but wait! we weren't finished with ireland! plus!

on the way to dingle...

we visited the swiss cottage a tiny jewel of a place! it is neither swiss nor meant to provide overnight accomodation. it was a playhouse for the wealthy Butler family to "get away from it all"for the day.... with their servants (marie antoinette started the cottage orne' trend with her Hamlet at versailles, more on that later tho!)


Gallarus Oratory, not neolithic but old and amazing anyway!
it's on the Dingle peninsula!

But wait we weren't finished with ireland!

because even though we had to leave for germany after that last posting i still hadn't told you about dingle and doolin and patricia (murray)thyne in ennis! and now we are in rome and i've already had the most wonderful visit with jane and mario borghini and their two most amazing and grown up children in firenze!!!! and in between all that we hit germany and brinna is on crutches from canyoning in austria, but she is ok. so, you see, we've been busy and had very little computer time and i promise to write again soon and send pictures but for now.......

just lots of love!

ok! so i had to leave that bit in because it just illustrates the reality of blogging on the road and it totally captured the rapid acceleration our trip took after leaving beautiful ireland. so, yes, we went to Dingle to listen to music and see the sea and learn about island life off the west coast and it was magical.

then, it was up to doolin with us for more music, another hostel (very hostelly), the cliffs of Moher and THE BURREN. but on the way we stopped to visit with Patricia, a cousin on my mother's father's side. we had such a wonderful visit with her and Kevin and their boys, Kieran and Eoghan

and patrick only a wee bairn! Patricia had photos of our wedding we had never seen, and we had such a lovely visit. the girls got to do a bit more curling and we climbed up to this amazing fort (probably neolithic) with the boys, it was right on the edge of the atlantic and had that incredible edge of the world feel.

Patricia had recommmended we visit the burren also. WHAT A PLACE! barren and cracked with a most diverse population of plants struggling to survive in the fissures, it's like scuba diving without the water

......for a botanist.

and! there was a Wedge Tomb (stone/bronze age)

after more of patricia and kevin's fabulous hospitality we headed back to our home away from home in maynooth...