Let’s go shopping! Okay, focus Lynda, again, we had a great breakfast at the International Hotel in Killarney and they were expecting Andrew and I this morning and had already set a table for us in the bar area. Some guests from another tour had helped themselves to the seating in the area as the door was open, but not our table, as a place to hang out, however once the manager saw that, they were asked to leave so we could eat in peace. It was much appreciated! Again, I received a nice warm GF scone and my standard breakfast of scrambled eggs, fruit and yogurt. It has been working well so why change! Then onto the bus we all got, along with our luggage and we were off to the Blarney and Cork area. We actually did not go to Blarney Castle – no one actually wanted to climb the numerous stairs and then hang upside down to kiss it. Apparently doing so gives you the gift of the gab and according to Vinnie – none of us needed it! No other comments needed about having the gift of the gab from the peanut gallery! We continued to the Blarney area with pubs, the Blarney Woolen Mills store (largest Irish shop in world) and a cafeteria. We were given a couple of hours to shop and have lunch along with to visit the village and Andrew and especially I, made the most of it!
The result of this stop? A package of 12 skeins of green Aran wool for 85 Euros which at 100g each is an excellent deal! Normally sold at about 14 Euros a skein, you do the math! I have NOT found a lot of wool to be purchased in Ireland, which I do find strange, however we are on a bus tour and it is NOT the topic of this bus tour so yarn shopping will be the focus of the two weeks after the tour – Lynda and Andrew’s Yarn and Guinness Tour! The Woolen store was lovely however there are SO MANY stores here with the same types of Aran sweaters. I told myself that if I could purchase yarn for less than a sweater costs, I would make the design that I want and that is what I have accomplished! They also do custom sweaters at this shop – might be something to think about when back in this area….as the number of custom colours available was unreal!
Next, on our way to the hotel for dinner and overnight – we had an excellent experience visiting the Marine Bar, which is a nice small bar along a country road, which opened just for us and the owner played us some tunes along with giving us the history of the bar – why it is called the Marine Bar (due to the Marines that were stationed in the area many eaons ago) and some Irish history!
Finally we got to our hotel in time for dinner! We were staying at the Hotel Minella in County Tipperary which would be a quick overnight stay – in for dinner, sleep, breakfast and on the bus early tomorrow morning! There was some confusion with regards to our dinners – they had sent a non-gluten free menu in advance for us to sign up for meals, then realized their mistake so sent another one and we signed up for our dinner at check in. So we were a little cautious about eating here after such good experiences already under our belts! However we were sure surprised! The pastry chef had made a whole display of gluten free desserts for us to choose from! What a lovely end to the day! She also was so proud and wanted her picture taken by all of us!
Here is the drive we took today from the western side of the Republic of Ireland to the eastern side –
