Galway & The Aran Islands

Last weekend, we decided that a trip to the west side of Ireland was very much needed. Thus, on Friday, Elizabeth and I awoke an hour earlier than usual...packed our bags, and carried them all the way to Kevin Street. We arrived to our Microbiology lab flush-faced and sweating, but hours later, it proved to be well worth our strife. Before we left the house, however, the mail courier knocked on our front door with a package. And this time...it was for me! The girls have gotten tons of mail and packages since their arrival, so this one really made me feel good.

Thank you, Mary Beth!! Halloween is her favorite holiday, and thank you for celebrating with me from so far away MB. I was in need of some American candy..and candy corn! They don't have it here!!

I know how SPOOKILY decorated her house probably is right now and how pumpkiny it smells too! I wish I was around to see/smell it! This package will suffice, however:)

With that, Elizabeth and I headed to the bus station to meet Jeanine and Monica for a wonderful weekend in Galway. The boys left much earlier since they do not have class on Fridays. We met them as they were leaving The King's Head, a popular pub in Galway. We decided to grab some dinner at this pub. It was very cool inside.

We later met at a pub on Quay street to celebrate our arrival in Galway as well as birth of Jeanine....she turned 22 late that night. The live music there was AMAZING! We met Erica, a close friend of Derrick's who is studying in London this semester. She is so cool...and we love her.


We decided to finish the night at The King's Head...where we found a great DJ playing good old American music! Jeanine got her birthday Guinness, and the dancing began...

The next morning, we woke early to begin the day! A great day through Galway shopping. I got a head-start on my Christmas shopping as the little shops there had the most amazing gifts. My mother and Grandma Carolyn would have gone NUTS! The shopping scene is pretty amazing here.As many of you probably know, Ireland is full of sheep's wool sweaters, and it seemed Galway and the Aran Islands had the most of them. Adam found this little baby sweater of which we all agreed could only fit a baby just from the womb. It was so tiny.The farmer's market was amazing. There was so much delicious food; our mouths were watering. We saw huge bowls of fresh pasta salads, fresh fish, olives that looked like they were just picked from the tree, and loads of fresh breads and pastries. Since I have been craving a doughnut since I've been here, I opted for a 70 euro-cents sugar & cinnamon covered doughnut handmade before my very eyes. I was on cloud nine.Somehow, Adam, Joe, Jake, and I lost the girls....so we stopped in the middle of shopping street to watch a magician from Texas. He was one of the best magicians I have ever seen in real life. Who would have thought such talent in Ireland was grown from our very own country?Lastly, a little lunch in the park before we headed to the bus and then ferry that would take us to the Aran Islands. The street sign below we saw at the loading dock. The boys thought is was funny and asked that I snap a photo.The ferry ride lasted maybe an hour. I often find that I am happiest while on the water....so this part of the trip was one of my favorite. The air temperature was perfect: not too hot, not too cold....brisk. We watched the sun set, and arrived on the island in the dark of night. The area is not well lit by any means, and few people inhabit the island. It was at this point where we thanked God for having the boys with us. While Jake made chainsaw noises in the background, and Jeanine yelled 'boo'....we thought this set-up would just too perfect for a 'Texas-chainsaw massacre 4: Aran Islands rendition'.We arrived at our hostel (pictures to be seen below), and after being ENTIRELY FREAKED OUT by the place (especially since we arrived in the pitch black night), we decided to lighten up the mood by celebrating Jeanine's birthday in one of the only open restaurants on the island. It was amazingly delicious. I had the most delicious cider (as seen below...do we have this in the states?), and I do not believe that any of us have laughed so much before in our lives. I cannot even begin to depict to you what was said over dinner, and so I am forwarding you to my dear friend Joe Comerford's blog post of the trip. He describes it perfectly. Begin about halfway through this blog post when he begins talking of the Aran Islands. Please click the link below:

http://jac5270-thisisireland.blogspot.com/2008/10/100708-101308.html

Here you will learn about the two 80-year old women (Helen from Alaska can be seen wearing the salmon shirt in one of the below photos) that Jake and Joe had to bunk with along with how we made the ultimate best of our situation.

We quietly sang 'happy birthday' to Jeanine, until half-way through the song, the entire restaurant was singing and clapping for her. The Irish as so nice!Here is the hostel we stayed at: the 'druggie house', apparently.Poor Adam's bed was in a mudroom...the walls were moldy, the whole room was windows which left little room for any warmth in the area...so we had him sleep in our room with us....we were terrified to be alone anyway.Part of the directions the lady sent Jeanine as to 'how to get to my hostel' said, "Go past the 'Lucky Star Bar' with the roosters. Now, here we are thinking there is going to be a painted picture of some roosters on the building....OH NO! Imagine seeing the bar, being within one foot distance from a fury object that appears to be...sleeping..., and then upon a slight form of movement, you come to find its a live rooster. (Yes, that's right...one foot...one ruler's length away from your and a ferocious bird.)We woke up super early Sunday morning to walk up to the cliffs. They were amazing...and, as depicted below, you will see photos of some sites leading up to the cliffs. There was nothing by the cliffs...no guards, no rails, not a person in sight...just us and God's natural gift.

Jake was so eager to get to the cliffs....he ran up the rocky, beaten path to get there. Our hike up the hills was well worth it.



Literally, one slip off the cliffs and you fell into an abyss of swirling waters and rocky ground: a goner. Helen (the 80-year old from Alaska) told us that many people die because the wind will just sweep you off from your feet. Needless to say, the girls and I were very very careful. And then there was Jake...who was sending us to our graves with his fearless moves, skipping from cliff to cliff, and taking photos from unsafe ledges of the rocks. If you look to the right of me in the photo below, you can see an eenie-weenie little person in a dark coat who looks like he's going to plummet into the rocks. By the grace of God....he is still alive.


I like to say that it is this moment whereas Joe walks to safe grounds, Adam is trying to persuade Jake into NOT jumping over the cliffs. The drop was so deep.
Jake takes Adam's advice... :) (Not really....he was fearless, and kept skipping...I just like to think he was being safe).
And with that, we headed back to Galway, and then back to Dublin. We spotted a beautiful horse that only I was able to coax into feeding with my bare hands. I'd like to think it is because I used to feed my grandpa's horse 'Sweet Pea' when I was little, AND the Milroy's (who I babysit for in Valpo) like to visit and feed the horse down the street little carrots. ...skill, maybe?

Beauty. How else can you describe it?