Farewell, Ireland, Hello Scotland!

Today we bid farewell to sunny Ireland, after an excellent two week stay.
Overall impression: Generally, the people we encountered were exceedingly polite and gracious, and quick to be of assistance. The countryside was beautiful, and we were struck by how attractive and well-maintained all the homes were in this area. The Killarney area was ideal for a family visit to Ireland, with plenty of kid-friendly activities, and wonderful parks and trails for everyone to explore.
As we travel, we will try to capture our favorite aspects of each location we visit, along with the costs of our stay (for those who are interested in such things). So here we go:

Favorite Food:
A: brown Irish soda bread, toasted and spread with Nutella
B: Irish beef stew
C: fish and chips, and cloudy apple juice
D: fish and chips, and kinder surprises (hollow chocolate egg with a toy inside…probably not Irish, but he sought them out in every store)

Favorite Activities:
A: biking around Killarney National Park
B: biking
C: Kennedy’s Pet Farm, and the Aquadome in Tralee
D: biking and the Aquadome

Least Favorite Thing:
A: sitting in the front passenger seat on the left hand side, going down narrow country roads that were the width of a single car lane in the U.S., having close encounters with any car, bike, or pedestrian we passed.
B: driving. He did pretty well, all things considered. We quickly learned to pull in the left side rear view mirror when the roads narrowed!
C: having to push a button to heat water 10-15 minutes before you could shower (one of many energy saving devices in the home, coolest of which was each outlet had its own on/off switch, eliminating energy drain from plugged in but unused appliances/electrical devices)
D: not having wifi at the rental house (he wanted some new apps)

Expenses: I’m using Trail Wallet, an easy to use iphone app, to track expenses on the trip. It was developed by an interesting couple who engage in full time world travel. Www.Neverendingvoyage.com.

Our expenses for the 2 week visit:

Food and Drink: $650
Transport (doesn’t include flight cost to get here): $725 (rental car, fuel, pony ride)
Entertainment: $335
Lodging (Kissanes Cottage, Beaufort, County Kerry): $1495
Miscellaneous (clothes and other necessities): $117

Currency used in Ireland: the euro, with 1 euro equalling approximately $1.30

We are settling in to our new apartment in the old town section of Edinburgh. A tex mex place around the corner caught our eye on the taxi ride here, so we went there for dinner. Not quite as good as the taqueria in Monclair back in Oakland, but pretty good.

Here are a few pictures from our last full day in Ireland, when we took a ride through the Gap of Dunloe, and finally heard a bit of traditional Irish music when we dined at Kate Kearney’s Cottage for dinner.