9:00 am Pack up our lovely mobile home. We drive two hours south to the town of Limerick. I guess this is where the rhyme, “I once knew a man from Nantucket came from.” But like I said earlier, it is now known as Stab City. It has had a massive crime rash of eight stabbing deaths in the last three years. Yes eight stabbings would be a bad weekend for Atlanta, but it’s all relative.
11:00 am On the way to Limerick, we stop at the Bunratty Castle. Bunratty was a neat little place. It tried to show you the feudal lifestyle, including cottages and farms and gardens and water wheels. We learned how there are no more wolves in Ireland, because the sheep dogs all wore these armor plates around their throats and eventually killed them all (since now they were battle ready invincible dogs). I guess it is humans way of assisting natural selection.
We were also involved in a manhunt for a lost young boy, believe his name was Leopold, but I can’t confirm that. Either way, his mom was quite disheveled looking for lost boy, while the rest of her party seemed to not even care.
We were able to tour the actual castle and sit in an actual throne. We contemplated sixty euros a night for a true Irish dinner including Irish dancing and whiskey. They were sold out, but not sure if we would have done it anyway.
4:00 The hotel was tiny but serviceable. The key to the room was almost bigger than the room itself.
8:00 pm After a quick jaunt into Limerick for church and a meal at Irelands version of Chic-fa-la, we decide to get some Jamison’s and just hang out in the hotel room. Kate is pretty excited by her chance to legally buy the booze. We play cards and enjoy the evening.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Day 33 (4th Day of Haggerty Clan)
10:00 am Actually so far we have been blessed with great weather (despite the first 15 min at the Cliffs of Mohr). But on this particular Friday morning it is your typical Ireland overcast and drizzle. So we decide to hit the “Museum of Country Living” which is within an hour of the mobile home.
11:00 am Sometimes the best parts of a trip are unplanned. We just notice on the map that we are going right by Ballintubber Abbey. We don’t know what this is, but it is a landmark, so we pull off the road. The very nice “curators?” show us a short video on the history of the abbey. It is known as the “abbey that will not die”. The British and their anti-Catholic policies tried to put it to an end and so did weather. For a few hundred years it even went without a roof. There are pictures of people kneeling as snow falls around them. And we get too lazy to go to an air-conditioned building. There was going to be a wedding there that day, so that was pretty cool. Apparently there is a route that is like 40 miles to walk from this abbey to croagh Patrick. After a long debate we decide against the hike and set out to drive to croagh Patrick.
We have lovely weather for this part of the trip
12:30 Before Crough Patrick and due to the hideous weather, we hit the Museum of Country Living. It was actually pretty neat. Many people in Ireland burn peat which is hacked out of the bogs (think mud from swamp). They do this because back in the day the goofy Irish thought it a good idea to cut down all the trees without reseeding anywhere. Hey, they were cold and not real worried about the future. So now they use peat logs since there are no wood logs to use. Other weird stuff is the old tradition of wearing these straw masks to “crash” weddings. Sometimes they would even steal the bride. I love the movie wedding crashers, so I found this to be pretty funny.
The Gymnastics Team of Clare-Galway
2:00 We are running quickly out of Euros. We keep trying to find places that give a good deal, but each place we go to wants to rip us off more than the last. We finally suck it up and just take it on the chin. Every dollar is like half a euro. What can you do? After getting some Euros we buy some tea in a nice café in Westport. It’s a town that is a little charming, but I don’t like it that much. It has a ton of traffic and not all that much worth seeing. But we do walk around and of course look at another church.
We are a little thirsty
4:00 pm We then go to Croagh Patrick. We weren’t sure how far we would go and you always run the risk of major weather coming down on you in an instant. We only go up a fourth of the way, but even then you get some pretty views. We then go to a little open air chapel at the bottom. After having a loud conversation with my sister the other sister points out a large sign that says, “NO TALKING.” I guess they prefer if people stay quiet in their beautiful serene chapel that looks out over the mountain.
