We packed up soon after our church and headed for Killarney (or, Kilkarney, as Mom kept accidentally calling it:) where we were going to take a horse cart ride through Killarney National Park.
Gram had dreamed of going on a horse cart ride while we were in Ireland, so Abi and she researched it and found one in Killarney. Another of Gram's dreams come true! The only downfall of the day, though, was that it rained most of the time, which made photography rather difficult. :(
Smothered
We saw this pretty little house along the way to Killarney.
Mountains
Equine
We spotted this odd statue of a horse up on a hill...
Old Fashioned Conveyance
Here we are, almost ready to go!
Our driver's name was "Johnny" and his horse's name was "Paddy."
Steeple
Thatch Roof
This quaint little cottage that we saw along the way had a rather fancy thatched roof, our driver, Johnny, informed us.
Repose
Doe and Fawn
"Paddy"
Paddy didn't seem bothered by the rain at all!
Shadows
The Forgotten Road
I love how the road seems to stretch to nothingness.
Foliage
Some of us had been wanting to walk the trail to Ross Castle, but our guide told us the trail was 5 miles long. I'm sure that you can guess what we all opted to do...
Mourning
There was one of those small roadside crosses along the the trail. It kinda makes one wonder how they came to meet their Maker in this out of the way place...
Solitude
Droplets
The water droplets bouncing off the horse's mane are my favorite aspect of this picture. You'll also notice Ross Castle in the background.
Blanketed by Mist
Ross Castle
Insanity?
We weren't sure, but to us it seemed a pretty miserable day to be out boating on the lakes around Ross Castle.
Ross Castle
We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the castle, so we decided not to go in to it.
Moored
Killarney National Park
Muckross House and Gardens
Here is an excerpt from my journal of our experience looking for this place (I had to fix it up a bit:),
"Muckross House was in Killarney National Park and after riding the horse cart through the roads going to Ross Castle, we felt fairly certain that we could find Muckross House. Well, we couldn't. So, we drove around for quite awhile trying to find it. When we finally found it (by following signs, which weren't very clear), we weren't sure where to park! Once we halfway solved that mystery, we hit another brick wall. This time we couldn't find the house... There were maps of the property, but we still had no idea where we were on the grounds, so the maps didn't help at all!"
Muckross House
I'm sure that by now, you're wondering why we were let loose to wander around in a foreign country unassisted. But, hey, we were having fun out there in the rain, especially when Muckross House loomed out of the mist!
Pillars
Breathing a sigh of relief, we stepped through the glass doors and walked up to the reception desk to get our tickets. Only to be told that the tour had just started and we'd have to wait another 50 min. for the next tour! Our only options were to sit in the reception area or explore the gardens (in the rain). We chose the latter.
Chimneys
Creeping
Beyond
Pathway to Paradise
Daisy
Snapped Snapdragon
Slate
Showers of Blessing
Lamps
Disused
Glow
I like how this picture turned out with almost a glow around the tree.
Mossy Wall
All these pictures were taken while waiting for our tour to start. It rained, drizzled and misted the entire time! It made for difficult photography, but I think we managed to get some good shots. We were definitely thankful for our rain coats!
After getting nicely damp, we thought that we'd better go back and secure our places on the next tour. Well, we almost had to laugh when the receptionist told us that we'd have to wait another 10 min. as the tour that we'd been planning to go on was full. We quickly secured our tickets and waited...
Our tour guide wasn't the greatest, she just sounded as though she was reciting a lesson. But the house was pretty interesting. Here are some tidbits that stuck out to me that I'd jotted down in my journal.
Years ago, Queen Victoria planned to visit the Muckross household. They spent 2 yrs preparing for her arrival! Some of the things that they did were just amazing, such as, they had a huge buffet hand carved in Italy, just for the Queen's visit, whole rooms were revamped, papered and tapestried, and a fire escape was built outside the Queen's bedroom as she had a phobia of house fires. Wow! All that for one person! Queen Victoria ended up staying 2 nights with her 2 children and 50 servants!
The servants' quarters was very interesting. We couldn't get over how many servant's bells there were hanging in the basement. Our guide told us that a servant had to learn to recognize by the tone which bell went to which room. I don't think I could've done that!
The kitchen was located in the basement and was very fascinating, huge cast iron cauldrons, hot wells to keep food warm, etc. It was amazing what servants had to do to please their masters... I can learn a lot on servanthood from those people...
Curve
On our way to our next B&B, Ashville House!
Confusing
This seemed to be our day for getting lost. We got lost so many times looking for our next B&B that we began to get worried about not having a place to sleep that night! One funny thing that happened to us was something that Frank (our host at our first B&B) had warned us about. He said that sometimes young people think it's funny to turn road signs around so that they're pointing in the opposite direction. Well, I'm sure that those kids got a good laugh out of deceiving this group of unfortunate tourists! It took us quite awhile to figure out what was wrong, but the idea of a reversed sign eventually worked it's way through our thick heads! And, yes, we did find Ashville House, where we thankfully relaxed for the remainder of the evening. :)
Triple Room
I always enjoyed it when we were able to get a room for Mom, Abi and I with 3 twin beds. It was always more comfortable that way.
Upstairs
It looked a lot prettier than what this picture reveals. We all agreed that Ashville was the nicest B&B that we'd stayed at yet, but not quite as homey, somehow.
Too Pretty to Sleep In!
This was a bed in Aunt Carol's room.
Peonies
So ends our first week in Ireland!
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