Killarney

Well we woke up to a full Irish breakfast this morning and I can't say that I was too hip on the black/blood pudding, but the rest of it was great! The drive to Killarney was most delightful! I highly recommend renting a car and driving if you plan on seeing Ireland, it's a beautiful place especially once you get off the beaten path! Once we got into Killarney we checked in early to our bed-and-breakfast. Danny choose this one "Sika B&B" because the lady that runs it is well known for her food. In fact she was even on the Irish version of iron Chef. Boy I can't wait to dig into breakfast in the morning! She gave us the low down on Kilkarney, drew it all out on a map, and then sent us on our way. Our first stop in Killarney was the Ross Castle. Wow! The castle was built sometime in the 15th century but it was recently renovated a few years back. It totally had the look and feel of medieval times! I have to give a big shout out to Danny for doing all of the planning on this trip because so far it's been great. Anyways, we paid at the entrance and took the tour to the top of the castle and it was an amazing experience! From there we ventured on over to the Muckross Abby. The Abby which was also from the 15th century was worn down. In fact all that remained of it was just the walls. Nevertheless, it gave you the feel of being back in time and it was a blast climbing what remained of the ruins! The grounds around the ruins was littered with old gravestones which game to place an eerie feeling! From there be walk to the Muckross House and Farm which was a bit lengthy. I could tell it was hard Tara especially in her pregnatious state "pregnant...lol!" so we all stopped off at the snack bar for a cup of coffee. Actually it was a welcomed break for all and the coffee hit the spot! I can never really tell with Claire if she is wore out or not because she is always so upbeat and ready to go. I have to say that's probably one of the neat things about traveling with her is all her positive energy! From the snack bar we walked on down to the farm for the experience of what Irish farming life was like back in the day. The farm was set up for the a look and feel of farm life from years ago, kind of like colonial Williamsburg. Just like at the farm one of the things they always ask us is what language do you want the tour in. The first cathedral we stopped in on day one I told them Pig Latin "ig pay atin lay". I was going to let that one hang for a minute or two before my wife saved him by singing English...lol! I could tell it baffled the man at the counter so I decided not to use that language anymore. We capped the day with a nice meal and ice cream and then welcomed the bed which kept beckoning us back at the B&B!

Kilkenny

5/30/14
What a beautiful day we woke up to! We sat down to eggs and bacon at our bed-and-breakfast that really fueled us for the day ahead. Once we got the car loaded we headed on out for the long drive to Kilkenny. Kilkenny is a beautiful medieval city which really made me feel like I was back in Europe. When we reached Kilkinny we lathered up with peanut butter and Nutella some fresh bread Tara grabbed from a local bread stand, and then headed out for exploration! Our first stop was Kilkenny castle. The castle was about 800 years old but it had been renovated some time back so it had more of a renaissance look and feel. From there we walked down to the  St Canice’s Cathedral and it was every bit of the medieval look and feel you would you would expect from its time period. We climbed the tower next to it and I think it freak my wife and I out! It seemed like forever before we reached the top! Once we left Kilkenny we head out for Cork. The drive to Cork was straight up awesome! It was just like out of the movies; really narrow roads with stone walls that were grown over with high foliage! The foliage was so high that we couldn't see around any corners and I know it was freaking Danny out driving! The drive had many old ruins of buildings and castles worn down from centuries of decay! I loved every minute of it! If you're ever in Ireland, Kilkenny is a must.

Dublin

Well we finally made it to Dublin! Tara and I had talked about coming to Ireland for a honeymoon. I realize it's two years later but hey were here! The plane ride over wasn't bad just hard to sleep! When we arrived in Dublin we had basically lost a whole day of sleep and so we were beat. However, we didn't waste any time. As soon as we got our car we headed straight to the bed-and-breakfast. It was humorous watching Danny try to drive on the opposite side of the road but I felt like he did a great job. As soon as we got to the bed-and-breakfast we cleaned up and headed out for a day in Dublin. We bought tickets for the hop on hop off bus and headed out. First stop was for lunch at a pub. Great food at a low price! It was a bit rainy and hazy outside but we didn't let that slows us down. We rode all over Dublin and jumped off at various locations. The highlights for me were the Saint Patrick's Cathedral and the Guinness storehouse. The start of the day was hard because we were all half drowsy barely able to keep awake from one destination to the other. However, about halfway through the day we got our second wind and pushed on like champs! Truth is I think I might have a little too much at the Guinness storehouse because on the last tram back I literally had to jump off and run to a restroom at an unscheduled stop. Huge praise to the bus driver for doing that for me! We stopped off at another pub for traditional fish and chip dinner and boy was it good! For some reason though on our way out we seem to have missed the bus so we ended up catching a taxi back to the bed and breakfast where we wasted no time hit the sack!

