Day three of tour two

Connor's hope of breaking the ice was met to some extent - we caught up with two mother / daughter groups from the last tour who are on this one again - one pair we knew about and one we didn't. A very pleasant surprise. The tour of Dublin was quick and the welcome drink brief but we found a couple to have a few more with so all was well, except Jeff's niggling cough that still hasn't gone away - difficult when we are getting on and off the bus in cold weather all of the time.

It is now Wednesday night 9.45 pm Killarney time. The accommodation here, Waterford and in Dublin is very good. Free Internet tonight so we are making the most of it.

The tour Director, Jill O'Keefe is very good, much better than the the last guy, and now that we are used to her Irish accent we understand most of what she is saying.

We have kissed the Blarney stone at the castle(the steps up to the top nearly killed me), bought more clothes (mainly for Caitlin again bit some for Dad and Mum) and found some bargains in the winter sales. What we just found out is we can claim back all of the VAT so madly trying to find all of the invoices.

The weather yesterday was perfect for touring but not so good today, in fact, the tour of the 'ring of Kerry' was mainly mist - but last night and the night before we witnessed Irish singing and dancing - once again the children starred and even won a CD for their 'brush dancing' - you just imagine dancing with a broom and you'll get the idea. I'm sure they will be happy to demonstrate when we are home, but just in case, we have it on video.

We have travelled through some amazing villages. Each and everyone seems to have this long history with various literary, political and even movies and movie star stories attached - for example - we have visited the sites where Moby Dick was filmed and where Charlie Chaplin holidayed every year (his children still own property there). We have seen where the Irish lost and and then won there independence and stood where people were hanged for being 'traitors'.

We have dined out on venison stew, Irish stew, more Irish stew and salmon - lots of salmon - all very nice of course. Of course, I just had to sample the Irish whiskey - medical purposes only to be sure, to be sure. Breakfasts are all good but we are not used to eating a big breakfast so find it hard going...

Travelling around Ireland is easy pace. nothing is too far away so it is much better than last week. I am finally getting over my cough after various drug combinations.

The WWWW has been wonderful but we are all starting to think of home and what we will do when we get there, Connor is looking forward to playing with Gus and his electronic games, Caitlin wants to play with Gus and drink a nice cold glass of milk from the fridge - Chris and I, well, we are just wanting to relax down stairs or on the verandah in shorts and T-shirt.

Having said that, we are still looking forward to tomorrow and the hope of better weather.