Finally.

I have completely neglected my blog since I have been home. I figured I should post the final entries that I have saved on my computer so my blog can be complete.
Here they are...!
Dad Comes!
On Wednesday I took the bus back to Shannon to pick up dad. He arrived safely and we took the bus up to Galway. We went into town for dinner and had Irish stew (made with lamb) and some soup. Dad was really impressed with his first Irish meal. I took him to An Pucan next, where we were lucky enough to see some Irish dancing and listen to live music.
On Thursday we took the ferry over to the Aran Islands (I have more information about the Islands in an earlier post). It rained for about 30 minutes and then was a sunny day. We rented bikes on the island and had fun bombing around. We went up to the fort, Dun Aengus, where a friendly tour guide offered to take our picture and he gave us some extra information on the history of the fort. We went to dinner at An Pucan, where we had fish and chips and bangers and mash. Once again, Dad was very impressed with his meal. Our table was right next to the musicians’ table, so we had front row seats for the traditional pub music that was being played. On Friday, we took a tour bus to Connemara. I took a bus through Connemara a month ago, but this bus took a different route. Dad and I played cribbage on the bus and of course he beat me. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and it was a fun tour. We stopped in many towns along the way including Cong. The oldest stone cross in Ireland is in Cong. We also went to Ross Errily Friary which is the ruins of 14th century monastery. The bus stopped at Kylemore Abbey, where we had afternoon tea. Once back in Galway, I showed dad the Claduagh village and the bay. We had feta and garlic stuffed olives at a little co-op on Shoppe Street. We had dinner at the NUIG College bar and watched the quarter finals of the World Cup, when Uruguay beat Ghana in overtime.
On Saturday morning we took the bus back to Shannon, where we met Anne and picked up our rental car. It is a TINY little car and we have five suitcases. I can take the blame for having the most stuff, but I have also been here the longest  We are tightly packed in the little thing…..
Dad quickly picked up driving on the “wrong side “ of the road…but I don’t think he will ever get used to the NARROW, bumpy, twisting, turning roads filled with sheep. We drove across Ireland to Dublin and checked into our hotel, which was very, very nice. We had a lovely dinner at Millstone after having a pint at a pub. After dinner we walked around the Temple Bar area and listened to musicians. On Sunday we walked around Dublin trying to see as many sights as we could. We went to St. Pat’s, the Dublin Castle, Trinity College (where we saw the Books of Kells), Chester Beatty’s Library, St. Stephen’s Green…lots of the big sights. The Book of Kells was on display at the end of an exhibit. The exhibit explained the history of the book of Kells, which is a very old and beautifully illustrated collection of the four Gospels. After seeing the book, we were able to go upstairs into Old College Library, which has books from hundreds of years ago. Chester Beatty’s Library is a collection of art and ancient religious texts/artifacts from around the World. It is housed right beside the Dublin Castle and was extremely interesting. There were pages from the oldest Bible in the World here.
On Monday, we left Dublin and headed for Glendalough.