Alright so. The Ring of Kerry is great. It's interesting because it's mostly bog land. It's where they get peat/turf to burn for heat. And they're always finding "bog people" in the peat. They're kind of creepy because they are just super preserved ancient people. They think they were pagan sacrifices and I don't know what it is about the peat, but they still have skin. We didn't see any of them.
There's a village that has a sort of festival in August where they go into the mountains and bring back a Puck Goat and crown it. It's because back when Cromwell was killing everybody, the goats would come down ahead of this army so the people of the town would know to run away or get ready or whatever. Now it's three days of drinking, but there's a Puck Goat statue on the river in Killorglin village.
I'm almost sure that Yellow Gort is Scotch broom. It's freaking everywhere on that side of the country. Apparently Cromwell planted it all over the place. I don't remember why.
Moonshine is called Poitín. Sounds like Poocheen.
There's a church in Cahersiveen named after Daniel O'Connell. The only Catholic church in the world to ever be named after a layperson. That's what the bus driver said.
The Transatlantic cable went to Portmagee.
Charlie Chaplin used to vacation in Waterville so there's a statue of him there. Bill Clinton and Tiger woods go there to play golf. It's really beautiful. I would have liked to just sit on the beach for a little while and take it all in. Instead I basically had a photo shoot. Ugh.
Aoife knocked on my door about ten minutes ago and she and her friend Hazel were freaking out. They got Louise out of her room too to tell us that there are maggots behind the bins in the kitchen and they aren't cleaning them. They took the bins out so they aren't cleaning them. Then Louise turns around and says "yeah, me and creepy crawly things...can't do it." Taige, the "man of the house," isn't here. Madison, the cleanest one of all us, isn't here. I don't know what happened because I took the bins out before I left for the weekend and that was less than a week ago. But they all just left, and you can't just leave maggots hanging around in your kitchen it's disgusting! So I disposed of them. They made it sound worse than it was--it was bad, but they were screaming and freaking out more than was necessary. Swept them up and threw them out the window.
There's was this guy up on this lookout/hill thing above Smuggler's Bay and he had two lambs and a baby goat. And a little dog. Freaking adorable. And so soft.
There's a place called Black Valley that didn't have electricity until 1971.
The end of the first day was Muckross House which is in Killarney national park. The options were either get back on the bus and be driven back to hostel or walk back. Ed, the guy who runs the international society trips, said that it's an hour and ten minute walk. And it was beautiful outside. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do because I knew that we were going to go back on Sunday. But Darya was all like "I say we get back on the bus. I can tell you're tired." That pissed me off. I really wasn't that tired. I was tired of talking to her. I kind of snapped at her and said I'm not tired. She probably took that as proof that I was tired though--getting touchy. I should have just said peace and walked back. I don't know why I didn't. So yeah, we took the bus back and got dinner at this place that had live music. The stupid thing though was that the music didn't start until 8:30 or 9 and we back in Killarney at 6. She was hungry though so we had to go there right then. We ended up sitting there--I was watching the rugby game and she was texting someone--for two hours and then right when the music starts she's like "we'll leave now shall we?" I was done with her after that.
The next day was Dingle and it's gorgeous. The beaches are amazing. I was so happy that I let my shoes get wet. This one French Chinese guy said I was crazy. Shoes dry, it's not a big deal. I had to pose for more pictures. She's kind of pushy. Sometimes she asked if I wanted pictures somewhere and sometimes I did and sometimes I didn't. But some places she was like "okay Lyndsay stand there and smile with the waves and cliffs" or whatever was around. I would be a terrible actress. Most of the pictures are with my angry smile.
The guy who discovered the South Pole is from somewhere on the Dingle Peninsula.
The Gallarus oratory is really cool. It's this little triangular church thing from the 6th century. Most of the churches of temples from then don't have their roofs because they fell down because they are 1300 years old. This one was built so that the walls gradually go into a point and it's all stone. It's still waterproof. You can go inside and it's really weird because you can feel the wind coming through the stone.
Dingle town reminded me of Seabeck a little. There's a marina and the waterfront is kind of all there is to it. It's way bigger than Seabeck though--it's a town rather than a village. I had the greatest fish and chips ever. First we went into this pub that Darya wanted to go to, and I told her before we went in that I was going to go to the fish and chips place afterward because our bus driver told us that is was the best place around and this is a fishing village so I want to eat fish. She didn't care. I had Irish coffee instead of normal coffee because I felt like drinking. It was fine. She asked me if I were okay because I was less talkative today. I'm fine. She started making excuses for me--I'm tired again. No. Then she was like you're used to traveling alone? Yep. Out of habit or do you feel more free. Both. Hint hint.
