This weekend was a weekend that I will never forget in my whole entire life. It was filled with the most beautiful and breathtaking sights I have ever seen! I am one lucky girl to have had the privilege to be where I was this past weekend, and well the whole entire trip! I have a WHOLE new outlook on Ireland; it is the most beautiful place on the earth! (from what I’ve seen, and I haven’t seen very much, but I bet it ranks very high on the list!)
Anyways, this weekend was our class trip to the south western tip of Ireland. For those of you who might be a little geographically inclined (like I was) Ireland is an island that is pretty far north. It is further north than the continental US, which I hadn’t known! The main weather path that Ireland gets is from the jet stream in Canada that flows across the Atlantic Ocean and hits Ireland first before continuing to England and then continental Europe. The weather here is ALWAYS rainy. Heading out for the trip Phil had told us that it was suppose to clear up for Friday and Saturday and be just lovely out. We all were super excited to possibly get a dip in the ocean! WELL, in true Ireland fashion it RAINED! Friday we headed 2 hours to a castle called Bunratty’s Castle. It was really cool to see; however it rained the whole time we were there and it was very, VERY cold out! We were suppose to go see the Cliffs of Moher after that; however, once again it was raining too hard and Phil decided we would postpone that until Saturday because it was suppose to clear up! We then were scheduled to play golf after the Cliffs of Moher and that of course didn’t happen because of the rain. Some did want to go golfing despite the rain, but the course that we were supposed to play on was closed. We did however see a regulated course for the professionals on our way into Doolin and there were people playing in the rain! Crazy people! The course looked SUPER hard….LOTS of sand traps and hills and bunker shots! We ended up just heading to our hostel in Doolin early. What can I tell you about Doolin…..If you blink you miss it?! It literally had a hostel and a hotel, 2 pubs and a restaurant that probably measured a mile long! It was a very tiny town but we made the best out of it! We were bored since it was raining and someone ended up going to the main office of the hostel and got a deck of card and the game monopoly! We headed to the pub and ate and then some people went back while others stayed. I ended up staying and played a mean game of monopoly with my professor and two of the other girls! I ended up forfitting because we had a huge pile of money in the middle and Phil had gotten “boardwalk and park place”, which in this game where names of Ireland streets, and had hotels on there so I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to keep up much longer! So yes my professor beat me and I guess that’s why he gets paid the “big” bucks!
Saturday morning, what can I say, it was rainy AGAIN! Writing this now I can say we only had one day without a single drop of rain and that was today! Every other day we were here at one point or another it rained throughout the day! Anyways, we went to the cliffs of Moher despite the dense fog and wind. Phil really wanted us to see it because well it is amazing! The pictures I have of it don’t do it justice because the camera would not take it through the fog! You could see thru the fog to the ocean and the cliffs, a sight I will never forget! It probably would have been a million times prettier had it been bright and sunny but everything happens for a reason and I got to see it this way!
After the cliffs we took a ferry across the Shannon River to Dingle (YES, we took a coach bus on the ferry!) It was really cool, I had never been on a ferry before so my experience was definitely neat! The ferry ride was about a 20 minute adventure! We ended up in the town of Dingle for some delicious lunch before heading around the Dingle Peninsula! WOW. That is all I can say about the Dingle Peninsula! The stops we made were just breathtaking and like I said earlier words and pictures cannot do it any justice! The mountains and the cliffs and scenery were just beautiful! God really made a gorgeous island when he formed Ireland! This is where I started to remember a dear family friend, Sammy Bauer, who we lost to a battle of cancer almost 10 years ago. Sammy was the most vivacious woman I have ever met to this day! So full of life and so in love with lamb and sheep! I will always remember that about Sam and her house…..sheep! She was a dear friend to my grandparents so I was over to their house often and she always had sheep and lambs for me to play with…..well I saw many of them on this Saturday, and the weather had cleared up where we were able to get some amazing shots of the scenery. I definitely believe Sam may have had a part in that! At one of the stops we made there were three sheep, a mother and two lambs running wild. They were on a cliff that went down on maybe a good 500 feet! How they kept their balance on there was beyond ANY of us! We were all amazed that they were able to actually maneuver around on there! At one point the littlest lamb was on the retaining wall for the road and I was going to take a picture of it walking away but it ended up turning its head right as a snapped the picture! It is a really cool picture, thanks Sammy! So we ended up jumping a few fences to get better pictures of all the mountains and scenery along the way! At one point we went so far down a “hill” that we couldn’t see the bus and some only went half way and they were a LONG ways away! It was no fun walking back up it! It definitely was like rock climbing that showed me I was VERY out of shape! Some of the people on the trip ended up falling in some sheep shit!! Long story but one you can ask me when I get back!
