Day 115 – no days and counting or was that crying?????

So here we sit at Shannon Airport in the Radison Inn waiting for 6am to go across to the airport to check in.  It was a good and a sad day.  Our first outting was to the Claddagh Church for Mass at 10 am. Then to Arabica for Breakfast. French toast was very good. One little girl wanted to say hi to Santa. She was quite shy but really thought she was seeing the real guy.

We went back and tried to finish packing, clean up the kitchen and get ready to leave.  We thought once we were ready we might go out for a walk, but then what happened…. The rains came.  We did go up to Meteor after a very frustrating phone call to them by Denis.  He ended up finding out he has to call in the morning or tuesday to cancel his phone service so they won’t be charging him automatically.   Mine was fine since it is a monthly one and you have to go on line and use your credit card to add minutes. It will just die off and then the next person can use it.

We had some cheese and crackers – nothing in the house to drink but water. I had thrown everything out. We heard a knock on the door and lo and behold it was a happy surprise – Irene had come on her way to lunch to say good bye again.  I hope they come to visit us some time. I know we will be back to see them.

Frank Fahey called and confirmed he would be picking us up so we were ready by 3:15. He came at 3:30 as arranged and we headed out.  We went first to near Gort to see the Castle that WB Yeats had renovated for his wife George. It is fabulous and in a lovely location.  Then he took us to an ancient monastic site which is so great. There is a huge leaning tower there, an active cemetery and lots of additional buildings. Looks like a smaller version of Clonmachnoise.  Was happy to see it. I asked him if they would consider doing a tour around easter County Galway which would include Athenry.  He had a list of places that could go on such a tour and he said they would name it after me.  We had a drink at the hotel and then said farewell to Frank.

After getting rid of our coats we went down to dinner and are now in our room watching TV and contemplating sleep even thought it is only 7:30.  So tired and know tomorrow will be a very long day.

Will write some tomorrow about our return and our feelings about being back home.  It has to happen so I guess that withdrawl will be normal.  We were laughing over dinner about where we could go for a drink.  No place compares to any place in Galway. Never did go out to drink so I guess that phase of life is over for a while.

My camera battery seems to have died after 5 months on the job. I realize I took a ton of pictures so the question will be if I have to store it in my big bag since all electronics have to be in working order to go on carry on. Hope no one steels it.

Wish I had some pictures from today but sadly the camera was not working. Frank is going to send me some pictures he took and I will add them later.

Be well all and see you on the other side of the pond. And I am still waiting for additional comments about whether to continue to blog or not?

Day 105 – Can it be true????? Singing sensation in Galway

Adventures never stop.  Got up this morning early and got Sarah over to Jury’s to meet John for her tour of  the Cliffs of Moher. He gets there – and tells us the Cliffs of Moher are closed but he will give her a wonderful tour around Clare and she will see lots of interesting things.  So, oh well, give it another shot.  So I left her with him to go off on her tour.

I get back to the Granary Suites and the key will not work in the door. Appears we are locked out. I went up to ask Kathleen are Arabica what time Gerald usually shows up.  She suggested I go and try the door again and if it is still locked to come back and they will call Gerald.  I went back to a locked door so then walked back up, ordered a coffee and figured I would have to wait a bit.  One of the woman from the Spanish Language Institute was in the shop also locked out but she knew what the problem was. There is a little button on the lock and you can only open it from the inside if someone hits that button. So, that was the problem.  So the nice woman got someone inside the building to come and open the door.  That was good for all of us I guess. Then I got thinking about what if someone hit that button when they came in at 9 pm and we showed up at 9:30pm and had no way to get in. What a pain that would be.

Once in the building I decided it was time to go to work on cleaning for a change.  So did a laundry and then washed the floor and the cabinets and swept the wood floor.  Such an exciting day I was having. It is very gray and eventually the rain returned and it is not a great day outside although, yes, I did venture out. In fact, I did quite well for myself. I headed out when it was not raining – went to the Bank of Ireland for some cash – always like having some cash in my pocket. Then I went to the Ulster Bank to exchange the pounds I have for euros.. Went okay but they don’t take change, have to do that at the airport.  So, I guess I will go that as we are leaving.

