Off to Inis Mor!

Thursday, October 21

It's been another great day! It was a gloomy, cloudy start, but we decided to brave it and head to the ferry to tour Inishmoor (Inis Mor), the largest of the Aran Islands. We walked down to the bay to catch the ferry shuttle bus (after another yummy breakfast at Amber Hill, and dropping off a bag of laundry). It was crowded, but there were two seats up front (across the aisle from each other). After the icky bus ride to Galway, I decided to get some Dramamine, just in case I needed something a bit stronger than ginger, so I was ready!

The trip was about 45 minutes long, winding around Galway Bay, through several towns and rural areas, including Connemara, I believe. As we went, I saw fewer and fewer signs with any English on them.

We arrived at the ferry port, loaded onto the boat, and found some seats. A lot of older folks on board -- a couple of tour groups, I think. The ferry ride was fairly uneventful, a good sign, considering the rain last night, and the overcast skies both made me worry about water travel... my Dramamine did make me a bit sleepy, though.

Once we left the ferry it was a short walk from the pier to the village of Kilronan, where we decided to get on a mini-coach tourbus. It turned out to be a great way to see the island, that's for sure, but the tour guide was no Desmond :(.


We stopped at the bottom of a steep hill that turned out to be the tallest point of the island. It had a circle fort at the top called Du'n Echla, and there was a signal tower/light house next to it. Well, there were ruins of these buildings there, I should say It was a brisk, steep walk up the hill, but the views were AWESOME! We wandered around, and then headed back down to the mini-coach, and then we drove to another fort area. Well, we actually stopped at a little set of shops and the visitor's center where we went through to get to the actual fort. This fort was called Du'n Aonghasa, and it was 2500 years old! The ruins stood on 300-ft cliffs, so we had another climb to the top. We got some coffee (meh) and some scones (yum!) and off we went! Great views once again, and we even saw a leprechaun's house on the way up!

The walk was great, though a bit rocky. It's a lot like the Burren, rocky, with some grass and vegetation in and around the rocks. And Cliffs!! with NO railings!! Ack it was scary! After spending a long time up there, we wandered down the hill again and did some shopping. We had to wait a while for one of our tourbusmates to come back to the meeting spot -- he was off buying some sweaters. Once we were all there, we loaded back up and went to the ruins of Seven Churches -- amazingly old! 7th or 8th century, I believe. Lots of tombstones and carvings.

We then drove down to the end of the island "as close as we could get to the States". There were two small islands off that coast, but were uninhabited (there's an automatic lighthouse on one now). We saw many thatch cottages, including one from a 1930's movie "Man of Aran" -- sounds interesting. We drove past the Seal Colony, but since the tide was high there were no seals :(... We then headed back to the village and our tour was over.

A bit chilly and hungry, we decided to get some tea and food, and went to the American Bar (where everyone was speaking Gaelic!) for some potato & leek soup and brown bread. So yummy! Refreshed, we shopped some more. Brian bought me a cute little black sheep (since we've decided we're the black sheep of the family), which I promptly named Desmond! I keep adding to his name, too... so far it's Desmond Seamus Patrick... who knows where it will end :)! Now Phil the Squirrel has a friend!

We headed back to the pier, and after nearly being run over by a swarm of old people in a tour group, we loaded up , sat down, and fell asleep. We then got on the bus back to Galway, and it was PACKED! The heat was cranked, and I felt like I was BAKING, so we got off as soon as we could to get some fresh air. We walked to Salthill to find some dinner, and decided to go back to Lohan's (where we ate the first night), and I had a pint of Guinness. It was lovely! Brian added a shot of Jameson's to his (ew! -- the bartender hadn't even tried that before!) Dinner was good, but dessert was DIVINE!! Bailey's Cheesecake! It was like mousse, so yummy! We walked back to the B&B and worked on some details for our Dublin trip (we had to research train v. bus -- bus won out!), and got our laundry back. Yay for clean underwear!!

Now, it's time for bed. No alarms set tonight, we're just waking up whenever. We're going to Galway tomorrow to check it out in the daylight, and possibly get our tattoos! there are some historical sites, too, and hopefully some music to be heard.

G'Night ALL!

What a Wednesday!!!

20/10/10 Wednesday

I have decided that Galway is my long, lost home. I love it!

