Ireland - Day Six!

After a beautiful day yesterday, mostly on the bus, today we are off for all kinds of exciting adventures! Bunratty Castle, the Cliffs of Moher, and then on to the town of Ennis... So much to do, so little time!

We woke up this morning with another yummy breakfast at the Dromhall Hotel in Killarney - pancakes (more like crepes) filled with fresh fruit and a lite maple syrup... Yum! A nice change from the traditional Irish breakfast every morning.

We hopped on the bus and began our journey to Bunratty Castle and Folk Park. We stopped in the town of Adare on the way - home of the oldest thatched roof buildings in Ireland (over 300 years old!). Mostly, this was just a "comfort stop" - just enough time to walk down the street, snap a picture, use the restroom, and peruse the gift shops... Then it was off again!

Bunratty Castle was so much cooler than I thought it would be! It's right along the freeway, and from everything I read, I thought it would be just a silly tourist trap (which, maybe at the height of tourist season, it could feel that way); but the day we were there, it was fairly empty so we had the freedom to really look around and enjoy it in a leisurely way. We started with a guided tour of the castle - so fascinating to me, since I love to read historical fiction that often involves castles and the life of people living in them! The tour guide really explained the functionality of the way castles were built and how people lived in them - very interesting, even Mike was fascinated! (Before our trip, we heard so many people say, "Ah, if you've seen one castle, you've seen them all!" - I thought Mike would agree... But he admitted he liked them!)

(This is the eating hall - where they hold nightly Medieval Dinners.)

(Beautiful details above the window in the Great Hall.)

(This is the Priest's spy hole - the priest could spy on what was happening in the Great Hall from the stairs... Sneaky, sneaky...)

(The view from the top of the castle.)

After touring the castle, we walked around the folk park - looking at buildings in the village. Houses, store fronts, estate houses, farms, etc. It was a nice sunny day - perfect for a stroll through the village! We even stopped in the Tea Room for lunch -vegetable soup and brown bread. Warm and filling. Perfect.After Bunratty, we started our journey to the Cliffs of Moher - it was sunny and warm, a perfect day for the cliffs! (The weather forecast was "fresh breeze with a spell of sun.") On the bus, Nancy and Maria were sharing their weird flavored potato chips they were finding in the stores - today we tried, "prawn with cocktail sauce" flavored chips - they were yummy! How bizarre... They also had "squirrel and herb," "duck and hoisin sauce," and some other crazy flavors. (And by the way, "herb" is pronounced with the "h" in Ireland! That takes a while to get used to - I wanted to giggle everytime a waiter or waitress said it!)(For those of you who golf - these crazy hilly, bumpy pictures are a golf course near the Cliffs! These pictures don't do it justice - I would hate to walk these hills, much less GOLF on them!)

The Cliffs of Moher were absolutely stunning! It was quite the trek to get to the top (and Mike's mom did such a good job of making it up there! What a great day!) - and Mike and I managed to have enough time to get to the top of one side, then down and up the other side! You can tell from our pictures how far we walked... I think Ireland is a very healthy place for me: I usually get asthma attacks from climbing steep hills - but I had none! And I could've kept going! (And for those of you who know me well - I had no headaches, no stomach problems from all the restaurant food, and no problems with being tired. Maybe I should move there?) Anyway, these pictures pretty much speak for themselves.

(The museum and gift shops are tucked into the hill - beautiful facilities!)

(The climb...)

(Ha ha ha - don't fall!)

(Mom-in-law, Mike, Me, and Annie - at the top!)

(Youth group kids - pay no attention to this picture...)

(He's the king of the world - or a big dork... But I love him.)

(Mike and I tend to wear the same socks... So we started doing vacation pictures a couple of years ago, of our feet in cool destinations! I'd say this qualifies as "cool.")

(Right before we saw this sign, I asked Mike how many ghost stories he thought originated at the Cliffs... I can imagine the stories of a lonely widow woman walking and wailing along the cliffs... Creepy.)

When we finally tore ourselves from the majesty of the Cliffs, we headed toward Ennis, the town we would be staying in tonight.

(Hands of Cooperation, Healing and Faith. St Peter & St Paul Catherdral, Ennis.)

Mike and I had been excited about spending an evening in Ennis because it's known for it's traditional music... Unfortunately, once again, since we were there the week before St. Patty's Day - everything was pretty quiet. We got to town just as all the shops were closing... So checked into the Temple Gate Hotel and enjoyed some time to rest before our dinner with the tour group in the Hotel restaurant. It was a good dinner - a delicious fruit plate, pork and potatoes with a cider sauce, and chocolate chip orange cheesecake for dessert. It was good, but I was hoping for more traditional Irish food. We had a fun table for conversation, though! Mary and Diane, from New York, were so fun! I felt a connection with Mary and really enjoyed our conversations - she seems like a very special person. And Diane just made me laugh! She's full of fun stories about her travels around the world - so great to listen to!

After dinner, Mike, his mom, Annie and I headed out to see if there was any music in the pubs. After peeking in several, we finally found a guitar player setting up in Cruise's Pub. We settled in and waited for some music (have I mentioned yet, that every restaurant we went into, had American music playing over the speakers?! This pub apparently really like John Denver - I think we heard three of his songs in less than an hour...) Our singer, Kevin Martin, even played a couple of American songs "just for the Americans." Don't they get that we come into the pubs to experience Irish music?! Goodness... Anyway, we stayed here until Mom-in-law and Annie got tired - it was just as Kevin was really getting going. But we reluctantly left anyway...

After we got Mom and Annie into their room, Mike and I returned to our room - and realized we both really wanted to go back out. So, we marched right back down to the pub and enjoyed a fun evening at Cruise's! It was very interesting to watch - Kevin started playing at 10:30pm (it was advertised that we would start at 9:30pm), but most people didn't come in until after 11:30pm - and then, the really interesting part - it was a very young crowd! Probably 18-23 year olds - dancing and singing along to the old Irish traditional songs, taking turns singing on stage with the musician, and a "security" man was standing inside the door once things got busy. (Funny thing, we saw two of the young boys from this gathering at the Dublin airport when we left on Saturday! They were going to Chicago for St. Patty's Day!)

Another full and exciting day!

Things I am thankful for today:

1. Pancakes for breakfast - something different.

2. Bunratty Castle - so interesting and fun.

3. Baby goat, and 2 baby sheep. Hmmm... Can you tell I loved the sheep? Mike said if we ever moved to Ireland, I would have a sheep that would meet me at the end of the driveway everyday when I came home from work... Probably.

4. Cliffs of Moher - Awesome. (And we got our REI socks picture!)

5. Blue skies all day!

6. Fruit plate with dinner - so good, and so pretty!

7. "Cruise's Pub" - Kevin was good and friendly to us Americans.

8. The smell of peat burning in fireplaces.

9. Bulmer's Cider - much better than Woodchuck Cider in the States!

10. Sneaking out at night...

11. Getting to know Mary from New York.

12. We quickly drove through the town of Limerick - possible home of my "Ryan" ancestors, and of the book "Angela's Ashes."

13. Mom-in-law and Annie made it to the top of the Cliffs! And they had fun doing it!