Dingle

This town slayed me. For some juvenile reason, the name makes me laugh every time I see or say it. Thankfully I'm not the only one who has found it so funny. The town is a typical pretty Irish town. Though there is this underlying resentment towards the powers that be. Apparently a certain civic politician decided several years ago to do away with all of the English in Dingle, opting for the native Irish (i.e. Gaelic) on all signs. So you see traffic signs with huge spaces missing, where the English used to be. It is the "town that was denied democracy."

Oooo, we rented a car to do our touring. So I get to drive a stick-shift on the wrong side of the car and road, on curvy, narrow coastal mountain roads. Exhilarating. We only got lost once, and managed to only hit a few branches while meeting other cars.

The scenery on the Dingle Peninsula is beautiful. Apologising in advance if my history is incorrect... It is the area of Ireland that Cromwell sent all of the native Irishpeople when he "took over" Ireland in the name of England. The land is rocky and mostly uninhabitable, but the people who live there seem to have done really well. There are rock walls everywhere and sheep dot the mountain sides. My favourite are the walls that border cliffs... I figure they are there to keep the cows and sheep from going over the edge, rather than keeping intruders out.

Another stop we made was at Inch Beach. Despite the cooler temps, I obviously had to dip my feet on this side of the Atlantic. This little dog (who I named Jack) greeted us on the beach, and ran with me to the water's edge. When he realized I was going into the water, Jack stopped dead in his tracks and looked at me like I was crazy. And I was , the water was really cold. He quickly lost interest in my antics, and returned to his owners.

After Inch Beach, we made our way to Killarney. It was dark by this time, so we could only wander around downtown. We ate supper at Hannigan's Pub and Restaurant, and enjoyed listening to the locals cheer on the Irish soccer team in a match against Germany.

It was a good first day! Today's adventures will take us to Galway and the Cliffs of Moher. Hope I don't get blown over!