Christmas in Ireland...Missed ferries, lots of sheep, and good times
The family has been here since the 21st, and after spending a night in Galway (and whining about the MIST) we haven't been rained on since.
We then spent a night in Ashford Castle, outside of Cong, GORGEOUS. Definitely a one night stay at those prices. After spending a week and a half in hostels on my own, the luxury was nice.
Then we drove to Oughterard, and the next morning drove through the tiniest road in Connemara (and that's saying something, since the roads are TINY) only to realize that on Christmas Eve, the ferries aren't running to the Aran Islands. Mom shooed some horses out of the road by yelling, "Hey!"
Christmas in Limerick. We drove up to our hotel, which looked like a Soviet Era Block Apartment, but had nice suites inside. The Cliffs of Moher one day, and we attempted to find the Burren the next (apparently just a region, we gave up on finding the national park). We got stuck behind some sheep (no joke) that a kid was herding with a hurley (the stick used in hurling, kind of like seeing a New Englander herd something with a lacrosse stick). Apparently the technique is that you just drive into the sheep and when you hit them, they move. 2 cars passed us and demonstrated.
Now we're in Ballydehob, renting a house, small but nice. We took a looong walk today along the tiny roads with a random dog we picked up who followed us for 2 hours (we named him Spot) and got to Kilcoe Castle, owned by Jeremy Irons. He wasn't in, damnit.
While Christmas just wasn't the same, and didn't feel like Christmas at all, it was wonderful to have my family (is wonderful, they're not leaving until the 2nd). I hope everyone laughed as much as we did, even when things didn't quite work out the way we would have liked.
We then spent a night in Ashford Castle, outside of Cong, GORGEOUS. Definitely a one night stay at those prices. After spending a week and a half in hostels on my own, the luxury was nice.
Then we drove to Oughterard, and the next morning drove through the tiniest road in Connemara (and that's saying something, since the roads are TINY) only to realize that on Christmas Eve, the ferries aren't running to the Aran Islands. Mom shooed some horses out of the road by yelling, "Hey!"
Christmas in Limerick. We drove up to our hotel, which looked like a Soviet Era Block Apartment, but had nice suites inside. The Cliffs of Moher one day, and we attempted to find the Burren the next (apparently just a region, we gave up on finding the national park). We got stuck behind some sheep (no joke) that a kid was herding with a hurley (the stick used in hurling, kind of like seeing a New Englander herd something with a lacrosse stick). Apparently the technique is that you just drive into the sheep and when you hit them, they move. 2 cars passed us and demonstrated.
Now we're in Ballydehob, renting a house, small but nice. We took a looong walk today along the tiny roads with a random dog we picked up who followed us for 2 hours (we named him Spot) and got to Kilcoe Castle, owned by Jeremy Irons. He wasn't in, damnit.
While Christmas just wasn't the same, and didn't feel like Christmas at all, it was wonderful to have my family (is wonderful, they're not leaving until the 2nd). I hope everyone laughed as much as we did, even when things didn't quite work out the way we would have liked.