The ferry from Pembroke, Wales, was longer than expected. Instead of the two hours we were told, it took 5. When we dock in Cork, we quickly went to find the B&B in the small town nearby. This was my first night eating in real Irish pub. Instead of ordering pork, i ordered a burger. It is still the best burger i have ever had. (Botswana has great beef, but bad hamburgers). The next day we spent mostly driving to Tralee. (see picture from our hotel/apartment on left) This is where my two cousins were born and raised. My Aunt Cathy and my late Uncle Pat Joe live on the outskirts. This town is the second place i would live in on this trip (1st Paris, 3rd the small village in France were we spent the night). The next day we drove around the Dingle Peninsula. We saw the beautiful Irish Shore, and Ella and I actually got in the water. (Note to self, don't go wading, much less swinging, in December). On our way to Dingle, we went past this church which was crowded with people. It looked like a funeral.. the Police, who were directing traffic, were trying to get us to park, but we told them we were just passing through and went along. Apparently the funeral was for a local football (soccer) star.
A day later we went to visit my uncle's sister and our distant cousins. the were the nicest family. When I get a picture of all of us i will post it. Later that day as we were driving on to Dublin (the capital of Ireland) we stopped the most photographed castle in the world. The Blarney Castle, home of the famous blarney stone. The story behind the Blarney Stone is the king (who lived in the castle) was sick. So he went to see a local witch doctor. The witch doctor told him to kiss the Blarney Stone and he would get better and he would also be a much better man. Here is a list of famous people who have kissed the Blarney Stone:
- Mick Jagger
- Winston Churchill
- The Simpsons
- Matthew Handley Jr. :)
Anyway it's supposed to bring you good luck. In Dublin we went to the Vikings Museum. It was pretty interesting. I only have one good picture, and I'll put it up at the end of the post. We also saw the Book of Kells. This is part illustrated version of the Bible the monks drew when they were visiting Ireland. There are only 4 copies in existence. They are all in the Library at Trinity College of Dublin. Other than that there wasn't much else in Dublin.
The ferry ride back to England was short, because we were on an express boat. then we proceeded to drive back to London. We stayed again at the St. Davids Hotel, (great service and breakfast, but lousy rooms) and continued on to Paris the next day.
Our flight was scheduled to leave Paris at 11:30 PM. When we got to Challes de-Gaulle Aeroport in Paris (at 10:00PM) the flight desk lady said, "You do know that ze flight to Joehannesburg has been delayed until tomorrow morning? (sorry i just had to add the accent in there)" this was news to us, so we stayed a t a hotel in the aeroport. We left the next morning (Christmas eve) and landed in Johannesburg around 7:00 PM. Since the small aeroport here in Gabs closes at 8:00PM, we had to stay in a hotel in the Johannesburg Int'l Aeroport overnight. We finally arrived in Gabs 12:00PM Christmas day. Other than the ending I had a great trip.
Pictures from Ireland:
Again, sorry for the delay of this post. It wont happen again.
Vic Falls Video Update: The name of this video is now Around Africa: Victoria Falls & Kasane. It should be on YouTube by the end of the week. It will also be on the Weekly Post Video Bar (close out of the post. Move your cursor to the right side of the screen and click on: The Weekly Post Video Bar.)
Thanks for being faithful for this post!
Until the Around Africa: Victoria Falls & Kasane video comes out,
Cheers!
Matt Handley
Senior Editor of the Weekly Post
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