One of the great things about our recent trip to Ireland, a country we have never been in, was that we were on a guided tour.  Every few nights we stayed in a different hotel, rode on a comfortable charter bus every day and learned a lot about Ireland from our tour director David, a Canadian.  Never fear, our bus driver was a young man from Ireland with an adorable Irish accent and we all loved him.  His name was Brian.    Since we didn’t have to drive and figure out the crazy roads with the crazy “round abouts”, we could just enjoy the view and take in the sites.  I had my camera ready for anything.  Of course sometimes taking pictures through the window of a moving tour bus results in less than perfect pictures.  But here are some of my favorite things we saw while taking it all in.

Sheep are so cute and Ireland has lots of sheep.  All kinds of sheep too, long haired, short haired, curly haired.  They all had colors spray painted on parts of their bodies which meant different things.  It could mean who their owner was, it could mean what field they were supposed to be in or it could mean who their daddy was.  I have never been able to eat lamb and this trip was no exception.  In fact, the one day I thought I might eat Irish Stew, it had lamb in it.  Nope, couldn’t do it.  Check out this statue of a goat with a crown.  He was prominently displayed in one of the towns we drove through.  He even has a name, but I just can’t remember it.  Information overload on the tour bus, sorry.

They even had cows in Ireland.  When I was a little girl, my grandpa had a farm and he raised cows.  When we would go visit him, I would take my little Kodak Instamatic camera and take picture after picture of cows.  My mother would take my film down and drop it off to be developed only to find that every photo was of a cow.  So here I am in Ireland, taking pictures of cows.  My mom would be so proud.

I love the ocean and could not wait for the day when we did the Ring of Kerry and I was not disappointed.  We worked our way out to Dingle Bay and around the Ring to spectacular views of the ocean.  We had lunch at a cute little cafe which had amazing views.  One thing I did notice was that this area was very remote, yet there were quite a few homes and people living out on the edges.  Everyone on the bus kept wondering where the nearest Wal-Mart was. 

It seemed odd but as you are driving through the country side here and there you will see the remnants of  castles.  Some are in better shape than others, but castles none the less.  I got to thinking, I wonder how many there really are.  Can you imagine the time when they were all prevalent?

Periodically our bus would stop at a turnout in the road at scenic points.  We would all get out of the bus and snap pictures.  One of these turnouts was overlooking a beautiful meadow and creek.  Standing there was an Irish man with a donkey and an adorable dog sitting on the back of the donkey.  He was the cutest thing, the dog, not the man.  I wonder how long they hang out at this spot because I know tour buses come through all day long and I did see people having their picture made with this Irish looking man and dropping coins in a box for him.

I was really missing our little dogs while we were traveling.  The day we went to Blarney Castle I saw a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel named Freddie.  He was the same color as our little Shawn.  I stopped the man and asked if I could pet his dog and he was happy to oblige.  Freddie however was a bit shy but he was adorable.  I was thinking that Freddie maybe should have gone up to kiss the Blarney Stone so he could have been given the gift of gab too.  He was terribly quiet.  Here this Irish Cavalier has a very American name “Freddie”, and our Cavalier has a very Irish name “Shawn”.  Go figure.

Now for all my fellow Ardmoreites, look at this sign we came across!  Yep, Ardmore, Ireland.  We all really wanted to drive through this small seaside village, but alas our tour director said no.  But our amazing driver Brian did pull over so we could all snap pics.  Thanks Brian, you’re a peach.

More beauty from Ireland to come….