Ring of Kerry

The next morning started with a drive to Cork to see the Cork Butter Museum.  Yes, you read that right.  I (Jenn) thought it would be a different thing to go to - seriously, when was the last time you saw a museum dedicated to butter?  I sorta expected it to be more interactive where you could churn butter or milk a cow, but it was more educational and the history of the butter industry in Ireland.  It was still worth going to, but, unfortunately, no free samples ;)

From Cork we drove to Killarney to visit Ross Castle on the shores of the Lakes of Killarney.  When we pulled in this was the sign in front of our car:

The Irish take their dog poo seriously

We explored the castle a little bit, but we took a boat ride off Lough Leane to see the scenic shoreline and ruins of monasteries.

 Ross Castle

 One of the few times it was overcast and drizzly on us.  Luckily, we were on a boat the whole time with a cover!

Innisfallen Monastery is on an island in the middle of the lake.  You have to canoe to dock there.  We were planning on taking the canoe, but it was pretty cold and rainy so I made the executive decision to ride in the covered boat.  I would've been miserable on the canoe on the way (which means Matt would've been miserable) back because it was raining pretty good.  We were happy with the narrated boat cruise.

After we docked back at the castle we got in the car to ride around the lake and stopped at Torc Waterfall.  By this time it had stopped raining so we went off to see what we could find.  It was definitely worth the hike.

 Torc Waterfall

 Creek at the bottom of the waterfall

Our last stop on the way out of Killarney was Muckross Abbey.  This was an ancient monastery, but it remains in pretty good shape.  The most interesting feature (which probably wasn't original to the building) was that it had a giant tree growing in the middle of it.

 This was the huge tree

The monastery was pretty neat because you could go on multiple floors and there were all sorts of fireplaces.  There was also a cemetery in the back that had a lot of wooden crosses by the grave markers.  I thought that was pretty unusual because I suspect they don't weather well, but we saw them at many cemetaries in Ireland.

From here we headed to our Bed and Breakfast and had dinner nearby.  What was the best part of dinner, might you ask?  THEY SERVED US TWO FORMS OF POTATOES!  This was when I knew I could be happy in Ireland.  I can get on board with any country that serves two forms of potatoes in one meal.  Now we know the real cause of the potato famine.