Ireland Girls

There is so much I have been wanting to share, and having a hard time figuring out what to post first. I figure since we are now in April, I should start with my wonderful fun girls trip to Ireland.
What do you get when you gather 7 wonderful ladies, without hubbies, or children? A weekend full of fun, laughter, food, and friendships.

We arrived late on Thursday night, or early Friday morning!

 This is the hotel we stayed at. Very nice, and there were a couple of bands from America who would be marching in the St. Patricks Parade.

 The moss that grows on just about everything! So vibrant, and something I loved seeing when I lived in England.

 We did a wonderful Tour on Friday with our fist stop at Limerick followed by Bunratty Castle and Folk village. It was raining, but that did not damper our spirits. We had fun, and well our tour guide was a wonderful old Irish man. Delightful.

We had Lunch at this yummy pub, which had A-mazing food.

Then it was off to the Cliffs of Moher! Yes. This was the highlight of the whole trip. The views were breathtaking, and the weather cleared up just as we got there, so we had some sun!

It is such a wonderful blessing to live in Europe and have a chance to travel and see the beauty that the world has to offer.

This by far is my favorite photograph. Just the shear cliffs and the small looking castle at the top!

We then continued our tour to Burren. In this photo you can't really see the vast dry rocks. But you do get to see some beautiful ladies. It was a long day, but we got to see so much in so little time! The tour was perfect, and would highly recommend it anyone who has a chance to go to Ireland.

Our second day in Ireland, we stayed close to the city. We took the bus into Dublin city center, and made our way to St. Patrick's Cathedral. The flowers were in bloom, we had some lovely sunshine, and we started to get excited for the Parade. The parade ends at the cathedral, but we decided to make our way up the street.

We found Christ Church, and since they had many booths with yummy food, we stopped here for a quick lunch. Then we waited, and waited for the parade to start. It was fun, and colorful. Not what I expected, but none the less fun. We then headed off to the mall, and had a couple of hours to shop. I literally shopped until I dropped. Not the smartest on my part.

Day 3 we decided to venture out again, and this time we did a tour to Wicklow county. Our first stop was a visit the ancient monastic ruins of Glendolough, which is tucked away into one of its valleys. This monastery is believed to have been established by St. Kevin and is now a pilgrimage site frequently visited by Catholics. We left there and drove to our next destination on the Braveheart road, or where much of the movie was filmed.

The walk in the monestary was a bit cold. The wind was blowing, and though the sun was out, it was cold. There were many old grave stones, which I found delightful. Many were so old, and falling apart, some of the names were hard to make out. But the view was breathtaking.

Our final stop of the tour was to see the Castle of Kilkenny and the surrounding town. We made our way to a cute store that had a lovely cafe on the third floor. We all decided to have lunch there. It was my favorite meal. I enjoyed people watching here, because it was Mothers Day in Ireland, and while there we saw many moms well dressed, enjoying a special lunch. We got back early enough to fit in some more shopping. Then had a quick dinner before heading back to our hotel where we got together and watch a movie before turning in for the night.

 

We drove by this bridge a couple of time, and I finally had a chance to take a picture of it on our last day there. It is such a beautiful bridge.  And that was our trip to Ireland.