Well we are hanging out at the airport at Shannon International Airport, Ireland waiting to catch our flight back to London. It has been a crazy 48 hours, but that's sort of been the theme through out the trip.
We left the house in Oundle at 3:30 yesterday morning and thanks to a detour on the interstate we barely made it to the airport on time. I mean BARELY. We were pretty running through the airport to catch our plane - but we made it :) After a quick flight to Ireland (60 minutes maybe?) we went to pick up our rental van only to find out it wasn't there. As in, they cancelled our reservation and gave the van to someone else for an undisclosed reason. After almost 2 hours of figuring out what we were going to do we ended up split up in to two cars.
Our Hosts figuring out the situation...
Which wasn't that big of a deal except for we only had one person that was confident in his European driving skills. Even though he admitted several times to being scared to death! (Not really what you want to hear from the man driving you!) my brother in law Jason did a fantastic job driving.
Our first stop leaving the airport was the Blarney Castle - ever heard of the Blarney stone??? Apparently if you kiss this stone it gives you the gift of being a great story teller. I was all for it until I found out its extremely perilous to get to the stone!
You have to lay on your back and slide down through a crack in the castle wall, oh, about 6 stories up, with nothing underneath you except a metal grate! Here's Mark giving it a go...
There was a man who worked there who's job was to help people get to the stone. It all happened so fast, before I knew it he was pushing me down telling me to "give it a smooch!"
I don't know about you, but I think he enjoyed giving me a heart attack as my life flashed before my eyes! (Also just so you know, I didn't "give it a smooch". I'm no germophobe but its been kissed by thousands of people... theres a lot of international germs sitting on that rock! I did however have to make a smooching sound before he would let me up!)
Here are some of my favorite shots from the Castle...
The spiral staircases were ridiculous! So narrow and steep, its amazing imagining people living there so long ago and using that stair case every day.
We got caught in the rain outside of the Blarney Castle. It was one of those romantic huddle under a tree moments. : ) I'm pretty fond of those.
Inside one of the Towers!
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Having some fun!
On one of the trails is a cave that they call the "Witches Kitchen" And this rock sits outside of it. Of course there are legends about the kitchen and this rock, but we don't put any stock in those sorts of things.
Super cool caves near the castle that were used for escape routes for the residents of the castle!
After the castle we took a scenic route (about 4 hours!) to our bed and breakfast in Westport, Ireland. We also met my mother in laws cousins while we were there. They came in to town and had lunch with us.
Okay, now prepare yourself. You are about to see some of the most beautiful natural landscaping you've ever seen. And really, the pictures don't even do it justice. There was just no way to capture all of the beauty through a lens, I tried over and over, we all did. I'm sure by looking at the pictures you'll be able to feel some of the splendor.
SHEEP!
Cliffs of Moher
You might recognize this scene from the movie Princess Bride.
Yep. It was filmed here! Inconceivable!
My husband knows how to be artsy with the camera, unlike his wife :)
Some people hopped the fence and walked right along the edge... Ummm No Thank You! I'd rather not fall to my death while on vacation.
I Love Ireland!
I just really love this guy, complete with his Ireland shirt. :)
Okay Sorry for the picture purge... I just wanted to relay to you the best I could how beautiful Ireland is! I was in Awe as we drove though the countryside. Amazed at what God had created, it certainly evoked songs of praise. How could it not???
I wanted to post even more but I tried to pick out some favorites to keep this post from getting ridiculously long. Hope you enjoyed the snap shots from here!
Tomorrow is our last day in Europe and then its time to fly home!
With Love from Ireland,
Meg
Last One!
Promise.
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