Our friends John and Michelle came over from the U.S. to visit us (and spend the week in Dublin). They came back out to our place in time to join us for Jeff's birthday celebration. This year he turned the big 4-0!
We made a reservation at the Bunratty Castle Medieval Banquet about 45 minutes from our house. We actually ate inside the castle (erected in the 1500's), which caught me by surprise. The food was amazing and so was the entertainment. It made for a late night, but well worth it.
The evening started with a mead reception in the Great Hall (up a very narrow set of stairs.) First we had the fiddle?violin? player to entertain us while we drank goblets of mead (a honey wine of sorts.)
Next the wait staff sang for us:
The castle is a strategic location on the River Shannon and belonged to the Earl, which also happens to be the name of my cat.
We went down some narrow stairs again to another hall for dinner. We were some of the last ones in, which meant we were seated in the back corner, but that worked out perfectly. Wine was provided with dinner.
Introducing our wait staff and entertainment for the night.
Pork ribs, or as they called them, bacon ribs were amazing! The only course I forgot to photograph was the one before this one, a parsnip soup.
Jeff and Michelle across from John and I at dinner. And potatoes. Yum!
The main course, a roasted chicken with carrots and parsnips.
Dessert was amazing!
Rastin
(Fruit of the Forest Mousse on a Biscuit Base)
After dinner, the singers came back and performed for about 30 minutes. It was a lot of fun!
The fiddle/violin(?) player also had a bit of a solo, which was a big hit with the crowd.
Michelle captured a few photos of Jeff and I, as well as a group shot, but she and John took off early this morning, so I didn't get a chance to get copies of the photos from her. I may update this post when I get those.
My friend, Teresa, was headed to the UK for an event and decided to swing through our little hometown for a quick visit. I can't say the weather cooperated for them, but they came at a great time. The town of Killaloe was having their annual Brian Boru festival and had a lot of events going on.
That morning Jeff and I took the kids down to the Sunday market and fed the ducks.
We had a lot of ducks.
Our ducks included a little baby who was pretty quick at darting in for pieces of bread.
In the shadow of the cathedral, across from the market, they were setting up a 'military camp' as part of the festival. This included an animal magic show. The show was made up of rescue birds including peregrine falcons, owls, vultures, and many more.
I spent about 15 fascinating minutes talking with the gentleman who ran the animal magic show.
Another festival event included tours of the cathedral. This is open at any time for people to see, but we were taken to areas normally closed, including the top of the tower.
Teresa and I, just before the start of the tour
The Anglican cathedral is oriented east-west and shaped like a cross.
Our tour guide, and the broken cross that was brought by one of the deans who was a carpenter by trade.
Some very old books that were kept in the tower
The cathedral's bells.
The view from the tower -- the Viking Boat races were on while we were doing our tour.
This is looking back towards Ballina, across the river.
The view looking towards Killaloe.
We were privileged to have them ring the bells for us. We also could have rung them ourselves, but didn't.
Jeff and I took advantage of the Grandparents being in town to do a weekend away by ourselves. This was my first time leaving the kids overnight. I wasn't sure how I was going to handle it! I missed them a lot, especially on the second day, but it was so nice to have Jeff & Joey time and to sleep in a bit.
On Saturday, we left the house before the kids woke and drove to Doolin, on the coast. From there we were caught a ferry, on the O'Brien line, to the Aran Islands. We went to Inisheer, the closest and smallest of the islands. We then did a lot more, but I figured I'd deal with one adventure at a time in the posts.
Drinking coffee and waiting on the coast for our ferry to arrive
Our boat (*laugh*)
The weather was simply GORGEOUS and I just loved the ferry ride out to the island.
When we arrived, this driver talked us into taking a tour with him.
I'm glad he did because otherwise we'd have spent the whole 3 hours walking the island.
The shipwreck on Inisheer (1960's)
A gorgeous view of the lake on the island
Jeff standing in front of the ruins of O'Brien's castle on Inisheer
I took a video inside the castle ruins to show what it was like.
More ruins off in the distance
The whole island is divided by these rock walls into pastures. They have cows and horses on the island.
This grave marker, found on the island, dates back to the bronze age.
We spent a few hours here, eating lunch and drinking Guinness.
The view from our table
The island on the beach. Simply gorgeous!
Shortly after this, I left my purse in the restroom and we had to run back to get it, then dash onto the ferry.
I was FREAKING out, but we made it.
We docked at sea to drop off and pick up passengers before doing our Cliffs of Moher cruise (next blog post.)
Dusty the Dolphin swung by to say hello.
My parents are in town, so the first week they were here, I took a little time for myself and went for a spa day. I went with my friend Nellie (another American here in town) and afterwards we ate lunch at the Wooden Spoon in Killaloe. Yum!
Our spa day was at the Velvet Room in Castleconnel (outskirts of Limerick) which is a part of the Castle Oaks hotel. This is an amazing place with gorgeous grounds on the dammed side of the River Shannon. It is a popular location for weddings.
I kept expecting a wedding party to come around the bend.
The view of the river -- a very short walk from the hotel/spa
Ahhh! I relax just looking at this photo. I was so pampered.
My pretty toes!
Lunch at the Wooden Spoon -- aren't we glowing?
My friend, Nellie.
Jeff and I went out to dinner at Molly's a few night later.
