More pix of Ring of Kerry here.
That’s the name of the tour company that we used twice, first to Blarney and Cobh, and then the next day, for the Ring of Kerry.
I like a good tour—I’m confident I’m seeing the standard highlights in the area, someone else is driving, and I know I’ll be pointed in the direction of food at the appropriate time. On the down side, there are other people, and as Emma pointed out, other people on tours tend to be annoying. These are the categories of annoying we encountered:
- 1 Late people. The driver says to get back to the bus by 1pm, so we’re back at 12:55, of course. But there are always some other people who meander back at around 1:12. And that in turn usually results in some racist joking by the tour guide, so that’s just fun all around.
- 2 People with peculiar seating habits. Like the woman who insisted on sitting in the aisle seat next to my window seat, so Emma had to sit elsewhere. No tragedy. Just odd.
- 3 People who talk over the tour guide. Usually, people who don’t speak the same language as the tour guide, so I’m sure they can’t understand what’s being said, so I have some sympathy. But not much.
- People who are from your hometown but who don’t want to talk to you. I finally forced them to make conversation with me because I didn’t want to listen to them be annoyed at the late people as we were standing in line.
- 5 People chewing gum loudly or making disgusting mouth sounds. Enough said. And by the way, these were the same people as #4. Real winners.
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| Unnecessary Selfie |
And then, of course, there’s the possibility that your tour
guide will tell racist, sexist, or otherwise offensive jokes/stories. The amazing part is when they persist even
though no one is laughing.
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| Line on the right to kiss the stone (center) |
ANYWAY … our tours were good, nonetheless. On Tuesday we poked around Cork a bit in the morning, then took a tour to Blarney Castle and to Cobh, a quaint little town that was also the last port of call for the Titanic. Blarney Castle had long lines to get at the stone (I wouldn’t kiss and tell); the spiral staircase we had to climb up was impressive in its own right … especially as it got narrower and narrower. (I wondered if they pull some people out of line and tell them that they won’t be able to squeeze through at the top.) The castle grounds were also lovely and had the only “poison
garden” I’ve ever seen—wolfbane, nightshade, tea were all there.
In Cobh we spent most of our time at an exhibit called “The
Titanic Experience,” which was housed in the actual former offices of the White
Star Line. We learned something new—the price
of the tickets, which was quite reasonable for steerage and quite amazing for
first class—and it was interesting to see re-created versions of 3rd
class and 1st class accommodations. They assign each visitor an
identity, based on a real person on the Titanic; fortunately, both Emma’s and
my person survived (and my person even got to ride 2nd class). You get to read some real life details about your person, and it turns out both Emma's and mine had clothing issues: Emma's person got out of a lifeboat to go back and get her hat (obviously, she got into another lifeboat), and mine was delayed because she was having trouble with her corset. I made myself a promise then and there that I would never miss a lifeboat because of a corset.
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| Really cute dog in Cobh |
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| Emma by a model of her favorite shipwreck |
Yesterday we took another tour around the Ring of Kerry, an
incredibly scenic drive. We had great
good fortune in enjoying a bright sunny day, as we drove up and down mountains,
along the seaside, and around lakes. My
favorite was perhaps the Torc waterfall, where every tree and rock was covered
with a coat of green moss. As Emma said,
they do green well here.
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| A really good picture because I look tall |
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| Our full complement of backpacks--the plaid one is new |
We stayed last night in Killarney, where the first thing we
did was buy a new backpack: sometime
around midday, Emma’s trusty blue backpack had decided to graduate from having
questionable zippers to having completely nonfunctional ones. Then we checked in to our lovely inn, had
dinner in a tourist joint that featured live trad music, and—exhausted by our
long day of sitting on a bus—headed home to bath and bed.
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