After heading around the Peninsula we went to a town called Killarney. This was the cutest little town ever! We had dinner and went to a pub called Scotts. This was a local pub that was definitely fun! There was a band playing outside and a lot of people there to support them! It almost felt like a Wisconsin night where there is a tent outside with a band in the street playing….but this was way nicer and the street was just an alley way! The band was really good and we ended up seeing a bunch of “hens” parties, which is a bachelorette party to us! One of the themes was Zombie bride where the bride was a zombie and all the other girls with here were dressed up in black dresses….it was unusual! And one of the others was a Moulin Rouge themed one where everyone wore red and black corsets with red feathers in their hair and boas! This was definitely a fun night for me!
Sunday held brunch at a small little café in the mountains! Then a trip to Torc Falls and Lady’s view…..definitely both VERY beautiful places! We were in the midst of a national forest with mountains and trees!!! We hiked up a VERY large mountain to see a falls and the start of one of the rivers here in Ireland. This river is the river that runs through Cork where we stayed for the majority of the trip! From the hiking yesterday at the cliffs of Moher and the hiking to get better pictures I definitely was feeling it already but then we went to this mountain and I DEFINITELY was feeling it after that! WOW, this girl needs to whip her butt into shape! But I knew that I needed to make the hike up because the sight was worth it! I definitely wouldn’t mind taking up some hiking/rock climbing in the near future! But only if I was going to see something cool by doing it!
The sights that I saw this past weekend makes up for any negative opinion I had of Ireland before! I cannot thanks my grandparents enough for helping me make this whole journey possible! I am truly one lucky girl who saw the most beautiful sights here! I just wish they were here to see them with me! Now I will be heading back to London tomorrow with the group, spending the night at a bed and breakfast with everyone and then heading to the airport with them. This is where they will depart to the US and where I will meet my mamabear for our part of the journey! I’m not sure how often I’ll get to post on here after this point! I’m hoping not very much because mom and I will be too busy roaming around, but I hope to get some on here to keep everyone updated on what we are doing! Once again thanks for reading everything and I can’t wait to share with everyone all of my pictures and stories that I have! J
<3 from Ireland for the last time ~*E
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| A house in Doolin |
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| Our bus and 2 gas trucks on our ferry ride |
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| At a Rose Garden...With the ring my mom gave me! |
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| LOVE |
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| BEAUTIFUL |
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| Lamb..... |
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| Crazy sheep on the cliff |
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| Still can't believe I experienced this! |
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| Three who didn't go all the way down...the bus was about another 2000 feet uphill from them! It was a crazy hill to climb back up, but got some amazing photos! |
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| At Inch Beach |
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| Is this real?! Still can't believe it! |
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| Torc Falls |
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| Half way up the mountain |
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Break time for some of the group!
**THANKS AGAIN G-BABY AND GRAMPS! This whole experience was the GREATEST adventure of my WHOLE life! I still can't believe this is MY REAL life....I feel like I'm watching a movie or something!!! You guys are my whole world!!! I am SO grateful for this opportunity and the opportunity to have MY mom come join me! We definitely will make the most of it!!! I guess we will find out if Europe is ready for the two of us!! I really wish you could be here with us, but I will definitely continue taking loads of pictures for you and will continue to miss you guys!! <3 E** |
