We awoke Monday morning to a knock on our door and Murphy calling through the thin walls, "This is your wake-up call." We yelled back, "Thank you" and then went about getting ready for the day. It seemed the night had renewed our energy and we were determined to make our last two full days in Ireland memorable ones.
As soon as we entered the breakfast room, we could see the sun beginning the rise just above the distant horizon over the ocean. It had a beautiful array of pinks, oranges, and golds and was the first sunrise we witnessed since our flight into Ireland. Murphy brought us out our usual tower of toast, as well as the requisite tea and orange juice. My heaping pile of at least half a dozen scrambled eggs nearly matched Chad's Irish breakfast in size.
When we had finished eating, we headed back to the room to complete our packing and check out. We found Murphy to pay for our room and signed the guest book. Chad handed Murphy the room rate plus an additional amount for the tip and told him to keep the change. Murphy smiled slighted and said, "Oh so you're giving me a tip?" and Chad was tickled.
We then chatted with Murphy and discovered various things about him. His wife was in New York City on holiday with some of her girlfriends and Murphy himself had visited New York City three times, although he never ventured into the Midwest. He was skeptical when we mentioned that we had been in Dublin for New Years and told us that Dingle was, in fact, the place to be. Murphy had negative feelings in general towards Dublin and commented that it has disintegrated into a crime-ridden and dirty city, far worse than New York City.
I desperately wanted a picture of Chad and Murphy so I made up a story that we were getting pictures of all our bed and breakfast owners to show our friends back home. Murphy somewhat unwillingly agreed and I got the feeling he doesn't really like having his picture taken. He then helped us down the stairs with our luggage and we departed. Just as we turned the corner into the car park, I saw Murphy stick his head out the door, just to be sure we'd left for good. He probably was afraid we would come back requesting more pictures.
We then drove west towards Slea Head, a famous spot at the very tip of the Dingle peninsula. It was pleasant driving weather, the sun reflecting brightly off the water and the green rolling hills reaching high into the sky. There weren't many other cars on the road so we were able to keep a steady pace and the signs were labeled better than most, eliminating the need for a map. About halfway to Slea Head, we spotted a goat tied to a post by the side of the road and beckoning drivers toward the Celtic and Prehistoric Museum and antique shop. We were intrigued so we pulled over.
Although the parking lot had three other cars in it, it was evident that we were the only current visitors to The Celtic and Prehistoric Museum since it was eerily still as we walked in the door. We half expected it to be closed for the season like everything else on the peninsula and just as we were about to turn around and walk out, we heard footsteps on the staircase above. We looked up to find the director, Harris Moore, descending the staircase in his bare feet and clearly excited to have visitors.
Harris the Hippie explained that the museum was made up of seven rooms filled with artifacts that dated back to the stone, bronze, and iron ages. The admission fee was 4 euro per person and though Chad and I had entered for mainly the antiques, we felt awful getting this guys hopes up and then not touring his museum. So we paid the entrance fee and began our tour.
We walked through the hanging beads into the first of the seven rooms which featured the highlight of his collection. We were stunned to be staring into the empty eye sockets of a 40,000 year old, completely intact woolly mammoth skull. The skull was apparently discovered when it was pulled out of the ocean in a fishing net. Now, let me be honest. I have seen the "On the Edge of the Inland Sea" exhibit at the Green Bay Neville Public Museum at least twenty times as a child and part of the exhibit is a replica of a woolly mammoth about to be jabbed by a Paleo Indian hunter with a crude weapon. As a child visitor to the museum, the woolly mammoth is quite large and lifelike, but it was still a hard sell to make me buy the concept of woolly mammoths. Dinosaurs were far easier to believe in than big hairy elephants with beyond massive tusks. But after my visit to the Celtic and Prehistoric Museum, I am a believer.
The rest of the museum was interesting, filled with other prehistoric fossils, jewelry from the Bronze Age, and weapons from the Iron Age. After we had our fill, we headed back down to the gift shop, which was the main reason for our stop. Instead of pushing shoddy shamrock key chains and "Kiss Me, I'm Irish" t-shirts, this gift shop sold actual Ireland antiques, such as old iron keys and currency, vintage Irish posters and magazines, and fossils and gems. We looked at everything for quite some time, attempting to reasonably assess how much remaining space we had in our luggage and the possibility of us successfully traveling home with some of the more fragile items. We finally selected an Irish key from the early 1800's and two coins, a lucky Victorian penny and a Irish coin with a pig on it- sturdy, small, and significant selections.
After purchasing our wares and small talk with Harris the Hippie (who, of course, knew all about Madison, WI), we bid farewell to him and his goat and headed back on the road towards Slea Head.