A Tour of Kerry

Hey y'all! Sorry for my blog absence in the past two weeks but I haven't had too much to blog about until now.  This past weekend I went to the Ring of Kerry with Natalia.  The Ring of Kerry isn't actually a ring or an island or anything you would think of when you think of "ring".  Kerry is a county in the southwest of Ireland.  Its one of the few places in the country where you can find mountains and the seaside views are absolutely beautiful!  The Ring of Kerry refers to the 112 mile route traveled around the Iveragh Peninsula through all of the coastal towns in County Kerry.  We stayed in Dublin on Saturday night and woke up bright and early at 5 am Sunday morning to join our tour group and we were off to Kerry!

Four hours later we started the tour in Killarney.  We made our way through a lot of small villages and stopped at many different photo ops on our trek around the Ring of Kerry.  My favorite stops were the village of Waterville and Killarney National Park.  Waterville is definitely what you would call a village.  The whole town was about the size of King Street.  Any place that makes Boone look like a booming metropolis is village material!  Charlie Chaplin used to stay here with his family in one of the hotels.  He came so much that the town put up a statue in his honor and hosts the Charlie Chaplin Comedy Festival every year!

This man let people take pictures with his animals.  He also pulled a small puppy out of the donkey's basket.  Oh tourist attractions.

Dingle Peninsula

Waterville Beach

Downtown Waterville

Charlie Chaplin!  Apparently he used to spend his holidays in Waterville.  Who kne?

Ballinskelligs Bay- America is straight ahead!

The remains of a potato famine village

Downtown Sneem

Kelly's Bakey in Sneem!

 Everything we saw in Killarney National park was breath taking.  I especially loved Ladies View.  When Queen Victoria visited Kerry the lord at the time (I forget his name!) told her she MUST go see the lake of Killarney from this special spot in the park.  Queen Victoria told him she was far too busy to go see these lakes so she sent her ladies-in-waiting.  When they returned and the queen asked how it was her ladies told her it was a view fit for any lady to see.  And it was beautiful!

Ladies View, Killarney National Park

Ladies View

Torc Waterfall, Killarney National Park

We finished the tour and made our way back into Dublin and finally got home to Stamullen at midnight Sunday!  I've been tired this week but it was worth the lack of sleep to see all the great places on the Ring of Kerry.  Pippa is officially walking!  She still crawls the majority of the time but she loves walking to people and even walks around on her own without any encouragement until she falls.  The girls are both doing well in school but we're all going a little stir crazy since it has rained nonstop the past two days.

Natalia leaves tomorrow- a fact which I'm still trying to wrap my head around!  Her family's new au pair arrived today so I'll meet her tomorrow when I tell Natalia goodbye.  And three weeks from today I'll be landing in Raleigh to be home for an entire week!  Hopefully I'll have some more updates for everyone before then!

The Weekend That (Almost Never) Was

Hi everyone!  Its been a busy week for me.  My 3 month Irish anniversary was on Tuesday.  It was a bitter sweet day with it also being the anniversary of September 11th.  It was really weird not to hear anyone talking about it on the news or the radio.  I can definitely say that some days my heart is in America and this was one of those days.  Mercè also came back this week to visit!  Its been so great seeing her.  She is staying with Natàlia and their host family.  Pippa took her first steps this week!  I don't think I've ever been so proud of another person in my life!  I can't upload a video with my current internet connection (those of you I've talked to on the phone know how it is!) but I'm working on it so everyone can see!

Last weekend I went to Cork with Natàlia and Hailey.  We had a bumpy start but once we got on the road we had a great trip!  Natàlia and I met Hailey on Saturday in Dublin at the train station for the 8 am train to Cork.  To be in Dublin in time for the train, Natàlia and I needed to get the 6:25 am bus out of Stamullen.  The two of us were supposed to meet up bright and early at 6 am to walk to the bus station.  I packed up my bag Friday night and went to bed ready to wake up early....

Next thing I know I woke up to my phone ringing.  It was Natàlia... calling me at 6:10!  Needless to say I jumped out of bed, freaked out for 30 seconds, grabbed all my stuff and ran out the door still in my pajamas.  It usually takes 15-20 minutes to walk to the bus and we only had 10 minutes to get there.  We ran all the way to the bus stop and by sheer force of will (and probably some divine intervention) made it just in time for the bus to pull up!  I was able to change out of my pajamas on the train, which isn't the easiest thing to do, and we were off to Cork!

The train to Cork is about a 3 hour ride.  We arrived at 11 am and headed to a Centra to get picnic supplies before we made our way to Fitzgerald Park.  We had a wonderful picnic and even fed some very chatty ducks!

The pond we had lunch next to.

After lunch we hit up the major sights of Cork: we walked around University College Cork's campus and unintentionally stalked a wedding, took in the art work at Crawford Art gallery, and perused the food selection at the famous English Market.  Unfortunately, this is all Cork really had to offer.  Although its Ireland's second largest city, it is WAY smaller than Dublin.  Just when we were about to give up, we decided to visit St. Anne's Church.  My expectations weren't too high because once you've seen one church in Ireland you've kind of seen them all, but this church was AWESOME!  Why you ask?

