Ireland-The Finale

Today I downloaded LiveWriter for Windows 10 and it seems to be somewhat like the original LiveWriter that quit working with Windows 10. This should be interesting. And I’m sure it will take many hours to figure out how to upload it to the interwebs. But here we go.

When I left off we were in Killarney and leaving for Limerick. We didn’t actually stay in Limerick, but about 15 minutes outside of town. On the way to Limerick we visited Bunratty Castle. Bunratty means that it’s at the mouth of the Ratty, which flows into the Shannon. The current castle was built in around 1425 (there were earlier structures) by the MacNamaras but then in 1500 was taken over by the O’Briens. Yep—you know you are in Ireland when you hear this kind of history.

Anyway, we stopped briefly in Adare and walked around the pretty houses. It’s supposed to be the prettiest village in Ireland. But I’m not so sure about that. There were colorful houses and thatched roofs. I suppose we were sort of in the midst of shops and things and we didn’t have much time to really walk around. I would have liked to explore the neighborhoods. I’m not sure I took any pictures there….

We left Adare and headed to Bunratty and Folk Park. We had some time to spare before our castle tour so we looked around the grounds. They had some goats there and one very naughty one had escaped it’s pen and was eating the shrubbery. I’m not sure that goat was supposed to be munching the decorative plants.


Yep, that’s a goat that knows better. But more about that later. We got to the castle and had a tour-



Can you imagine living here-the heating and cleaning-ugh. Although not sure that cleaning was high on the list.
The great room from the ground….

And from above



There was some pretty cool stuff in there.
This is the view from the top


with the Shannon river running by.

And a selfie on the top

We saw several types of farm animals
More Goats, some ducks

The usual.
It was a pretty little place.


After lunch, we took off and went to Limerick. We found a place to eat and cabbed it into town.
The River Shannon, only a little bigger downstream…


The restaurant, Azure, was the BEST. Lordy. I really didn’t have a bad meal in Ireland, and this place didn’t disappoint.
We had some time before our meal so we strolled around  the St Mary’s Church grounds.


There was a very cool graveyard there….

With this local hanging around-

We strolled after dinner around the area and saw some interesting sights

It’s like Ireland just to have a random castle in the town.
King John’s Castle



It was getting dark and so we headed back to our lodgings

Our last full day in Ireland we saw some beautiful things--
We went to the Cliffs of Moher, or, better known in the Princess Bride as “The Cliffs of Insanity”. We are really really sad we didn’t know that at the time. However, we might have driven people crazy saying that over and over. In addition to loudly exclaiming “In-con-ceivable”.

Insight Brewing had a post on Facebook asking where is your favorite place to Insight and I thought—Challenge Accepted. So, at the top of the viewing area I stripped off my outer layers and totally repped insight.

Yep-That’s me in my insight shirt with my pile of clothing next to me on the Cliffs of Moher. Right.On.
I could post a zillion pictures of this place—but not wanting to subject people to my vacation photos I’ll show these few--

Those are the Aran Islands out there.





Looking the other way was green grass and cows.

they have curly hair.

Selfies on the Cliffs. Of. INSANITY!!

I loved the place. And I could go back again.
We took off through the back roads and This is what I saw-
Cows that crossed the road and made us wait.

Green beautiful countryside

This big mound of rock is called the Burren. Which actually means rocky place, which it was but I didn’t get very good pictures. There was a guy at Folk Park that said the goats here are HUGE. Goats of unusual size. GOUS’s. (I shouldn’t be thinking of the Princess Bride….). We didn’t see any but I take his word for it.


The we went and visited a farm with a little dog, whose name I think was Ted.

He’s a sheep herding dog. Not a pet.


They raise sheep for meat, not wool. The farmer said that the wool isn’t worth the shearing costs so they just shear them and sell the wool wholesale to China usually. Huh. OK. He said the Irish really don’t wear wool. What? Cause it’s kinda damp and cool and I’d think wool would be just the thing. I think he meant they don’t wear the fancy wool they sell to tourists like me.
The farm house was quaint and the scones were good.



And this super cute DIY.

Yep, that’s a boot planter
Our group photo--

After a brief stop in Galway and another delicious lunch here--


We headed back to our farewell dinner and got ready to fly out.
We got to sit with our new friend Laura, on the left, and then Laura on the right. It’s what we called a Laura sandwich.

We got to Newark and went our separate ways. I had an expensive airport beer (x2) and poor Laura got really, really sick with a flu like illness. If not the flu

12 dollar beers…..
By the time we got home Laura was full on really really sick.
But even though we all shared what she had (even Dave) I had a fabulous time in Ireland. I saw the sights and I learned lots and I hope to go back in 2019 for my 60th birthday to do this. Yep. And I know all the places to go.

And so ends our story……but maybe there'll be a part two someday.

Ireland—part two

Well, I figured out an easier way to get the pictures downloaded so I have them all on a file on my computer. Yay for the little things. However, my computer is still a sad excuse for technology right now.

Either way—here’s part two of my trip to Ireland.

We left Blarney Castle on Day 5 and we went to Killarney, a little town in the west of Ireland.

It was a beautiful trip—and when we got there I had this

Yummy. I had a dinner of vegetable boxty. Which is like a potato crepe with delicious filling. I ate it before I could get a picture. I also fell victim to a sweater-because when in Ireland….and the wool and fibers and all. Lord.

That’s going to come in handy on the walk to work in about January.

The next day we headed for the Ring of Kerry.

On the way there we stopped for some photo ops-

This is King Puck of Killorglin. Can you see him? There’s quite a festival for him every August.

We stopped at the Red Fox Inn with about 300 of our closest friends….

I’m not kidding.

We got free Irish coffee. It was pretty danged good but no sure Laura liked it all that much!

And off to the Atlantic--

We saw a real goat and a little dog in a rain coat-I’m not sure why.

Yep.  A goat with a view.

We stopped in the town of Waterville and got close to the ocean.

Laura dipped her toe in-I have photographic proof.

We continued around the Ring of Kerry. I think you are supposed to go clock wise but I really can’t remember what our tour guide said. But she did say it was polite to go one way. We went counter-clockwise so maybe that’s the proper way.

Anyway—we stopped for lunch at a beautiful view point.

We ate lunch here, looking at the wonderful sights.

We stopped in Sneem which had some interesting sights.

Do people look like their pets?

This river had a bridge over it that was grated and you could see down.

Kinda vertigo inducing.

This is the national park--

So lovely—I would have liked to hike there for a few hours.

When we got back to Killarney we went on the jaunting cars.

This is our horse, Whiskey.

Over the river…….

And through the woods…..

We saw a castle that was very cool-

Posing with our pal. The driver said there was another horse, Samson, who was pretty crazy whenever a tractor went by. Nobody wanted to take that horse out. I wish I’d had a carrot or something cause I totally would have given it up to Whiskey.

Grabbed some seafood for dinner and then took a walk to the Killarney House.

The gardens, lawn, and view were breathtaking.

Our weather ranged from pouring rain to warm sun. We were very lucky that we only really got rained on a couple of times. Usually we’d get out, the rain would hold off, then we’d get to the bus and it would start raining. Like I say, we were so lucky with that.

And you know—I think that’s enough for part two-cause our last two days were spent in the countryside around Limerick.

Stay tuned--