5:00 pm After the trip up the mountain, I decided we should take a shortcut through a neighborhood. It was great idea until the exit to this neighborhood involved an interesting exit. This exit involved a pretty good view to the left, but a giant rock wall was to the right. No big deal, all the cars in Ireland are small and it’s a little country road so no one is going faster than 30 mph or so. So, we look left and creep out. Out of nowhere a car comes from our left so we can’t stay there and make sure the right lane is clear. So we gun it, but there is a GIANT TOUR BUS barreling down the highway. Kate screams for her life since she is on the side of the car braced for impact. It’s one of those tour buses where the whole front is a giant window. So there is one row next to the driver that has a great view out the front. This seat has one white haired woman who literally has her mouth wide open and arms in the air. I couldn’t hear her, but it definitely looked like she was screaming pretty loudly, “OH SH@%!!. So the bus slams on brakes, we gun it and survive. That ladies face was priceless.
It's a workout. Cold enough for a jacket but then you get HOT!!
This is the area I ignored "The please be quiet sign"
7:00 pm We drive out to the Achyll islands. Holy crap! The view from this area is incredible. It’s as nice a view as the Cliffs of Mohr, but you can just drive up near the edge. If you had more guts than me you could even walk to the edge. Or if you had as much guts as the sheep you would just jump off the edge. They are insane. They just hop off the cliffs and as best as we can tell live to tell about it. We didn’t see any balls of wool floating in the ocean, so it does appear they are just really good at bouncing around jagged and steep rocky terrain. We had a thought of joining them, but the wind alone was enough to make you feel like you would be blown off the edge. We opened the door one time down wind and it was no exaggeration really close to blowing off. Shutting it took all of the strong of my father and me. So then we notice that half the sheep have red paint and half have blue paint. They even seem to travel by color. At one point exactly 11 of the blues squared up against 11 of the reds. I believe the blues were in eye formation with trips left. The reds matched up with a 3-4 and were looking to blitz the inexperienced blue lamb QB.
No Dad did not gain that much weight on the trip, it is THAT windy
Here are some stragglers from the Blue Team
9:00 pm We are starving. If you are astutely paying attention to the times, we only had light tea and snacks a long while ago. So we stop at a town and the first two pubs we stop at don’t serve food this late. So we go into town a little more and there is a cover band playing out of the back of a U-Haul size truck. I am still amazed at how things work over there. Everybody knows everyone, so kids are just running around while their parents drink themselves silly. The band played a ton of good songs and they played a great version of Kings of Leon “Use Somebody.” That band is huge in Europe right now!! So we ate burgers and fries and enjoyed live music. Another amazing day in Ireland.
Nothing beats a live band out of the side of a tractor trailer
11:00 am Sometimes the best parts of a trip are unplanned. We just notice on the map that we are going right by Ballintubber Abbey. We don’t know what this is, but it is a landmark, so we pull off the road. The very nice “curators?” show us a short video on the history of the abbey. It is known as the “abbey that will not die”. The British and their anti-Catholic policies tried to put it to an end and so did weather. For a few hundred years it even went without a roof. There are pictures of people kneeling as snow falls around them. And we get too lazy to go to an air-conditioned building. There was going to be a wedding there that day, so that was pretty cool. Apparently there is a route that is like 40 miles to walk from this abbey to croagh Patrick. After a long debate we decide against the hike and set out to drive to croagh Patrick.
We have lovely weather for this part of the trip
12:30 Before Crough Patrick and due to the hideous weather, we hit the Museum of Country Living. It was actually pretty neat. Many people in Ireland burn peat which is hacked out of the bogs (think mud from swamp). They do this because back in the day the goofy Irish thought it a good idea to cut down all the trees without reseeding anywhere. Hey, they were cold and not real worried about the future. So now they use peat logs since there are no wood logs to use. Other weird stuff is the old tradition of wearing these straw masks to “crash” weddings. Sometimes they would even steal the bride. I love the movie wedding crashers, so I found this to be pretty funny.
