May 14 - Open Theme at the Dingle Peninsula

Windmill

We located a windmill and opted to go take a look. It really wasn't as spectacular as I had imagined it would be and I'm still glad we went.

Glacial lake

The next stop was a glacial lake near The Gap of Dunloe. This gave me a similar feeling to the Trinity College Library in the sense that I do not believe I am capable of describing every aspect of this experience. It was cool but not cold and there was this low lying yet quick moving fog that was coming up over the mountain and back down to the lake, floating across the lake then back up the other side of the ridge. A few of us decided to take a polar plunge in the lake, I decided against it but looking back wish I would have joined them.

This was another place that I felt that intense serenity so I again broke away from the group to practice some mindful meditation.

The Gap of Dunloe

This treacherous mountain path had brought my idea of narrow Ireland roads to a whole new level. For the majority of the pass I honestly am not confident we could've passed another vehicle... I think we just got lucky. There was no room to one side of the road as it was a mountainside with the opposing side the same intensity of mountainous slope but a cliff rather than a hill. It was a wild experience!

Dingle Town

In Dingle I had read about the Harry Clarke Stained Glass Windows and was able to convince the group to go there. They were skeptical due to time constraints but chose to trust me and from what I was told I think everyone that was on the fence, choosing to join us, absolutely loved seeing it. Wool, Burgers, and Ice Cream were the three major attractions. My van managed to find a wool shop that was willing to ship your purchase of any amount of wool, anywhere in the world, for ten euros. I couldn't pass it up so I contacted my family, bought five articles of clothing made from wool and shipped it to my parent's house. Wool is difficult to compress therefore hard to pack home and still planning on going to Amsterdam and Romania before departing for home I figured I was not going to have any good opportunity to get any. This opportunity was not something I was ready to pass up.

Inch Beach

Our final stop of the day was Inch Beach. Not really anything special to me. However I will admit it was just a bizarre sight to see a beach that immediately turned to black stone then to steep rolling hills of green all in the matter of a stone's throw away.