Cat Gymnastics

Click-on the pic for more Cork photos

Jason: Now we’re in the city of Cork. It’s a rather large city, biggest city next to Dublin (in the Republic of Ireland..) Third largest city if you count all of Ireland including the English run North. Today we totally did it up w/ the touristy double-decked city tour bus and saw all the sites ’round the city. Tomorrow we’re off to the Jameson distillery (in Midleton) and to the harbor town of Cohb (the last spot the Titanic sailed from before it’s icey doom.)

See the Cork city photo page here.

Jason: We’ve been in Dingle, traveled around the Ring of Kerry, stayed in the small village of Glengarriff. Now we’ve visiting the famous sea port of Kinsale. It’s a really old city w/ winding streets of cobblestone which center around the harbor. It’s raining today (no surprise, here) and we took a great walking tour of the city which highlighted the city’s great history throughout the years. Next we’re off to Charles Fort after lunch. And the next city is Cork and then we’re back to Shannon airport. Then to Chicago and finally back in Kalamazoo. I’ve gotten a bit home-sick last week in Dingle but now I’m rather “Robin-sick” going through withdrawls.

Dingle, Ireland (click on the pic for the Dingle photo page)

Jason: We’re on day seven or so, now we’re in the town of Dingle. Dingle is a fishing town on the South West side of the country near the ocean. The town is surrounded by Dingle Bay which is rather beautiful (pics coming soon). Lots of farm land- green and lush w/ lots of sheep grazing and of course there’s the water.

It’s raining once again here in Dingle, apparently global warming is having it’s affect on this side of the world too. Most of the locals we talk to, tell us that this is the rainest summer they’ve seen in a long while. Most of the time July and August are the more sunner parts of the year but the melting ice caps are changing that. Good thing I’ve got my wellies!

Also check-out the Dingle photo page here

Jason: We’re on day five here in Ireland and it’s rained nearly everyday. The showers come and go but are pretty harse when in full force. So we’ve gotten rather soaked throughout much our Irish trip so far.

Today was another one of these rainy days here in the Galway area. And rather then walk downtown we decided to talk a road trip w/ the rent-a-car to the small coastly town of Clifden. The weather actually started off pretty good- we saw a rainbow and at one point I was wearing my sunglasses. But the weather turned for the worse and we got soaked while walking from shop to shop.

At this point I’d had enough of rain soaked sneakers so when we spotted a sports/fishing tackle shop I made a mad dash. The store was very unorganized, so I got a pretty down but a nice Irish lad ask me if I needed help. And about 15 mins. later I purchased myself some wellies made by a Scottish company named Hunter.

If folks don’t know what wellies are then obviously they haven’t been to England, Scotland or Ireland – where it rains ALL THE TIME! They’re basically this reigons version of cowboy boots. Well… they may not be as fashoinable as cowboy boots but they WILL keep your feet dry when the weather turns wet.

Jason: Now we’ve made it to Galway from Dromoland castle. It’s a pretty big city with lots of shops and pubs. Yesterday we got really soaked w/ all the rain but were able to warm ourselves in Taffe’s. A pub w/ traditional Irish music and many many good Irish beers on tap. Today we went on a bus tour and saw the Cliffs of Moher and the beautiful Irish country-side. Now we’re headed back to the pub to drink some pints and hear some good Irish music. Going good so far, will update w/ pics later…

Click on the photo to see the rest of the Dromoland Castle pics

Jason: We left at 6:50 p.m. from Chicago on Monday (8/11) now finally here. It took around 6 and half hours via Aer Lingus. We arrived in Ireland around 8 a.m. local time arrving in Dublin first then flying to Shannon airport. From there drove the rent-a-car to the first night’s hotel.

We’re staying in Dromoland castle, an Irish castle that dates back to 1543. It’s been well kept over the years (it’s a five star hotel!!!) lust green landscapes, golfing, fire range, swimming, tennis, biking, walking, hiking- oh did I mention it’s a castle?

The coolest part is that the castle has intrenet so I can connnect the peeps back in the states. Although this keyboard is really different, the keys are in strange places. So forgive me for the typos (I’ll post a pic soon, taking it now…)

Our next stop tomorrow is Galway. It’s a quick hour drive, if we don’t get lost. We’ll be staying in Galway four or five days. Our B&b is right downtown, so I should be able to hit an internet cafe and the update the blog from there.

Cheers from Ireland!!!

See more Dromoland Castle photos here.