Friday, July 31, 2015

Ireland Trip #51: Visiting Ross Castle and a Soggy Adventure

Ross Castle
In part 51 of our (9 day ) Ireland trip blog, we're taking you on our soggy journey to Ross Castle in Killarney,  located in southwestern Ireland. 


What Ross Castle looked like in the 1400s
Castle Schematic for the architect (Tom)
OUR SOGGY ADVENTURE GETTING THERE - Ross Castle was about 2 miles walk from our downtown Killarney hotel, and since it was just overcast, we decided to try and walk instead of brave the roads and roundabouts. I (Rob) took an umbrella, but that would soon not matter. After a half mile of walking, rain started to come down quite heavily (and it was a small umbrella so we both barely fit under it). Then gusty winds flipped the umbrella inside out and broke several of the spokes. We turned around as the heavy rain continued and huddled under the broken umbrella, finally giving up on it when we were 5 minutes from the hotel. Fortunately, the rain eased but more was on the way. So, we walked to the car and drove over! 

Tom feeding ducks
Lots of ducks!
A SHORT VISIT- After parking the car, we enjoyed seeing the adjacent lake, which will be the setting for the ghost story in a moment. We took some pictures and went into the castle. That's where we were told by the one woman working in the admission counter that the ONLY tour guide had called in sick and there would be "No tours of the Ross Castle today." UGH. So, we made the best of it.

Closer view of the castle

LITTLE MUSEUM - Next to the admission window was a room with a small museum that had diagrams and displays explaining the castle's history so we lingered in there for a while. 
 







TOM'S QUOTE OF THE WEEK: As we were leaving I asked Tom to sum up our visit to Ross Castle. He said: "The wind, the rain, the clouds and the fooking tour is closed!"
NEXT: ROSS CASTLE'S GHOST STORY and CUTE PICS OF US

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/OrWyLChrdO8

Who I am

I'm a simple guy who enjoys the simple things in life, especially our dogs. I volunteer for dog rescues, enjoy exercising, blogging, politics, helping friends and neighbors, participating in ghost investigations, coffee, weather, superheroes, comic books, mystery novels, traveling, 70s and 80s music, classic country music,writing books on ghosts and spirits, cooking simply and keeping in shape. You'll find tidbits of all of these things on this blog and more. EMAIL me at Rgutro@gmail.com - Rob

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