There are no photos to share for today. We were both feeling like we needed a vacation from our vacation, so we canceled today's site-seeing plans and just relaxed in Killarney. I took a walk around Killarney, got some shopping taken care of in town, had a burger in a local pub, and brought some food back to the hotel for Lisa. Lisa organized our luggage (it was getting difficult to find anything as we were just shoving thing into bags wherever we had space throughout the past week), and enjoyed the amenities of the hotel. In the evening I headed out to a pub for some live music. The clocks got set back an hour to return to standard time from daylight saving time in Ireland tonight, so we'll get a bit extra sleep.
Tomorrow we check out of our Killarney hotel and head out for a drive around the Ring of Kerry peninsula. Our plans include visiting the Ring of Kerry two days in a row in case we don't have enough time on the first day to see everything. I'm hoping to get to our hotel in Tralee to check in before 6pm. We'll be staying at the Ballyseede Castle hotel. We stayed there the last time we were in Ireland and really enjoyed it.
Saturday, October 27, 2018
The Irish TP Report
Since we've arrived, I've been receiving from Lisa a running report of the TP situation throughout Ireland. We took a break from site-seeing today, and I don't have much to post here. Perhaps it's time for a mid-trip TP report. Good news... This post will be sans photos.
Here is Lisa's ranking in order from worst to best. Along with a rating on a scale of 0 to 10.
Dublin Airport
Park House Hotel
Hotel Doolin
Fairview Guesthouse
Petrol Station on N67 East of Kilkee
Flaherty's on Inis Oirr
Here is Lisa's ranking in order from worst to best. Along with a rating on a scale of 0 to 10.
Dublin Airport
- Scratchy
- Single-ply
- Unattractive, plain, tan in color
- Felt like a brown paper bag
- Rating: 1.5
Park House Hotel
- Strong and sturdy
- Single-ply
- Not soft
- White with no patterns
- Thickness of a Brawny paper towel
- Texture of a fast food napkin
- Rating: 3.0
Hotel Doolin
- Supposedly made of recycled cardboard drink cartons
- Tan in color
- Single-ply
- Not too rough
- Had brown flower patterns printed on it.
- Thickness of fast food napkin
- Texture of an average paper towel
- Rating: 3.7
Fairview Guesthouse
- Average strength
- White
- 3-ply (each ply the thickness of cheap TP you'd find in a typical bar)
- Embossed with leaves and dots
- Perforations break apart far too easily, almost impossible to pull off more than a single sheet at a time
- Texture and softness of a party napkin.
- Rating: 4.1
Petrol Station on N67 East of Kilkee
- Surprisingly good given it was at a gas station
- White
- 2-ply
- Unpatterned
- Twice as thick as the Fairview Guesthouse
- Texture slightly "papery"
- Not bad for TP, but wouldn't want to use it to blow your nose
- Rating: 4.6
Flaherty's on Inis Oirr
- Typical TP you might find in a bar in USA
- A bit thin, but not too flimsy
- White
- Un-patterned on a huge roll
- Softer than anything else so far, but still has a bit of that "papery feel" to it
- Rating: 5.0
Friday, October 26, 2018
Keeping plans flexible
We discovered yesterday that something we wanted to do today was going to be closed for regular maintenance. Rather than miss out on it, we decided to swap the plans for today with the plans for tomorrow.
As we were leaving the hotel, it started raining. I had Lisa wait in the lobby while I went to pull the car around. I was about 30 feet down the walk, and the rain stopped. It was looking like today was going to work out well.
Lisa got in the car, we put our first location, Muckross Abbey, into the GPS, and we started driving. Along the way, we were passing a very large, very old looking, very well taken care of stone church. I mentioned that I thought that might be St. Mary's which is on our itinerary for the day. Since we were right there, it seemed prudent to just stop and see it rather than come back later. The parking lot was packed tight, but we managed to find one spot. With a bit of guidance from Lisa, I managed to squeeze the car into the spot without hitting anything. Like I said, it was looking like today was going to work out well. Lisa took a LOT of photos of St. Mary's. Here are just a few of them.
