Second Monday in the Land of the Leprechauns

Hi to everyone,
I have to admit that I haven't seen a leprechaun yet, but I'm still looking. There's also been a shortage of rainbows. On to Monday, just 2 days behind. We got up in the morning, and went off to the tourist office in the village. He suggested we go to the Aran Islands today, and do the Burren tomorrow. I'm glad we did. The ferry to Inisheer was small and the seas were rough, and if not for the courage of the fearless crew, oops... wrong story.Needless to say, Tom did not like that ride.

Hillside at Inisheer

Church ruins

Graveyard on Inisheer

Stone walled enclosures

Me on hillside

Tom in front of tower ruins

Bunratty enacters

Me on my trusty bike

Tom and I at Medieval dinner

Cliffs of Moher

All the actors/servers at dinner

Bagpiper at Bunratty

The island is the most eastern and the second smallest of the three.You could actually bike around it in 3 hrs. We rented bikes and off we rode. I actually stayed on and used a few of the 18 gears. We saw several ruins, all uphill. Even with the gears I walked with the bike up some. Very old ruins. St.Kevin's brother built a church there. We only had 2 1/2 hrs to explore, so we began the trip down. We stopped for tea at a small Tea House down from one of the ruins. It was a woman's home, that she had turned into a small tea house. Ate a scone(surprise!) and rested a bit. The owner said her husband had been born next door. There was a primary school and then at age 10, the kids got shipped off to Galway. They only got 2 visits back a year. Whoa, that's harsh. Now there are 46 kids in grades 1-12. The learn from an early age how to row a small boat called a currach.(kerrack) They have racing competitions. Seeing those waves and how small those boats were made me glad I didn't live ther. Besides the isolation, wind, rain, fog, etc.
The ride back was a little better. It felt like a rollarcoaster ride to me. We went on to Bunratty castle for our Medieval dinner. We were greeted at the castle door by a bard? and a cup of mead in the baquet room. We couldn't eat there because we had to climb a spiral staircase and there was unlimited wine on the table.lol. In the guard room, they had set up long banquet tables set like it would have been back then.  We got to eat with our knife and fingers. In between courses, we were entertained. Everyone dressed in period costumes and sang like the way it was done back then, Lots of jokes, harp and fiddle. 1st course was a potage (fancy for soup) of leek and potatoes and bread. 2nd was spareribs. 3rd was capon & vegs, dessert was a mousse like dish. Altogether a wonderful evening. We headed home and went to sleep it off. Ta-Ta. Love you mom.