The Gymnastics Team of Clare-Galway2:00 We are running quickly out of Euros. We keep trying to find places that give a good deal, but each place we go to wants to rip us off more than the last. We finally suck it up and just take it on the chin. Every dollar is like half a euro. What can you do? After getting some Euros we buy some tea in a nice café in Westport. It’s a town that is a little charming, but I don’t like it that much. It has a ton of traffic and not all that much worth seeing. But we do walk around and of course look at another church.
We are a little thirsty4:00 pm We then go to Croagh Patrick. We weren’t sure how far we would go and you always run the risk of major weather coming down on you in an instant. We only go up a fourth of the way, but even then you get some pretty views. We then go to a little open air chapel at the bottom. After having a loud conversation with my sister the other sister points out a large sign that says, “NO TALKING.” I guess they prefer if people stay quiet in their beautiful serene chapel that looks out over the mountain.
5:00 pm After the trip up the mountain, I decided we should take a shortcut through a neighborhood. It was great idea until the exit to this neighborhood involved an interesting exit. This exit involved a pretty good view to the left, but a giant rock wall was to the right. No big deal, all the cars in Ireland are small and it’s a little country road so no one is going faster than 30 mph or so. So, we look left and creep out. Out of nowhere a car comes from our left so we can’t stay there and make sure the right lane is clear. So we gun it, but there is a GIANT TOUR BUS barreling down the highway. Kate screams for her life since she is on the side of the car braced for impact. It’s one of those tour buses where the whole front is a giant window. So there is one row next to the driver that has a great view out the front. This seat has one white haired woman who literally has her mouth wide open and arms in the air. I couldn’t hear her, but it definitely looked like she was screaming pretty loudly, “OH SH@%!!. So the bus slams on brakes, we gun it and survive. That ladies face was priceless.
It's a workout. Cold enough for a jacket but then you get HOT!!
This is the area I ignored "The please be quiet sign"7:00 pm We drive out to the Achyll islands. Holy crap! The view from this area is incredible. It’s as nice a view as the Cliffs of Mohr, but you can just drive up near the edge. If you had more guts than me you could even walk to the edge. Or if you had as much guts as the sheep you would just jump off the edge. They are insane. They just hop off the cliffs and as best as we can tell live to tell about it. We didn’t see any balls of wool floating in the ocean, so it does appear they are just really good at bouncing around jagged and steep rocky terrain. We had a thought of joining them, but the wind alone was enough to make you feel like you would be blown off the edge. We opened the door one time down wind and it was no exaggeration really close to blowing off. Shutting it took all of the strong of my father and me. So then we notice that half the sheep have red paint and half have blue paint. They even seem to travel by color. At one point exactly 11 of the blues squared up against 11 of the reds. I believe the blues were in eye formation with trips left. The reds matched up with a 3-4 and were looking to blitz the inexperienced blue lamb QB.
No Dad did not gain that much weight on the trip, it is THAT windy
Here are some stragglers from the Blue Team9:00 pm We are starving. If you are astutely paying attention to the times, we only had light tea and snacks a long while ago. So we stop at a town and the first two pubs we stop at don’t serve food this late. So we go into town a little more and there is a cover band playing out of the back of a U-Haul size truck. I am still amazed at how things work over there. Everybody knows everyone, so kids are just running around while their parents drink themselves silly. The band played a ton of good songs and they played a great version of Kings of Leon “Use Somebody.” That band is huge in Europe right now!! So we ate burgers and fries and enjoyed live music. Another amazing day in Ireland.
Nothing beats a live band out of the side of a tractor trailer
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Day 32 (Day 3 of Haggerty Clan)
10:00 am No rush to get out of bed. Jet lag setting in for the other Haggertys. So after a slow morning of scones and toast, we drive into Galway.
