Day 9, Ireland, June 9

Sunday was the day to move on in our tour.  We left Galway this morning and headed for Killarney.  We drove  along the coastline and traveled through an area known as the Burren.

 

 

 

Talk about a house by the side of the road, Whew!

 

 

We stopped here to have a bit of a stretch and a photo opportunity.  Noel explained that here along the coast the walls are built more "open" because if they were build as solid as further inland, the winds off the Atlantic would just topple them over.



 

 

A little wild Irish rose

 

 

 

Now it was back on the bus and onto the Cliffs of Moher.  Most days lunch was catch as catch can.  Noel let us know that there was a visitor's center at the Cliffs and it has a cafeteria.  We had probably two hours here, so it was up to us how we spent our time.  So I and Mickey grabbed a quick bowl of soup and then I started out.  I kept in mind that these sights were something that I had trained to enjoy.  Yes it was a lot of stair climbing, but I didn't want to miss these sights.

 

 

 



 Next stop was the village of Adare.  It is a quaint town with some cute thatched roof shops and a nice city center.  We had time to walk around and get an ice cream, unfortunately, the kid sold out just as I decided to give in and have one.  Saved by fate.

 

 

 

 The next two are examples of how moist the air is over here.  A seed will take room anywhere, the wall of your house or the top of your chimney.



I'm always fascinated by little alley ways and courtyards and would love to snoop, but stop just short.

Soon after Adare the weather changed as well.  We drove along the coast on our way to Killarney.

 

 

 



 

 

This was an island off the shore called the sleeping man.  If you look from right to left you can see his head, neck, chest, hands resting on his stomach and then the rest of him.

Will continue day 9's adventures tomorrow.

 

Day 7 - Ireland

Today was the start of the International Quilt Festival of Ireland.  It was held on the campus of Galway University.  And the quilts were spread out all over the campus.  They had a lot of exhibits if not many in each category.  Exhibits were: Rain, Prison Quilts, Under a Black Light Moon, Pieces of my Heart, Under the Sea, Cornucopia, Spirit Rising, I Believe, Irish Pride, School House, Feeling Groovy, Playground, Mantality of a Quilter, Games and Puzzles, What App-ening, Grafitti and Tattoos and Cead Mile Failte (1000 Welcomes).

One exhibit didn't allow photos.  That was the Prison Quilts.  These were made by male prisoners at Limrick Prison.  The setting was unusual.  As you entered the exhibit space, it was completely dark except for spotlights on the quilts.  In the background a recording was playing of the sounds within the prison.  It was very interesting and there were some very good quilts in this exhibit.

For the Cead Mile Failte exhibit they had asked attendees to make a hand block in green and white.  The blocks from last year had been sewn together in small wall hangings.  Here are some photos of the blocks I liked best.

These photos are of a couple of quilts from the Under the Sea exhibit.  These were displayed in the "quad" which was probably the oldest building on campus.



Wrath of Poseidon by Marilyn Belford



This was a view of the vendors from the second floor exhibit area.

The Cornucopia exhibit was made up of quilts from the Hoffman Challenge.

Japanese Fans by Mary M. Biggs

 

 

Chopsticks by Steven Lennert
 

 

From the Irish Pride Exhibit

More quilts to follow.  Friday evening Mickey, my roommate, was off for the Wicked Thimble pub for a "barbeque - Irish style" and some Irish music and dancing.  So I was on my own.  Claire and Celine stopped by and asked if I was interested in going into Galway with them for a walk about.
So I said yes.  The weather was beautiful that day.  Probably almost 80 degrees and everyone was out enjoying the weather, as evidenced by this view.

This was the old Spanish wall.  One of the oldest areas in Galway.

When I first spotted this fellow he was standing on a table outside this restaurant, then he hopped up on the window sill.



After our walk about we grabbed dinner from a cabob shop and started back for the University Campus so we could catch the last shuttle at 9 pm back to the hotel.  Since it doesn't start to get dusk until 10 or 10:30, evening is deceiving.  We though we would have time to eat at the picnic tables near the Wicked Thimble, but as we got there, ladies were streaming out to catch the shuttle, so it was already almost 9 pm.  We hurried along, caught the shuttle and ate our supper on the sunporch at the hotel.  It was a very good day.

More pictures of quilts tomorrow.

Day 6 - Ireland 2013

This morning after breakfast we had a went out to Kylemore Abbey and Gardens.  We drove through the Connemara Region.  There were beautiful mountains on each side of the valley that the Abbey is in.  This is the area where "The Quiet Man" with John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara was filmed in 1952.  As you can see we had wonderful blue skies all day.

 

On our way we stopped in  Oughterard because a couple of people needed a pharmacy and some needed to use the ATM.  One woman only brought US currency with her!  Some of us who had Euro's did a little retail therapy.

 

 

 As we drove to the Abbey we passed Killary Fjord.  They farm raise salmon in the fjord and there is also a boat tour that can be taken.

 

Beneath these buoys are five or six cages of salmon.  You can just make out a boat of people who are out there attending to the fish.

 

 

We had about 2.5 hours at Kylemore.  Some of us quickly grabbed a bite to eat in the cafeteria before starting out on the hike to the Abbey.  I went to the Abbey and then past it to the church that was built on the grounds.

First glimpse of the Abbey

 

I would have liked to look at the gardens, but I missed the shuttle and it was too far to walk and get back from in the 20 minutes I had left.  So I left that for another trip.

Tonight was the grand reception for the opening of the International Quilt Festival of Ireland. We had a champagne reception  at the Galway Bay Hotel.  We had a lovely dinner and Eleanor Burns received a beautiful crystal bowl.

Eleanor and Bonnie have both been staying at our hotel, so we have had the opportunity to see them and breakfast and visit with them.  Eleanor also went with us out to Kylemore Abbey as well.

After dinner we attended a program at the hotel called "Trad on the Prom."  Short I think for Traditions on the Promenade.  It was a wonderful Irish variety show.  They has 5 members in the band, 3 males dancers and 3 female dancers.  The music was wonderful and the dancing was good as well.  I picked up a couple of cd's from one of the pipe players and the girl percussionist, who was wonderful.

Champagne reception at Galway Bay Hotel. Almost 80 degrees this day.

It was a wonderful evening and got to meet women from all over the world.