This post will be some odds and ends from our trip around Ireland that I didn't work into any other posts.

I liked the fact that Ireland celebrates authors. That's in contrast to the US where we more often seem to celebrate wars and war heroes. As I've traveled the world, I've found that much more often, countries seem to celebrate wars and military heroes far more than authors or other artists. I liked that about Ireland.

The photo below is in Galway. It's a bronze statue of Oscar Wilde, an Irish writer, and Eduard Vilde, an Estonian writer, having a conversation.

Guess what the next photo is?? I took this photo in the kitchen at Muckross House. Answer at the end of this post.

If anyone could find a horse store in Ireland, it would be Vicky. This store was in Killarney.

I was tempted to find out what an "authentic Turkish barber experience" involved, but honestly, what would they cut on my bald head.

I wouldn't want anyone to think that we didn't have the full Ireland travel experience, by which I mean heavy rain. It was raining lightly in Cork. I asked the hotel desk clerk how far a walk it was to the English Market from our hotel. He said fifteen minutes. We decided to go for it. Fifteen minutes, my asscot! It took us over an hour and the sky opened up and poured rain on us nearly the entire time.

The photo below is in our hotel room at The Dean. We got soaked from head to toe and had to dry everything that we had been wearing.

I'm a gardener and big plant guy. I found this little alcove in Wicklow Mountains National Park. It was raining lightly but these folks were comfortable.

Near the end of the Ring of Kerry, we were again having a difficult time finding a place to stay for the night. After visiting three or four B&B's in Sneem with no luck, we went into Dan Murphy's Bar. The bartender and two customers said we should go to the Sneem Hotel. We did and got a room and it was quite a nice place out on the edge of town. For dinner, we went back into town to a restaurant and then back to Dan Murphy's Bar for a nightcap.

I drove us back to our hotel, but it was raining pretty hard. I dropped Vicky off under the portico in front of the hotel and then went and parked the car. The hotel had a fireplace in the lobby and Vicky was standing there talking to a guy when I got back from parking the car.

I joined their chat but soon, Vicky said it was time to go up to our room. I concurred and away we went.

When we got out of hearing range, Vicky said to me, "Thanks for rescuing me, that guy was hitting on me!"

I turned to her and said, "Well darling, you've still got it!"

Quiz Answer: a knife sharpener