had the best hotel room here. We had some rainy weather, not a big problem though.
An American tourist poses in front of the Royal Killarney hotel - does she look familiar?
Not such a bad room, eh?
We started our first full day in Killarney with a jaunting cart ride ... in weather
that was described by our guide as a "torrential mist"! One of the people on our
ride asked the "Jarvey" (driver), Paul, if "Silver", our horse, was a Clydesdale.
Paul, who must be asked that question several hundred times a year, responded with,
"No, these horses are much smaller than the powerful Clydesdales. We describe these
horses as ... 'Bud Lites'". It was a beautiful, misty ride through Killarney Forest, as
we headed for Ross Castle, on the edge of one of the Lakes O' Killarney.
We arrived at Ross Castle on Killarney's Lower Lake, and who
better to feature in our picture than ... Don and Mary Ross!
OK, the rain got us that day. We're on a covered (thankfully) boat on one of the Lakes O' Killarney
and it is a bit "misty". But we still enjoyed being out there, seeing it all!
Here are two more views of Killarney's lakes from a spot with an overview and much less mist!
Our next stop is at Muckross House (c. 1843) in Killarney National Park. "Snuffles", our travel mascot (we get tired
of taking pictures of each other so we take Snuffles with us), has traveled the world and pops up in various places.
Mary and Snuffles enjoy the grounds of Muckross House even though there is "mist" in the air.
The 65-room Victorian mansion was built in the "Neo-Tudor" style and is one of Ireland's
biggest tourist attractions. Unfortunately, no pictures are allowed inside the home.
The Bourn family, the last private owners of Muckross, also built a mansion in California, about 40 miles north
of where we live, near San Jose. It is the Filoli Estate and it is modeled after Muckross. We have visited the
mansion and gardens of Filoli several times: Click to view Filoli.
Mary's maiden name is Sheehan and her family is from Killarney, so we just could not miss
visiting Sheehan's Pub (twice)! We enjoyed a couple of pints and listened to the three-piece
band in a packed pub. Irish-type dancing seemed to break out spontaneously and Mary danced
with a young Irish man who looked to be about college age. The band (see below) played
everything from traditional Irish music to American country/western and 1950's rock 'n roll.
After an evening of pub crawling, along with some torrential mist, John Andler, Don Ross,
and I make our way back to the hotel. Somewhere along the way, John scored a BK crown.
One of the few pix we ever get of the two of us. Hmmm, we're in a pub having a pint - what a shock!
It seems that every tourist makes a stop at Kate Kearney's Cottage in Killarney ...
good food, good Irish music, and even Irish dancers entertain the diners there.
The 3-piece band played a variety of instruments including a bodhran (Celtic drum),
button accordian, guitar, mandolin, bass mandolin, fiddle, and an Irish elbow bagpipe.
Now please join us as we make the drive around the Ring of Kerry!
Click to view the Ring of Kerry.
Return to top level