We picked up our rental car early Sunday morning and with much anxiety set out on the other side of the road. It was a diesel that gets 45 mpg, which is good since fuel costs the equivalent of about 7 US dollars per gallon. Before we started, and at every intersection, we would say a phrase we made up “left not death” to remind us where to be. It isn’t too hard when you concentrate but you can really feel your subconscious mind pulling you to the other side so you really had to always be alert. Our first segment was on a freeway which seemed less stressful because you could stay in the slow lane and feel fairly safe. Soon though we were off the freeway and on narrow roads that made you feel like you were sure to either smack the oncoming car or the bush/wall beside the road.

Our first stop was Glendalough monastic ruins in the Wicklow Mountains south of Dublin. It was founded in the 6th century, and surviving buildings including a 90 ft tall round tower are probably from the 10th to 12th century. The mountain setting for the ruins was beautiful, and the cemetery surrounding them included both old and relatively new grave stones. Since we were there on a Sunday, the cemetery visitors included local people visiting graves of relatives.

We stopped for Sunday brunch at a little restaurant near the ruins, which included our first taste of black pudding, which is very popular here. It looks like a sausage patty, but it’s made from pig’s blood and filler like oatmeal or onions. It sounds gross, but I have to say it was very good which made it easy to ignore what it was made from. Coffee here is STRONG, which Michelle is having a hard time with. I’m not much of a coffee drinker anyway.

Our next stop was the ruins at Rock of Cashel in the middle of Ireland. The “Rock of Cashel” is actually the large limestone hill on which the castle sits (like a mini-Stone Mountain), surrounded by flat lands. The oldest building on the castle grounds is the round tower, which dates back to about 1100 and the cathedral was constructed in the 13th century. Some parts of murals still can be seen on the ceilings and walls. Part of the site was being renovated and wasn’t open.

Before we hit the road again we stopped at McDonald’s, and found that some of the food was the same but we each had items that we haven’t seen back home – a different kind of chicken sandwich and burger, along with onion rings and sweet chili dipping sauce. I found the burger to be really good, much better than home (it tasted grilled, not microwaved). It was made from Irish beef, according to the card on the table, and McDonald’s is the largest purchaser of Irish beef by volume. Michelle was excited to get a Mcflurry with Crunchie, a candy not available in the US that she loves getting from our friend Anna from Australia. A “value” meal, however, was about 10 US dollars and their “medium” was like our small. We also got some candy from a convenience store. I had a Kit Kat that was twice the size of a Kit Kat back home and had chocolate in the middle.

After a total of about 250 slow miles (averaging probably 40 mph off the freeway) we arrived at our second stop – Sallyport House in Kenmare, County Kerry (here they say “county” first, like County Fulton instead of Fulton County). The long trip ending up being like a driving school, with plenty of roundabouts thrown in. Our host Janie gave us a warm Irish welcome. After heading out to a gas station for some junk food, we settled in for the evening, feeling relieved to survive the journey to see another day in Ireland.