Germany 1: The small town of Miltenberg and the Weikersheim gardens

   My flight required me to wake up at 3:00 AM.  I arrived at the airport at 3:30.  The flight went smoothly.  I picked up my vehicle and drove the hour to Miltenberg.  It was nice to be back driving on the right side of the road.  The lanes were spacious.  One oddity on that first highway, that I have yet to encounter again, is that each lane had a different speed limit assigned to it.  German roads change their speed limits very, very frequently.  100 to 80 to 50 to 70 to 120, and even an "end of all restrictions" sign.  

  I pulled up to my hotel and the fellow behind the desk opened up a small garage for me, which had room for maybe five cars total.  I wasn't allowed to check in yet, so I spent my time on a coach on their outdoor courtyard.

The view from my room.

  I spent most of the first two days resting, walking around in town, eating at a cafe, and walking to the supermarket.

    My next hotel location was in Rothenburg ob der tauber.  I stopped at the Weikersheim Castle and Gardens on the way.  I didn't opt for the indoor tour, choosing instead to spend my time in the garden.  I focused on the flowers at first, and then spent time sitting and trying to take photos of the insects.  Being solo allowed me to take my time.

  It took a good ten minutes to catch the dragonfly, as it kept flying back and forth, being unwilling to land, and being incredibly skittish.  The picture itself was nothing special, but there was joy to be had in in finally capturing it.

    As I approached Rothenburg, I was greeted by a fantastic view of the town.

Ireland 11: The Blasket dolphins and a castle and abbey on the way to Cashel

  Our last day in Dingle was spent doing an "eco tour" of the Blasket Islands area.  We boarded a small boat at 1:00 and left for the Great Blasket Island.  This is the largest of the Blasket Islands.  Once inhabited, now it is a place for people to go on day hikes or to stay alone on an island in a cottage.  Miles opted for us to skip visiting the island.  We had to pick up people who visited the island and then visited some of the neighboring islands to view the birds and some seals.

  One of the islands had a few deer on the island as well.

  The last part of the boat trip had us in the open waters, searching for marine life.  We encountered many pods of dolphins, who often chased our boat, swimming underneath it as well.  We also spotted minke whales, but I was not able to take a photo of them in time, as they would resurface in random spots, quite far away.

The view on the way back.

  The next day we began our journey towards Dublin Airport, with our destination for the day being Cashel.  We made a brief stop, halfway there, at Kanturk Castle.

  A few minutes away from Cashel, we stopped at Athassel Abbey.  We drove to the Google Maps location for it that had reviews.  It brought us to the middle of nowhere.  Then, we tried the other spot nearby that also showed it as the abbey, but with no reviews.  This also brought us to nothing.  This time though, we passed a spot that looked like it had a small spot to park.  We pulled over there, and sure enough there were small stone steps to get over the fence and approach the abbey.

  The location was remote and the remains of the abbey was spread out in a large field next to a field with cows.  We had the entire place to ourselves.  It was wonderful.

  Our next stop was our bed and breakfast in Cashel.