Dublin and Connemara (May 2|3|4)

Wednesday was a travelling day as we said goodbye to Edinburgh and hello to Dublin. After our flight arrived We picked up our rental car: a Nissan Micra. Perfect for two people and two big bags. Jeff did a fabulous job on first attempt driving in Ireland: driving stick with his left hand, on the left side of the road, into rush hour in Dublin! He got us safely to St. Jude's B&B. We went out looking for a bite to eat and found two of the best burgers we'd ever tasted. We ended the night with a pint in a cosy pub. Alaina happily has discovered that almost every pub in Ireland has Smithwicks on tap!

Got on the road mid morning on Thursday. Our first stop was at the ancient burial mound Bru na Boinne. We got to go inside and were amazed by the building process that has withstood over 5,000 years. We drove on to Kells for lunch and a toast to Jeff's late Grandpa Stu. The rest of the day was spent driving the windy but breathtaking roads of Connemara. We arrived at the Kingstown House B&B and went to find supper. We ate at EJ Kings then enjoyed some live traditional music.

After a great breakfast we set out to check out the town of Clifden then picked up some food for lunch on the road. We took a wild and wooly drive to a farm where they do sheepdog demonstrations. Unfortunately they weren't operating until June but they did let us play with their puppies, meet the older dogs. The two little kids on the farm were great hosts! Well worth the trip for all the cuteness!

We got back on the road and stopped in at Kylemore Abbey. We really enjoyed checking out the sprawling walled garden and beautiful old mansion that used to belong to aristocrats but was taken over by Benedictine sisters almost 100 years ago. We got back to Clifden and went for a delicious meal heavy on seafood since we were on the coast. We headed back to EJ Kings for some more great music before retiring to our B&B.