A day in Killarney - That’s great craic!

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Today we had our first “Irish Breakfast.” For those of you who are unaware, we’re not talking omelets or pancakes…or even simply sausage and fruit. A traditional Irish Breakfast consists of rashers (meaty bacon - the amount of meat was phenomenal), sausage and good old “Black Pudding.” Not to be confused with chocolate pudding, cocoa pudding, or even licorice pudding, “Black” Pudding is a pureed sausage, bacon and pig blood dish. Yes, you heard it right. Ruth wouldn’t tell us what was in it until after we tried it, so that alone tipped us off that something in it wasn’t a savory American choice. Neither of us were huge fans, but can’t knock it till you try it, right?

The Irish are thanking us, since we definitely brought the sunny California weather with us. We have been so lucky that it has been sunny and not pouring ran every day. Since the weather was so “lovely, grand and brilliant” today, we went to Killarney and rented some bikes to explore the town. An old Irish man even challenged us to a bike race, to which we quickly replied, “ABSOLUTELY, LET’S GO.” We have been dying to workout, bike, run, do something physical.

We rode along the green dirt paths to the Muckross House, which is the only monumental historic estate you will find in Killarney. It was built in 1843 and bought by an American couple for their daughter’s wedding present, as she married an Irishman. It is set at the edge of Killarney National Park. Our tour guides’ name was Niall, and he was a kick in the pants. This guy knew what he was talking about and would often repeat key points of his tour throughout the entire tour. For example: The family prepared for Queen Victoria’s visit for 6 years (which was only 2 nights in length - remember this part), in hopes that her stay with them would elevate their social status to one of more prestige. The queen stayed only two nights, and then after her stay her husband died and she went into mourning and forgot to grant them their higher social status. Needless to say, the preparation for the stay was all for nothing, the family had to go bankrupt and sell the house because of all the money they spent on the preparations. For the rest of the tour, whenever Niall would explain something in one of the rooms, he always referenced “and this is how Queen Victoria…who only stayed for two nights did this….” Or “and you know, Queen Victoria only stayed for two nights”…and “Queen Victoria, who only stayed for two nights has an opinion on this.” I turned to Erica and said “How many nights did Queen Victoria stay?” I think four?

Here is an additional FF (fun fact) from our visit to the Muckross House:
-- Billiards tables in the UK are larger than American billiards tables. More balls, same amount of pockets, different rules. It’s actually called “Snooker.” Also, the beds were a lot smaller because the people believed that is was better for their respiratory systems to sleep sitting up…

We then got back on our bikes and rode up to the Torc Waterfall, dodging “Jaunting Cars,” which were basically horse drawn carriages that people were getting rides in. We then walked up to the Muckross Farms - three traditional Irish farms. We saw all kinds of animals - horses, chickens, geese, donkey’s and the best…pigs. We rode back into town and got some food and chilled out in a small café where we caught wifi on my iphone and drank some coffee. We walked around town a bit more, but most shops were closed because it was Easter Sunday and past 6pm. After walking the town about 3 times, we went into a pub called Murphy’s and watched the Master’s Tournament. I tried asking the bartender about the different beers on tap, because I wanted to try something traditional to Ireland, rather than a Coors or a Bud Light. There were about 5 beers on tap that I had never heard of, so I told him that I wanted something light, perhaps something like a Pilsner or something wheat based. Needless to say, the Irish do not understand the words “Light,” “Pilsner” or “Wheat,” because he had absolutely no idea what I was talking about and looked at me like I was a crazy American (touché). I finally just pointed to one called “Harp” and gave it a shot. It was pretty good! Erica doesn’t like beer at all, so she stuck to wine and mixed drinks. The people were so friendly, and so eager to talk to us “Americans.”

Donel, Danny, Dick, Donnicha and James (all from the small town of Ballydesmond) came and met up with us a bit later and we went out to the pubs. We think that Derry gave Donel the fatherly chat of “Don’t let anything happen to these two girls or I will kill you,” as they took very good care of us and made sure that we were safe and happy at all times. However, we can’t really tell sometimes if they actually like us, or are just giving us the “courtesy” chuckle because they laugh at everything we say. Being that it actually takes a lot of time and effort to listen to the Irish, because the accents are so thick, it makes it even harder to tell what they think of us. Whatever, even if we are a comedic relief, they’re still very nice and accommodating, so who cares. Maybe it was my leopard purse - quite possible.

After a few pubs (and Donel calling us “snails” since we both had huge backpacks on our backs that we were lugging around, making us look like snails) we got to experience the “night clubs.” We went into “The Crypt,” which pretty much resembled an American Night club, except nicer. Some of the music they played was huge in America about 5 years ago, but they were ALL ABOUT IT. Does everyone remember the song … “I’m blue…aba-di, aba-die….aba-di, aba-di…” Yes. Top hit. Donal asked us if we liked the music and we said “Uh yeah, 10 years ago when it came out.”

Also, some guy literally came up to us and was like “Ballidesmond? #9?” I looked at him and was like, “Whoa, who are you and how did you know that?” Ballidesmond is the town we are in, and or house is #9. Apparently we are the local celebrities - “The 2 American Girls in Ballidesmond.” Some guy also asked me if San Francisco was in California. I laughed but then re-considered my mocking, since I don’t know if I would necessarily know which village is in what town, in a foreign country. However, I thought San Francisco, CA was a known fact…hmmm.

As previously mentioned, the accent and slang is still taking some time to get use to. Their phrase, “We’re going to have a crack,” had us rolling. “No…no crack, that’s we’re good.” They use crack (craic), in the form that it is short for “crackle,” as in “fun,” as in “we’re going to have great fun.” Translation solved. Also, the slang for “no problem” is “no bother,” but with the accent it comes out “no bodder.” However, we feel like every other word out of our mouth is “what????” At the end of the night, Erica said, “I can’t listen anymore, it’s too much work, I just can’t do it!”

The lads were staying out until 4am, however we decided to call it a night at 2am, since we had been up all day, touring around, had huge backpacks and were “wrecked,” as the Irish call “exhausted.” We had the phone number of a local Ballidesmond man named “John Reardon” who apparently gives good deals on rides back from Killarney, since he has a big van and can carry multiple people. We called John and got back to Ballidesmond for 20 Euro instead of 60 Euro. Some of the fellow passengers in the van told us that we do not have strong American accents. Apparently most of the American’s they meet are from Boston or New York. I’m glad we made it back alive. Tomorrow we plan on sleeping in, working out and having an off day. Slainte!

Also - future reference for those of you wanting to take a trip to Ireland, the “Irish Car Bomb” is American, and the bartender told me that by no means, would he ever make a drink with the name “car bomb” in it.

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Comments

[Maria Tsopanakis]

Your having too much fun!
Hi, The Irish village is gonna think those "crazy American girl's". Keep having fun. You're road journal is fun to read. Love you, Maria