Greetings from Killarney, Co Kerry, Ireland

Greetings from Killarney, Co Kerry, Ireland
Well, well, well, Ireland is fantastic!!! Gary does truly feel that he has come home...maybe I can leave him here (only joking). we have had an awesome time - I loved Dublin though many others were disappointed with it in comparison to Edinburgh. It just seems to be a fun place. The truly incredible thing about Ireland is that it is being totally re-built - talk about a builder's dream!! as we drove into Dublin from the docks there would have been at least 20 massive cranes in the process of building high rise blocks. Apparently since Ireland joined the EEC in the 70's they have received a lot of financial support which was sorely needed as they were a very poor country indeed. They are now quite affluent (not effluent as Kath & Kim would say), and have a big IT industry as well as the tourism and agriculture. It was amazing driving through the countryside - there are no old, quaint cottages - they are all new modern nice looking 5-6 bedroom homes. We found out this is because they can get a grant of 90% (that's right - they only contribute 10% of the cost) for a new home if they have a couple of bedrooms for tourists...why wouldn't you do it? - (and they say Australia is the lucky country!). We did a city tour of Dublin and saw Dublin Castle - (Gary is extremely impressed by the castles he has seen but I don't like to put the dampener on it and tell him the ones in Europe are heaps better...). Our tour guide was a very entertaining lady who hated the bad traffic in Dublin - she explained "One yellow line means you can't park at all and two yellow lines mean you can't park at all at all!" She had us rolling in the aisles. Another classic "What shade of green would dis fella be waitin fo?" (after the lights had turned green). Anyway, a good time was had by all. Gary went with some other blokes and did a tour of the Guinness factory in the afternoon - I had a bit of a snooze, a shop, and picked up the laundry (yes, we had found a laundrette!) That night we went to an Irish Cabaret with dancing singing and an Irish comedian - very good night. Yesterday we drove from Dublin to Killarney via the Irish National Stud where Vintage Crop is living out his old age - it was a very interesting place. Gary bought a cap that says "Irish national stud" - he thinks people will think he won it as an award!! We also stopped at a lovely village called Cashel for lunch and saw some wonderful scenery on the way here. As soon as we crossed the border into county Kerry we saw lots of O'Shea signs - there are lots of us here! We saw an exceptional show here last night - more dancers and a guy called Liam O'Connor who plays the accordion - fantastic - Gary bought the CD & got it autographed! Co Kerry is in the all Ireland football final this Saturday against Co Tyrone so the place is very excited and decked out in green and gold. Unfortunately we will miss the game but...Go Kerry!!!! We travelled the Ring of Kerry today - unreal scenery...and we have had beautiful weather - no rain for TWO days now!!!! We are about to go shopping yet again - not sure how we will bring it all back. We are off to Waterford tomorrow, then Cardiff and then London - the end is nigh... Thanks again for your emails. Good luck to the boys for soccer. Go Uni for the girls. loveP&G