Well, today started in a bit of a panic, oversleeping by an hour! It worked out okay, though, Brian took his shower as I started gathering stuff together for the day (and had my Nescafe'). When he finished, I hopped in, and Brian went to go talk to Anthony or his colleague Patrick about booking tickets for today on the bus tour to the Cliffs of Moher and the Burren. Luckily it could be arranged for them to pick us up at the B&B, which gave us some time to eat some breakfast and have some real coffee! Brian opted for the Irish Breakfast, while I chose the continental breakfast (I don't eat pork, and the Irish Breakfast was almost all pork, with 2 eggs and toast)... yum!

We were picked up out front of the B&B, and after picking up some other tourists at other hotels and B&Bs, we went to the bus (or "coach") station and switched over to the actual Tour Coach. It was already pretty full, so Brian went to the back, and I sat as close as I could to the front. I sat next to an older American gentleman who didn't talk much, but appeared to be enjoying himself. We sat across from the bus loo, which stunk a bit the entire day. Yay.

We saw our driver, Ray, and the Tour Guide Desmond, who was Ray's father. It was a DELIGHTFUL trip! I loaded up on ginger this time, and didn't feel sick at all! We stopped a lot, getting out to walk around and take pictures, and lots of fresh air. The views were ALL spectacular, and Des was a wonderful storyteller! I took some video of him, and of the scenery, to try to catch a little bit of his character to take home with me! And I took a bunch of pictures -- so many that my camera battery died!

We stopped at the Ballyalban Fairy Fort, which was really the remains of an ancient ring-fort, or perhaps part of a homestead, but, according to Desmond, is now inhabited by fairies and leprechauns, who will run up your pant leg if you're not careful! :). The Fairy Fort did feel very magical and mystical to me...

Burren means "rocky place," I think, and the area is entirely made up of limestone. It has grass and some flora growing in the cracks of the rocks, but no trees to speak of. We stopped at an ancient tomb, called Poulnabrone Dolmen, that was estimated to have been built 5,800 years ago! amazing!

We walked around it (the tomb itself is protected, of course), and were able to take a tiny piece of limestone with us!




We stopped in Kilfenora, the city of crosses, and there were a bunch there! We walked around an old monastery, and Ray explained some of the things we were seeing in the carvings and the layouts of the rooms, as well as tombs and a graveyard. We learned that the St. Patrick's Cross is really a combination of a cross, the Christian symbol, and a circle, a Pagan symbol (I hope I'm remembering that right!).



We stopped for lunch in a pub in Doolin and had some yummy fish and chips! I also tasted my first Guinness in Ireland -- just a sip of Brian's, since I didn't want to jeopardize my happy tummy travels.




Then there were the Cliffs! Oh. My. God. I was awe-struck, close to tears. It was truly an amazingly beautiful sight. Wow.

(I'm only posting a couple pictures, so the rest you can find on my photobucket.com page...)

We eventually headed back to Galway, serenaded by Ray, the driver, as he sang some songs we might hear in pubs. What a great day!

We were dropped off at the coach station, and we walked to Eyre Square. I finally found an ATM to get some Euro cash! Whew! We stopped in a pub for a beer, and to warm up, then walked around some more to find a pub that served food. We also learned that most pubs that serve food won't have live music -- just not enough space for a kitchen in those pubs!

It started raining after our tour, sprinkling, mostly. We got new calling cards, and went to nearby phone booths to check in on the hubbies. These booths smelled much better than the ones in London, but while I was on the phone some random drunk guy walked up, knocked on the glass, then put his cheek/mouth on it... whatever.

Now we're back at the B&B, and may try to get to the Aran Islands tomorrow (Thursday), but we're going to have to wait and see what the weather brings.

G'night!

Tuesday Travel

Okay, so we're still on October 19th, right?

Ah, yes, we were at Heathrow, Ireland-bound.

We boarded the plane and found our seats -- not hard, since were were in Row 1. Brian had the aisle seat, I had the middle seat, and the window seat was empty. Well, not for long.

A rather unsteady elderly man stumbled on, a mix of Otis from the Andy Griffith Show and WC Fields.He sat down, hard, and appeared to be confused by the buckle portion of the seat belt, so I helped him understand how to strap in (!) and he settled in quickly, talking to himself (I think!). He had a bit of body odor, and was frequently coughing into a handkerchief. Yay. I tried to lean on Brian as much as possible during the trip, to stay out of the line of fire! Toward the end of the flight, WC Otis burped loudly, and quite possibly pooped himself. *sigh*

Brian and I got up quickly, and went down the steps to the tarmac at Shannon Airport, and headed in to get our passports stamped. We were #1 and #2 from our flight! We didn't have to wait long for our luggage and headed for the info desk to find out where to catch the bus. Oh, and since Ireland uses the Euro and England doesn't, we had to exchange our Pounds for Euros, too. We found the bus stop, and luckily only had about 15 minutes to wait.


