ring of kerry - sunday.

Sunday, March 11th

Sunday morning began with much excitement as Steph, Sydney, and I learned that one of our biggest study abroad dreams was going to come true... We were going to get to hold Irish lambs! Apparently we aren't the only international students with this dream because our tour guide planned for a local farmer to meet us at the hotel with 4 female lambs, all between the age of 3-6 days!

After we'd finally finished cooing over the lambs we jumped on the bus to begin our final day of sight seeing in the Ring of Kerry.  We drove through the hills, sticking to the official Ring of Kerry tour road and made a quick stop for a view of St. Finian' Bay, and luckily a quick sight of the Skellig rocks, and the Irish countryside!

Despite great weather all weekend, it was a bit chilly up in the hills!

Just down the hills and on the edge of the bay is the Derrynane House and National Park, which was our next stop.  Now a museum, the house was once the childhood home of Daniel O'Connell.  For those of you who aren't up on your Irish history (and yes, there is more to this country's history than the Great Famine!), O'Connell was the face of catholic reformation in Ireland and known as Ireland's Peacemaker. The house has its own chapel and now holds many political and religious relics of O'Connell's time.  However, the house was nothing compared to the gardens and park that it lays within.  Although most of the plants weren't yet in bloom, the vines, ruins, and trees were truly beautiful. I'd love to go back one day when the park is in bloom!

When they finally managed to collect us all from the immense gardens and park we headed out for Killarney National Park.  Although the winding, bumpy drive through the mountains was completely sickening, the views were amazing!  By the time that we stopped at Lady's View for a picnic lunch the tour guides pushed me off the bus first after seeing my ghost white face... typical! The overlook was nestled in the mountains and had a great view of some of the basin lakes of the area.

Just a short way down the road from our lunch stop was a small park with a giant waterfall!  I never got the name of the park, and it wasn't on any of my tourist information, but I did get a good picture!

Our final stop before the drive back to Limerick was the Muckross House and gardens.  Although, once again, the house didn't interest me much (aka, I didn't want to pay to go in) the gardens were magnificent! Despite the short distance between Derrynane House and Muckross house there was a significant difference in the types and number of flowers.  Spring had defiantly sprung at the Muckross house!

My weekend in the Ring of Kerry is not one that I am likely to forget any time soon!

As you might have noticed I seem to be falling behind in my blogging... but I actually spent the last 2 weeks working on the essays, projects, and lab reports that I had neglected for the first 9 weeks I was here!  However, between assignments I still managed to get some more traveling in!  Posts to come on my weekend in Cork with Kristi, St. Paddy's Day, and a visit to Dublin.

Next week is 'Easter Week' (spring break) here at UL and I'm off for an adventure in Germany and Austria!  I won't have my computer, but should have some access to email and Facebook while I'm away, but will have much to talk about when I get back.

Happy Spring to all!