Day of the Vapour Trail

This post is so called because of the turty towsand and a turd vapour trails we have seen today, and since being in Ireland. Bek and I have very sore arms (inside joke for the family there).

Before we begin, we neglected to mention one of our all time favourite quotes, from Sean the tour guide. We were travelling to Killarney yesterday, and he was telling us about the locals, saying that the strange thing about the place was the ratio of men to women. He said there are about 3 gents to every girl. 'And before you get too excited, girls', he said, 'I should warn ye. Although they say the odds are good here in Killarney, I tell you, the goods are seriously odd.'

Just thought we'd share that with ye.

Today was a huge day! Lots of travelling and sightseeing/scenery etc. Hence the very picturesque photos. We started out rather early, which was a bit rough because one of our bunk mates was a tad ill overnight, and so we didn't get much sleep. Except for Bek, who managed to sleep through it all. Weird. So we started out at 8.30am, and went straight up to a lookout to see the lakes, valley and the tallest mountain in Ireland, Carrauntoohil, which stands at 3414 feet and 2 inches high. Apparently it's important not to forget the 2 inches. Also, it's apparently quite rare to be able to see the peak, and we had a beautiful clear day with plenty of sun.

After that we left Killarney and travelled west, going to Inch beach, a mile long (which proves a inch is as long as a mile), and which is also the only nudist beach in Ireland. We didn't see any beachgoers. After the beach, we went to the peninsula, Dingle, which was breathtaking ---->

It was such a clear day, you could see forever on the ocean, framed by amazing mountains. Sean said it was the furtherest west you could go in Europe. But we thought the best part was the grass - you just don't get grass like that at home. (No ants!) We had lunch back in Dingle, and it was pretty much all travelling from then, and now we're in Clare.

<-------Grass!!

I (Belle) had a bit of a culture class with some of the others, while Bek was tending to the washing and cleaning. We learnt a little of the Irish language (Pionta Guinness led do thoil - I'd like a pint of Guinness please), and did some history, singing, and of course Irish dancing.That was so much fun! Not as hard as it looked. :)

Slan,

Bek and Belle

Embarrassing moment of the day: Sean raved on and on about this ice cream place in Dingle, Murphy's (what else?), and so Bek and I went over to try it, only to find it shut. Disappointed, we told Sean off for getting our hopes up and told him at the next stop it was his shout for icecream. When we were seated on the bus, a couple of latecomers arrived, holding lovely looking icecreams in their greedy little hands. Apparently some Irish shops shut for lunch. Sigh.