THE GALWAY CATHEDRAL
11:00 am We take a peek at the Galway Cathedral. Its architecture is amazing, but different because it is one of the more modern cathedrals, built in 1960. They were having mass, so it felt weird to tour around the outside walls, but there were dozens of others also making a mockery of the religious service, so we joined in. I love how the church has an opening right above the altar that seems to go up forever (seemingly to heaven I guess). I did not realize until after we left that you can walk around the upper area. I felt cheated. Now I have a reason to come back.
11:45 am I show the parents the apartment I stayed in while working the Galway camp. It’s a 3rd floor flat and I was also going to see if I could find my lost u-shaped travel pillow. Upon leaving my father is somehow behind us all and screams, “Shaun, turn this light out or not?” Forgetting to tell him to not be incredibly loud, this scares “Joe’s (my boss at that camp) Mom” who lives on the second floor. This will be important later.
12:00 We then went to the town of Claudaugh, famous for boats named after the town and for the Claudaugh ring. You wear the ring with the heart out if you are available and towards you if taken, or the other way around, I don’t know. It gives you a good opening line either way. “Is that the available claudach direction? Oh, good, can I buy you a Guiness?” It is a quaint fishing town that now thrives on what all of Ireland now thrives on. Clueless Americans spending there money on everything and anything.
Aran Island from a distance
Kate showing the stress of being a Pack Mule
1:00 pm Due to poor time estimates and poor conversion of km to miles, we are now way behind schedule to catch the last ferry to the Aran Islands. Again my fault, I thought we could do 100 km in an hour no problem. Well Kelly “Danica” Haggerty does pull it off at one point reaching 120 km/hr, which is only 77 mph, but imagine doing 77 on a 2 lane country road. Plenty of double yellow line passing was done as well.
THEY LOVE THEIR ROCKS ON THIS ISLAND
WHY IS THERE A SIGN WARNING YOU OF ONCOMING HOCKEY PLAYERS?
MARY HAS A HECK OF A COLD SORE OR THERE IS A SNAIL STUCK TO HER
1:58 pm Cutting it way too close, I am dropped off to buy the tickets and hold the ferry. I buy the tickets and like most things Irish, the boat has no interest in leaving on time. My family doesn’t know this and I see them sprinting down the pier, including Kate carrying 3 backpacks worth of food and jackets. We affectionately call her “Mule” the remainder of the trip.
2:20 pm Due to fear of boats and utter exhaustion Kate is in near tears on the ferry ride, while Leo takes the chance to take one of his trademark instantaneous naps.
2:40 pm Like I did before, we rent bikes. It’s the best way to get around the island on your self-guided tour. We go to the lighthouse, which is the highest point and take in a great view of the rest of the island, the Atlantic and the Irish coast in the distance. Then I make another poor leadership decision and send us straight down a steep winding sometimes grass trail to the Seal Cove. This gives us the utter exhileration of seeing ONE seal, but then forces us to constantly climb uphill to the fort at the other end of the island.
Here is our ONE SEAL!!
4:50 pm Fortunately the ride back is “mostly” downhill. Nothing better than biking downhill.
5:10 pm As a reward for our full body workout, we get ice cream at the SuperMax, which you may remember is the McDougals of Ireland.
5:30 pm The return ferry trip is less stressful as we are tired, but not as frazzled.
10:00 pm Our lovely mobile home renters tell us that there is an urgent call for me and I need to phone Terry Kennedy immediately. Terry informs me that I should not go back to Galway the rest of the trip. “Joe’s Mom” has phoned the police for breaking and entering. He says, “They take breaking and entering seriously here.” Well, maybe you shouldn’t have the shop keeper who holds the key give it out to anyone who asks. Luckily I look like 40-50 percent of the Irishman in Galway, so even a large manhunt would prove unsuccessful. Regardless, thankfully we have no plans to return to Galway, even though a trip to prison would help to get the full flavor of the culture.
