In love with a Rooster...

Tuesday, August 3, Dublin to Dingle

Just before my run-in with the stinging bush.

Today I met the love of my life... 
Kathryn and I crammed everything into our bags, threw our backpacks on, and headed off across town to pick up the car in which we'd travel for the next 11 days. We got lost on the way to the car rental place (imagine that), but finally made it to the right spot.  The agent told us he had given us a brand new car that had a little more room than we had asked. To back up a little, when we decided to rent a car, I kept seeing pictures in my mind of the little ugly yellow car in that movie with Ashton Kutcher... I wanted a horribly ugly, weird-looking European car to drive! So when the agent mentioned a new, roomy car, I was afraid he was going to pull around in a black Ford Focus. Then he told us we would be driving a new "Rooster". Or so we thought. He pointed outside the front window to our car... It was a new, electric blue Skoda Roomster (oops... I told you we had problems with those accents). It was a beauty of a car!

Give me sexy!

The first 5 minutes in Rooster were a nightmare. I had not driven a stick shift in over 2 years, and I had NEVER driven on the wrong side of the road! We jumped in the car, orientated ourselves, typed in our final destination on the GPS, and cranked him up. The car lurched forwards and ground to a halt - our front bumper 8 inches from the rear bumper  of the car parked in front of us (and the car rental employee)... wow, was the adrenaline flowing! I had forgotten that people park the car in gear so that it won't roll. Oops... Stalled out in the first 3 seconds of driving the car. Not a good sign. Well, at that point, I was afraid to try to reverse and get away from the car in front us so that we could leave. So we sat and waited... and waited... and waited... FINALLY the other car pulled out into traffic.

The first 15 minutes of driving were intense. You forget which way to look at intersections, you forget to clutch when slowing to a crawl, you panic when you see a pedestrian just thinking of crossing the street in front of you! Needless to say, there was a lot of yelling and laughing going on in ol' Rooster... and Kat found a classical music station so that I would be "soothed by the music." Until the big climax came and cymbals were clashing, drums were booming, horns were blaring... It's a miracle we're still alive.

Kilkenny Castle and the Peter Pan pose

We left Dublin and made it down to Kilkenny, a medieval town about 1.5 hours southwest of Dublin, where stopped for lunch. We found a parking lot and tried to maneuver Rooster into a tiny space between cars... I got stuck and needed to reverse... But I couldn't get the dang car into reverse! We worked at it, talked about it, thought about it, all the while sitting cattywompus in the middle of the parking lot! Finally, a full 2-3 minutes go by and we couldn't move. I was thinking of making Kathryn get out of the car and push us backwards so that I could just pull forwards again and try to get into the space. Then Kat had a brilliant plan... the owner's manual! So here we were, sitting motionless in the middle of the lot, cars blocked each way, and Kat was reading aloud from the manual. Aha! Figured out the trick a few eternal minutes later (thanks, Skoda) and maneuvered into the tiny spot... Mission accomplished!

Where's Meagan?

Took off through Kilkenny and stumbled upon Kilkenny Castle and the park/grounds that surrounded the castle. What an amazing place! One of my favorite surprises of the trip. We saw fathers and sons practicing their hurling, families picnicking, kids rolling down long hills of bright green grass... We found one of the little paths through the woods and followed it to the river, then went to an old pub for a pint. This place was built in the 1500s, and the old owner back in the early days was a witch. Supposedly she still lives there...

Self timer brilliance!

 Kilkenny is the home of MY favorite Irish beer, Smithwicks (pronounced SMITTICKS - I found out that Irish people always substitute the hard "t" sounds for the "th" in words). So we had a pint, then headed on west to Dingle!  I would tell embarrassing stories about stopping on the side of the road for bathroom breaks, photo shoots on the side of a mountain, and stinging nettle bushes, but I don't think anyone wants to hear those redneck stories... Let's just say that my right buttock burned for a full DAY. I learned my lesson... Made it to Dingle unscathed, found our hostel, parked sweet Rooster by the harbor (where we took more pics of him), and found one of the great music spots in Dingle. Dingle is known as the home of traditional Irish music in Ireland. Folks just show up at the pubs, bring their instruments, and play together. It's amazing. Such great talent! We met a girl from Seattle who was in her last week of her 3 month trip and swapped stories with her all night long. All in all, we had a marvelous day... I feel like every day just gets better and better:)

Old Kyteler's Inn, home of the witch

The Mayor of Dingle... precious.