ring of kerry part 2

On Saturday we drove to Cork. We wanted to explore a little town and we heard there was a Titanic museum there so we thought it was a good fit. We originally wanted to go to Dingle but there was a huge fisherman festival (or something of the sort) going on and it was recommended to not go there during that festival. Cork was a lovely town so there was no disappointment.

I swear the  further away from Dublin the more colorful the town.

Cork was the last stop the Titanic made before it sailed off and..you know.. crashed into an iceberg. We thought it would be cool to go to the Titanic museum but it ended up being a total bust. To start us off they had a man projected onto the wall who was our captain. This was actually pretty cute until a guy asked if it was the real captain. He was being serious.. haha! It was in the tiniest building and there really was nothing for them to show us. They started out by having us look out at this dock that was really just  a couple pieces of floating plywood. The dock was where the ferry picked up the group of people to take them out to the Titanic. It turns out if we would have been there back in the day we wouldn't have even been able to see the Titanic. Their other claim to fame is that we were standing under the same window frame as a man with a bowler hat whom they have a picture of. I wish I could tell you there was more too it but there wasn't. After that they showed us more rooms and kept saying this is kind of what a room in the ship would look like, except different, ha! It was actually comical. At the end they showed us a movie of the titanic sinking and based on the graphics I'm pretty sure it was made in the 80's. Overall it was hilarious and gave us a lot of material for jokes.

What on earth does this have to do with the Titanic?

 They gave us names at the beginning of the museum and at the end we got to find out if we survived. As you can see MJ was the only person who survived.

Later that evening I had a night out with Brynne and Tanner. We went to several different restaurants near our hotel and none of them had any seating. We ended up eating at this restaurant we got take out from the night before and the decision was not regretted one bit. I got a yummy carrot soup, Tan got the goat cheese pizza and Brynne got the caprese salad. We all shared our food and everything was amazing. This is probably the first time I've ever eaten at a good restaurant in Ireland. After dinner we grabbed ice cream from a little shop next to our hotel, danced, laughed etc. etc.

On our drive home we drove through Killarney National Park and made a little pit stop to take in the scenery. Looking back through all of my pictures I feel overwhelmed with all the beauty that I am constantly surrounded by and the wonderful people as well :) 

We stopped at a random location on the side of the road so that both families could take family pictures (we originally planned on going to church after so that's why I'm dressed up. I promise I didn't want my own family pics ha!). It turns out the random location was someones house. We thought it was a bed and breakfast but we upset the dog when we started getting out of the car and their 12 year old son came out to see what all the chaos was. Along with Brynne and Mandi I wanted to roll over dead I was so uncomfortable. Tanner nonchalantly told him that we wanted to take family pictures on their property and the boy told us it was alright and then shut the door. In the mean time Owen (4 years old) found 20 euros on the ground so we thought we would return it to them after we finished the photo shoot. We all trekked on over into the grassy area and ruined our shoes in the water and mud. I had to spray my favorite (and only) Sunday shoes off with a water bottle because they were so muddy. It was quite the adventure. After we finished the family came out of their house to make sure we got all the pictures we needed. They were the kindest, which I mean I'm in Ireland, what did I expect?! When Owen gave them the money the older son  was so relieved. It sounded like he was wasted the night before and lost the money. He was pretty stressed about it. I just hope to keep having interactions with people like this throughout my life. There's something invigorating about interacting with complete strangers in such a way. I seriously just want to know everyone's story and be everyone's friend. I'm not kidding :)

ring of kerry part 1

We headed to the Ring of Kerry the first weekend Tan and Brynne were in town.

  We left during rush hour so it took us forever to get out of town. We decided to stop at Eddie Rockets (Ireland's Johnny Rockets) and it was disgusting. I ordered a Greek salad and it didn't come with dressing! Everything about it tasted funky, except the tomatoes. So basically I enjoyed a delicious 10 euro tomato. That is why I dislike eating out in Ireland so much. While we were waiting for our food I saw two ten year old boys steal money from Eddie Rockets and outrun the security guards. So that was exciting. Another man came up to me and Brynne and asked us if he had chocolate all over his face because he was going to see his girlfriend. Also very special :)We had a crazy drive on the small country roads in the dark because we missed the exit we were supposed to take. Just so you know in Ireland that's what happens if you miss your exit and don't turn around. We were staying in the cutest little town that I was wild about. Our hotel rooms were nice and roomy which is a big deal for Europe. In the ring you basically just drive through it and then pull over for amazing views whenever you would like. We also went to some cute towns within the ring to eat and explore. Overall it was an amazing trip and good times were had by all :) 

I stole this picture off of Brynne's blog but this is the street our hotel was on. It was full of charm.

We had breakfast at a little cafe. I was so tempted to get the cinnamon waffle but decided to stick to eggs to be a little health conscious. Mandi got the waffle and it was just a plain waffle with straight up cinnamon all over it. Not cinnamon sugar, just cinnamon. Don't trust the Irsish and their cooking ;)

We drove through the whole ring on our first (full) day and I had this cute little fella to sit next to. 

Wildflowers. Wildflowers everywhere!

We stopped at Skelligs Chocolate Factory in the middle of nowhere and about died over the chocolate. We got to sample all of the different kinds and the lady didn't understand why we weren't trying the rum chocolate. All these Mormons were messing everything up ;) I wont say who but one member of our party did try it thinking that it was this other one we all raved about and he or she couldn't understand why we were so wild about it. I kept trying to explain that he/she had tried the rum flavored chocolate but it just wasn't clicking with this person :) We all bought our fair share of chocolate, and spent more than our fair share of money on it. I ate my entire bag of orange brittle that very day. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

We stopped in this little town that I can't remember the name of and had lunch by the sea. There were beautiful hydrangea bushes that none of us could get enough of. Ireland has a large assortment of flowers and I'm pretty sure nothing is done to take care of them. The weather takes care of the watering and I don't think weeds grow here (at least in our garden they don't).

We also happened to be right by Ireland's top public restroom so of course I had to use it! I have no idea how it won any kind of an award because it was actually pretty gross. Such a let down ;)

I personally don't feel like Ireland knows how to do food right and this picture hanging up in the restaraunt we ate at perfectly depicts why.

 

My greatest sista friends because they are sisters and we are friends.

Ireland is full of colorful buildings, doors and homes and I've become quite accustomed to it. I think that every town should be this way. Let's all paint our houses (or at least our doors) our favorite color! Who's with me?!