Recap - Part III

After securing a hostel in Killarney for St. Patrick's Day weekend, we headed to the other side of Ireland. We hopped on a bus in Dublin, hoping for a six hour trip. The traffic in Dublin was bad, so we got a slow start, and then it started hailing and then snowing, and that slowed us up a bit too. Needless to say, when we made it into Limerick City, we had missed our connecting bus by 5 minutes and had to wait 2 hours for the next one. After a 10 hour trip to Killarney, we were pleasantly surprised when we made it to Neptune's. The atmosphere was good, they had free internet, and great people. My brother, his annoying new Canadian friend, and I whipped up a nice pasta and veggie dinner before hanging out with other hostelers for the rest of the night. We ended up meeting a cool couple from New Zealand, an Austrian girl, and a guy from Detroit and stuck with them for the rest of the weekend.

Next up was St. Patrick's Day, the biggest party day of the year in Ireland, and we weren't disappointed. I started my day with a trip to a cafe to get some food in me before beginning my marathon drinking day. The group of us headed down the street for a good little parade, but not before stopping for our first pints of the day. After the parade, we proceeded to drink our fills at five different pubs in town, all being a great time. The Stretford End had a good jukebox, not to mention it was five feet away from the door of our hostel. Laurel's Pub had a nice little fire going to keep us warm, although there was a serious lack of space to move around, let alone hoist a pint. The fun really started at The Vintage. Here, Karin (the Austrian) and I decided that we were going to try to get guys to buy us some pints. Unfortunately, it didn't work, but instead, we were entertained by the story of sex going on in the men's bathroom. When the report first reached our table, we didn't believe it, but soon enough, men were coming out of the bathroom laughing and showing the pics that the took on their cell phones to their friends. The next thing we know, the guy comes out of the bathroom and the whole pub erupts in cheers and clapping over his feat. A few minutes later, his lady friend followed out of the men's room, also met with yelling and clapping. I'm guessing that she was very embarrassed since she ran straight out of the pub! The next stop was O'Connor's, where a good time was had by all. First off, we met the mayor of Killarney, who proceeded to call my brother a dirty, lazy hippie. He was at our table for quite some time drinking whiskey and Guinness and shooting the breeze. I also had a little adventure of my own and was finally treated to a pint by an Irishman named Ian. After the group decided that it was time to move on, we traveled to The Grand. There was a live band playing there and they kept Karin and I dancing for a couple of hours. It was a bunch of young guys, accompanied by a really old guy who could wail away on the drums. Finally, after loads to drink (and a couple of food stops), we decided to call it a night and head back to the hostel. I do admit that it was probably the best St. Patrick's Day I've had so far, and much better than the first time I celebrated in Ireland.

Saturday morning, I dragged myself out of bed and head out on a coach tour of The Ring of Kerry (pictures below). Unfortunately, it was a bit dreary, so the sea didn't look as nice as it could have. When I returned to the hostel, I joined the New Zealanders at a pub to watch my first rugby match. It was Ireland vs. England, so it was bound to get exciting watching it with a crowd. Miraculously, Ireland pulled off a few goals at the very end, and we were all cheering with the victory. It's always nice to see England defeated in just about anything. Afterwards, we made it to a couple more pubs before calling it a night. The next day, I took a two hour walk to the top of Aghadoe. It was a good hike and a great view of the town, mountains, and lakes. We ended our night back Stretford End and enjoyed a birthday pint in honor of my brother on his 21st.

We left Killarney on Monday morning to head to Ennis where we were getting picked up to go to the farm. Ennis wasn't too great of a town. Our hostel, Abbey Tourist Hostel, wasn't the best that I've stayed in. I don't know if there are better wings or rooms in the place, but the walls were cracked and it wasn't the cleanest or warmest, but the people staying there and running the place were all very friendly. They had satellite TV, so we spent most of our time watching that, including some crazy movie that involved the revenge of locusts who killed everyone except those who only at organic food, which I thought was a good set-up for the work and lifestyle we were about to begin. We had bad Chinese food for dinner on my brother's insistence. I warned him that every time I had eaten Chinese food in Ireland, it was bad, but he wanted to try for himself. I was not proved wrong.

We decided to get a good night's sleep because the next day we were going to be picked up and taken to the farm to begin our organic farming fun!