The morning of the 8th was our last day in Europe and we spent it in Paris. We only had the one day, so we headed straight for Notre Dame. After viewing it, we made our way over to the Louvre and spent about two hours roaming it. From there we headed on over to the Eiffel Tower. Miles didn't want to go up because he doesn't like hights, so Aaron and I made our venture to the top. I had to close my eyes on the way up because I felt panic kicking in...lol! I don't handle hights very well either, but just went for it. The views from the top were just great. When we finished we decided to have one last going home meal, so we could spend the rest of our euros. I would loved to have spent more time in Paris, but after that we called it a day. And that concludes our Tour La Europe. Thanks for reading!

few more pics

On the morning of the 5th, we were off and running by 6:30am to catch the early train to Pamplona. When we finaly did arrive, we set out in search of the towns center so that we could get our bearings down and have an idea of where the festivities would be taking place. (the thing you got to realize in europe is that in almost every country you can communicate with ease, because the majority of people seemingly have some understanding of english. However, we found out quickly that Spain was the exception to the rule. The spanish people didn't even attempt to understand us, and that made it somewhat difficult for us to get around.) Fortunitly for us, we located somone in Pamplona as soon as we got there who knew enough broken english to point us in the right direction. In fact, he explained to another man what we were wanting, and the other fellow willingly walked us all over town showing us where the run would take place. Even though neither of us could understand what the other was saying, we found our common ground through hand gestures and nods. After we parted ways, we grabbed a bit for lunch and discussed where we would sleep for the next two nights. (Durring the week of San Fermin it is impossible to find an empty bed unless you book one way in advance, and if you were lucky enough to actually find one the rates are five times what they would normaly be.) My suggestion was to do what the rest of the the bedless people were doing and just throw our bed rolls out in the center of the town park, but for safty reasons no one else was on board...lol! So we jumped on a bus and headed to a campground outside of town. Every Australian on a walkabout must have known about that campground because we shared it with about two thousand of them. On the morning of the 6th Aaron and I woke early, so that we could have enough time to clean up and catch the transit into town before the San Fermin opening cerimonies began. Miles wanted to spend the day relaxing, so he stayed behind at the campground. When we arrived down town the streets were filling up quickly with people dressed in white with red sashes. We started to work our way into the crowed, pressing our way to the center. We had to pass through several check points where police officers were going through bags and pating people down. They were taking things from poeple to keep them from throwing them onto the crowds, such as: Sangriea, mustard, ketchup, eggs, etc. Once I figured out what was going on, Aaron and I quickly worked our way back out of the center in hopes of not getting plastered with anything nasty. We found a nice area off to the side and watched as the gun fired off. It was quite a spectacle of white and red garments, sprays of liquids into the air, mustard and katchup everywhere, people dumping water from balconies, Ambulances and police officers speraticly hauling people away, and poeple doing stupid and crazy things. Once it was over, Aaron and I worked our way through the nasty sticky crowed of people and did one last walk through on The Way Of The Bulls. We walked it so that I could get one last look at the route, before I got after it in the morning. After we were finished in town, we went back to the campgrounds for a nice swim, and spent the rest of the day relaxing with Miles. On the morning of the 7th, we woke at 4:00am so that we could catch the earliest bus to town. Our friend Liz whom we met up with in Granada took an overnight bus up to Pamplona to watch the run. At the bus station Miles stayed and waited for her while Aaron and I went on since I had to be thier by 7:00. At the running course Aaron and I found a nice place for him to view the run, so we dropped our packs where he could keep an eye on them and still watch the run. From there I worked my way past the barricades onto the course. It didn't take long before hordes of people packed into the course area. I talked for a while with other runners and watched as anticipation was building up. Before the gun went off the police did one last sweep through the mass of people trying to remove all the drunks from the course. BOOM! Off went the first gun! You could see and feel the emotions and adrenaline come pouring in over the runners and spectators. Some of the runners already started running at this point, but I kept my ground and waited. BOOM! Off went the second gun! Now people really started moving, and me as well. I ran for a distance and watched over my shoulder as the bulls quickly approched. The next thing I knew, the man in front of me took a nose dive into the pavement, causing me to trip up landing on top of him, driving my knee into the pavement as well (Rule number #1 in the bull run, if you go down stay down or risk getting gored). As I layed there, I turned to my left and watched the bulls running franticly by while the participants were jumping and leaping out of the way. It was over and my first thought was "Wow, send some more"! From there I limped my way up to Aaron, where we grabbed our packs and set off in search of Miles and Liz. Regretfully we didn't have much time to spend with Liz, but we did manage to squeeze in lunch. After that we hoped on the train, and were off to Paris.

By the time we got to Madrid we had all agreed to cut Lisbon out of the equation, we were clearly just too worn out. From the Madrid station we set out in search of a hostel so that we could drop our packs and set out on the town. For some reason we were having no luck at all finding a place to stay, so after a couple hours of searching, an overnight train ride to Lisbon wasn't sounding to bad. After we had almost convinced ourselves to jump back on the train, Aaron some how was able to locate a hotel that still had a room left. Once we got in and booked our room we inquired as to why all the hotels were full. The attendent told us that it was gay pride day, and that the festivities were about to start. Also, there would be a parade later followed by a concert. By the time we did leave the hotel and head out, the srteets were already starting to fill up. In fact, the main roads were already closed off to traffic. Besides that, there were so many spectators out watching that it would have been impossible for anyone to get through even if they wanted. We didn't hang around for the parade, but what we did see was interesting enough...lol! From there we toured around town, did a little shopping, and grabbed a bite to eat. That night back in the hotel we discussed what our plans would be for the next day. Since we had cut out Libon, and felt it was still to early to head to Pampalona (I was off on my days, the bull run doesn't start until the 7th not the forth), we decided to spend one more day in Mardid. On the 4th we all celebrated by sleeping in...lol! we did however make it in time before the hotel quit serving breakfast. Continental breakfast at the hotel included eggs and bacon, and it was just what the doctor ordered. After that we set off for the train station to make reservations for the next day to Pampalona. Once we made our reservations we combed the city for about three hours trying to find a laundry mat. We only found one because we ran into a couple from Arkansas who had a guide book with one in it, it's funny that none of the locals even knew they had one. All I knew is that we were down to our last thread of anything resembling clean clothes and we wern't about to give up until we found one. the rest of that evening we just took it easy and relaxed in Madrid.