Southern Ireland

Southern Ireland has been quite a different experience from the bus tour, although no less exciting. Kenny and I, along with Phil, Deedie and Caroline Hering (Deedie is my dad's cousin) and my Mom, Dad, and Laura decided to start our tour on the Dingle peninsula. It was a quaint village with narrow roads and beautiful sights. The Caufield's decided we would risk our lives and test our current physical condition by doing a bike tour. Let just say that it is pretty funny to watch five people diving for the side of the road every time a bus comes by because there in only room for one vehicle at a time. There was many sheep along the way, some on the road, some ancient beehive caves and vast cliffs.

From Dingle we went on the Bere Island where my mom's ancestors are from. Apparently my mom's ancestors did not have tourism on their mind because we may have been the only tourists on the island. There was one restaurant and one guesthouse, Lawrence Cove Lodge, where Edel was extremely welcoming and friendly. We also loved her for her washing machine since we were eager for some clean clothes. Although it rained a lot while we were on the island we did have a nice hike along the coast, out to one of the lighthouses, again accompanied by sheep most of the way.

We also were able to spend a few nights in Kinsale, once we found accommodations (mind you the accommodations that we did find had Laura sleeping on the floor) and in Kilkenny. From there we went to Waterford for a tour of the Waterford Crystal Factory. This would have been an interesting but benign tour, however, when we got to the gift shop things got interesting. I was casually talking with my mom and Laura when Laura picked up a $50 wine glass, looked at in and then went to put in back in the box. However, rather than putting in back in the box she accidentally hit in against one of the shelves and yes, broke a piece of Waterford crystal. My mom and I busted up laughing while Laura started to hyperventilate and sweat. She eventually got up the nerve to take the wineglass to the front desk and the workers couldn't have cared less. They said it happened all the time. Needless to say Kenny decided to keep his hands in his pockets for the rest of the time in the store.