THE GALWAY CATHEDRAL
11:00 am We take a peek at the Galway Cathedral. Its architecture is amazing, but different because it is one of the more modern cathedrals, built in 1960. They were having mass, so it felt weird to tour around the outside walls, but there were dozens of others also making a mockery of the religious service, so we joined in. I love how the church has an opening right above the altar that seems to go up forever (seemingly to heaven I guess). I did not realize until after we left that you can walk around the upper area. I felt cheated. Now I have a reason to come back.
11:45 am I show the parents the apartment I stayed in while working the Galway camp. It’s a 3rd floor flat and I was also going to see if I could find my lost u-shaped travel pillow. Upon leaving my father is somehow behind us all and screams, “Shaun, turn this light out or not?” Forgetting to tell him to not be incredibly loud, this scares “Joe’s (my boss at that camp) Mom” who lives on the second floor. This will be important later.
12:00 We then went to the town of Claudaugh, famous for boats named after the town and for the Claudaugh ring. You wear the ring with the heart out if you are available and towards you if taken, or the other way around, I don’t know. It gives you a good opening line either way. “Is that the available claudach direction? Oh, good, can I buy you a Guiness?” It is a quaint fishing town that now thrives on what all of Ireland now thrives on. Clueless Americans spending there money on everything and anything.
Aran Island from a distance
Kate showing the stress of being a Pack Mule
1:00 pm Due to poor time estimates and poor conversion of km to miles, we are now way behind schedule to catch the last ferry to the Aran Islands. Again my fault, I thought we could do 100 km in an hour no problem. Well Kelly “Danica” Haggerty does pull it off at one point reaching 120 km/hr, which is only 77 mph, but imagine doing 77 on a 2 lane country road. Plenty of double yellow line passing was done as well.
THEY LOVE THEIR ROCKS ON THIS ISLAND
WHY IS THERE A SIGN WARNING YOU OF ONCOMING HOCKEY PLAYERS?
MARY HAS A HECK OF A COLD SORE OR THERE IS A SNAIL STUCK TO HER
1:58 pm Cutting it way too close, I am dropped off to buy the tickets and hold the ferry. I buy the tickets and like most things Irish, the boat has no interest in leaving on time. My family doesn’t know this and I see them sprinting down the pier, including Kate carrying 3 backpacks worth of food and jackets. We affectionately call her “Mule” the remainder of the trip.
2:20 pm Due to fear of boats and utter exhaustion Kate is in near tears on the ferry ride, while Leo takes the chance to take one of his trademark instantaneous naps.
2:40 pm Like I did before, we rent bikes. It’s the best way to get around the island on your self-guided tour. We go to the lighthouse, which is the highest point and take in a great view of the rest of the island, the Atlantic and the Irish coast in the distance. Then I make another poor leadership decision and send us straight down a steep winding sometimes grass trail to the Seal Cove. This gives us the utter exhileration of seeing ONE seal, but then forces us to constantly climb uphill to the fort at the other end of the island.
Here is our ONE SEAL!!
4:50 pm Fortunately the ride back is “mostly” downhill. Nothing better than biking downhill.
5:10 pm As a reward for our full body workout, we get ice cream at the SuperMax, which you may remember is the McDougals of Ireland.
5:30 pm The return ferry trip is less stressful as we are tired, but not as frazzled.
10:00 pm Our lovely mobile home renters tell us that there is an urgent call for me and I need to phone Terry Kennedy immediately. Terry informs me that I should not go back to Galway the rest of the trip. “Joe’s Mom” has phoned the police for breaking and entering. He says, “They take breaking and entering seriously here.” Well, maybe you shouldn’t have the shop keeper who holds the key give it out to anyone who asks. Luckily I look like 40-50 percent of the Irishman in Galway, so even a large manhunt would prove unsuccessful. Regardless, thankfully we have no plans to return to Galway, even though a trip to prison would help to get the full flavor of the culture.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
End of Day 1 of Haggerty Clan
SORRY, Left this out a few days ago.
