The Last Few Days

We have really been enjoying our time in Killarney. The first day that we got here we spent it at the National Park then the next day (May 8) we spent the entire day in the park too. Below are some pictures from the second day spent in the park.

The next day we decided to go on a bus tour of the Ring of Kerry. We were really excited to see the beautiful landscape, what we didn't really know is that we were stuck in a tourist trap. The first two stops we made were at the most random places: a Bog Museum and a sheep hearding place. At both places you had to pay for admission and both times we were stopped for at least 3/4 of an hour. We paid for neither.

Andrew and I still had fun though. Andrew nicknamed an American tourist on our bus "old man steal me money" because he and his wife paid to get into all these stupid places that the bus stopped and bought other stupid things. Andrew and I were trying to figure out how to scam "old man steal me money" into giving us money. No such luck.

Here we are outside at one of the stops.

Ring of Kerry.

Ring of Kerry.

The next day (May 9) we didn't have any plans so we decided to go to Cork because we read that it is "The People's Capital" (whatever that means). So we got to Cork, it was pretty cold outside (even for Andrew), and we didn't really know where to go or what to see. We went to the tourist office to see what sites we wanted to see in Cork and discovered that we didn't really want to see anything in Cork. So instead of getting on the next train we decided to go to an old church and to a park. The park was really nice and we really enjoyed it but we discovered that we hated Cork. There was dog poop (I'm assuming it was dog poop, some it was questionable) everywhere!! Needless to say, Andrew and I got out of Cork as soon as we could. Now that I think about it we probably spent more time waiting for the train and on the train than actually in Cork. Nevertheless, it was a great day, and we had lots of fun.

Jack this picture is for you. Here is how they do construction (and demolition) in Cork.

(I just wanted to say that I really wanted to take a picture of some dog poop because that is how I will always remember Cork but Andrew wouldn't let me and he was holding the camera.)

So today we thought we would rent a couple of bikes and go into another (bigger) part of the National Park. 

We went North of Killarney to a lookout to have a really good view of part of the National park, but I was too captivated by two horses to really have a look at the view.

Here is picture Andrew took from the lookout.

Then we went to the South to see Torc waterfalls. On the little climb to the waterfalls we were talking to a guy who asked us where we were from, and when we said Canada he said, 'Don't you have Niagra Falls in Canada? Well this won't be as good as that.'

He was right, why did we even bother?? Ha ha.

Although they weren't quite the same size as Niagra Falls, they were still really pretty.

The real story to the bike ride is that after 10 minutes on the bikes I didn't want to bike anymore. See the problem with having a 5 star hostel is that I never want to leave. Today I would have preferred to have gone to Buy-Low (the grocery store here is actual called Dunnes) and purchased a couple containers of chocolate chip muffins and ate them while watching multiple episodes of Glee. Since we had already rented the bikes and because Andrew was having a good time I tried to be a good sport. Unfortunately for Andrew, that didn't last for too long. By the time we made it to the falls I was done, it was time to go back to the hostel, but I guess I didn't communicate this to Andrew because he proceeded to take us in the opposite direction of the hostel and on a route that the only way out was to go back the way we came. Half way through this new little adventure I tried to quit, by telling Andrew that I was not going to bike anymore (I'm not sure how I was going to get from the path back to the hostel because I was not going to bike or walk back... I know the thought of calling a taxi entered my head, but I don't think taxis pick people up on bike and walking paths) but he was so far ahead of me that he couldn't hear me yelling 'I QUIT!'

After I had finished throwing a tantrum we proceeded to go further away from the hostel so that Andrew could go to the washroom, but then finally we were able to go back to the hostel. I am glad to say that we made it back to the hostel and now looking back on today... I think it was a pretty good day and I think I actually liked the bike ride, but we definitely aren't renting bikes tomorrow.

Andrew and I are still having a great time in Killarney but we will be packing up the day after tomorrow to head out to who knows where. We are homeless as of right now because we haven't decided where we want to go before we meet up with Mom and Jack on the 15th.