We've decided that it's a better choice to arrive at our destinations early, check in, then see the sights than to see sights in the previous place, drive at night, and then try to see everything in the morning before we have to leave. I think this is working well so far, and we did a little of that in Killarney.
We did check out Killarney National Park on the way out of town today, though. It was lightly drizzling, pretty windy, slightly chilly, but still gorgeous out. A "typical irish fall day" as the flight attendants told us on the flight over. We got a perfect parking spot right in front of the gate AND a cathedral, and walked in, pretty well prepared, clothing wise; Eli with her gloves--a gift from her mother, and me with a hat my mother made for me after Eli convinced me to grab it, that did an excellent job of keeping my head warm.
We walked like mimes into the wind, across an amazingly beautiful green meadow, toward Ross castle, 2.5 km away. While I'm okay at conversions from metric to imperial, the idea of how far 2.5 km is, seemed reasonable, but when you figure in that it could start pouring at any minute... that changes things. If it were a nice spring day with a light breeze, I'm sure it would have been an excellent distance as a nice walk. Once my pants got soggy and Eli's shoes got soaked through, the going got tough. Also, keep in mind that I didn't mention breakfast anywhere in here, yet since we hadn't eaten any, and we felt oppressed by the weather.
When we got to Ross Castle, they informed us that it was guided tours only, and we were 10 minutes late, and the next one was in 40 minutes. We could sit in the waiting room for 40 minutes, or walk the 20 minutes back to the tea room we had passed earlier. We did stop off in the "recreation" room, which was less about recreation and more about re-creation of the medieval lifestyle in a "tower" style keep. We both found the room fascinating, and, since we wouldn't have been allowed to take pictures of the inside of the castle anyway, seemed like an excellent place to visit, then leave, which we did.
We got back to the tea room, which was completely serviced by people with Down Syndrome, a sort of halfway house, and we got sandwiches and coffee. Eli's sandwich was amazing, mine was decent, and the people were very nice and very helpful. We decided that since we were soaked, we should head to our next hotel early, try to get laundry done, which we needed to do anyway, and then we would be less moist and more comfortable.
The trip to Tralee was pretty excellent. We drove well, the roads were a nice Monday mid-day calm, and once we got to Tralee, we found our hotel with no problem. If only they had informed us that the parking was labeled as "Night club parking only" before we had gotten here. The streets all went one way, and were partially blocked off by beer keg deliveries, poles, or stupid people, and it took us a good 15 minutes to finally find our way back to the garage, where we squeezed into the parking spot next to a sign telling us not to park here.
The front desk said it was fine, so I hope we're okay, but if there's a clamp on our car in the morning, I'm buying a hacksaw from the hardware store down the street that has the same name as the people who run our hotel. Maybe this is how they get extra money from tourists. Come for the room, stay for the angle grinders.
Laundromats (launderettes) in Ireland don't let you wash your own laundry, so we dropped off our undies with a nice old lady who ran a shop round the corner. She assured me that our precious clothing would be fine by tomorrow at 8:30 am, so we'll see, and I'm expecting to pay royal wages to the woman as she can pretty much charge me whatever she wants now, seeing as she has every pair of socks I own save one.
After a much needed nap, we had a delicious italian dinner, Eli got penne, and I had lasagne, and we shared a bottle of wine. The town seems quaint and great for shopping, so I'm looking forward to seeing what's out there in the morning. For now, we're now relaxing in our nice hotel room, enjoying a nice end to what I feel was an awesome day. I may convince Eli to come downstairs with me for a nightcap, but we'll see if we have the energy. It's neat to think I'm a fiancee now, and not just a schmoe with an awesome girlfriend.
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