Galway Girl ;)

It has been a week since my sister left and is now currently 5 days into Easter Break! Already this vacation has been truly awesome! Last Saturday was CIT's ISS (International Student Society) trip to Galway. We left around 8 am that morning and our first stop was in County Clare, more specifically Bunratty Village. I have been to Blarney Castle twice now, and have heard that it was rated Europe's number one over rated attraction. Now that I have been to the Bunratty Castle I can see why. Don't get me wrong, I definitely think that you should visit Blarney! After all kissing the stone is kind of a rite of passage if your visiting Ireland but, it is like 9 Euros and you basically walk up the old castle stairs and kiss the stone and they have a couple garden's. I have to say though, I was quite impressed with Bunratty Castle.

The castle itself is set in the middle of what they call a "Folk Park". The Folk Park is basically a reconstruction of the homes and environment of Ireland a century ago. It recreates not only farmhouses and villages but also a Main Street type of setting with shops. Like most of the tourists there I ate everything up, I really could not help it! The whole experience was far too quaint, and I found myself going "aww" on more than one occasion. The day started with a short tour of the castle. I liked the tour and would recommend one to anyone that visits, it was really informational and I found it to be interesting. We then were able to go around to the different parts of our castle for ourselves and explore. Rooms were furnished in mostly 15th and 16th century style, which was really cool to see. It may be a little morbid but I found the dungeon, drawbridge, and the built in spy holes (behind paintings) to be the most interesting. After the castle we walked around the village, had lunch, and watched all the farm animals. After a couple of hours there, we were back on the road.

Our next stop then was at our hostel in Galway. After checking in at the Kinlay House (great accommodations btw) a small group of us ventured out into the city. There were a couple of people in the group who had a friend that lived in Galway and knew a lot about the city, so when he offered to take us on a walking tour that afternoon we were all pretty excited! To be completely honest Galway was probably my favorite town I have been to in Ireland. It was absolutely gorgeous and everyone was so friendly. Seamus (the galway local) took us to the town center where we were able to see a piece of the original wall that incased the city in 1627. Behind that is a red metal statue the locals call the "hooker". It was inspired by a ship named The Hooker's masts. After seeing the marina and some other cool historic spots we decided to take a walk along the Prom. The Prom is a 2.5 mile walk along the coast of Galway. The weather was perfect for this and although we were all really tired after the 5 mile walk I think we all walked back to the hostel completely in love with the city. After a quick nap we ended the day (and began Sunday) in downtown Galway visiting some traditional Irish pubs! Sunday morning arrived and we left around 10 am to go to Kylemoore Abbey Estate. Driving through Connemara was breath taking! The Estate was also beautiful and the day was gorgeous. Before heading home on Sunday we stopped at the legendary Cliffs of Moher. It was almost surreal and it was definitely unlike anything I had ever seen.

In all it was a wonderful weekend and so far one of my most memorable times here in Ireland. Tomorrow myself and a few other International Students are going to be going up to Dublin for a couple days then we are flying over to Scotland, Edinburgh to be exact. After this past weekend in Galway, Dublin and Edinburgh have a lot to live up to. In Scotland however I think I have concocted a fool proof plan for success
1st Avoid anything that looks like it could possibly be Haggis
2nd Search for a Gerard Butler look-a-like

I will be sure to let you know how it works out!