Killarney
July 13, 2019
This morning we drove to
Killarney, the site of the enormous national park, larger than Manhattan! We had a great day there.
In the town of Killarney
is St. Mary’s Cathedral, a beautiful example of the “famine church” which was
built by out-of-work laborers given jobs by the church during the famine:
Our tour of the park was
in “jaunting cars” which are horse-drawn buggies:
The park is truly lovely,
and the weather was perfect, with sunny skies and temperatures in the low 70s:
We ended our ride at Ross
Castle on Loch Lein, a semi-ruin, with loads of ducks and a few swans at the
water’s edge:
We then walked to Muckross
House, an estate mansion where we had lunch:
After lunch we went to the
nature center where the children spent a couple of wonderful hours learning
about the fauna of the area:
The naturalist had set out
traps early in the morning, and they were opened by the children with a
collection of voles and a mouse. One of
the voles was used for the instruction, and was handed to the children to
explore before being released:
There then was a gathering
of bugs, using a technique which collected them in a shallow white pan, after
which they were sucked up into a trap and examined under a dissecting microscope
before being released back into the wild:
On the site we saw a
collection of red deer, whose furry antlers are fully grown at this time of
year. They will be shed later on this
summer:
Back at the hotel, before
dinner there was time for a swim in the large pool, but the hotel requires
everyone to purchase and wear a cap, for reasons we could not figure out.
Tomorrow the Loch Gur
Heritage Center and a fairy garden.
Believing is optional, apparently.
Oh brother, don’t tell me you don’t believe in fairies! 😉. Looks like a great trip!
ReplyDeleteI figure a swim cap is to reduce the amt. of hair that floats into the water and gums up the filters. But isn't a cap that you bring with you just as good as the hotel one? Odd.
ReplyDelete--Fascinating, about the stone walls and churches built to give paid work to unemployed men during the famine. Seems like a progressive social policy.... (OK, I won't start a political discussion here.)