Last day of the tour

There was lots of driving yesterday, and not much walking or other activity, which was fine with me because I have HAD it with all this beauty and history and magnificence. 

Apparently we just missed Ireland's greatest fiddle player in Clifden, who performed about an hour after we left dinner Friday night, so I felt a grousing session at the edge of my spirit as people talked about it in the jeep on Saturday morning.  Truth was, I was just too damned tired to stay out longer, and probably would have headed for the Henry Sisters who were playing just down the street from our hotel anyway.  I really feel I have missed an important part of the experience by not being able to stay out later.

Our first stop of the day was in Connemara at some old damned castle that is now owned by nuns and was going to be a school and Madonna was going to send her kid there and the nuns told her she wasn't Madonna and now the nuns still own it but can't afford to run it and it would be 12 bucks to tour it no thank you.  Nice lake and great shop there, though.  I bought a tin whistle to amuse Gary Rogers, one of our fellow travelers.

We drove on then and came to the first really cheesy stop on our tour, a recreation of the set of The Quiet Man.  I wanted to point out to them that none of the furniture looked like Mary Kate's, and that the bedroom door needed to be kicked in and the bed broken.  But then I turned and looked at these guys

and just wanted to scream and run out.

We then moved on to a 14th  century castle and grounds (maybe older; all of these dates are so crazy old that I can't keep track and got a fabulous tour from the local archeologist.

When she told us there were bats in the upper area where we were heading, though, I decided to further explore the outer wall of the castle grounds.

An hour and 40 minute walk up a hill in the rain was offered to us, but we declined in favor of a quick detour into Galway, which was my kind of town, but we were only there for an hour and half and a quick lunch.   Street singers, outdoor cafes, a public park by the harbor---it was cool.  We seemed to be in a sports bar for lunch.

But it was the coolest damned sports bar I have ever seen.  Three floors, wood, mirrors, stone, Guiness and Paulaner on tap, and the first big screen TV we have seen.  There is some super duper final match between Kerry and Dublin Sunday in Gaelic football that everyone is all crazy over.

Then back to Dublin.  Long drive.  Nice goodbyes.  Pam and I had a picnic in our room.

Then Pam discovered Wurdle on the iPad.....