Cliffs of Moher & Bunratty Castle

March 21

We got up to head over to the Cliffs of Moher, a part I had been looking forward to the most.  It was a bit windy and wet as we headed to the ferry on the River Shannon to head across toward the cliffs.  I did brave out of the bus on the ferry to take pictures but didn't stay out long as it was very windy and wet.

After a bit of a long and winding drive during which I did not feel my best, we finally made it to the Cliffs of Moher.  The weather had cleared up enough to see the cliffs, though it was far from sunny.  It was very windy and still a bit rainy so I decided to use the poncho that the tour provided...it didn't go well.  The wind blew the poncho around so much I felt like I was going to fly away and at one point I went to take a picture and all I saw in the camera was the green of the poncho as it tried to fly over my head.  We climbed up the series of viewing platforms and went into this little tower toward the top (where I ditched the poncho since it wasn't really keeping me dry just being an annoyance), and went to the top for more views of the cliffs.  There are no words and the pictures don't do the scene justice but here are just a few of the many pictures I took.

After the Cliffs it was back on the bus toward Bunratty where we stayed at the Bunratty Castle Hotel.  We walked over to the actual castle for the Medieval Dinner.  We were greeted at the door by the head butler in period dress and were led up a tight winding staircase to the main hall where we were served mead (it tasted much better than what I've had in the States) and treated to some music.  An earl and his lady were chosen from the group to preside as the lord of the manor during the dinner, which was very entertaining.  During the dinner you had no fork only a "dagger" (a knife) and your fingers with which to eat.  Red wine, white wine, and water were freely flowing and what food I ate tasted very good.  Sadly it seems I caught the stomach bug that was going around the tour bus which, when combined with my usual car sickness and not so usual mead and wine consumption, led to me throwing up right after the main course was served.  I made it about half way to the bathroom before I was given a large bowl by one of the servers/performers and led to the entrance to cool off.  The lady was very understanding and helpful, apparently my problem is not an uncommon occurrence.  Sadly, this also means I missed what seemed to be a good dessert.  I did go back inside with plenty of water and had some tea (it cures everything) before going back to the hotel to sleep the rest of the night away.

March 22

By the time I woke up on  Friday, I was feeling worlds better.  Some of our tour group left us here to take flights out of Shannon airport while the rest of us went back to Dublin with a few stops along the way.
We went over to Galway and saw Galway Bay before going up to the Conemarra Marble Factory where they make an assortment of marble items, primarily jewelry.  I didn't realize how many different kinds of marble were once found in Ireland, but sadly the rose and black marble quarries have been dug out and once the current supply is gone there will likely never be more.

After the marble factory, we went back into Galway for lunch which was rather uninteresting.  We then continued our journey to Dublin.  In Dublin, Dad wasn't feeling well so only Mom and I went out to a local pub for dinner, meeting a few people from the tour.  The food at the pub was pretty good but service was amazingly slow and we were charged even for the water because they brought us bottles instead of tap water.  I also discovered that to make my early flight over to London would require getting a cab at 5am the next day so we didn't stay out very late.