Last Day of Touring Ireland Except for......

....tomorrow.

We have pretty much finished up our travels around the southern part of Ireland. We began in Dublin, went around the southeast to the southern coast then came up the west coast ending in Dublin.

We have had so much beautiful scenery to talk about. It has been fun but extremely tiring. We drop into our rooms in the evening and try to post pictures to our relatives and friends on Facebook and write a few emails.

I always need news from home from Mr. Penguin and my dogs and cats. Evidently my little terrier Molly had a bath and she fluffed up so much she is three times her size. I will be glad to see them when I get home on Sunday.

Tomorrow we drive from Galways to Dublin, return the rental car and stay over in a hotel. We both fly out on Friday. My friend is going back to the heat of south Florida and I am on my 30 hour trip home to Australia. I am looking forward to it. I hope Emirates has some good boxed sets and I have downloaded books and magazines onto my Samsung tablet.

We have had some funny experiences along the way. As one can imagine a long car trip has conversations about all things real and silly. We go to solving the problems of the world, how children should be raised, funny stories from our work days together almost 30 years ago and google.

Every time we stumble in a conversation such as who played in that movie, who sang that song, what was the last lyrics in a nursery rhyme we say we are going to google it.  We began keeping a notebook of things to look up on google at the end of the day.

When did people begin smoking meat to store it? Who sang a particular song in the movie White Christmas with Bing Crosby?  Details about Edgar Allen Poe or Alfred Hitchcock. We have covered a lot while riding longer distances in cars.

Yesterday we stopped at a craft and book store along the Atlantic coast. My friend was looking at woollen sweaters and scarfs. I was taking photos of books because I like the book covers and often turn the pictures into bookmarks. Without even thinking about it I took photos of five books.

The book seller was very angry. He seemed angry when we walked in. My friend asked him about the marble in the mountains and if it comes from here. He was very short with her and snapped out half an answer.

When I went to pay for a blank journal I was buying because I loved the cover so much he didn't even want to wait on me. Then he snapped about all the people photographing books and not buying anything. Hey, I was buying a journal that looked like a book. He absolutely stormed away and if looks could kill. I have met rude booksellers before but this guy really took the cake.

Of course that led to several hours of conversation about how unhappy he must be. I still have the photos. I won't buy those books on Book Depository or Amazon.  I just wanted to revisit the covers of the Irish books. They were interesting. One should not jump to conclusions.

At an aquarium on west coast of Ireland

One of the Irish B and B's we stayed in had several books on the shelf by Maeve Binchy. How Irish is that?

We went through James Joyce's country yesterday west of Galway. Couldn't find a lot of information on his past but noticed his books for sale in several shops. No, I have never read Ulysses. It's one of those books you want to say you've read but haven't. I might remedy that, I might not.

I will leave you with pictures of the Penguin travelling with us along the way up the west coast as far as Galway and the peninsula it rests upon.

I'll be back once the jet lag passes.

Penguin at the aquarium watching the penguins.