To Dingle

Thursday we set out for the Dingle peninsula as the weather, which everyone has complained of, turned progressively more severe. The town itself is quaint in an almost unself-conscious way. If a place can be touristy but authentic, this is it. For example, ;he arts and crafts here are a good cut above any we have seen elsewhere.

Throughout our travels I have been obsessed with hand knits, wanting Sharon to have one. But as everyone tells us they are increasingly pushed out of the market by the cheaper hand loomed knits. Sharon was fine with one, which we got her, but now I was in full obsessional cry. I found the right one in Dingle and so added another hand knit to my collection of Celtic sweaters (well, one Icelandic, too), and we were able to pick up some nice gifts for friends and family.

Shopping aside, the scenery is spectacular. Because of the cold and the weather I did not stop for a lot of images, and the ones in the town of Dingle were done with my iPhone. It was just too wet to take out a camera. By the time we got to a pub for lunch our nylon travel pants were wet through and through.

The Irish love Americans and we return that affection. Throughout this trip and all our travels in Ireland people have been wonderful and friendly, and we have had some fine exchanges with both Irish folk and fellow tourists. That has been true in Dingle, too, except at lunch. Sitting to the side of us was an older Irishman and we got to chatting. To our right were two Canadian women with whom we also were chatting. To the rear of the room were two other Americans. The Irish fellow asked, unbidden by me, what we thought of Trump. I told him and we got onto the topic. The Canadian women joined in quietly. Then I felt a tap on my shoulder and the other American told me firmly (though politely) that I had no right to talk about the President that way and to please stop. I was making him uncomfortable. I don’t know what to think of that. I may have been wrong, but such is the state of things between Americans that there is a portion of the population that finds free speech offensive. Enough.

Surfers(!) on the beach at Inch

First look at Dingle