It was only about 1 1/2 hours to Galway from Shannon by bus, but the roads are so narrow! And the Roundabouts! Oh. My. Golly Gosh. There seemed to be about 1,000 roundabouts between the airport in Shannon and Galway city center. The scenery was lovely -- so green! But unfortunately I started feeling a bit green, and I had to close my eyes for the rest of the trip. Of course, I won't let Brian forget that HE was the one who decided we should sit toward the BACK of the bus, the kiss of death for any person who has ever gotten car sick. And then you add those roundabouts... you get the point. Poor Brian! I couldn't even talk to him, just so I could concentrate on not throwing up. Guess my ginger was not cut out for Irish Roundabouts.

But, I survived the trip, and we got off the bus at the bus station in Galway. Of course, the information office was closed (as our luck would have it), and so we had to get our bearings the hard way -- wandering around. With suitcases in tow, we wandered down the hill to the corner, and saw a hotel. There was a park-like square in front of it, which turned out to be Eyre Square, in the city's center. To be honest, I was just SO glad to be off that bus and breathing some fresh air, I could have walked to the B&B and been completely fine!

We noticed a "Taxi" sign off to the right of Eyre Square, so we worked our way over there. The crosswalks there have the audible signals for the visually impaired, and it took me a while to NOT jump when I heard it! The taxi spot we walked to was apparently for late-night taxi rides, as a very helpful older man informed us, and he pointed us to the top of the Square, where there were buses and taxis. He also gave us a little tip: When choosing a taxi, pick one being driven by a "loci" (pronounced low-key), since "tose others, they'll add on a lil extra, they'll fleece ya" -- in other words, an Irish driver. Interesting introduction to Galway. So, we headed up the top of the Square and caught a cab. Our driver's name was something like Michael Patrick O'Malley -- clearly an Irishman :). He was friendly, pointing out several landmarks on the way to our B&B, though the sun was going down, so it was a bit harder to see clearly.

Amber Hill Bed and Breakfast. Oh, how we love you! It's closer to Salt Hill than Galway, but still close enough, about a 10Euro cab ride to Galway city center, and a 10 minute walk down to Galway Bay takes you to Salt Hill. But I digress. We were greeted by Anthony, and he gave us a quick tour of the place -- the breakfast room, the tv lounge, and showed us to our room. Lovely! So comfy, we loved it! Brian and I apparently have some work to do on understanding the brogue, as we tried to get walking directions to a restaurant, and got lost. We eventually wandered down to Galway Bay, which I thought was beautiful! Brian, of course, was all business, as it was cold, dark, and we were hungry. "The water will be there, we need food!" So we found a restaurant in Salt Hill, Lohan's, and finally ate. Brian got the Irish stew, and I had Vegetarian Shepard's Pie... yum! Once our tummies were happy, we walked back to the B&B to make the plan for the next day.

Looking at the weather forecast, Wednesday and Thursday are supposed to be pretty clear, and Friday is supposed to be rainy, so we knew this meant our outdoor activities would have to happen right away. So, the plan? Bed, so we can get up early to go to the Cliffs of Moher!

Off to the Emerald Isle!

TUESDAY!! October19

Woo hoo!

Today we got up early, packed all of our belongings, and got some breakfast -- our last in our beloved breakfast place.

We decided not to repeat our mistake on the way in, and walked the short distance to Paddington Station. My friend Heidi requested a picture of Paddington Bear, and so we had to oblige:

We had to catch the Heathrow Express train to the airport, where we had to find our check-in desk for Aer Lingus. They were restricting carry ons for some reason, so we had to check our suitcases, and then we headed through security. Somehow I managed to set off the alarm, and so I got patted down (bad touch! stranger danger!) on a pretty personal level... and my carry-on was searched (thanks to my crochet scissors!). While a bit inconvenient and not pleasant, it is funny after the fact :).

We wandered and people-watched, at a lovely lunch at an airport pub, and headed to the gate. Heathrow is quite well-organized, and so the gate was easy to find.

Waited there for a bit as the plane unloaded and was cleaned (I guess), and Brian noticed the name of the mobile stairs they were using with our plane: Menzies.

Well, this of course started a whole slew of jokes about how no one can use those stairs for one week out of the month because the stairs are bloated and crampy, etc... I'm sure you can use your imagination, eheheh.

More later! TTFN!