Camera’s fixed, so I celebrated by taking thirty pictures at Quin Abbey near Ennis. None of them have been transferred to the computer so my regular readers, all three of you, are going to have to wait to see them. Ha ha ha, I’m such a bastard.

We did a lot of driving today, and my brain hurts. We stopped at the tourist information office in Killarney to buy some trinkets before making our way out of town, and then drove in a meandering sort of way up to Ennis via Limerick. Limerick was frightening in a way that only Cork had managed to be so far, but the excitement was enhanced by the presence of an armed guard in full camoflauge standing in the middle of a downtown intersection. I’m not aware of any situations in Limerick that might require an armed presence, but I’m not entirely up to date on my Irish national news. Perhaps there have been some troubles. At any rate, he was the only one I’ve seen so far, so perhaps he was just a random soldier who got lost in Limerick. Lord knows that’s easy to do.

We made our way through Limerick and staggered into a cafe for lunch, where our hypothesis that an Irish style lunch is generally enough to feed a platoon received further confirmation (perhaps that soldier had gotten lost on his way to lunch?). Then we drove further north, drove through some more tiny country roads (not as tiny as the one in Skellig, viewable here), and saw Quin Abbey, which was absolutely fascinating. The host on site gave us quite a lecture in the history of the abbey and some of its archaeological features, and we discovered one or two that he didn’t know about himself. Then we went to a heritage park whose name I won’t even begin to try to write here (it was Irish, that’s all you need to know — and it started with a C), but which was less impressive than the Irish National Heritage Park. Then we came to Ennis where there is apparently a traditional music festival going on. We plan on attending a ceilidh tonight.

At any rate, the point is, I don’t have a lot to say this evening. Hang tight.