Ireland Day 6

Wednesday was much different than Monday and Tuesday--and warmer, too. Though I've caught a cold and have a sore throat. Nothing horrible, just irritating, but as I write this Thursday morning I can feel it's dropping into my chest.

We went to Cong, which is where most of the movie The Quiet Man was filmed. If you haven't seen this movie yet, you should. It very funny and has what was the longest fight scene in film history in it.

We were planning to go to the Ashford Castle, but it was closed until 4 p.m. We found out in Cong that it was because Prince Albert of Monaco was visiting. He's the son of the late actress, Grace Kelly, whose Irish ancestors were from the area. We left before he came.

Cong is a pretty little community and has some beautiful trails and Abbey ruins, so we took a hike.

You can see swans in the distance building a nest.

Then we went to the Cong Abbey ruins.

 Ruins across the street from the Abbey.

 And next door. We think this was the Abbey guest house.

 It was getting a little cold, so we stopped at the Hungry Monk Cafe and had some soup and hot chocolate.

This car is owned by a serious fisherman.  Check the the fishing rod attached to the car.

Our next stop was to the Ross Errilly Friary ruins. I think one of the things that's really staggering about this place (besides its size and good condition) is that it's been abandoned longer than the U.S. has been a nation.

There was even a rainbow for us as we were leaving.

Ireland Day 5

The day began and ended with rain--ended with quite a lot of rain, actually. But during the lull in the middle we got in a little sightseeing. Arlene made some brownies Monday night, so we took them to Merit Medical where her hubby Kelly and Amy's hubby Darrell are working. They didn't get home until after 10 p.m. This location makes the wires used for heart catheters. Kelly and Darrell gave us a tour of a portion of the facility. Pretty cool.

Then we went to the Galway Crystal. They don't give tours anymore. They had stopped them temporarily when they prepared to move locations, but then the economy crashed and everything got put on hold. But still no tours. But we browsed the store, and I bought a pair of porcelain earrings.

Our next stop was to St. Nicholas Cathedral. It filled with different kinds of art -- and it's HUGE. It has four wings and the middle, under the dome, is where the services are held. I kept thinking it was like a theater in the round but I'm not sure how the priest handles having congregation on all four sides of him.

The streets outside our crazy busy.

As we were watching a video, someone came in and started playing the amazing pipe organ.

Ireland Day 4

Monday was not so beautiful a day. We woke to this:

The weather wasn't horribly cold, just wet -- and windy, of course.

We had breakfast, worked out at the gym, then came back to the apartment (the hotel has apartments, and we moved Sunday night into a 2-bedroom), the boiler went out and we had to move apartments, then we went grocery shopping.

;;

I made Arlene pose before the Hot Cross Buns, since I've never had them before. A guy was walking by talking on his cell phone, and we heard him saying something about us taking pictures in the grocery store--you know those stupid tourists; just can't believe what they'll find picture worthy--but then he offered to take our photo together (below). It made Arlene and me smile.

This is Arlene's disgusted look at the bag of marshmallow's she's holding. The bottom half has about 6 marshmallows in it, and it's priced over 2 Euros, so about $3. Some things here are incredibly good deals, but most things are incredibly expensive. 

She wanted to make marshmallow treats but they're too expensive here to do. So she made brownies instead and today she'll make chocolate chip cookies. She likes to take treats to the guys in Kelly's group. The Irish guys love the American treats she makes, and the American guys are grateful for the break, she says. They didn't get back to the hotel until after 9 p.m., so they put in a 13 hour day and they only provided them with lunch.

Ireland Day 3

Sunday was a beautiful day. We drove a lot yesterday--more than we would have preferred, but it is what is is. Got to see some wonderful things. We started out with a visit to another graveyard.

The above symbol is IHS. I'm sure it's the Greek definition in the link, but when I consider the 'I hope so' acronym it makes me laugh.

We drove around the Connemara area and got some fun shots. This is where Connemara marble is mined. Whereas Hawaii has red asphalt because of the red lava rock and dirt use, this area has green roads.

We stopped at Joyce's Gift Shop and found the owner to have quite a sense of humor. This statue is across the street from the shop. Be sure to read the signs below to see what they say.

 

Gotta love the Irish sense of humor.

We took the Sky Road and saw some great vistas. I can't imagine farming in this little area, where it must be windy all the time.

The road was a little too curvy for Arlene, who always drives to keep from getting carsick.

Here are some more random ruins.

 

I love this overrun ruin on the island. What a pain it must have been to bring rocks out there to build the dang thing.

This ruin next to the service station is a great example. If you double click on the picture below and look closely at the ruin on the left, you'll see that it's the old version of the service station. They didn't even remove the old sign.

We made it in time to see Kylemore Abbey. Evidently around the turn of the last century, a man and his wife honeymooned in the area. They loved it so much the husband began building this incredible home (obviously he had money), but then the wife and and their new baby died. He didn't have the heart to finish it and left. It was empty for several years until some nun fleeing WWI issues end up there and began the Abbey. It's still functioning and there's a girl's school there.

We passed the famous bridge from The Quiet Man movie, and had dinner in a lovely little restaurant where the food was incredible.

 

 The Irish really seem to like colorful building. The following picture is a little stretch near where we had dinner. These colors are quite tame.

Ireland Day 2

We began our day with an incredible breakfast--good thing it was of substance, since we didn't eat lunch and dinner was at 9. It's not like we didn't eat stuff, but we had nuts and candy all afternoon. But we did walk (and walk and walk) and drive.

Kelly (Arlene's hubby) and his coworker Darrell and wife Amy joined us today. Since Amy hadn't seen the Dolmen tomb we went out there again. It was still windy as heck, but there much more blue sky. The only time it tried to rain on us was when we were at the Dolmen.

This is in a cute little area Arlene and thought looked like a good fairy habitat near the Dolmen.

On Day 1 we had noticed some ruins on the way home but couldn't find any way to get to them, so we specifically looked on Day 2 and managed to find the road. Turns out it was the Cormonroe Abbey. Something that I've already realized when communicating with mods who live in the UK on Skype is there's such a difference between "old" for Americans versus Europeans. We think something's ancient when it's 150-160 years old. That's barely old at all here.

Arlene and Kelly

This is what's left of a window in the Abbot's house next to the Abbey.

What was the interior has now been overgrown with plants and almost a little forest.

Next we went to a ruin where a glass roof has been installed help protect the interior. It's at Kilfenora.

 You can see the glass roof to the right above.

Kelly and Darrell. Arlene and Amy were busy reading tombstones in the graveyard outside. It was so full it was hard to get around to the other side of the building. It feels so disrespectful to walk on people's graves.

We also stopped by the Aillwee Caves for a picture of the view, but we didn't go into the caves.

Our next visit was to the Cliff's of Moher. What an amazing place! They have a visitor's center that talks not just of the beautiful place but the geography and some of the history and culture. It was windy. All right, it's been windy the whole time we've been here. Is it always windy in Ireland?

One of the things that amazes me about this place is how many random ruins there are. You're just driving around and there one is. Something they're off somewhere by themselves and other times they're right next to a new home or in the middle of a small community.

As we were driving home, we can around a corner and low and behold ...

 It appeared they'd gotten out. Just before we came across this scene we'd passed an elderly man with a cane. On the other side of the cows above was a car coming toward us with a young man in it who got out of his car and started chewing them out. Busted! They came past us duly chastised and went home toward the elderly man. What a fun way to end the day.