Ireland - Part Two

On the second full day of our trip to Ireland we went out to drive the Ring of Kerry.  We were in County Kerry and the Ring was a road around the Iveraugh Peninsula.   All along the road we saw scenery like this.  On our left were green fields dotted with sheep, on our right was the ocean.

At one place where we stopped, this guy came up from somewhere with his little donkey and baskets.  He put a smaller basket on the ground for tips and was there to pose for photographs.  Something about the cell phone on his ear takes away from his age-old authenticity, don't you think?  I didn't pay him for this picture :)

To the right of our bus was the Atlantic ocean.

Along the way we stopped to see a sheep dog demonstration.  As we drove up in our bus, the tour guide said that the farmer was a "fine hunk of an Irish man" and "just looking at him will do ye good, ladies."  We all had a good laugh and were very interested to see what he looked like.  I think the guide and the shepherd might be dating.

The movie, Babe, is my only 'real' experience with dogs herding sheep, and I must say that these sweet dogs did seem more like wolves when they were on the job.  One of my highlights of the whole trip was when the fine hunk of an Irish man turned to his dog and said, "That'll do, Bess."  How many of you know what I'm talking about?

After the dogs put the sheep away we headed into a little shop for tea and scones.  While we were drinking our tea, the owner of the shop came out to talk a little and entertain us.  She chatted a little bit and then asked someone to say an American song that everyone knows.  A man to my left called out, "God Bless America".  I think she was looking for something with a little more beat because she grabbed a guy in our group and got him to dance with her.  So we sang God Bless America while they danced.  I was laughing so hard, it was hard to sing.  Maybe you had to be there, but it is very funny to see someone dancing a jig to that song!   She got to choose an Irish song next so we all sang "Danny Boy".  No one danced.

Daryl and I ate lunch at a creekside cafe.  This was our view from the deck.

When the Ring of Kerry tour was over we came back to the hotel, went out to dinner with some new friends, and then came back for our last night in Killarney.  I wanted to make sure to take some pictures of the hotel.  We only sat in this room one time, but it was as cozy as it looks.

This oversized pool table is for a game called Snooker.  The table is 12 feet long!

Looking at someone else's vacation pictures is about exciting as a trip to the dentist, isn't it?  I'll finish up tomorrow.  Promise!