Then I went to the post office and mailed two more packages home.  One with brochures from some places we visited and then  one with more presents….  So, I have been checking my baggage and I think I will be okay with what I have to pack. the books will be heavy but I will put them in my carry on and the other brochures and last minute gifts will have to fit into the suitcase with the bodhran.   So then I left the post office and went for groceries and got myself some goodies. We just can’t function if we run out of Keogh’s potato chips.  Love them to pieces… all of us, everyone who has visited and had some. They are the best ever!!!!! So I am set for two evenings.  Then I was walking by this book store and saw a book I hope I have not already purchased for Asta a.k.a. LIttle Bear.  Yes, a book about LIttle Bear. So cute a story and I hope she will like it. Since I got her something I figured I had to get Sol something as well. So I found something she could play with and share with her sister.  We shall see.

The rain really had started coming down then so I got home quite wet.. I was glad I had on my rain jacket and not just my brand new NUIG sweatshirt hoodie.  That would have been very wet if I had been wearing it.  So now I guess I will stop this until later since we have our lessons this evening and Sarah to get back home and then we are going to the Spanish Arch for music and maybe playing and singing. Never know what might happen over there.

Went to our lesson which went quite well. Some of the folks won’t be there next week so we took a picture of the group for me and then some of the folks came with us over to the Spanish Arch.  I had the Bodhran but did not play it over there. They play way too fast a reel for me to keep up. Maybe in a years time I will be able to do it.  Sarah had quite the day on her tour. Luckily a couple of New Foundland were there as well. The tour driver bought her lunch etc.. Guess he took a shine to her. Melanie, watch out, someone has taken your place. It was the same fellow that we went on the tour before.

The music was great and it was fun getting to know more about the folks in our class. Love hearing about Michela’s time in Australia and to learn that Marielle is her mom, not her buddy. That was a start.. They both look young to me.   Sarah got to sing two songs with the guys which was fun.  I think they were impressed… It was a fun time. Denis went home before we did and we stayed and talked to Barbara and then her husband when he got there to pick her up. Loved hearing about how they lived and worked in one of the Indian Residential School in BC back in the 80s.   It was

a grand time. Check out facebook to see videos of Sarah singing. She was great 

Day 58 – Rough seas and the sheep that got away

Up early and out by 9:15 to Jury’s Hotel to wait for the Van. We took the Wild Atlantic Way Tour of Connamara today.  Jimmy was our driver and he did a great job.  These are smaller tours so we were in a 14 passenger van with two young girls studying in Dublin from France, a traveling young couple from San Diago who work with the immigrant population there and were on two weeks holiday, and a family of three from Germany. Nice group of people. Melanie was able to sit up front so she got a good view of everything.

First we went out to a shop in Spiddal and had 15 minutes to look around. Denis finally found himself a vest which fits very nicely.  Then we went on up the coast and to Roundstone and had a coffee break there, we found a store where they had fabulous jewelry. I have a new necklace folks.  Then we drove on to the sky road or something like that that is the highest road in Ireland? Anyway, well above the sea with gorgeous views even with the wind and rain.  Oh of course as usual we went from cloudy, to showers, to downpours to sunshine and back again. NEver a dull moment when it comes to the rain.

We drove through Clifden and then on to Kylemore Abbey.  We spent two hours there, Had lunch and then went into the Abbey and the Chapel.  Even though I saw it before it was lovely.  We enjoyed our walk there and would love to spend a day there sometime. In nicer weather of course. a spring visit…

And then we headed back to Galway. Saw lots of peat bogs both coming and going, thatched cottages, sheep, cows, donkeys and horses.  It was a lovely day and I know I really enjoyed it.

After we got home we went out and picked up some lottery tickets so if you hear we are never coming back it might be because we won a few million… enough to keep us here for a bit longer… tee hee.

We had dinner at the Spanish Arch and then listened to the band for a bit. They are really enjoyable to listen to and to look at…  I say that because the Union students laughed at me last night when I told them they should go and see this group because the one guy is really hot.  Their eyes got very big at that suggestions coming from Grandma figure…

So not sure what we will be doing tomorrow other than going to church and probably to see if the market is open. This is a monday bank holiday weekend and next week k-12 schools are closed. Not sure what that means to us.

So finally some pictures here and some late additions to yesterdays post as well and maybe the day before. not sure.