5:00 Drove along the west coast of Ireland. Such beatufil country which as most islands have, a lot of coastline. We then drove all the way up to our place in Ballinrobe.
9:00 pm Here is where the day gets dicey. I swear that I put the number to our 5 star cabin in a notebook. Tragically I can’t find the number but the website does give us directions. These directions include vague references to farm houses and dirt roads and need less to say were not helpful in getting us to our final destination. So we then stop at Mac’s, which is just like McDougles in “Coming to America”, which means it has golden archs instead of arches and is red and yellow. Asking their top notch staff if they know where the local trailer park is located also does not help. So then papa Haggerty gets the ever so bright idea to ask the pizza delivery place. They know where it is and have a delivery near there so we set out to follow the pizza delivery boy. Well he flies our of the lot and our 4 cylinder filled with 5 people Ford Focus cannot remotely keep up. Luckily we somehow catch him after 2 stoplights. He then leads us into the darkest dirt roads and to the wrong set of trailers. Now we get desperate and use Kates “magic” phone to look up my email which I remember has the number. Only thing is we need some internet to mooch off of. So we park as close to a hotel as we can and success.
11:30 pm Make a phone call to Mrs. Mary of the Ballintrope Trailers at quite a late hour. She of course is very nice and lets us into our double wide. After unpacking and killing at least 11 spiders it hits me I might have saved the phone number in my cell phone. And there it is, the last two hours of ridiculousness could have been averted. Thus ends the first day of the Haggerty clan going international. You see why it has not been done yet and may never be tried again.
12:00 pm Luckily midnight in Ireland is not all that late, so our gracious hosts are awake and help us settle end.
5:00 Drove along the west coast of Ireland. Such beatufil country which as most islands have, a lot of coastline. We then drove all the way up to our place in Ballinrobe.
9:00 pm Here is where the day gets dicey. I swear that I put the number to our 5 star cabin in a notebook. Tragically I can’t find the number but the website does give us directions. These directions include vague references to farm houses and dirt roads and need less to say were not helpful in getting us to our final destination. So we then stop at Mac’s, which is just like McDougles in “Coming to America”, which means it has golden archs instead of arches and is red and yellow. Asking their top notch staff if they know where the local trailer park is located also does not help. So then papa Haggerty gets the ever so bright idea to ask the pizza delivery place. They know where it is and have a delivery near there so we set out to follow the pizza delivery boy. Well he flies our of the lot and our 4 cylinder filled with 5 people Ford Focus cannot remotely keep up. Luckily we somehow catch him after 2 stoplights. He then leads us into the darkest dirt roads and to the wrong set of trailers. Now we get desperate and use Kates “magic” phone to look up my email which I remember has the number. Only thing is we need some internet to mooch off of. So we park as close to a hotel as we can and success.
11:30 pm Make a phone call to Mrs. Mary of the Ballintrope Trailers at quite a late hour. She of course is very nice and lets us into our double wide. After unpacking and killing at least 11 spiders it hits me I might have saved the phone number in my cell phone. And there it is, the last two hours of ridiculousness could have been averted. Thus ends the first day of the Haggerty clan going international. You see why it has not been done yet and may never be tried again.
12:00 pm Luckily midnight in Ireland is not all that late, so our gracious hosts are awake and help us settle end.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Day 31 (Day 2 of Haggerty Clan)
8:00 am As penance for my horrible hotel accomodations and organizing, I decide to get groceries. Turkey is 12 euros per pound. What?? I guess there aren’t very many Turkeys in Ireland. Ham sandwhiches it is.
10:00 am Pack lunches and set outout to drive a very scenic route in Connemera. This is a very rustic area of Ireland. It is of course very green and very filled with sheep. The sheep have right of way and know it. They have no desire to get off the road and honking has no effect.