It was fucking great after that though cause she asked if it was okay if she left me to do other things. Absolutely. Go run around take pictures. That's what she does. I thought that I took a lot of pictures, but no. I don't run around taking pictures for the sake of taking pictures all the time either. Sometimes I do, but not when I'm somewhere I've never been before. You know how they say "feast your eyes"? That's what I like to do in new places--really just chill and take it all in and enjoy it. I feel like Darya samples her eyes. She goes places looking for shots. And then when we get on the bus she sits there flipping through her camera memory and then she's really looking at things. I'd rather see things while I'm there.
Anyway, I got to do what I wanted for one glorious hour. I sat on the pier and at my fish and chips and just listened. I did walk around the town too and I did take pictures, but it wasn't hectic.
I got to walk around Killarney town by myself too. That was really cool. Most of it is on three streets. But the back alleys are cool. Pretty deserted when I was there--Saturday night. The coolest thing though was there was this kind of garage looking building and when I walked by I could hear a band playing inside. The classical kind--trumpets and horns and flutes and all that. It was awesome. I tried to walk back and look inside but there was only one window and this security camera was right on it so I didn't linger very long. It was cool though.
The other awesome thing about Killarney is this bookstore above a convenience store. I was walking by and there were stacks of books in the window so I decided to stop and go in and there were tons of signs on the ceiling saying Used Books Upstairs. So I went upstairs. There was nobody in there. It was almost silent. That great kind of quiet where you can hear your own breathing and that fly freaking out in the lights above you and the spines of the books cracking as you open them and the scraping of fingers across the pages and you turn them, floorboards creaking, wind hitting the window. Fucking awesome. The whole upstairs was filled with rows and rows of shelving and all on the walls were huge tall bookshelves filled with torn up used copies. I found Captain Corelli's Mandolin which I've been looking for for a while. I bought it even though I said I wouldn't buy anymore books. But yeah, that was a perfect half an hour for me.
Sunday was rough. It was the only day that 9:30 came around and Darya didn't tell me I should get up. That was nice, but instead she just made tons of unnecessary noise so I got up anyway. I went downstairs to drink some tea and when she came down she just looked at me and said See you later. Fuck yeah. I should have rented a bike. On the first day she asked me if I were confident on a bike. Yeah I can ride. She said she's not confident. Everyone rented bikes because it's 5 kilometers to Muckross House and then there's Ross castle in the opposite direction which is two kilometers off the main road. I just ended up walking anyway.
First to Ross castle which is pretty cool. The castle itself isn't as cool as Blarney, but to go inside you have to be on a guided tour and that was really interesting. If they had a tour guide for Blarney it'd be grand, but they would never get so many people though it during the tourist seasons. You weren't supposed to take pictures, but the tour guide wasn't really watching us so I did anyway. Not that there was that much to take pictures of anyway. It's totally been restored and there's all kind of furniture in there that isn't even Irish. There's actually only one piece that's Irish. They rebuilt the roof too. The last private owners of the castle burned it down because they didn't want to pay a roofing tax.
It was hot. Felt like summer. I'm a little tan and everything. I finally got down to the Muckross house--I stopped along the lakes a lot and chilled cause it was so beautiful. The House isn't that great. The Abbey is amazing though. I didn't even know it was there until I saw a little sign post saying it was 2k away. I went to the house first and took a few pictures and wasn't enthralled so felt like it was a waste to walk all the way there, but then I got to the Abbey. It was creepy. It's an ancient and still used cemetery first of all. The Abbey itself is from 1445 and most of the walls are still there. No roof, but it's three stories and you can go wherever you want. Tiny spiral staircases--going up one is no problem but you get to the other side and have to go down another one and it's pitch black at the bottom. That freaks me out. Long covered corridors with open doors at the end which lead into pitch black windowless long chambers. Didn't go in there. Hell no. And the whole thing is quiet. There's no one around because it's almost closing time and since it's blindingly sunny it makes the darks darker and creepier. You walk on gravel on the bottom floor or through the cemetery, or stone on the upper floors, so you either here that crunching gravel sound or the lighter, smoother sound that tennis shoes on stone make. And that's it. It's breezy but the trees don't make noise, the birds don't hang out around there, and what else is there? I could have spent more time there but I had to rush through it to make it back into town by the time we were supposed to leave.
I started getting a headache on the ride back. I thought it was just cause I hadn't really eaten anything and I was dehydrated, but we stopped a few times and I got something to eat and it didn't go away. When I got back I basically just crashed. Woke up with the headache and it was a lot worse. And you know what? It didn't go away until I drank three cups of tea. Seriously, legitimately, physically addicted to caffeine.
I think tomorrow night is going to be an all-nighter. I just can't seem to make myself started this damned essay. I need it to be urgent, and it's not yet.
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