I had to come to Ireland of all places to get the worst sunburn I’ve ever had. My nose is one big blister, my cheeks are speckled with blisters, and my neck is killing me. I look like a leper, but Jeff still says I’m beautiful, bless his deluded heart.

We got up early to catch the first bus out of Doolin to connect at Ennis. Because it was before the set breakfast hours, we were allowed to just go into the dining room and get some cereal on our own. Jeff brought his own cereal from home — Lucky Charms. He has such a unique sense of humor.

We got to Ennis a little later than expected because it was a new driver on the route, so we missed the bus that would have taken us directly to Shannon airport, where we were to rent a car. That was okay, because another bus was coming shortly, though it would make several stops on the way. I understood it to be a commuter bus, taking people from outlying areas to work in the city. It’s probably a good thing we had to take this bus, because we could see what the everyday Irish person, wholly uninvolved with tourism, was like: a young mom and dad, apparently on their way to a well-child checkup, an older man hacking with a smoker’s cough, and another older man who sat in front of me, stood up once to pass gas, and then sat back down. Jeff and I couldn’t help but laugh when our somewhat grumpy driver started singing along with the radio in a falsetto to match Starship’s “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now.”

We ate at Subway in Shannon and picked up a few groceries for a later picnic, and then picked up our car at the Shannon airport. It’s a Nissan Micra, a tiny car that lives up to its name. It’s somewhat of a lemon, because I can’t roll down my window without the glass falling down in the door, and there’s no air conditioning. But we found that it’s ideal for these narrow Irish roads. Jeff is getting to be a pro driving on the left, though looking at the countryside is a temptation to him that led to a couple of nags from me.

I certainly can’t blame him for wanting to see the landscapes. Some of the views were spectacular, with rolling green hills and mountains in the distance, lakes amid pastureland where sheep and cattle graze. There really are so many shades of green here.

We stopped at Bunratty Castle and Folk Park just outside of Shannon. It had a mockup of a castle village, and I kept thinking of the old Homestar Runner gag about Trogdor “burninating the thatched roof cottages.”

There were also some Victorian exhibits there, and we walked through a beautiful walled garden.

We went into the castle, but I knew I would not be able to take all those stairs, so I stayed in the great hall while Jeff went up for some pictures.

From Bunratty, we drove to Limerick to see a couple of things from Jeff’s list. St. Mary’s Cathedral was founded in 1168 and was incredibly beautiful, with the typical stained glass and expansive graveyard. The lady who took our admission fee took one look at me and said, “Oh my, you’ve taken some sun.” I said yes, and thought to myself, I’ve taken sun like Rocky took a beating from Apollo Creed.

Next we walked a couple of blocks to King John’s Castle in the heart of Limerick. I took one look at it and knew there would be too many stairs for me to take, but Jeff really wanted me to go with him. He asked the lady at the ticket desk if she thought I could do the stairs, and she said that while there was an elevator in the visitor center where the history exhibit was, the castle itself had many, many stairs. I gave in and let Jeff pay admission for me, too. The exhibit told about rebellion under various English rulers, as well as King John (of Robin Hood and Magna Carta fame). While the castle bears his name, he never visited it.The Irish really did have it bad under English rule.

We came out of the exhibit to the entrance to the castle, which started underground where archaeological excavations were underway. The floor was metal grating which I could see through and feel moving under my feet, so my acrophobia kicked in, and I told Jeff to go on and I would go back the way we came. I’m sorry I disappointed him, but I just have my limits. I waited in the gift shop for him to finish, and we started walking back to the car. Jeff saw another old church he wanted to take a picture of. We found out it was St. Munchin’s church, but we were not able to go in.

We drove through more amazing countryside to Tralee, where we ate at MJ’s Diner, a 50s theme restaurant. We both got burgers and massive amounts of fries, or chips as the Irish call them. These people really love their chips!

After being on the road off and on for twelve hours, we finally arrived in Dingle at our B&B right on the Main Street. It’s part of a pub, but surprisingly, it’s pretty quiet. Tomorrow we will drive around the Dingle Peninsula to take in the views.