Sorry for the missing update....we were at a ceile last night!
We finally had a hot Irish breakfast this morning. The sausage was pretty good, but my eggs were runny. I'm not a runny-eggs person. So far this trip the food has been really, really good. We got on the bus and headed north up the Clare coast to an area called the Burren. Most of Ireland is lush green fields, but the Burren is sparce, with a rocky limestone landscape. The word that kept coming to mind when I looked out at the countryside was 'ancient'. It just feels old here. I don't know how to explain it. We stopped several times to take pictures. At the first stop, several of us headed down to the water to take pictures. I have a great one of Lucas, Traci Tokerud's boyfriend, standing right on the very edge taking a picture. It makes my knees weak just to look at it.
We circled around Black Head and skirted Galway Bay before we headed back south. We were going up a stretch of road called the Corkscrew when we met another bus. It was about a half hour of us backing up, them coming toward us, tourists in little cars trying to pass us, tour guides getting off the buses looking to see where we could go to get out of the way, and bus drivers holding their heads in disgust until we finally got to a wider place in the road so that the buses could pass. When they finally went around, all of the passengers on both buses waved, and I swear that there was only about an inch between the two buses. As our driver Dave told me this morning, these Irish roads are not made for buses.
Once at the top of the Corkscrew, we went to a small village named Kilfenora to have lunch at the pub (very good) and tour the local 12th century cathedral ruin. They have 5 early Christian crosses there that were amazing. Our tour guide Bryan has a friend and fellow EF guide Katie that lives in Kilfenora, and she gave us a small tour and invited us to come back for the ceili (pronounced kaylee) that evening. The crosses were amazing and in great shape for being so old.
After Kilfenora we went to Ailwee Cave, stopping at an ancient (4500 years old) burial tomb. Of course I can't think of the name of it right now, but it will come to me. We stopped there for just a few minutes and then went to the caves to tour them. They were neat, but I've heard that Lewis and Clark Caverns are better. Then it was back to our hotel again to eat supper.
After supper we went back to Kilfenora to have an Irish set dance lesson from a National Champion dancer and then to watch the locals dance. Some of our group even participated in the dancing. It was pretty cool. It was in this very old barn, with two long narrow rooms that had open doorways between them. The band set up at one end of the narrower room, and there were sets, four couples to a set, all down the room. We watched old man after old man come into the barn, barely able to walk, but when the music started their legs were moving so fast you couldn't keep up. All of the locals were so nice, and Bryan got a text message from Katie today telling him that the town enjoyed having us there last night. It was one of the coolest things that we've done in Ireland.
I'm going to combine today into this entry also, because today was mostly a driving day. We left Livsoondarna this morning and headed for Letterkerry, by way of Sligo and Donegal. We stopped at Yeats' grave in Sligo, and had lunch in Donegal. We didn't have a lot of time at either place, but Montana did have the front of the bus this morning. Tammy and I rode down in the elevator this morning with Dave the Driver, and he let us on. We giggled the whole way.
We had a total dumb American moment this evening. Everything in Europe is smaller, including the elevators. The one in this hotel is supposed to hold 8 people. Well, we got 5 Americans on it, and the alarm started going off and an electronic voice said, "Overloaded! Overloaded!" Not a good feeling.
Tomorrow we are off for Derry, which is a walled city in Northern Ireland. Our trip is fast coming to a close.
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