We got to play the bells!

Playing the wedding march!

Thats right.  I got to play church bells and it was everything I hoped it would be!  We also got to climb the bell tower and the view from the top was pretty spectacular!

The sweet earphones we got to wear so we didn't go deaf when we were standing next to the bells.

The view of Cork City.

 After our tour of the city, we checked into our hostel and took a much needed nap.  Later, we went out for dinner and a pint and then went straight to bed!

Sunday we took the bus to Blarney to visit Blarney Castle and kiss the blarney stone!  Blarney is a cute, but very tiny village, about twenty-five minutes from Cork.  The gardens were amazing and the castle itself was beautiful.  Blarney Castle was built in 1446 which is about 46 years BEFORE Columbus even sailed the ocean blue.  I'm still amazed at how far back Irish history goes compared to ours.

Blarney Castle

Our reward for climbing the 127 steps to the top

Kissing the stone!

For kissing the stone, you receive the gift of gab!  Supposedly, Queen Elizabeth I repeatedly asked the lord of  Blarney Castle, MacCarthy, to swear an oath of loyalty.  MacCarthy always responded with long eloquent speeches, but refused to comply.  The queen was said to grow so frustrated that she responded it was all a lot of blarney and boom! A new word was born into the English language.  The gardens of Blarney also had a lot of magical ties.  From poison gardens to wishing steps to witches' kitchens it was all there for us to explore!

The fern garden.  I've never seen a fern like this!

Leaving the witch a penny.

We had a great weekend and this week has been flying by!  I don't have any big plans for this weekend but Natàlia and I are thinking about going to Killarney and visiting the Ring of Kerry to celebrate her LAST weekend in Ireland.  I can't believe she's already leaving but now I get to visit her and Mercè in Barcelona soon!

A Day in the Life...

This past weekend I relaxed and hung around Stamullen with Natalia and Ioana.  I needed to save up some travel money because..... I'm going to Cork this weekend!!  Hailey and Natalia and I are getting up at the crack of dawn Saturday morning to get into Dublin, get on the 8 am train to Cork and take a 3 hour ride, and finally arrive at our destination around lunch time.  Our plans are to explore Cork on Saturday and then we are going to Blarney Castle on Sunday to kiss the famous Blarney Stone!  Apparently whoever kisses it receives the gift of gab...  Hopefully, I don't receive too much of the gift because I don't think my blog posts can get any longer!

This week the girls started back to school and we've been getting back into the swing of our routine for the rest of the year.  So for the rest of the year, my days generally consist of this:

7:50 am...  My first alarm goes off

8:00 am...  My second alarm goes off and I actually get up

8:20 am...  My commute to work consists of opening my door and taking the 5 steps into the kitchen.  I usually begin the day by cleaning up any dishes from the night before and helping Dave get the girls out the door for school.

8: 36 am.... Dave leaves for work and takes the girls to school.  Yes, they literally leave at 8:36, not 8:35 or 8:40.  And Ruby and Maisy run around the house screaming "Its EIGHT THREE SIX!" before they walk out the door.  Since most of you know I'm not what you'd call a morning person I'm thankful to be left with Pippa for a few hours.  I can't keep up with their energy at that hour.

8:40 am.... Pippa and I have breakfast... yum Cheerios.

The rest of the morning consists of cleaning and playing.  Pippa currently takes a morning and afternoon nap (which I'm not sure she'll do much longer!) so her morning nap makes a nice break time for me.

1:30 pm...  I load Pippa up in her buggy (stroller) and we walk down to the school to get Maisy.  We then hurry back home and Maisy eats a snack very quickly because...

2:30 pm...  The girls and I go back to the school to get Ruby!  Ruby is in 1st class so from this year on she goes to school until 2:30 everyday.  Maisy is only in Senior Infants (think Kindergarten) so she only goes to school until 1:30 pm.  They also wear the cutest uniforms to school.  I haven't made them take a picture yet but I will soon!

3:00 pm... Finally everyone is home and the girls do their homework.  Once I check it they play outside or in the playroom.  Pippa also takes her 2nd nap around this time and I get another mini-break.

4:30 pm... I start cooking dinner for the girls.

5:30 pm...  Its time to clean-up from dinner and usually Dave is home by this time so I'm off!

And if Dave and Ciara are late getting home Pippa usually ends up as the center of a photo shoot:

Pippa's baba

Whatcha doin?

Is this something I can eat?

Make sure you get my good side!

After work I spend my time going for walks, buying biscuits (or cookies) at the shop, making phone calls back home, and generally spending time in child-free zones.

And there you have it, the life of an au pair!  Its not as glamorous as you'd think but at least I do it in Ireland!  Make sure to check back next week for my adventures of kissing the Blarney Stone.  Apparently you have to lean over a wall backwards so it should be interesting...