Leaving St. Mary's the rain started again, and it was pouring. I ran to the car, and then pulled it around for Lisa again. I recalled that there was another location that we were planning on visiting that was very close to St. Mary's, so I entered Ross Castle into the GPS (had I taken the time to look at the itinerary that Lisa had written up, I'd have realized that the location I was thinking of was Knockreer House). We drove a few minutes, and the rain faded out as we found a place to park. We walked around the publicly accessible grounds a bit, but the rain was moving in again and we decided not to pay for the guided tour. Before we could get back to the car, it started raining yet again, and this time we both got caught in it. Our jackets were quite wet as we got into the car.
Leaving Ross Castle, we got back on our way to our original destination (Muckross Abbey), hoping the rain would let up again before we go there. When we finally arrived it was not only still raining rather hard, but we also discovered that it was going to be a bit of a hike over gravel and uneven ground to get there and back to the car. We were a bit disappointed, but decided to skip this site. It was right about now that we realized that the only location left in Killarney that was on our itinerary was Knockreer house, and that it was back next to St. Mary's. I suggested that, since it was still early, we take a drive down to Kenmare and see the sites there that we were going to see tomorrow. That would allow us to be a bit less rushed tomorrow trying to fit everything in. Lisa agreed, and we headed to Holy Cross Church. The rain came and went as we made our way up the hills/mountains of Killarney National Park and through Moll's Gap. We passed several sites (Derrycunihy Church, Castle Ruins, Ladie's View, Moll's Gap, etc) that we both fondly recalled from our trip through here 5 years ago. It was quite surprising how familiar it all felt.
We got a bit lost in Kenmare, but a quick look at Google Maps got us back on track. We arrived at Holy Cross, and there was a florist removing decorations from a recent wedding. We asked if it would be okay for us to step in and take some photos, and they said "certainly". I think we must've just missed the wedding by minutes. Nearly all the decorations were still up, and candles were still lit. As we took photos, they blew out candles, and packed everything up. We left at the same time they did.
The other site we planned to visit in Kenmare was the Kenmare Stone Circle. Visually, it isn't that interesting, but historically it is quite curious. It is dated as being approximately 3000 years old. The stones that were used would need to have been transported several miles from the nearest location to have that type of rock. There is no record of why it was built, or how it was used by it's creators. It started raining hard again as we captured some photos, and we were both drenched when we got back to the car.
A pleasant drive back through Killarney National Park brought us back to our hotel. We made reservations for Cronin's again, had some dinner, and then I updated this blog for yesterday and today.
As we were leaving the hotel, it started raining. I had Lisa wait in the lobby while I went to pull the car around. I was about 30 feet down the walk, and the rain stopped. It was looking like today was going to work out well.
Lisa got in the car, we put our first location, Muckross Abbey, into the GPS, and we started driving. Along the way, we were passing a very large, very old looking, very well taken care of stone church. I mentioned that I thought that might be St. Mary's which is on our itinerary for the day. Since we were right there, it seemed prudent to just stop and see it rather than come back later. The parking lot was packed tight, but we managed to find one spot. With a bit of guidance from Lisa, I managed to squeeze the car into the spot without hitting anything. Like I said, it was looking like today was going to work out well. Lisa took a LOT of photos of St. Mary's. Here are just a few of them.
Leaving St. Mary's the rain started again, and it was pouring. I ran to the car, and then pulled it around for Lisa again. I recalled that there was another location that we were planning on visiting that was very close to St. Mary's, so I entered Ross Castle into the GPS (had I taken the time to look at the itinerary that Lisa had written up, I'd have realized that the location I was thinking of was Knockreer House). We drove a few minutes, and the rain faded out as we found a place to park. We walked around the publicly accessible grounds a bit, but the rain was moving in again and we decided not to pay for the guided tour. Before we could get back to the car, it started raining yet again, and this time we both got caught in it. Our jackets were quite wet as we got into the car.
