West Cork...and Claddagh Rings!

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Today we were up early to get a head start down to tour West Cork - highlights included Mizon Head, which is the most southern tip of Ireland. We were literally standing on the edge of the country. Only 200 miles of water away was France. I took off my shoes, rolled up my seven brand jeans (which btw, they don't really wear designer jeans in this country. Probably another reason why we stick out), and pranced in the Atlantic. To my knowledge, I hadn't ever swam in the Atlantic, so this was exciting for me. Erica collected sand for her old college roommate Ashley, who gathers sand together in a small sandbox from every place in the world that she can. Erica gladly filled up a ziplock. The weather today felt like home, which was nice. It was warm, not too much wind....and we were on the ocean. It has been the highlight of my trip so far.

We stopped and at "dinner" at a small restaurant on the way down. Erica had authentic Shepards Pie which she loved, while I stuck to the Ham/Cheese/Onion sandwich with "chips" aka fries. I'm all about trying the authentic Irish food, but I just wasn't in the mood.

Then, the second to best highlight of the day (going to Mizon Head was the best...standing at the edge of the country), was that Ruth bought us both our Claddagh rings, which we proudly wore the rest of the day and will for the rest of the trip. It was the one piece of jewelery that both Erica and I wanted to get while we were here. For those of you who don't know, the ring has a lot of Old Irish significance. The basic meaning: The hands of the ring are shown holding the heart and the hands denote friendship and togetherness, the heart itself signifies love and the crown in the claddagh ring stands for loyalty. If you wear the ring with the bottom of the heart facing towards your arm (towards your body, your heart), it means that your heart is taken and you are with somebody. If the bottom of the heart faces away, towards your fingernails, it means that you are on the market. Erica and I both proudly wore ours facing towards our hearts. In a nutshell the meaning of the Claddagh ring could be summarized as, Let Love and Friendhsip Reign Forever.

We stopped in Schull on the way home for some coffee and scones.. scrumptious... I have never really been a fan of scones, simply indifferent. However, they way the are prepared here is delicious. Warm and fresh. Again, everyone ordered coffee, but it was about 6pm and I didn't want to be up all night, so I opted out. We then stopped for some "99ers," which apparently means "Ice Cream Cone." I asked him if they were called that beacuse they were 99 cents? He said no...and he didn't know why. It was simply what they were called. The second we got back to the car with the humongous cones of what I'm pretty sure was 100& whole fat vanilla ice cream, both Ruth and Derry dropped theirs all over the car. Oh my. We got it cleaned up, and the girl inside the SuperValue store gave them new ones.

The drive home was very long, about 2 and a half hours, but scenic. We have yet to drive in this country, as I find myself acting like my mother when I was first learning to drive...pressing imaginary breaks and holding on to the side of the car for dear life and saying to myself "wow, this is how I'm going to die." All of the roads are country roads and very windy, so Erica was kind enough to let me sit in the front so I wouldn't get carsick. We're both tired, and according to Derry and Ruth, we are "shattered." That's some old english for ye all.

Tomorrow we are headed to Kilarney, hopefully to rent some bikes if the weather is nice, then meet up with Donal and Kevin to go to some club where Kevin DJ's at. Stay tuned....hope all is well in the States.

XOXO,
A&E

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Photos

Street signs in Ireland
...they give no advance notice. The are literally right AT the street you are supposed to turn on.

At Mizon Head
The most souther tip of Ireland on the coast/beach.

Proudly showing off our Claddagh Rings
oh hey boyfriends....