Our last days in Ireland

“Are you goin' away with no word of farewell?
Will there be not a trace left behind?

I could have loved you better, didn't mean to be unkind;
Oh, you know that was the last thing on my mind.” Tom Paxton

Well, we finished the day with a bang in Kenmare. The sky was a cloudless clear blue. We sauntered around town until about half 2 and headed west for a sundown. We took pictures of course from Allihies to Dursey and back at 9:00 p.m. just in time for dinner at O’Donnabhain’s Bar.

Again, by the way, the food was superb. We were treated to an upbeat Irish duo and the last song they sang was from the 60’s (my era) by Tom Paxton. We thought it apropos for a farewell song. If you’ve never heard it, may I suggest you download it and listen to some incredible lyrics.

We cannot tell you how gracious the Irish have been. They are truly a blessed people and given the things they have historically endured, we are truly amazed and so happy to have been welcomed with their smiles and hospitality. Thank you Ireland. Erin go bragh (and that is our complete vocabulary).

Rather than bore you with long details regarding our stalking light today, let me simply finish by offering some photographs of our farewell to Ireland. We are going to Dublin Monday for our short flight to Paris and two and half weeks in the City of Light. We will bring you more pictures and our experiences in this the most visited of European cities.

May the road rise to greet you and may you be in heaven an hour before the devil knows you’re dead.

Rossacroo na loo Wood, Oct 7th

We were up until 1:00 a.m. yesterday, writing the blog, having a last dinner at our favorite restaurant and generally enjoying our last few days here in Kenmare. Diana and I feel as though we have seen what most of us would consider Ireland. While Ireland, like any country, is its people it is also a simple state of mind.

We meandered about, having several espressos and machiatos at Jam (our new coffee haunt. The Irish make terrible coffee and most restaurants and the hotel rooms use instant coffee…bleahg! Diana spent most her time here trying to explain to the locals how to make espresso the Italian way. Not gonna happen, I’m afraid.

After a bit of a walk down the two main streets of Kenmare, we headed out of town about 20 km to an area dedicated to preserving Ireland’s forest in as pristine a manner as possible. The area is full of deep and dark moss covered trees and is enchanting. We spent several hours here just soaking it in (quite literally given the weather).

It is named Rossacroo na loo Wood or Wood of the Cattle.
We drove back into town for dinner and a well deserved break. Again, we want to share some of the photos with you just to give you a taste of this area of Kerry County.
Our last night is tomorrow and we can truthfully say this was an exciting time for us. We hope you enjoyed Ireland, as well.
Tomorrow we drive to Dublin to catch our plane to Paris on the 9th of October.

We will see you again in Paris