Ireland Day 8 Comments

Not as much to write about today. We left The Lodge and drove to Bunratty, Ireland. Along the way we took a side trip to the Dingle Peninsula. Photos below, of course. The Dingle Peninsula had much better roads than the Ring of Kerry which we drove the day before. After Dingle the rest of the day was pretty much a drive day. A few thoughts on and about Ireland. No fast food restaurants anywhere. We have seen 2 McDonald's in 8 days and both of them were in the larger cities. No billboards. No LCD signage. No motels or hotels except at the airports. Precious few filling stations. When you do find a filling station it is usually in stretch of road and not at an intersection.  Virtually no stop lights and none at 4 way stops. All 4 way stops have traffic circles which are extremely efficient because you rarely have to stop, you just circle and exit at the appropriate exit. I wish we had them back in the states. I have no idea how freight is moved because there are very few heavy trucks and the trucks they have are considerably smaller than the behemoths we have in the states. The food is miles better than in the states. Everything is served piping hot on heated plates and bowls. The cooks really know how to use spices and herbs. Most of the food is served in what they call Pubs but are really good restaurants with bars in a part of it. The majority of the cars are diesel probably because diesel fuel is about a dollar a gallon cheaper than unleaded gas. In the states diesel is about 15% more than unleaded gas. I presume that stems from the way the taxes are levied. No pickup trucks. We have only seen a couple of pick up trucks in 8 days and only one of those was full size. No neon signs and the few that are in existence are in windows behind glass and not on posts or poles. It's a whole differnt world and way of life over here. More to come.