Sometimes, the best European travel planning just isn’t enough.  Sometimes, no matter what city you are traveling to, no matter what travel tips you have followed, no matter how prepared you are the unexpected happens.  Sometimes good, sometimes bad, but often times, it is the unexpected that makes the trip.

So it was for me when I was traveling through Ireland recently.  By car.  Which, as an American used to driving on the right hand side of the road, was a bit new to me.  Couple that with the narrow roads of the Dingle Peninsula in south east Ireland, and the driving in and of itself was an experience.

I managed to get myself lost a few times on those back country roads, and it was on those back country roads that the unexpected happened.  Twice.  First, I stumbled upon a sheep herder moving his sheep from one field to the other up a small windy road.  Watching the slow, but methodical way he managed his sheep and his dogs was fascinating.  I was completely transfixed by the whole process.  Having driven past thousands of sheep while in Ireland, I was for some reason not prepared for the actual herding.

Half an hour later, I was once again transfixed by sheep.  Driving slowly along the road past the occasional farm house, there were often sheep grazing on the side of the road.  I learned early on that slow and steady was well worth it.  It was a good thing, because I was suddenly faced with a sheep who decided he didn’t like the VW Golf I was driving in.  He came galloping down the road, a crazed look in his eyes, staring me down.  It was hilarious and intimidating all at once.  He veered off to the right as I slowed to a near stop.  Disaster had been averted, I just wish that I had a picture…