On Wednesday at 3am Steph and I caught a bus to Stansted airport, and by 7:30 we were in Cork! Flying in was gorgeous, vivid green fields and wide spaces! My friend Chase was already at our hostel when we got there, with about 15 people he studies with in Aarhus, Denmark. After breakfast, Steph, Chase, Sebastien, Brad and I went to Killarney National Park. It was about an hour and a half bus ride.
When we got to Killarney we grabbed lunch and then headed for the park. The path we walked was about 5 km in total. we walked across streams and through fields, it was so beautiful and the weather was amazing! There were a couple of pastures with horses in them, and it was a little strange seeing non-Icelandic horses! We ended up at Ross Castle, which was closed, but we could lounge by a lake with the ducks.
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| In Killarney |
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| A path in Killarney National Park |
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| Ross Castle in the background |
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| Ross Castle with some ducks |
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| Ross Castle |
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| The lake |
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| "Traffic" on the way back |
Thursday was St. Patrick's Day! We headed to the 2 Euro store in the morning to grab our "green" gear and then searched and searched until we found a place that served breakfast before noon! St. Patty's is a national holiday in Ireland, so lots of things were closed. The parade was at about 2pm, and after that were ample amount of green beer and Irish stew (delicious) until the wee hours of the morning.
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| One of the group posing with a really common scene in Cork |
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| Brad and I |
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| Jeff, Chase and I |
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| One of the groups in the parade |
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| Steph and I in the pub "Door 51" |
