Europe 2012 - Day 11

Today we drove from Galway (west coast) to just south of Dublin (east coast).  Prior to hitting the road, we rented some clubs & played a round of golf.  Once again, a beautiful day!  Before tee off I got a little lecture from Alan…

…Kristyn, you have to watch your ball.  We don’t have a golf cart to drive around to find it

…Kristyn, they only gave us 3 balls each, so you have to really concentrate today to not go too far off the fairway

I admit, I am not the best golfer.  But, boy, did that little lecture bite him in the ass J  First hole, he drives into the woods.   Ball cannot be found.  Second hole, he drives into the heather.  Ball cannot be found.  I'll admit, it was nearly impossible to find your ball, even in the first rough off the fairway.  The course was covered in these little white flowers.  Not exactly easy to spot a white golf ball.  Anyway, it was quite the stressful day for Alan…as he continued to lose all 6 of our balls.  Guess how many balls Kristyn lost?  That’s right…zero.  So, this will go down in history as the only time I beat Alan in golf.  He is still bitter about it…kind of comparable to a MSU loss J

Sigh, last day in Ireland.  It is bittersweet to end a vacation.  While we would love a few more days of no true responsibility, we are ready to head to home sweet home.

[Nice views of Glenlo Abbey in the background]

[Overlooking the lake]

[Did you find your ball, hunny?]

Europe 2012 - Day 10

The woman at the reception desk thanked me for brining lovely weather from the States.  However, said that it was too hot and Irish women get cranky when it’s too hot.  Haha.  The sun has been shining since day 3; we are so fortunate.  Alan and I didn’t pack for this weather and have our sweaters stowed away, and our tees being over worn!

Anyway, on the road again!  I think this is the most use we have ever gotten out of a rental car!  We headed down the coast into the countryside, to visit the Cliffs of Moher.  The cliffs rise 700 feet and range for 5 miles along the Atlantic Ocean on the western seaboard of Co. Clare.  Pictures speak louder than words.  But I can say that Alan made me hike further on the PRIVATE PROPERTY, NO TRESPASSING, DANGEROUS TERRAIN trail, longer than the butterflies in my stomach could handle.  And…the wind was insane.  I feared that small children would get blown off the cliffs.

[The Cliffs of Moher]

[O'Brien Tower in the distance]

[A little nervous about sitting so close to the edge.  Alan's foot actually slipped a little to his side and I jumped to grab him as well as the guy who offered to take our picture]

[Incredible views]

[See this sign, Alan made me hike way past this...

[....all the way out here]

Total relaxation is on the agenda for the rest of the night.  Our hotel delivers complimentary coffee, tea, and cookies to your room at a push of a button.  What a perk!  So I am sippin’ and sittin’ in the lobby, soakin’ in the last few days until we return to reality.  In a bit we are going to walk down to the lake, then head to the lounge for a bite to eat.  There is a entertainment on Saturday nights…crossing my fingers for traditional Irish music!!!

Europe 2012 - Day 9

This morning we made the long 3-hour drive to Galway.  Galway is a bigger city, probably 2^nd biggest to Dublin.  Which leads to my next statement – we got lost for the first time in Ireland.  Not getting lost yet probably is due to my stellar navigating abilities!  As I have mentioned previously, street signs are non-existent in Ireland.  So, if the Google Maps printed direction to take the 3^rd exit from the roundabout in 2.73 km doesn’t exist…you are screwed.  We stopped in a gas station to get a detailed map of the city, and ultimately found our way to the Glenlo Abbey hotel.

[Taking a stretch mid-way...soakin in the ocean view]

[Golf Course & river view from our room]

We took a taxi to the city center to stroll around.  Galway has a good city center filled with cute shops and restaurants.  Similar to Denmark, young adults were sprawled on the grass drinking beer, on this beautiful day.  Chicago officials need to take a few tips from European countries ;-)  We had dinner on an Italian restaurant patio.  Then headed to a bar recommended to us by a previous traveler, Taffes.  Traditional Irish music started at 10p, and I had a bar stool in the front row, obviously.

[Downtown Galway]

[Alan very excited to be in Ireland]

[Galway peeps along the river on a nice evening]

[Sitting by the harbor]

[Traditional Irish Music]

[Kristyn very excited to be in Ireland]

Europe 2012 - Day 8

Today we drove through the Blue Stack Mountains into the Glenveagh National Park.  Once again, it was an ‘adventurous’ one-hour drive.  Alan said I had one hand white knuckling my seat and the other white knuckling the roadmap.  But the drive there was beautiful

[Donegal countryside]

Once we arrived at the National Park, we hiked a beautiful 5K along the water.  The views were breathtaking (total understatement, the pictures don’t even capture it).   We even stopped into the Glenveagh Castle.  We’ve been visiting a lot of castles, and I’d been wanting to do an official guided tour, so we did one here.  As we waited for our tour time, we walked around the immaculate gardens.  I’ve gotten quite a bit of outdoor space inspiration on this trip.  When the time comes (i.e., I have a backyard), I may consider designing a European vegetable & flower garden.   On the castle tour, we learned bits and pieces of historical info.  The castle doesn’t stand on a major waterway, and was actually built as a hunting lodge.  It sits on thousands of acres of land, and holds the largest herd of red deer.  We weren’t allowed to take pictures on the castle tour, but the interior has a very lodge-y inspired elements, such as large bronze buck heads in the entryway and plaid wallpaper in the music room.  Most recently the castle was a ‘summer home’  (seriously, are you kidding?) for an American from Philly (professor from Harvard, who had a wealthy family background).  We learned fun things along the way too, like – the most previous owner had a glass canister that was filled every morning….with 9 liters of Jameson!  The American donated castle to the country of Ireland in 1983.  However, there were two stipulations 1) it remains open for the public to enjoy and 2) all his staff kept their jobs for as long as they wanted to work there.

[Glenveagh National Park]

[Glenveagh National Park]

[Glenveagh National Park]

[Glenveagh Castle]

[Glenveagh Castle]

[Glenveagh National Park - my favorite view from the day]

We hit ‘downtown’ Donegal Town for dinner at The Harbour Restaurant.  It was a mere 2 streets.  We ate at an amazing restaurant (thank you, Trip Advisor!).  I said it was the best meal yet.  Donegal is a fishing village, so naturally we ordered seafood.  Our crab claws put Joe’s Crab House in Chicago to SHAME (claimed best seafood in the city).   We wandered around downtown for a little longer.  I ordered a Guinness, since many people told me it would be served warm in the north.  It was cold.  And Donegal is about as far north as you can get in this country!  Perhaps times have changed J

[Pub that we visited tonight]

[Donegal Town, Ireland]