Killarney

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Sorry for not writing in so long. We haven't done too much except explore the town of Killarney, which is similar to Galway. There hasn't been much to say before today.

The hostel we are staying in is ok. We've made friends with the receptionist, she's from Australia, and she's really friendly. She was sick so we tried to help her out a little bit. Because of that she lets us get away with things that the other guests might not be able to, like eating breakfast after she puts it away, or using the internet for free (yay!). Also, we are sharing a room with 5 Germans. They really are everywhere. We also tried authentic Irish Stew. It was good, less thick than what we eat at home. I don't know about Allie, but I like Grandma's stew a little better.

Today we rented bikes and went to the lake and a place called Muckross Abbey and Muckross House. Extremely pretty views everywhere you looked. The abbey was a little scary because the rooms were tiny and some didn't have windows. The staircases were really steep, circular, and dark. I don't think I would've been comfortable living there back in the day. The house, on the other hand, was huge and so pretty. It had big lawns that extended down to the lake, manicured gardens, and hiking trails that led back 2km to Torc Waterfall. Which, I should add, was one semi-small waterfall. It's nice to see though. We got lucky and it only rained once before we set off. It took us a while to get there because we didn't know the bike laws and felt wierd cycling in the same lane as the cars. We also haven't been on bikes in a while, years maybe, and we were a little shaky starting off. But the old saying 'it's like riding a bike' is true, we did alright.

It's our birthday. We didn't remember until around 2pm when we were walking around the house grounds. It was probably a 3 minute ''oh, it's our birthday. Happy Birthday!'' and then we walked on. We don't have any plans to celebrate really, because we have to be up at 5:30 to catch a bus back to Dublin. However, I do think we're going to go to a pub, grab a pint of Guiness, listen to some traditional Irish music, and have the craic. The craic, pronounced crack, is an Irish word meaning fun pretty much. They put 'the' in front of it, which makes it a little tough for me to use in a sentence because it seems like it should be a verb.

Well, that's enough rambling for now. Off to eat the rest of the Irish Stew and then listen to some music! Love everyone.
-S

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