once upon time some friends took a trip to ireland.  they traveled their separate ways, but met up in dublin airport.  one came from barcelona and another from santa fe.  it was the middle of winter.

they both did “that thing” which most visitors in dublin do,  they looked very carefully in both directions when crossing streets, since the traffic patterns were now completely backwards.  it was confusing.  but they managed to avoid a terrible accident.

i suppose most people look both ways when crossing the street, but it’s the timing of it i’m talking about.  usually you look one way, the way the cars are coming that are closest to you, start walking, and then look the other way once you get close to the far lane.  that way you are more efficient in your crossing.  not in dublin, if you are an american.  if you looked the one way you thought the cars were coming in, you would have immediately been hit by a car from behind when you stepped into the street.

the kindly city planners had warnings painted on the sidewalks so that wouldn’t happen to the valuable tourists.   i’m sure they lost quite a few before they came up with the idea.

so these friends, they spent a few days in dublin.  they went to pubs and museums and a comedy club.  one of the friends, who was named emily, liked to order tall glasses of fine high-fat irish milk in the public houses.  twas like they tapped it right from the cow in the back room.  guinness made her sneeze, but milk made her quite glad.

this girl emily was very stressed out from her job in barcelona.  she needed a break.  so here she was, visiting dublin.  soon after her arrival, she came down with a terrible cold.  her friend felt real bad about that.  it sucks to be sick and on vacation at the same time.  but they both pushed on, and rented a car for a cross-country adventure.  the friend, name of lily, was the official driver, so that emily could rest and recover.

she’ll never forget pulling out of the airport for the first time.  so much concentration, had to stay on the wrong side of the road.  and the roundabouts were killer.  but they made it to the backroads, and things were easier.  they drove all the way across ireland!  they decided to stay in sneem, a town situated on the iveragh peninsula in county kerry, part of the ring of kerry.  they drove into town, and it being winter, everything was closed.

a nice lady at one of the closed inns told them to try drimina house.  so they did.  a nice german lady named gerda ran the place and she spoiled them.

the house looked out upon fields, forests, hills, and tidal pools.  there was a farm with sheep and cows and chickens.   gerda made them delicious breakfasts served with good coffee.  the food was so good, they wrapped leftovers in napkins to eat the rest of the day.

they walked down to the seaside and looked into the water.  they drove around the ring of kerry and saw green hills and the occasional palm tree.   they stood among the ruins of ancient times.

it was so quiet, because it was january, and they were the only ones visiting ireland at the time.

all in all, the place was enchanted.