Honeymoon Journal

We started traveling the Ring of Kerry, trapped behind a very slow tour bus for nearly half the way. While the scenery was lovely, being forced to drive most of the way -- surrounded, mind you, by stone walls that obscured most of the horizon -- chipped away at some of the awe. About halfway around the ring, we stopped for photos and met up with a gypsy beggar and his collection of animals -- including a not-quite-tamed fox -- who proceeded to interrogate me in broken Gaelic about my favorite soccer teams and, for no apparent reason, left Tom holding a sheep (which was so adorable that we got a picture).

We'd hoped to take a ferry out to the Skelligs, a series of sheer rocks off the southwestern coast (home to an old monastery and some puffins), but the water was still rough and we couldn't find anyone willing to risk crashing up against the peaks. Instead, we continued around the ring, stopping briefly in Sneem to see the local statue "park" - which is actually a group of impressionist statues scattered through the town, collectively called "Where the Fairies Went." As the rain started to really come down, we headed for Killarney (after stopping to buy a stuffed sheep and a bodhran in Kerry).