Ireland -Personal Post

Ok so why Ireland? Well my husband and I are really into history, geography and Ireland is just an amazing place to take photos in general!! In addition to the history of Ireland my Keith and I are both Irish. Hence my middle name Ryan ( which is my Grandmothers Maiden name) and my Husband is like almost 100 % Irish, I am a bit of a mutt but have it in me. My Grandmother told me that my Grandfather was from Tipperary County. . So I went, every ones last name was "Ryan" its like the "Smith " of America. Ireland is amazing no complaints, not even about the fact that I drove manual on the left side of the road for 9 days straight.. don't ask!!

In addition to seeing where our roots were. Keith and I headed to these places:
Galway - we found out we stayed in the same B&B as Chelsea Clinton in Salthill, Ireland
( just random fact)
Connemara - we went and drove all over this town stayed on a cliffside B&B and I mean this was cliffside, the cliffs are like 5 feet away from you as you are driving. We also went to the Aran Islands , went to the most remote island of Inis Mean, hiked and then fell asleep on the beach.
The Rock of Cashel in Cashel - Co. Tipperary
Kenmare- fun little town on the ring of Kerry we stayed at a Farmhouse it was amazing.. We loved the Ring of Kerry so much we went around twice.
In addition to the Ring of Kerry we went to the Skellig Islands. Amazing remote islands one is a bird sanctuary and the other was a place for monks in 1100ad as a place of isolation. These monks made approx 1000 steps leading up to the top of the island. Yes this is what Keith and I decided to do on our anniversary. We took a crazy boat ride 40 min out in the Atlantic with water splashing on us with about 9 other people.. I had my camera in a plastic sleeve clutching on to it trying to take photos and almost thinking please I don't want to fall over board. We finally made it and trekked the long staircase up to the top. At the top are Beehive huts where the monks lived. Most of the monks were later taken over by barbarians, thus later it was abandoned.
Now crazy tourists climb to the top~
In addition to this madness we then drove into Bunratty did the Medieval dinner, went to the Aran Islands and visited the Burren, Kylemore Abbey, saw also a Neolithic grave and hiked in Connemara State Park where preserved bog lands are.
Along the way to all these places we played with random dogs, trekked up to abandoned houses from the Great Famine and climbed castles.. I couldn't think of a better vacation, ever seriously..
some pics:
Some of the first photos I took were in Galway city- we took a touristy ride around the city, here is the bus driver in a fight with another driver. They were very proper to each other when yelling, unlike many Long Islanders about our bus driver getting into this situation:


Angling in Galway:
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Inis Mean - sections of land are divided with limestone rock for grazing or farming potatoes




I love hallways like this, I like to explore ..

Town of Cashel- a typical Irish Home:

The farmhouse we stayed in - Kenmare


Rough waters of the Atlantic: on the way to Skellig Islands: (lets just say on the way back, I wasn't feeling to good)

Keith making it to the top of the Island.. he looks tired eh?

the very top its pretty steep..

Puffins chillin on the islands:



mm Irish Pancakes


mmm Bacon and veggie melt on Ciabbata bread:


Porridge and honey.. note the book on the right, that should read "Ireland from $200 a daY" lol

In Leenane where the Field was filmed









Plenty of Ryan's in Tipperary:


Random Ram:



Rock of Cashel - Cashel Co. - Medieval Cathedral Ruins



Keith in Kerry

Early forts in Ireland, circa 900 BC
and we posed in the middle of them:

Me in Connemara State Park hiking and taking break:


Oh yeah something really cool about Ireland is the amount of dogs that are just roaming around.. There seems to be a great connection between owners and their dogs in Ireland
I met this pup at the farmhouse we stayed at, love him:


Some photos to hold you over until I put a slideshow up.