Day 2 Coast to coast in one day.

For those of you reading, thank you! I can tell you that we haven’t slowed down at all. In fact it is almost 3 in the morning here and we are keeping our promise of posting daily. Pictures will be added of today’s adventure in the morning. The internet is slow and it takes too long to upload them and today was a very great site seeing day.

Sam had arranged for us to take a rail tour through the company called Rail tours Ireland. We wanted to get out of Dublin and see Ireland. What better way than to take a train to the other side of the country! We had to be at the train station before 7 this morning and we had decided to walk there. That meant we had to be out of here by 6:30. That meant little sleep the night before. I figure we can sleep when we get back to the states! It was a beautiful morning and we watched the sunrise on our way to the train station. Sunrise in Dublin, life doesn’t get much better than that!

We made it to the train station in plenty of time and got to find places we want to go tomorrow (or today, at this time). It was my first time ever being in this kind of train station. It was pretty neat for me. I’m huge at looking at the architecture of things and trying to figure out why the designed things the way they did. I also like to look at all the buildings along the way with the same thing in mind, and if they are vacant, I try to figure out what could go in the building. There certainly weren’t may people out to do much people watching at that time in the morning.

When it was time to go, we got on the train and started off. There were several tours that start at the same time and place, so we started out as a rather large group. On the way to our first stop, we met our tour guide. His name was Jim Reid, and he was a very friendly and knowledgeable man. He asked where we were from and what we did. When he found out what Sam did for a living, he gave him a hard time about Sam critiquing him. We got off one train in Limerick Station and road another train into downtown Limerick where we transferred to a motor coach. From there we took a short tour of the town Limerick and picked up the last of our group. We ended up with about 28 in our group.

From Limerick we rode through the beautiful countryside to Bunratty Castle. The name means near the river. It was built in 1425 and has been completely restored to its former glory, including furniture from that time period. We had a brief tour of the castle and then we were allowed to explore it on our own and also the folk park in the same vicinity. The folk park was buildings from around the area that they dissembled and rebuilt brick by brick in the park and also found furnishings from the time period. They even had peat fires burning in every building to help make it more real for the experience. It was so interesting to me to see that the Irish lived very similar to the Americans. Even the old washing machines, sewing machines and farm implements were like ones I know we have used in America. It just shows you that this is indeed a small world.

From Bunratty we drove through more iconic countryside. We were having a beautiful day, with barely a cloud in the sky. It was as if Sam had arranged for a perfect day for this excursion! The countryside was green with many stone fences running through it. These fences were so sturdy; they have lasted for hundreds of years in many cases. They were better than the American traditional wood fences because of all the rain in Ireland, the wood would just rot away. Yes we saw sheep everywhere and Sam is convinced he’s been smelling them since he got here. All I could smell was the ocean air.

We stopped for lunch in the coastal town of Doolin and ate lunch at a local pub called O’Conner’s. This was a neat little town that sits right on the coast and is the nearest town by the Cliffs of Mohr. I decided to eat something traditional to Ireland and tried the Guinness Stew and had a pint to go along with it Sam was had some chicken and tried a different kind of beer. We decided to share some seafood chowder as well. The food was amazing. The chowder was made from fresh seafood. We ate every bite of that. Then our food arrived. I have to say it was the best stew I have ever tasted (sorry Mom). The meet literally melted in your mouth. It came complete with a boiled potato. I was very happy with my selection and it was the first pint of Guinness I had in Ireland. I actually liked it. I don’t know if it was my imagination, or if it was just drinking it in Ireland, but it tasted different than what I had in the states. Either way, I will have another pint or two while I’m here. You know what they say, when in Rome…..

After lunch, Jim walked Sam and me over to the chocolate shop. Sam hates chocolate, but I’m the girl on the trip, remember? I found some sweets to buy. Everything in the shop is handmade and was delicious. I even found some that Sam liked. There were other little shops that had a variety of handmade products, but we didn’t have time to explore them. We had to get back on the bus. After all, we were on the other side of the country from Dublin and did not want to get left behind. Besides, poor Jim had to do a head count after every stop, and it never failed that someone was always late.

We headed next to the Cliffs of Mohr. You can’t go to Ireland and not go see them! This was not a guided tour. We were set free to explore all we wanted in the allotted time frame. Sam and I went up one side and took as many photos as we could and then headed to the other side. Sam had told me that people had been blown off the Cliffs before and plunged to their deaths below. Believe me when I say it isn’t a little drop. We went up the other side, passing through a gate with a danger sign posted for all to see. We stayed safe and on the safe trail at first, then decided to go out farther and went on the less safe trail. Yes, I risked life and limb and walked out near the edge (but not too near the edge). WE saw some really stupid people who would actually step on a lower rock on the edge. One small slip and they would not be around to tell the tale. Those of you that know me know I am terrified of heights and am not normally a risk taker. That being said, I felt comfortable going on the path I did, because I was in Ireland was willing to risk my safety a little to get the best experience I could. Sam on the other hand would check on me every 5 seconds to make sure I was still there. I am known to be a klutz, and wasn’t really in an area to trip!

After the Cliffs and all the hiking we did, we were getting a little tired. We returned to the bus and drank some water and ate some of the sweets I bought. We were on our way to the next stop. This was the burren. This part of Ireland is known for its flagstones. Most of the rock fences and older building were made from the flag stones. We drove by the quarry were they are mined. We then stopped at the burren. This is huge slabs of limestone. They are several feet thick, and stretch all the way to the ocean. We walked around on this for a little while and were on our way again. We continued on our way along the coastline passing through several small villages. I always marveled at how they have tried to fit the modern buildings in with the originals ones. I also noticed that many of the newer subdivisions were built in buildings looking exactly alike. Sometimes the paint would be different colors on each house, which I can only assume it is for individuality.

We then enter the town of Galway. We were behind schedule a bit due to some extra stops we made for various reasons, so we only had a half hour to explore this town on our own before we had to catch the train back to Dublin. By this time, Sam and I were not hungry and were tired from all the walking we had done that day, so we went to the square and looked around and then went back to wait for the train. We were extremely happy with the day. The weather was perfect all day and we had seen and enjoyed some amazing things.

On the train ride home we sat with another family of 5. The two older kids were twins and a few years younger than Sam. They had and were going to school and doing the study abroad and both the boy and the girl had much in common with Sam. We had a great time with them and hope we will see them about tomorrow. We had both planned some of the same excursions, so we stand a good chance of seeing them again. We would enjoy doing some site seeing with them.

By the time we got back to Dublin, most of the places we would have liked to eat were closed down, or too packed to get a table. I really wanted fish and chips and have another pint, but we had to settle for getting pizza and bringing it back to our room. We posted yesterdays pictures and will post today’s in the morning. We are too tired to wait for them to upload. Tomorrow we hope to do Guinness, visit churches, do Jamison, and get my fish and chips. I’m tired and am going to go to sleep. Hope to chat with you all tomorrow! Good night!