Ireland Day 4- Killarney

 We were up and on our way early once again. It was a short drive to Killarney National Park and Ross Castle, and we were there before Ross Castle was open. So we wandered a little before being let in. Ryan is always a fan of cannons.

Our tour group was made of entirely Americans. No one is allowed to take pictures of Ross Castle while touring, but I snuck this one below. This medieval toilet was large enough for a couple of people to use at a time. It was a glorified hole that human waste would fall? slide? into a cesspit. That cesspit didn't go outside of the castle like a person might expect. It sat there, fuming ammonium gas into the castle. Blech. There is now a metal grate blocking the hole-- to discourage tourists from using it? Ryan was still tempted to have a go.

Also, we learned that a door threshold literally was made to keep a couple of inches of straw inside of a room. The straw could be used to insulate, give a little cushion, and could be discarded as it got dirty.

That just sounds really itchy to me.

Onward to more exploring! Some of us might be giants.

Here's a good photo of Ross Castle in the back.

Oh, look. Mom's here too.

On our way back to the car to drive to our next destination, we passed a very chatty guide who promised to take us all around the northern part of the park in his jarvey and we "wouldn't have to pay if we didn't enjoy" ourselves. As if. He was very entertaining and was one of those fellows who wouldn't let a little truth get in the way of a good story. We were treated to all manner of stories of misfortunes, hauntings, mysteries, and an accent thick enough to make me strain my ears to make sure I was catching everything over the sound of clomping horseshoes.

And if that wasn't enough, he was our personal photographer for the 45 minute trip.

You can see Ross Castle in the distance.

After our little jaunt around the park, we drove down to the Muckross area and parked before walking down to Muckross Abbey. We passed a lovely arched stone bridge on our way.

The Muckross Abbey was one of our very favorite parts of our trip to Ireland. It is a ruin, but it is well preserved in its state. We were allowed to roam all over, up to a second floor, with twisty stairwells and long corridors. It was so much fun!

The old yew tree growing in the courtyard was a nice touch.

Up on the second floor was an old fireplace and chimney. It was really a shame it isn't connected to the Floo Network. It would be perfect.

Other tourists liked my idea of taking my family's picture in the fireplace. One offered to take our picture so I could be part of it. Their idea wasn't quite the same as mine...

You could look up and see the sky through the chimney. 

There were several staircases to traverse.

A view of the yew tree from the ground level.

Next, it was back to the car for the drive to Torc Falls. It was an itty, bitty hike to see the waterfall.

The walk to the waterfall only whetted our appetite, so we walked up the hill to the first overlook.

So.

Many.

Stairs.

Our quads were on fire.

Ta-da! 

This was a pretty spot too.

Here's me taking the above picture. Thanks, Ryan.

My complaints led to a better photo being taken of me.

Before we left Killarney for Limerick, we stopped by a grocery store and picked these chips up (among other things). They were only ok. But as non-drinkers, it was our best option to try Guinness in Ireland.

Interesting fact: When Ireland became independent from Great Britain, they wanted the harp as their national symbol. Sadly Guinness trademarked this harp about 200 years beforehand, so Ireland uses the mirror image of it.

Which couch above would you guess to be the extra bed? I had thought the one on the left was, but I was wrong. It was the L-shaped one on the right. One of the sections hid a compartment for the extra bedding for Elizabeth. We had to message the host to figure that out.

We stayed in this Airbnb for two nights. It was meant to be our laundry spot. It would have given us two nights to let our clothes dry because the Irish do not believe in electric dryers, as far as we can tell. But the washer was not responsive. We tried all of the switches in the laundry room and the ones outside of it. Pulled out the washer. Did anything we could think of to fix the problem. The host never got around to fixing that problem, so the second evening (when we were all out of clean clothes) I washed a couple pairs of underwear for each person in a sink. I had even planned ahead and brought a couple of pods of laundry detergent, so I popped one and used some of the soap as I swished our dirty underwear around in cold water. Seriously, why can't you have hot water anywhere besides the shower? I had to wash dishes in cold water too. Anyway... Between me and Ryan, we did the best that we could wringing out the water but our underwear was not dry the following morning. And it is quite a lovely sight- everyone's underwear draped over the backs of chairs and over the cold radiator. So, we put all of those wet clothes in a bag for Sunday and finished drying them during our last night's stay. Don't even ask about our other clothes. Yes, we wore dirty clothes for the rest of the trip. Good thing we were only tourists that no one was going to see again. At least those couple pairs of underwear smelled clean.