Leaving Ross Castle, we got back on our way to our original destination (Muckross Abbey), hoping the rain would let up again before we go there. When we finally arrived it was not only still raining rather hard, but we also discovered that it was going to be a bit of a hike over gravel and uneven ground to get there and back to the car. We were a bit disappointed, but decided to skip this site. It was right about now that we realized that the only location left in Killarney that was on our itinerary was Knockreer house, and that it was back next to St. Mary's. I suggested that, since it was still early, we take a drive down to Kenmare and see the sites there that we were going to see tomorrow. That would allow us to be a bit less rushed tomorrow trying to fit everything in. Lisa agreed, and we headed to Holy Cross Church. The rain came and went as we made our way up the hills/mountains of Killarney National Park and through Moll's Gap. We passed several sites (Derrycunihy Church, Castle Ruins, Ladie's View, Moll's Gap, etc) that we both fondly recalled from our trip through here 5 years ago. It was quite surprising how familiar it all felt.
We got a bit lost in Kenmare, but a quick look at Google Maps got us back on track. We arrived at Holy Cross, and there was a florist removing decorations from a recent wedding. We asked if it would be okay for us to step in and take some photos, and they said "certainly". I think we must've just missed the wedding by minutes. Nearly all the decorations were still up, and candles were still lit. As we took photos, they blew out candles, and packed everything up. We left at the same time they did.
The other site we planned to visit in Kenmare was the Kenmare Stone Circle. Visually, it isn't that interesting, but historically it is quite curious. It is dated as being approximately 3000 years old. The stones that were used would need to have been transported several miles from the nearest location to have that type of rock. There is no record of why it was built, or how it was used by it's creators. It started raining hard again as we captured some photos, and we were both drenched when we got back to the car.
Over in Killarney
Got an early start leaving Doolin. We were surprised to receive a complimentary bag of brown bread to take with us.
Our first photo stop was Doonbeg castle, on the Doonbeg river, in the town of Doonbeg.
The local elementary school was walking through town in their halloween costumes. It seemed to be mostly zombies and skeletons. A woman dressed in orange and black came running by, saying, "I wanted to meet up with the children!" as she passed us.
Our next stop was Carrigaholt castle, on the southern coast of Loop Head peninsula in town of Carrigaholt. Standing guard over the mouth of the River Shannon we found it was not easily accessible. It's situated next to a pier, but there is no entrance into the castle grounds from the pier or the walkway back to the parking lot. Lisa leaned out over the wall of the pier to get some photos of the side that faces the river. On the walk back to the car, just past the end of the castle walls, we noticed there was an opening in the brush from foot traffic. It was steep, and slippery, but it was clear that people had climbed there. We decided to see if it led to anything interesting. We were happy to see that there was an opening to get inside the walls, where we were able to capture more pictures, and see the tower better. All the doors and windows were covered in iron bars, and it was clear that the tower was not tended to by any cleaning or maintenance.
Our westernmost stop of the day was Loop Head lighthouse. With ocean on three sides of us out at the end of the peninsula, the view was amazing this would have been a perfect place to use the panoramic feature of the iPhone camera. Unfortunately, we didn't think of it at the time. We snapped some photos, looked around a bit and then headed back west.
We followed a narrow road that hugged the shoreline as we headed back. The views were amazing, and yet is seems very few tourists are aware. We saw extremely few other vehicles on the road at all. Unfortunately, the photos we captured were horrible at representing the size and scale of what we experienced. There were many cliffs along this rocky northern shore. None of them were as tall as the Cliffs of Moher, but the entire area was so much less crowded (nearly empty) and, in some ways, the shapes, and features of these cliffs were more interesting. Many times Lisa would exclaim "Stop here", and I would just stop the car in the middle of the road. She would get out, and walk up to the edge of a cliff to capture a photo of something that caught her eye. After a few minutes, she'd get beck in and we'd continue on our way.
Just west of the town of Cross, we came across a small cemetery surrounding what appeared to be the ruins of a very old church. We stopped to check it out. The entire walled in area was packed with gravestones. Looking at some of them, it appeared that 4 or more people were stacked in the same location across 100 years or more.
