Western Ireland

Two quick things before the pictures. First, sorry for the delay in writing our first "real" post. We've been running around western Ireland for the last 5 days and have had barely enough time to find the next night's accomodations, let alone figure out how to transfer photos from our camera to our tablet. And second, you'll notice that with the exception of one lousy selfie, we have no pictures together. We will work on that.

So. Western Ireland! Great flight from Philly to Shannon.

Had a 767 with about 100 people on it, so everyone pretty much got their own row. Never slept better on a plane. Unfortunately, that didn't prevent us from ripping the left side mirror off the car about 2 hours into driving on the left side of the road. A nice Irish woman returned it to us (apparently this a common occurance) and we did our best to reassemble and reattach it. Our handywork below (Aside from Mike...I was flipping out and Alexis calmly put it back in place. No one should be surprised by the roles in that situation).

But after settling in and with navigaor Al focused and ready to go...

...we were off for real.

We spent two days circling the Ring of Kerry and the Dingle peninsula.

And even a quick stop at the beach.

The weather here is incredible - it probably rains about 5 or 6 times a day, but never for more than a few minutes at a time. Coupled with the turqoise water and beautiful mountains - we could have sworn we were in Hawaii. Hawaii that is cheaper and way closer to the east coast. The Irish Tourism board should hire us as consultants.

On our way up to Galway, we stopped by Bunratty Castle, where almost 40 years ago, Scott Langer spent one memorable night playing the award winning role of the "scoundrel" in the castle's medieval dinner show.

The Cliffs of Moher allowed Mike to briefly face his fear of heights.

But not too close.

And finally, after five days of running around, we get to relax in a bit of sytle at Lough Rynn Castle.

Having a pint of Guiness (thanks Brigid!) and staying in a castle were Mike's only Ireland requirements, so he considers this part of the trip a total success.

We are off to Dublin tomorrow for two nights and then headed to Copenhagen for five days, where we should have some down time (staying in one place!), so hopefully will be able to post a few more pictures and keep everyone up to date!