Friday Sept. 14th

It felt great to wake up from a good night's sleep!  We enjoyed a nice breakfast in the hotel's dining room this morning, buffet style.  I tried blood sausage for the first time in my life!  I ate it, but I can safely say I'll probably never have it again! It is called pudding here in Ireland.  They had brown pudding and white pudding.

8:30 A.M.
We departed from the Dunboyne Castle Hotel, and headed west across the island of Ireland.  It was a narrow, winding road, with many roundabouts (traffic circles), for awhile until we merged onto the M-4 and then onto the M-6 toward the town of Galway, which is on the eastern coast of Ireland.  The "M" stands for Motorway, which is like our freeways in the States.

Our first excursion tody was to Clonmacnoise, an early Christian site, founded by St. Ciaran in the 6th century, situated on the banks of the River Shannon.  There were literally 100's of extremely old tombstones and tombslabs; along with the remains of a couple of old Cathedrals, all perched on a beautiful hillside overlooking the River Shannon.  Wonder of wonder, the sun is actually shining momentarily!

While we were there on our Narrated Tour of this amazing site, a Riverboat Cruise Tour came gliding down the River Shannon. loaded with tourists who were viewing Clonmacnoise from the water!

Glad I  packed my warm clothing because it was quite breezy and cool today while standing on that hillside above the river!

Afterward, we made it to the town of Athlone, which is said to be the center of Ireland, where we stopped for a break.  We walked a few blocks to Cafe Mama to have lunch.  There were ten of us: Lou & Travis, Polly & son Steven Green, Albert Gary & daughter Brook Brown, John & daughter Marilynn Gallagher, and Norma and me.  Polly & Steven live in Liberty City; John lives in San Antonio and Marylynn in Longview.  Getting to know more of our fellow guests each day!

We continued west along the M-6, passing thru lush farmland, with fresian(holstein)cattle, lots of sheep, horses and peat bogs. The Irish harvest the peat, compress it into bricks, dry it, and use for heating fuel.

Here are little "teepees" of peat bricks drying.

Noel, our Irish driver/guide, grew up in Ireland, so he is very knowledgeable about the history and culture of Ireland.  We love to hear him talk!  The Irish do not pronounce the "th" sound in words; they drop the "h" and pronounce a "t" or "d" sound!  "tink" for think, "mudder" for mother, "tree" for three.  "Kil" at the beginning of a word means "church of" as in Kilkenny, church of Kenis.

Next, we stopped at Rathbaun Farm, where we were served fresh homemade scones with tea or coffee.  Wonderful hospitality!  We experienced a glimpse into the daily workings of an active sheep farm; even watched the owner, Fenner, shear a sheep (very fast) after his border collie, Ted, rounded up the sheep into a pen.  We saw a ewe with twin lambs.  Lou and Kristina volunteered to bottle feed a couple of 7-week old lambs!

 

 

6:15 P.M.

We arrived in Galway and Noel made a circle around Eyre Square (right downtown), where there is a John F. Kennedy Memorial on the exact spot where he stood to make a speech to the people of Ireland in 1963.  We then made it to our hotel, the Radisson BLU Hotel, where we will stay for two nights.  We did not have any time to relax before going downstairs to the Marina Restaurant for dinner at 7:00 p.m..  Our dinner tonight was buffet style, once again excellent food.

 

I had no luck logging on to the computer in the lobby to email home, or using my AT&T calling card to call home.  Tomorrow, I'll try buying a local calling card here in Galway.

 

9:00 P.M.

To our room, shower, and to bed!

 

BooBoo says she can get use to these fancy hotels with great views of the water!  I love hotels that have windows that actually open!