Happy Wednesday, everyone! Oddly, on a day with very little planned, our morning actually got going quite quickly! We were packed and ready to head out by not too long after 9. Hit the grocery store that was right by our B&B in Killarney on the way out again. The fruit here is unbelievable. Today we had raspberries, strawberries and blueberries. All delicious, not a dud among them. So good. Sorry, I digress... Our first leg took us to the town of Tarbert. It's in the north end of County Kerry, and home to a ferry terminal. Fortunately, Val, our hostess back in Kilkenny, told us of this. It's a 20 minute ferry ride that saves you nearly 200 km in driving by not having to go all the way east to get around this long but narrow bay. So, we lined up with all the cars like car cattle, paid our 18€, and hitched a ride to County Clare. As we knew we'd be arriving at our hotel early, we thought we'd try to duck into the nearby town of Ennis and see what we could see. Meh. The town center was kind of dirty and smelled funny, so we just turned around and walked back to the car and drove to Dromoland Castle. Which is BEAUTIFUL. And I'm guessing somewhere we would never have stayed if we had booked everything night by night. It is a five star luxury hotel. I've never stayed in one of these before! The bathroom in this room is about the size of our last B&B room. Fortunately, our room was ready even though we were quite early. So, Aiden, the lovely man, showed us to our room (which is in the oldest part of the castle, from the 18th century), took care of parking the car for us, and brought all our bags in. This is not how I live, people. Steph and I then took our picnic lunch out to the walled garden and had a bite to eat before taking a little snooze. We then walked around the grounds, looked at the pond and some other stuff. Came back to the castle for a pint in the bar - which used to be the study. Octagonal room with old wood bookshelves and really high ceilings. Really cool. And when we got back to our room? Turn down service! Complete with a little box with two chocolates. Dinner was a bit of an adventure since we are isolated and the place we wanted to go was full (even thought they don't take reservations?) so we wound up at their "casual dining option" at the golf clubhouse. Except, it was fancier than most places I've been. But, we had some good tomato soup and of course "chips". On our way back into our room area (which we have been entering through the staff door quite a bit. It's just easier, and tells you that we are in a corner of the castle!!), we said hello to the woman outside that had been arranging flowers most of the afternoon and was now sweeping. We just chatted for a bit, and she assured us we were safe because she'd be out there for at least two hours. She then assumed a hilarious granny with a broom stance (she looks to be in her 70s?) and swatted away invisible intruders. Hilarious. And then a few minutes later, she knocks on our door and hands us another box - 9 chocolates!! It pays to chat up the locals!!! We then headed back to the bar for another pint and to hear some music. A "balladeer" was advertised at 10 pm. Well, he was irish, and he sang, so I guess that makes him a balladeer. But he was singing tunes by billy Joel and that "only miss the sun when it starts to snow" song. So, no traditional Irish music tonight. Ah well. So now we are back in our room, calling it a night. I hope you are all enjoying your Wednesday!