Day 11 May 29

This morning started with a 5am fire alarm in our hotel. It was a false alarm, somebody smoking in their hotel room. Luckily we were able to get back to sleep before we headed out. We drove to the outskirts of Dublin where we started to see signs for toll roads. We only had a couple of Euro's left so we started to get a little nervous. When we got to our first toll booth Kevin asked the lady about the tolls coming up. She was so nice she answered all our questions and then even called another toll booth to make sure she had the right answer. I'm sure the people behind us didn't quite appreciate it.

Here is a picture of the narrow, windy 60 mph roads (people thought that was a minimum not a maximum) in Ireland.

We got on the ferry on the outskirts of Ireland to Holy Head, Wales. It was a 2 1/2 hour trip. We had lunch on the ferry. Kevin is eating Fish, Chips and Mushy Peas. I have a Steak and ale Pie, with mashed potatoes and gravy, and mushy peas. They were both very very good.

Derek enjoying the ferry trip.

Once we got to Wales, we drove to Caefarnon Castle. We loved this castle. It was amazing. Unfortunately, we got there late and had to look around quickly. It was also the only really rainy day of our whole trip.

Good look of the stairs in the castles.

We left the castle and drove through Snowdonia National Park and Betws-y-coed. Spectacular places.

We made our way through there and started for our hotel. A little bit about our navigating. We didn't have a GPS in the car, (a sat nav as they call it in England) so we used Kevin's iPhone with Google maps. Let me tell you it was amazing. It had every tiny 1 track road in the middle-of-nowhere, Ireland. The directions were not all that great, partly because we could never find street names, so I had to follow the map instead of the written directions. Calling out directions like 2nd turn at the next round-a-bout. And when we would miss a turn I would have to reroute us using the map. The GPS used a lot of battery on the phone. On this particular trip we found our hotel with 3 % left on the phone. If it had died I don't know what we would have done. But we made it. It was 9 when we finally got there and almost dark. Luckily the hotel restaurant was still open, since we hadn't had dinner. I think this was Kevin's favorite dinner. He had an open face steak sandwich with carmaelized onions and bleu cheese mayonnaise. I had a ham sandwich, tomato soup and onion rings.

Day 10 Friday May 28

This was the bed and breakfast we stayed in. We woke up and had an Irish breakfast which included black and white pudding. I was holding Derek while eating breakfast. The hostess came and took him from me while I was eating. She walked around with him, introduced him to other people there, took him to a couch and played with him. I wasn't sure I was going to get him back! People over there loved him, They couldn't believe how big he was.

We went to some outlet malls in Killarney and walked around the town for a while. Then started our drive. We were following the GPS on Kevin's I phone and ended up on a ferry. We drove onto the ferry and it started moving before we even got parked. We found out then, that it cost 18 Euros for a 15 min ferry ride and they only took cash. We only had 15 Euros. So they let us make it up in Pounds.

Kevin and Derek on the ferry.

Crossing on the ferry.

We got off the ferry and found a restaurant in the town. It was the best meal we'd had so far. Kevin had the lamb dinner and I had an open face steak sandwich with carmelized onions. We went to pay with our credit card and her credit card machine wasn't working so I sat at the restaurant while Kevin went and got cash. Being 2 in the afternoon we were the only ones in the restaurant so I had a nice chat with the lady there. Then we were off to find the cliffs of Moher.

We drove past the cliffs and found a little path heading to the bottom of the cliffs. We had to duck under fences and climb over barbed wire to get down. This picture is of me deciding I can't make the walk with the baby and started to head back. Kevin kept going. He said it got pretty treacherous and it was a good thing I had turned around.

He als said it was one of the most majestic and awe inspiring things. Unfortunately he only got a few pictures before his camera died. He then walked back and we went to the visitors center and the top of the cliffs of Moher.

Here is the view from the tops of cliffs. For anyone who has seen the Princess Bride, these are the Cliffs of Insanity.

The Cliffs of Moher are home to Puffins and they live on this rock.

We then left the cliffs of Moher to drive to our hotel.

Day 9 Thursday May 27

Today was our busiest day of the trip so far. They woke us up on the boat at 6 am and we were off by 7, in our car and on our way. We drove to Blarney castle and got there an hour early so we sat in the car and planned our day. When we went to buy our tickets we found out they only took cash so we drove to a little store and got some Euros. Then into the castle.

If you look to the top of this picture you can see the hole that you lean down into to kiss the stone.

We climbed 124 small winding steps to get to this beautiful view.

To kiss the Blarney stone you sit at the edge, lay down and bend your head all the way back. There is someone there to help you. Kissing the Blarney Stone is supposed to give you the gift of the gab.

Kevin kissing the stone.

After kissing the stone we explored the castle.

The staircases were short and skinny.

So were the doorways.

The grounds around Blarney Castle.

The house at Blarney Castle.

We walked around Blarney Woolen Mills ( a shopping center) and then went to a grocery store. I bought queens cakes, which were little cupcakes with fondant icing. They were really good. We drove to Killarney to check into our Bed and Breakfast. After checking in we walked around the town looking for lunch. Little did we know that most pubs/restaurants stop serving food from 3-6 or 7. As it was already after 3 we were starving and having a hard time finding someplace to eat. We finally ate at Burger King where at least they had fountain drinks with ice, but no refills. After lunch we left to drive the Ring of Kerry.

The Ring of Kerry was beautiful. It was a 3-4 hour drive with lots of stops to take pictures.

This was a beach at the end of the drive. We were starting to get some bad weather so I didn't get out, but the wind almost blew our door off when Kevin opened it. (That's our car) The pictures don't do the Ring justice. Very green, lots of sheep, pretty homes, old castles. You could spend several days touring the little towns around it.

When we got back we went to a pub for dinner. Where Kevin had chicken fried steak with peppercorn sauce and I had pork loin with stuffing, mashed potatoes and carrots. Ireland had the most delicious carrots. They were very sweet. I could have eaten them with every meal.