Today was a Killarney day. It has been hard to find time to work on my blog during this whirlwind trip
of the UK. We are often occupied from 6 in the morning until 9:30 at night, at which point I am too tired to do
any writing. It is one of the reasons I decided to stick to posting four days a week. I knew it would give
me a cushion when we got to this section of our trip.

Anyway, back to Killarney. Whenever I hear that name I think of the song “Christmas in Killarney” which
is a fun little jig for anytime of year. We started off the day in Limerick. Yesterday Nigel asked us several
times if anyone had a limerick to share. This morning, when he asked again, I was ready. I had a
limerick to share and it was even Irish related. Nigel asked if it was clean. Of course – I got it from Reader’s Digest.  So he let me tell it.

There once were two cats from Kilkenny
Who each thought “That’s one cat too many.”
They started to fight
And to scratch and to bite.
Now, instead of two cats, there aren’t any.

After reciting the limerick, Nigel commented on it. He said it was a very good limerick for our trip
because we were going to Kilkenny and their school mascot was the fighting cats! He had a different
story for the origins but it wasn’t as much fun as my limerick.

We made a brief stop in Limerick to view the ruins of King John’s castle. Although the ruins are a
historic site today, they weren’t protected in the 1970’s when someone built a modern office building inside
the castle walls. It was very incongruous to see this glass building inside a 13th century castle.

Our first stop of the morning was in the tourist town of Adare.  Adare bills itself as the “prettiest village in Ireland.”  It has some lovely thatched-roof houses, an old church, and a park. I’m sure it has more things, but it was only a brief stop and that was all we had time to see. It rained hard on our way to Adare but stopped raining just long enough for us to enjoy walking around the village.

We enjoyed a farm-to-table lunch in Lackabane at a small place called “The 19th Green.” There were a
variety of sandwiches and cakes, all homemade. Everything was very good. The cakes were bite-sized, so I
was able to try several of them.

We arrived in Killarney early in the afternoon. Kill means church in Irish, so many places start with Kill.
It can be a little confusing, especially when you are seeing as many things as we are everyday. The city
of Killarney is nestled up against Killarney National Park. The park was the first National Park in Ireland
when the land was given to the government. The park is very large and varied, with an estate and
gardens next to the city, and wilderness, hills and lakes further away.  It is designated a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO.

Across from our hotel were horses and carriages for a ride through the park. It was called a “jaunting
car” ride. When Tom and I read about it in the tour information, it made us think of a pony cart that
would be rough and unstable. Instead, we sat eight to a carriage as a horse pulled us through the park.
The views were lovely and it was nice to travel at this slower pace.

We saw Ross Castle and two of the lakes of the park on our four mile trip. But the horses were as much
fun as the scenery. The horse that was pulling our cart didn’t like to walk. Whenever she was told to
walk she would shake her head and champ at the bit. The horse behind us didn’t want to be left behind.
He kept catching up with our cart like he wanted to climb in the back. We could reach out and stroke his
nose.

Our jaunting car ride was a lot of fun. When we finished, Tom and I walked around Killarney a bit. Our
hotel was on the main street and there were lots of shops, including souvenir shops. We didn’t find much
that we needed, but we are bringing back a few Irish things. I was looking for some Irish linen, which is
very expensive because it is made in the traditional way, by retting the flax. Retting is more labor
intensive, but results in a stronger, more durable cloth. I finally settled on a couple of tea towels made
of unbleached linen.

Our dinner in Killarney was called a “dine-around.” We had our choice of three different restaurants.
Tom and I chose an Italian restaurant because we were a little tired of English/Irish fare. One-third of
our group went to the Italian restaurant and we had an excellent meal. I had lasagna and Tom had
salmon. The desserts were especially good.

After dinner, it was off to a show called Gaelic Roots with musicians, dancers, and a singer. They were
excellent and gave us a show that we enjoyed very much. The Irish dances were invigorating. I don’t think
they had a single tap or stomp out of step. One of the musicians was playing a button accordion. They are fairly common in Irish folk music and pubs. Shades of Tom’s concertina.

It was another long, full day.  We got back to the room at 10:30 and had to be back on the bus the next
morning at 9. I went straight to bed and was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.