We got up and had breakfast in the beautiful dining area at The Boutique Hotel. They didn't have anything for me to eat, and I didn't want to start my day with a mast cell flare, so I just had tea. Dan had another delicious full Irish breakfast, and then we drove to Killarney! It was a stressful couple of hours still getting used to the left side of the narrow, winding roads with no shoulders and plenty of traffic. But the views were incredible. It was on that drive, as we got out into the quieter towns, that it finally hit me -- I was back in Ireland, my home, a place that I've missed terribly every day for six years. I had been to Limerick before, but it didn't feel nostalgic the way the open countryside felt. This is why I love Ireland -- the land, the nature, the open air, and no one around except for a few kind people. Loreena McKennitt's songs "Highway Man" and "Skelligs" started to play and I burst into tears. It continued to happen multiple times, all the while trying not to drive off the road. Dan kept rolling his eyes but it just felt so good to sob my way through the excruciating joy of being back. I started to see mountains and knew Killarney was getting close.
We got settled in at our Bed & Breakfast, the Emerville House, despite being hours early (everyone is so nice!). Our host was lovely, albeit a bit eccentric, and happily gave us directions to...
The Aghadoe Heights Spa. Holy smokes! The drive just kept getting prettier and prettier as we left the city and into a quiet town with the most incredible views. I had stumbled upon this spa during my ridiculously thorough research for the trip. It was insanely expensive to stay the night or get spa treatments, but the lunch was very comfortably priced and nearly empty -- we practically had the place to ourselves. The lunch area was gorgeous -- an indoor room that felt like a Victorian living room, full of couches, tables, and complete with a fancy bar. It was comfortably air conditioned (another hot day) and the entire length
of the wall was windows overlooking the best view I've ever eaten by -- the Killarney National Park, Lough Leane, with the mountains in the background. Even the road was beautiful, with an old cemetery and tower. We chose to sit outside on the balcony, hanging above this incredible view. It was too hot/sunny with no shade, so I was pretty sure I'd be sick by the end, but it was too beautiful to pass up.
The food was also delicious! I got a club sandwich and Dan got smoked salmon on soft brown bread with the best cream cheese I've ever tasted, topped with shrimp and seaweed, plus a fresh salad each. After the meal we didn't want to leave (and we were a little woozy from the heat) so we sat on the most comfortable couch inside, gazing at the view and checking out the bar menu. Dan couldn't believe we hadn't chosen to stay there. I've since looked it up -- one night in their cheapest room (which has gorgeous views), plus meals and a couples massage, would cost about $700. The penthouse, a two-bedroom suite with a study, kitchen, and private balcony with a Jacuzzi overlooking the lake is a mere $2,000/night. But honestly, probably worth it.
I still can't believe how well I felt after that meal -- I ate multiple new foods like bacon and salad dressing, and soaked in intense sun for more than an hour. Normally that would do me in for the day. I was feeling great, though, so we went to the national park and continued to walk around in the heat and sun. The views were gorgeous the whole way, but especially down by the lake. I felt so free, realizing that I was actually walking for hours in the sun without getting nauseous, weak, dizzy, twitchy... any of the millions of symptoms I usually would get in those circumstances. We walked all the way down to the Muckross House and Abbey, but then had to rush back on the main path, with lots of people and horse-drawn carriages, aka "jaunty rides."
We met up with Dan's aunt for a lovely dinner at some hotel we passed. Dan and I shared two stews -- beef & Guinness and lamb stew. They were both incredible and full of potential MCAS triggers. I thought the restaurant was incredibly hot, but no one else seemed to feel it, so I realized I was probably flushing. Although so far that was my only symptom of the incredibly trigger-full day, I didn't want to push my luck, so I went home for a very cold shower and then meditation. I felt so good, I decided to stay and meditate for another hour or more (which is very unlike me) -- I just felt so at piece! I couldn't believe how normal my life had felt that day.
After Dan finished a World Cup match and I finished meditating, we went out for some pub music! Killarney is an adorable town of shops and pubs and food. It was July 3rd, and there were a lot of American tourists, so there was a weird amount of red/white/blue decorations and statues of Uncle Sam. I wasn't feeling it, but we found a nice pub with just a few locals and no tourists. The band was a guitarist with a lovely voice and a woman with more flutes than I knew existed! They sang Black Velvet Band, Bell of Belfast, Fields of Athenry, and many other songs that got me singing along! When they finished, we hopped from pub to pub listening to music and eventually landed in an overcrowded pub with great session music, including some spontaneous step dancing from the audience! I was totally on cloud nine.
Reason one-million-and-twenty-sevon of why I love Ireland -- the culture of music. I have musician friends in the US who've tried to get audiences to sing along, even citing research of how beneficial it is to sing with people, and no one joins in (which makes me look silly for ALWAYS joining in). In Ireland, everyone knows the words to all the traditional songs and the whole pub sings together. They have pride in the songs and in the value of music, although sometimes the messages in the songs make me feel a bit conflicted. I did hear a few people talking with young family members about what it was like to have lived in an Ireland with violence and being trained to shoot and die for their country, which seemed like an important outcome. The instruments themselves are so much more interesting than gigs in the US; we really need more flutes, accordions, fiddles, and harps. But the audience is just so much more engaged, singing, dancing, watching, cheering, tapping their feet...
Around 10:30, we began to walk home. It felt very strange again to be out so late, and barely have reached darkness. As we passed an old beautiful church, hundreds of rooks and ravens were settling into trees to roost! It was so cool to see the trees covered in black, and the lawn/cemetery of the church riddled with black feathers sticking out of the grass.
We agreed that next time, we'd spend two nights in Killarney. It was a lovely stay and we didn't have enough time to see it all.