Headed to the car ferry to get us across River Shannon, we drove down N67 through Kilrush. The lanes were quite narrow, and most vehicles parked with their passenger side tires on the sidewalk and their drivers side mirrors folded in to leave room for vehicles driving on the road. One vehicle, however, was nearly a foot from the curb, with it's mirror sticking out. I misjudged how far he was sticking out by an inch or so, and my passenger side mirror hit their driver side mirror. We parked our car, and I inspected the damage. The plastic covering over my mirror had popped off, but with a bit of pressure, it popped right back in place with no visible damage. Their mirror however was cracked. I went about trying to find the vehicle's owner, thinking I was about to find out just how well that rental car insurance was actually going to work.
I stopped in several local shops asking if anyone knew who the vehicle belonged to. Eventually, I found the owner, and explained what happened. She said she wasn't sure what the process is for getting a vehicle accident reported, but that she'd get a pen and paper to write down my information. Then she stopped a moment and asked, "Was it the driver's side mirror?" I confirmed, and she claimed that it was already cracked. She suggested we go take a look at it, to see if it looks any worse. We walked over the the car, and she claimed that it looked the same to her. She said she didn't want to bother making any claim, and not to worry about it.
As we started to pull back out on to the road, we saw a sign for the Vandeleur Walled Garden. We followed the signs, and found it without any difficulty at all. Perhaps it is impressive and beautiful in the summer, but today we were disappointed. Lisa looked around at what we could see of the grounds from the entrance way and decided she didn't want to spend the money on it. I was glad to hear that (not because of the money, but because I was getting concerned about how late we might be getting in to Killarney and was happy to not spend the time).
Leaving Vandeleur, we made our way to the ferry. I purchased some snacks as we waited in line for the ferry to return from the other side of the river. We boarded, and paid. Then I turned off the engine, tipped my seat back, and took a nap. Lisa woke me when we arrived at Tarbert. The drive down to Killarney from Tarbert was uneventful and uninteresting. Finally, we arrived at The Fairview Hotel. It's been renovated since the last time we were here, and looks much more modern. It doesn't have the same friendly feel that it had last time we were here. Also, the decor in the room didn't really feel Irish. Take a close look at the wallpaper.
After checking in and getting our luggage to the room, I took the car to a local parking lot. Then we headed into town stopping in a pub to listen to some live music while we waited for our 8pm dinner reservations. After we each had a cola, we were off to Cronin's for dinner. Five years ago we pulled into Killarney so late that nearly all the restaurants and pub kitchens were closed. After being turned away by a few locations, we stepped into Cronin's just as their last customer was leaving. We explained the situation, and they kept their kitchen open so we could have a meal. We both enjoyed the food, and the service. They didn't rush us at all (though we tried to be quick out of courtesy), and were genuinely pleasant. Therefore, it was the first place we thought to have dinner when we returned.
After dinner we were both completely exhausted. We headed back to the room to get some rest (which is why this entry is a day late).
Our first photo stop was Doonbeg castle, on the Doonbeg river, in the town of Doonbeg.
The local elementary school was walking through town in their halloween costumes. It seemed to be mostly zombies and skeletons. A woman dressed in orange and black came running by, saying, "I wanted to meet up with the children!" as she passed us.
Our next stop was Carrigaholt castle, on the southern coast of Loop Head peninsula in town of Carrigaholt. Standing guard over the mouth of the River Shannon we found it was not easily accessible. It's situated next to a pier, but there is no entrance into the castle grounds from the pier or the walkway back to the parking lot. Lisa leaned out over the wall of the pier to get some photos of the side that faces the river. On the walk back to the car, just past the end of the castle walls, we noticed there was an opening in the brush from foot traffic. It was steep, and slippery, but it was clear that people had climbed there. We decided to see if it led to anything interesting. We were happy to see that there was an opening to get inside the walls, where we were able to capture more pictures, and see the tower better. All the doors and windows were covered in iron bars, and it was clear that the tower was not tended to by any cleaning or maintenance.
