Jennings Hotel Castlebar

... place is the wi-fi. We’ve been away from the internet since Sunday.

We drove into town for a dinner and found a nice place by the harbor. John tried something new--chili chicken (kind of like a stir fry with veggies, noodles and a slightly sweet spicy sauce) and I had fish and a few chips. We shared a small bottle of wine and toasted our conquest of the bridge.

On our way back to the b&b, we saw a sign for Kinbane Head and decided to ...

... No words were spoken, but the apparition remained for two hours. At the scene of the apparition is a beautiful shrine, a chapel, and a large church.

We went into the shrine while a Mass was being said, and were able to receive Holy Communion. We walked out when Mass was over and we were followed by a woman who stopped us. She had noticed the jacket I was wearing, which our son had bought at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, DC. She had ...

... Villanova students didnt get to climb all the way to the top because it takes about 2 and a half hours to get up and we just didnt have the time. However we did climb up for about 30 minutes and were rewarded with a fantastic view of the surrounding county. It really was a great hike because it got the blood pumping (havent been doing too much exercise since I got here..) and you climbed alongside a very picturesque little stream all the ...

... and given 7,000 acres. Still a lot, but not nearly as much or as good of land as they had. The Inside was furnished as it would have been in the 1900's (we werent allowed to take pictures inside) and got to see how the landlord would conduct business with his tenants...by hiding behind a secret bookcase and having an agent do everything! The grounds were absolutely beautiful too. There is a large lake ...

... priests of this church have never stopped preaching. They would tell the king that they had shut it down, but every day they still held mass. When The church was in too poor shape to use they held mass in the fields. The priests even had to dress like women at times to go out and bless graves and such in public...now thats perseverance! It was a good first stop on our weekend journey

click on the pictures to view captions about them!

... them....taught us all a lesson that day...castle tomorrow night. saw our first peat bog today very strange...lots of fat livestock, sheep and cows....not me and kt....saw a church where an appariton appeared 100 years ago, mary, joseph and sheep, church deemed it true, now evrone comes there to pray. we prayed someone was reading this blog and for the suitcases to arrive. saw a 200 year old farm house, hasn't changed at all everything the same as is was back then ...

... the grounds after breakfast. We saw people taking falcon lessons while we wandered up and down the garden paths. Strangely though we did not see any small animals at all.
Eventually we had to check out and get on the road to our next adventure. We stopped by in the village next to the castle, Cong. It's half in Co. Mayo and half in Co. Galway. The river that flows into the lake rises in Cong. Next stop Galway City.

... we had to pile all of our luggage in the corner of the church. A side note about Irish Masses…for communion, there is no such thing as a line…people simply wander up to the front and stand on the edge of the altar stairs. At first it was weird, but now I almost prefer it…you go up when you feel prepared to receive the Eucharist.

After Mass, we took a hike through Galway’s streets (sometimes ...

25th Feb 2008 Well. Here I am in Ireland! After a few hiccups at the airport (did you end up checking that Mum?) I made it, safe and sound, to the land of Guiness. And whilst it hasn't been very wet it has been bloody cold. I even managed to get some sun! I don't know what these people are whinging about really. I mean, ive been here a week and surely that's indicative of an entire season :P I was a bit silly though getting off the airplane. I have been teasing Cormac ...

(Originally published at http://www.troysgonewalkabout.com)
< br>Another grey and rainy morning beckoned, but it hardly dampened our mood as we drove by the dramatic cliffs and beach-side town of Kilkee, and kept on going north until a little later in the morning we stopped at the incredibly popular Cliffs of Moher. Along the lookouts there we were buffeted around in the wind almost as much as we were buffeted ...