We started the day off with a Jaunty Cart ride, a Jaunty Cart is effectively a horse drawn carriage.  The Jaunty Carts took us through Killarney National Park, where motor vehicles aren’t allowed, and up to the Muckross House.

We then had a guided tour of the Muckross House, which is a 65 bedroom mansion built in the mid 19^th century by the Herbert family.  The Herbert family ended up going bankrupt by redecorating every room of the mansion for Queen Victoria’s visit of 2 days.  The Queen was kind enough to give them 6 years notice of her 2 day visit.

Then we had a bicycle ride through the Killarney National Park over to a water fall that runs from the Upper Lake to the Muckross (or Middle) Lake.  After our bicycle ride we took the bus over to Ross Castle, also in Killarney National Park, built in the 15^th century.  After spending some time exploring Ross Castle, we decided to walk through the park (which by the way is 25,000 acres) back to Killarney (the main part of the group took the bus back.)  After a brief period of being lost, we made it back to town and then went exploring the town for the rest of the evening.

Word of the day—Coill, or “forest”.

Today we were taken to Muckross House by horse cart (called a jaunty cart) which was extremely fun!  They’re small open horsecarts.  We rode through the national park which is composed of two estates, one belonging to Muckross house.    The Harvey family who owned Muckross were told Queen Victoria would spend two nights with them in six years.  They went nuts renovating their house, and eventually bankrupted themselves from it!  Muckross House is stunning though with lead glass chandeliers, lavishly carved woodwork, the horns of an extinct Irish deer over the mantel, and ornate painted silk wallpaper.  Eventually the Herberts sold the estate to the Guiness family who used it as a hunting lodge, then another family bought it as a wedding gift to their daughter.  After her death, the estate was presented to the Irish government who let it sit empty until finally money was found to restore it to its Victorian appearance and it was opened to the public.

After touring Muckross house, we hopped on bikes to go visit a lovely little waterfall.  Two of the guys had been teasing the guides about wanting girl bikes…so Sarah and Courtney put girly streamers on their bikes and got them pink purses!  Everyone just roared with laughter, but they weren’t fazed!  We were behind one of the couples, and I decided he needed a “pretty’ name, and dubbed him Fiona.  I called him that the rest of the tour—and he answered to it!  Both men liked the little purses since they were great for hanging off their handlebars and holding a bottle of water!

The ride around the lake was wonderful—sunny and green with amazing views.  It was a bit easier going than Versailles, and by the time I was running out of steam we’d reached the waterfall which was really a charming little sight.  We biked back to the horse park, then we walked through the estate back to Killarney with Dave and Linda.  The countryside was cool and green and beautiful.  Most of the estate was covered by lush green forest, and many of the trees were covered with thick green moss.

After finding our way back to town, we visited St. Mary’s church, then went shopping, and had a bit of ice cream—honeycomb ice cream for David and Bailey’s for me, both very good.  All four of us had a nice steak dinner at a local restaurant, and after we got back to the hotel, I tried Irish whiskey since I’d been hearing so much about it.  I found the whiskey better than Guinness, but still not very palatable—it was like apple juice and varnish!