Our westernmost stop of the day was Loop Head lighthouse. With ocean on three sides of us out at the end of the peninsula, the view was amazing this would have been a perfect place to use the panoramic feature of the iPhone camera. Unfortunately, we didn't think of it at the time. We snapped some photos, looked around a bit and then headed back west.
We followed a narrow road that hugged the shoreline as we headed back. The views were amazing, and yet is seems very few tourists are aware. We saw extremely few other vehicles on the road at all. Unfortunately, the photos we captured were horrible at representing the size and scale of what we experienced. There were many cliffs along this rocky northern shore. None of them were as tall as the Cliffs of Moher, but the entire area was so much less crowded (nearly empty) and, in some ways, the shapes, and features of these cliffs were more interesting. Many times Lisa would exclaim "Stop here", and I would just stop the car in the middle of the road. She would get out, and walk up to the edge of a cliff to capture a photo of something that caught her eye. After a few minutes, she'd get beck in and we'd continue on our way.
Just west of the town of Cross, we came across a small cemetery surrounding what appeared to be the ruins of a very old church. We stopped to check it out. The entire walled in area was packed with gravestones. Looking at some of them, it appeared that 4 or more people were stacked in the same location across 100 years or more.
Headed to the car ferry to get us across River Shannon, we drove down N67 through Kilrush. The lanes were quite narrow, and most vehicles parked with their passenger side tires on the sidewalk and their drivers side mirrors folded in to leave room for vehicles driving on the road. One vehicle, however, was nearly a foot from the curb, with it's mirror sticking out. I misjudged how far he was sticking out by an inch or so, and my passenger side mirror hit their driver side mirror. We parked our car, and I inspected the damage. The plastic covering over my mirror had popped off, but with a bit of pressure, it popped right back in place with no visible damage. Their mirror however was cracked. I went about trying to find the vehicle's owner, thinking I was about to find out just how well that rental car insurance was actually going to work.
I stopped in several local shops asking if anyone knew who the vehicle belonged to. Eventually, I found the owner, and explained what happened. She said she wasn't sure what the process is for getting a vehicle accident reported, but that she'd get a pen and paper to write down my information. Then she stopped a moment and asked, "Was it the driver's side mirror?" I confirmed, and she claimed that it was already cracked. She suggested we go take a look at it, to see if it looks any worse. We walked over the the car, and she claimed that it looked the same to her. She said she didn't want to bother making any claim, and not to worry about it.
As we started to pull back out on to the road, we saw a sign for the Vandeleur Walled Garden. We followed the signs, and found it without any difficulty at all. Perhaps it is impressive and beautiful in the summer, but today we were disappointed. Lisa looked around at what we could see of the grounds from the entrance way and decided she didn't want to spend the money on it. I was glad to hear that (not because of the money, but because I was getting concerned about how late we might be getting in to Killarney and was happy to not spend the time).
Leaving Vandeleur, we made our way to the ferry. I purchased some snacks as we waited in line for the ferry to return from the other side of the river. We boarded, and paid. Then I turned off the engine, tipped my seat back, and took a nap. Lisa woke me when we arrived at Tarbert. The drive down to Killarney from Tarbert was uneventful and uninteresting. Finally, we arrived at The Fairview Hotel. It's been renovated since the last time we were here, and looks much more modern. It doesn't have the same friendly feel that it had last time we were here. Also, the decor in the room didn't really feel Irish. Take a close look at the wallpaper.
After checking in and getting our luggage to the room, I took the car to a local parking lot. Then we headed into town stopping in a pub to listen to some live music while we waited for our 8pm dinner reservations. After we each had a cola, we were off to Cronin's for dinner. Five years ago we pulled into Killarney so late that nearly all the restaurants and pub kitchens were closed. After being turned away by a few locations, we stepped into Cronin's just as their last customer was leaving. We explained the situation, and they kept their kitchen open so we could have a meal. We both enjoyed the food, and the service. They didn't rush us at all (though we tried to be quick out of courtesy), and were genuinely pleasant. Therefore, it was the first place we thought to have dinner when we returned.
After dinner we were both completely exhausted. We headed back to the room to get some rest (which is why this entry is a day late).
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