The Ring of Kerry

 Downtown Killarney

 Killarney National Park

 Ross Castle

 Flat Stanley enjoying a ride on Gypsy

Flat Stanley enjoys the back of the coach

As I write this, it is 5:30 a.m., Saturday, June 30, After kicking back a few Guinness’s at the pub last, I was able to get a solid 5 hours of sleep. I also managed to be coherent during a very busy day yesterday.
After breakfast we drove through the fine mist, in a horse and buggy (jaunting car) for a tour through Killarney National Park. I sat up front with Jerry, our driver, and behind the odiferous behind of Gypsy, the horse. The Gypsy's clip-clopping only added to the enchantment of the park. Our driver was quiet (he was supposed to be very talkative), but I appreciated the quiet so I could daydream about the fairies and wee-folk of my grandmother's Irish folktales book. Lush and feathery ferns carpeted the forest. Furry red deer and plump wood doves frolicked uninhibited by our buggy. Ireland is truly the friendliest place on Earth because there are no natural predators. Not even man is a threat because hunting is illegal. The enchanted forest opened up to the Lough (pronounced lock, like loch) Leane at the base of Ross Castle. A serene river with a small arched bridge led to the castle. Downy, wild swans completed the fairytale scene. Ross Castle was built in 450 and was the last stronghold against Cromwell.
Next, we loaded on the coach for a tour of The Ring of Kerry. We entered the park again and headed along one of the three peninsulas down toward the sea. Along the way we were treated to magnificent vistas, stony cliffs, and emerald green mountains stretching to the water.
The Bog Museum was our next stop. A typical 18th century thatched roofed Irish farm village was recreated. It was an eye opener to actually walk into one of these cottages. Many of the students were aghast at how small the cottages were. They could not even begin to fathom an entire family, plus their livestock sharing a one room cottage and neither could I. what fascinated me the most was the peat. I've read many books about Ireland and the peat, so it was great to actually pick some up. One cottage even had a peat fire burning. The peat bricks were the size of a regular house red brick, but they were very light. Also, the peat fire smelled very sweet.
Flat Stanley made his debut at the museum to the delight of all who saw him. Even the enormous Irish Wolf hounds enjoyed the little fellow.
Next we saw the Wynn Castle ruins. It was a ruin in every sense of the word, but even the skeleton of the Wynn Castle is breathtaking against the sky.
After more meanderings around the Ring of Kerry, we stopped in a pretty little town called Sneem. The town of Sneem is near the bay and is painted in many bright colors. The rushing Sneem River cuts the town in two. Charming!
We then rushed on to a sheep farm for a demonstration of sheep hearding. Sounds a little boring, right? Our tour guide, Emilia, kept extolling the wonders of the sheep dogs and the gregarious Sheppard. Well, we were not disappointed! The Sheppard was an Irishman in every sense. He had curly light grey hair (almost looked like sheep's wool) and twinkly blue eyes. As charming as the Sheppard was, his dogs enraptured us. All three of the dogs were black and white sheep dogs. They were so intensely focused on the sheep that we were intensely focused on them. They were magnificently trained. The Sheppard gave very subtle voice commands and musical whistles and those dogs reacted with military precision. They manipulated those sheep like they were brainless fluffs of cotton balls. Come to think of it I'm not sure how smart sheep actually are. Also, I did felt a little sorry for them. They huddled together at the far upper corner of the pasture looking very nervous (like lambs to the slaughter). After the sheep herding demonstration we were all convinced that we could not live without a sheep dog of our own. I wonder if we could have enough patience to actually train one.