Cliffs of Moher

<----- car window shot, fantastic, eh?



We awoke at the lovely townhouses and headed off to breakfast (well, 8 of us lucky ones did). The breakfast isn't worth 23 euros, but you certainly can fill yourself up and enjoy yourself. They do work hard on service and pride themselves on this fact .... I think. Loading into the cars took some work to get us all going, but we did pull off with Dave as the lead car driver, my pops in 2nd place, and Aunt Mary Carol pulling up the rear. There was a little bit of an issue with the speed limit -- Dave and Dad have MPH listed in big white numbers, with the KPH listed in small. Carol only has KPH... just a slight difference on speed.

We got moving and enjoyed the scenery along the way. We spent all day in the car watching the Irish countryside go by. Our long drive resulted in many roundabouts and narrow twisty roads. As it was all in good fun, we also hopped a few curbs and cut it close. Its all just a part of the learning to drive on the "wrong" side of the road.

Our first major stop was anti-climatic, a gas station break. Then right around the bend was the Cliffs of Moher. They called a "bogey" ~ similar to a golf cart ~ from the parking lot gate and ran mom, grandfather, and daddy-o up to the top. The rest of us just hiked it up the hill. The view was stunning and very enjoyable. It was not too cold or windy for me, though I am certain it was a bit more chilly for mom.

When we felt we'd all taken enough pictures to keep us happy for a lifetime, we descended back down the hill. Since there is 12 of us, we felt the need to dilly-dally some more . .. before heading towards the Burren.

The Burren must be some slang deterioration of barren - because that's what this land is. A long stretch of land that is impossible to do much with. It is still interesting scenery, but it's just a large uninhabited stretch.

The Barren is the route we took towards Galway, I imagine there is a shorter way but we were along for the drive and enjoying the scenery. Driving in Galway was stressful for everyone. We hit the city a rush hour and had many a roundabout to work our way through. Trying to be a three car caravan and not knowing the way was extremely difficult for everyone. We did eventually navigate it all and managed to park. As nothing that costs euros is cheap, the parking was 1.60 euro for an hour until 7 pm, then three euro for the evening. The problem is that you can't pay for both at the same time. We arrived at 6:15 and had to return to the cars 45 minutes later to pay for our night parking. Oh well.

We were looking for buskers a pub that Nina researched. It took a bit of navigating, but it wasn't too difficult to get to. I was very elegant and I ordered the lamb and Guinness stew with a side of Guinness. It was delicious. I tried some of Dad's bangers and mash and that was yummy, too.

It was a lovely dinner yet it took forever and was expensive. The waitress was working the crew over and got them to tip 15%, though in Ireland its not customary to tip on service. Especially not that much. Oh well. You win some you loose some, and it was lucky for the waitress.

We split up driving on the way home, and tho Dave left first, they took a different route and didn't make it back for an additional 1/2 hour or so after we were already home. We checked out the Tack Room Bar and met some wedding guests. It was an enjoyable evening ~ Nina after two Gin and Tonics is always entertaining.