For the first time in a great many weeks, Captain Rohan and I left the city to go on a trip anywhere. This weekend we went northwest to Killarney, a town that lays claim to Ireland’s largest national park (possible it’s only, since it doesn’t appear that there are any other parks of significance on my map).

We left on Friday, missing the 3.30 bus because it had filled with people (apparently a popular bus to get on on Fridays) and had to make sure we got on the 4.30 bus. After getting dropped off at Killarney’s bus station (part of it’s outlet mall) we went in search of a hostel. Originally we went the wrong direction, but we found it in the end. Our late departure and the time it took to find our hostel meant that it was long past dinner time by the time we went in search of food. Having a group of five meant that our food cost was low because we bought lunch and dinner at Tesco, but everyone was very hungry when we finally had the food all cooked and ready to eat (yum, grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup!). We also lucked out in getting a room for five (the Buzzard room) so we didn’t need to worry about sharing with anyone else.

The next day we ate breakfast and packed up our stuff, leaving most of it in lockers at the hostel and went to the street to wait for the horse-drawn carriage to come pick us up to take us around part of the park. It was AWESOME! Our driver was very friendly and I was surprised by how calm the horse was having to deal with cars passing it and eventually dogs around its feet. The park was absolutely lovely, made even more visually awesome by the perfect weather we had. Crisp, cool autumn air and a clear blue sky almost the same color as the lakes we saw on our ride.

The ride took us around part of the park (saving my bum knee from having to walk it, thank goodness) and we were able to see (at a distance) Ross castle, the lakes, the ruins of a lime kiln, and even some Irish Red Deer! The deer were pretty cool because they are not always to easy to see. Even heard a buck roaring because it’s rutting season.

After the ride our group split, and Abby went on a bike ride around more of the park and the rest of the group wandered around the town. We ate lunch at Killarney House (now in serious need of TLC) and went to see the cathedral (second tallest in Ireland!). I was also able to find some lovely Irish wool socks to wear around my apartment because, man, is it getting cool around here!

Cheers!