Easter in Ireland

Went home to Ireland for the Easter. Yolanda said she needed a break, the flights were cheap, it was a good opportunity for Alia (Yolanda's sister) to see Ireland, and well...I don't really need a reason to go.
The weather was fantastic when we arrived in Shannon airport. My parents met us there and we took a bit of scenic route home. We stopped by Bunratty Castle to show it to Alia, but Yolanda hadn't seen it either. We had lunch there. I was surprised that they were serving roast beef on Good Friday.

The Castle was closed for the day but I was interested to see that the Cliffs of Moher were still open! I thought this was hilarious and just had to take a picture. How exactly would you close the cliffs?

We then drove up through Ennis where the world Irish dancing championships were on. We popped in for a look. This brought back many memories as my sister was an Irish dancer and dance competitions were a regular thing in our family. Although I’m told I was very good, I never took to it and perhaps a life of riverdance and such. What a relief!
On Saturday we had a bit of a look around home and took a walk over to the lake before heading off in the car with Henry to show the west of Ireland to Alia.
Headed up to Galway, then Clifden where we stopped for lunch.
I want to take you to a guys bar, guys bar…
I also spotted this great piece of Irish engineering. As I was squaring up to take the picture a man claiming to be the inventor was passing by. He told me that it was intended as temporary solution but as it seemed to catch so much attention he thought he’d just leave it.
We then headed up past Kylemore Abbey

And on up to Westport and stopped in for a surprise visit to my sister Nuala. She works in the Spa Salveo in Knockranny House Hotel. A quick visit but it was great to see her.
Then it was off home for another feed before heading to Glenamaddy for the night. We met loads of friends in Jim Pete’s and had a drink in Mac’s too before going home.
Sunday we headed up to Dublin. We got as far as Dermot and Sue’s but started eating and drinking and got settled so we didn’t bother going out. We had a good laugh and were entertained by their neighbour Lisa-Marie, who seems to be a bit of a lunatic and deserves a post of her own to do her justice. (there appears to be something kindling between her and Henry so I’ll wait and see what happens there before I say something I might regret)
In the morning I took a picture of Lisa-Marie’s mini...
If you can’t read them, the stickers on the windows read “Kindly refrain from parking in this area”. These and one saying “I’m blond for a reason” or something to that effect were put on her car by some kind or arch nemesis of hers. This requires a long story. I’m guessing I’ll come back to Lisa-Marie in a future post.
Monday we went into the city centre. We drove through Phoenix Park by Áras an Uachtaráin. Sue told us some interesting facts about the place. She knows it well because she used to live there when she was a personal aid to the president, Mary McAleese (Sue’s a captain in the army). We then took advantage of Sue’s privileges and parked in an army barracks, taking the tram the rest of the way into town.
After the girls had finished a bit of shopping we went for a coffee in the John M Keating café/restaurant.
I hadn’t taken note of the name of the place on the way in and was deep in conversation with Dermot but it seemed strangely familiar. I then realised that I’d seem photos of it on Rick O’Shea’s blog post “Drinking with the Dead…”. Ah! I thought, I had meant to come here for a look but I hadn’t remembered it was so close to the centre. Lovely place and I recommend it as a place to go to get away from it all when you need a break from the hustle and bustle of Dublin.

We then raced back to the car, if you can race on a tram, and off to the airport. It was a great weekend and I’m looking forward to going home again in a few weeks for my stag party.