the adventure thickens...

So we rented a car.

Have I mentioned that the cars are small because the roads are TINY? And that they twist and turn like mad (“Slow: Dangerous Bends Ahead”)? And that my father, the driver, has never driven on the left before (“Left lane, Russell” being the quote of the past two days)? And that there are super tall hedges/bushes/forests growing on both sides of the road so that every turn is completely blind? And that the Irish drive like madmen???

But, despite all odds, with Dad’s driving, my navigating and Mom’s white-knuckle stressing in the backseat we have made it thus far with all limbs, tires and fenders intact BUT without the left side mirror which was ripped off the car in a very exciting (read: scary) moment today.

Currently I am blogging from Kinsale, a cute little harbor town known for some mighty fine eating.

SPEAKING of eating (nice segway, right?), I am going to gain 5290532709 pounds on this trip if the first week is anything to judge by. After leaving Frank and Kay’s, we drove down the coast, stopping to look at cool/interesting/Irish things along the way to Wexford. There we met up with Niamh (pronounced “neev”) and Eamon (pronounced “ay-min”) who are my mom’s second cousins. They immediately took us in, boozed us up, and continually thrust more and more delicious foods at us until bedtime. All the while Eamon taught us important things about Ireland, such as that hair straighteners are called GHDs, which stands for “good hair day” (and by the way, the Irish pronounce Hs like “haych” instead of “aych”). He also informed us of the vital differences between Dublin northsiders and southsiders.
For example:
What do you call a northsider in a suit?
(pause for dramatic effect…)
The defendant.
(ba dum bum ch!)

They even hosted a little dinner where we got to meet even more O’Rourkes like my third cousins Sinead (pronounced “shin-aid”), Oisin (“o-she-an”), Grainne (“gron-yay”), Ciara (“keer-a”) and Daire (“dare-a”). Needless to say, I didn’t attempt anyone’s name for some time.

Anyway, even though Eamon and ole Russ are besties now we eventually left Wexford behind and spent today checking out some castle-y ruins (the Rock of Cashel was awesome) and some sheep (they literally dot the countryside) and some art (among which was a wicker dragon – ha!).