Windmills and Old Farms Are Disturbing Sometimes

Muckross House

Today started out rather early as we left abruptly at 9:20am to go to Muckross House to see the lavish lifestyle of the upper class in Ireland during the late 1800s and early 1900s. Unfortunately I was not permitted to take pictures of their furniture and what not for preservation purposes, but what I will say is that the 3 ton billiards table they had was badass! The only time we were allowed to take pictures was in the servant quarters, which were interesting, to say the least, namely the bell system. Each bell had a unique sound and ring to it, so whenever a knob was turned throughout various rooms in the house, the bell would ring in the servant quarters and they would know immediately where to go.

The kitchen used a lot of brass due to the brass mine that was on the premises, hence all that you see here. One of the more interesting bits is the traditional farms they had on the property, where they have authentic houses from back in the day of various shapes and sizes (accompanied by an obscene amount of animals) on a trail you walk. Each house has a lady of the house that is always making soda bread or something along those lines on an open fire, filling the house with vast amounts of smoke!

Also, the girls I was with were obsessed with kittens, which run ramped all over this place, like this first one we encountered. Alright, I get it, its cute, let’s move on, only to walk 5 minutes and run into another one. No, that’s not the same cat, that’s a different one! This repeated itself 3 or 4 times before they stopped popping up. Which I am guessing is because of the smell.

We continued walking; I flipped out because the sewing machine my mother has in our dining room was in this house. Which reminds me; I should call and tell her that. Finally after walking what seemed like forever and stopping to play on a playground, we finally reach the exit, just as Delaney sprains her ankle right as we are about to stop walking an obscene distance. I also stabbed a mannequin right in his heart, therefore taking his soul.

Blennerville Windmill

After Muckross House we all piled in the bus for 45 minutes to drive to Blennerville Windmill. Dr. Wilber had us write Limericks during the ride, which quite frankly got very, very annoying. After we arrived we watched a video, looked at a few displays, and then went into the windmill. It was pretty cool, with all of its rickety giant gears turning, though unfortunately the wind wasn’t strong enough to turn the grindstone so we didn’t get to see any grain turned to flower.

We left the windmill and admired the view a bit, before driving to the Tralee rose garden and wandering around town before going and listening to a published Irish historian speak. After that we piled back into the bus, listened to Mike, our bus driver, sang a badass rendition of the “The Rose of Tralee” he memorized, got back at the Bed and Breakfast, and here we are.

Tomorrow, I hike an obscene distance.

Will

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