12:00 pm We bump into Ashford Castle and I remember TK (my host) has a friend who works there. This isn’t a touristy castle, but more of a high, high price hotel. We are of course grossly underdressed and under cultured, but TK’s friend Robert still shows us around and sets up a lovely tea and crumpets snack for us.
The grounds are phenomanol including a Falconry area. How cool is getting a falcon to obey your command. We kinda listened in to a falconry class but did not spend the hundreds of euros the full class would require. It would be neat, but I don’t think that’s a skill most people would care about on a resume. “So Mr. Haggerty, I see you have a degree in falconry. That’s exactly what we are looking for here at Smith, Bartles and Weinstein.”
2:30 pm We toured the interesting little town of Cong. Apparantly a John Wayne movie called “The Walking Man” was filmed there.
3:30 pm More beautiful mountains, lakes and sheep. If only wool were as valuable as diamonds, Ireland would be the richest nation on earth.
4”30 pm We drive past Kylemore Abbey. It was built so that some rich guy could impress his wife. Tragically and ironically he died before it was complete. Now it is a boarding school for filthy rich young girls. There was a gothic church where we found out that gargoyles are supposed to represent the ever present danger of the devil even when you are at church.
5:30 pm Dipped our toes in the Atlantic after a stop in a quaint little beach town. Now the beach isn’t what we are accustomed to. It was a quarter mile long, nobody on it and cold as crap. But it does have sand and water, which I guess all beaches have in common.
7:00 pm It is Galway races week in Galway, so finding a place to eat in that town is very difficult. We eat at Monroe’s pub and I again have the delicious traditional Irish stew. The kids sat together and the parents at a separate table, since the wait for five could be all night.
9:00 Have a few Guiness at a pub with some Irish music and call it a night. The drive home is super scary since the speed limits are 60 mph on roads skinnier than the width of two ford f-250s. Just an amazing day of seeing the beauty Ireland has.
10:00 am Pack lunches and set outout to drive a very scenic route in Connemera. This is a very rustic area of Ireland. It is of course very green and very filled with sheep. The sheep have right of way and know it. They have no desire to get off the road and honking has no effect.
12:00 pm We bump into Ashford Castle and I remember TK (my host) has a friend who works there. This isn’t a touristy castle, but more of a high, high price hotel. We are of course grossly underdressed and under cultured, but TK’s friend Robert still shows us around and sets up a lovely tea and crumpets snack for us.
The grounds are phenomanol including a Falconry area. How cool is getting a falcon to obey your command. We kinda listened in to a falconry class but did not spend the hundreds of euros the full class would require. It would be neat, but I don’t think that’s a skill most people would care about on a resume. “So Mr. Haggerty, I see you have a degree in falconry. That’s exactly what we are looking for here at Smith, Bartles and Weinstein.”
2:30 pm We toured the interesting little town of Cong. Apparantly a John Wayne movie called “The Walking Man” was filmed there.
3:30 pm More beautiful mountains, lakes and sheep. If only wool were as valuable as diamonds, Ireland would be the richest nation on earth.
4”30 pm We drive past Kylemore Abbey. It was built so that some rich guy could impress his wife. Tragically and ironically he died before it was complete. Now it is a boarding school for filthy rich young girls. There was a gothic church where we found out that gargoyles are supposed to represent the ever present danger of the devil even when you are at church.
5:30 pm Dipped our toes in the Atlantic after a stop in a quaint little beach town. Now the beach isn’t what we are accustomed to. It was a quarter mile long, nobody on it and cold as crap. But it does have sand and water, which I guess all beaches have in common.
7:00 pm It is Galway races week in Galway, so finding a place to eat in that town is very difficult. We eat at Monroe’s pub and I again have the delicious traditional Irish stew. The kids sat together and the parents at a separate table, since the wait for five could be all night.
9:00 Have a few Guiness at a pub with some Irish music and call it a night. The drive home is super scary since the speed limits are 60 mph on roads skinnier than the width of two ford f-250s. Just an amazing day of seeing the beauty Ireland has.
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