[Written by mary, edited and published by brian]
Full disclosure – we’ve generally tried to avoid TL;DR. Circumstances make this post is a bit longer than the norm.
Well, there is no day 18 (never happened). I shall do my best to describe the last 2 days, so here we go. We both woke up yesterday in Kenmare, ready to take on the day. We (she) chose to do the (sing along Little Buddy, you know the tune) three-hour tour boat cruise on Kenmore bay.
In preparation for said cruise, (noon to three), we got what turned out to be the most delicious, scrumptious BLT’s. With lunch in hand we then walked, as a local would to the pier. Get to said pier and were (eventually) told, ahh, the gangplank is iffy and Captain Jack (nowhere in sight) might not want to board from here.
Brian here – I include this shot to show 1) what a simple fix this should have been and 2) the seemingly general state disrepair / absence of routine maintenance.
Back to the Lovely Mary B
Poor gal, abandoned by Captain Jack and with the worst Irish accent trying to explain the situation to a group of peoples made up Sweeds, French, British, Polish and Brian attempting to translate for the crowd. We were told (kinda New Jersey just around the corner style) loop around downtown, then go along Sneem road past the Kenmore Bay Hotel and turn at the (indecipherable) Stables.
As one might guess, we drove about and never found the pier or the boat. We did found a lovely spot to eat our sandwiches.
Back to town, disappointed but undaunted. Now would be the time to mention that Kenmare does Halloween big time. Close the street parades scheduled for 2 days, lots of decorations about town, and outside of town.
As usual for late afternoon, the napping bug got our driver – so nap time for him. After that, Brian decided to go back to the pier from this morning and take high tide pictures to go with the mornings low time pictures.
When Brian returned from walking the camera we headed down to the pub for a pint and dinner.
Brian here – taking over for a bit.
A pint each next to the fire…
was so nice we decided to start on our second before ordering dinner. (Foreshadowing->) If you look in the upper right of the picture you’ll see evidence of our conversation…”Who comes to Ireland to eat pizza?”.
Halfway into that second pint we started talking with the (pizza eating) couple at the next table. Lovely People, Dubliners (ah natives, that’s who orders pizza in a pub in Kenmare!). Well, as one might guess the one pint turned into about 6 pints, a group of about 6 showed up and joined in the conversation, and the conversations continued…for hours – so much that the kitchen(s) closed before Brian and I had an inclination to order dinner (too late – Guinness for dinner).
Those pints and lively conversation continues…
… with our new BFF’s, Fiona and Brian keeping the pints coming, this is the generosity of the Irish, it’s humbling.
So, after closing one pub, we (headcount of 9 or so now) ventured across the street, cuz there’s always another pub, and continued said conversations into the wee (for us) hours. At some point we headed in the direction of and found (somehow) our bed. An that’s where Day 18 went – no blog post and sorries to all. In truth, the Guinness took us away.
This night is exactly why we LOVE going to the little villages, (Kenmare has ~2500 residents); the engaging with a local is for more likely, and what fun.
Today, we made our way to Dublin…
…a 4 hour drive, my poor chauffeur needs a day off. Got rid of the rental car, and are currently planning tomorrow (Saturday) in Dublin – our last day in Ireland.
Welcome to 10 Angels 