July 11 through July 13 (Days 31 through 33)

Day 31: Class, and then an excursion to Salthill with Meghan and Caitlyn. We kept hearing about a resort, beach, promenade....so we went. We also thought it was a little ways away, so we hailed a cab. Well, actually, we could've walked, lol. As we were meandering, we looked up and went "wait....isn't that our cathedral?" Yep. It was. It was probably a couple miles from Eyre Square. And it's not really its own place - definitely part of Galway. The promenade was the sidewalk, and the beach, where it popped up, was really tiny and covered with seaweed - not like Coumeenoole. That's okay, though - the bay really is beautiful. We got ice cream and walked, and then walked back to Galway and did a little bit of shopping near Eyre Square. Did some homework and some research, and later on, had a girls' night, which included finishing Sabrina.

Am I a Montanan, or what? I just can't get rid of the flannel....hehe.

Beach by Salthill.

The birds!

The always lovely Caitlyn and Meghan, by the Galway harbour.

Roommates!

Not that this hasn't been seen before....but here's Galway again! "My" cathedral in the distance....

Day 32: The three of us went to the open-air market, which was cool. Crafts, fresh food, jewelry, etc. Looked around some, got a good tomato-and-onion roll as my lunch, then did some shopping elsewhere, too. Just about done with my gift/souvenir hunting. Oh, and I'm so going to rock customs. I've got this figured out. : ) I am organized, I am well-versed in the rules and allowances, I am prepared.

Then it was ladies' night! Meghan, Caitlyn, Sam, Annie, and I went out and spent too much money on a great dinner. Some of us even dressed up for it, just for fun. Hey, it's a nice feeling to wear a dress and heels.... : ) (Nice to get a full meal, too, gotta admit! I'm great with the porridge and cold sandwich diet, especially to save funds, but getting a hot meal is always lovely, too.)

"Oh yes, it's ladies' night...."

Day 33: Biking! Aran Islands! Biking! Big tall cliffs! Biking! Ancient forts! Biking!

Oh, by the way, I went biking today. Ten miles, to be precise. On an island. Off the coast of Ireland. Yes.

We took a ferry to the Inis Mor, one of the Aran Islands, today. We then all got on bikes and rode five miles up to the foot of Dun Aenghus, an ancient stone fort set high up on the cliffs, and hiked the rest of the way. It was fascinating to learn about and see. There were 2700 year old archaeological finds up here; incredible. Then there were the cliffs....unlike Moher, not a thing separating us from them (not that that stopped some folks last time!). We could go right up to the edge. Believe it or not, I actually did. I got down on my stomach and looked over the edge, as did many other folk. Long way down to the sea....Then biking back down, tea and a scone in town, and taking the ferry back. Then the looong venture back to Galway from the port; what was meant to be 45 minutes to get back to our apartments from the time we docked turned into 2 and a half hours....ah, well. It happens. : ) Now, it's paper-writing time....boo yeah.

Getting ready to start....

View from the path....there are seals playing out there, too.

About 800 people still live on Inis Mor.

Hiking up to the fort.

Our guide, inside (what remains of) the original outer wall.

Pretty!

Some original walls....oh, and apparently there's only one way to finish this two-layered style - some of the builders had to be on the inside, and thus, sealed in when it was completed. Charming.

The cheveux-a-friese (or something like that): basically, intensely sharp, jagged rocks that could impale you pretty good, apparently. So, your armies going picking very carefully through these while the wind is blowing, the rain is pouring, and darkness obscures all, you finally make it through, and look....there's a big fellow with a club and/or a sword waiting for you atop the immense wall in your way.

Do you feel welcome after the last sight? : )

Pretty sweet....

I like the geography....the sharp and defined edge....

Sam and Annie growing even closer. : )

Oh, yes - I was there. : ) Hey, only got a little freaked out twice: once when someone kinda knocked into me walking past, and then when we took a pic with our backs to the edge....hehe.

Craziness. (stolen from Facebook)

Looks like that person was standing right on the edge....maybe they were. I don't rightly recollect, actually! But yeah, that's how close we could get to the edge!

Hundreds of feet down....

View from the top.

Yeah, as I was saying....instance #2 of slight nervousness. Slight. Hey, I was doing great. : )

Does it look like I was suspended off the cliff or something to be able to take this? Yeah....just keep thinking that. Shannon the daredevil, for sure. ; )

More loveliness.

Entrance to Dun Aenghus (every time I write this, or any of the Dun Etc. places, I keep thinking Tolkien! like the Dun-edain....).

Because....we're cool like that? Yep, that's what we're going with. ; ) (stolen from Facebook)

Haha....don't ask. : ) We're just having fun! (stolen from Facebook)

Overlooking the sea....

Making a new friend.

So, to take this, whilst I continued riding I had to wriggle one arm out of my backpack straps, swing it around to my side, unzip it, find and extract my camera, reseal the zipper, transfer the camera to the other hand, take several pictures, get the camera back in the backpack, seal it up again, and get my other arm back through the strap. And I didn't even crash. Anyways. Isn't this an amazingly lovely place to bike?!

Moving view from the bike! I'm kind of amazed I didn't maim myself....I'm not exactly known for my coordination.

Back on the ferry.

I am now two-thirds of the way through my European adventure. It's been both slow and fast, in different ways....

Cheers!

You can't tell what I'm saying (not that it was anything particularly interesting - i.e. hey, I'm on the Aran Islands at Dun Aenghus, I don't know what the heck I'm doing up here, etc.)....but to show you the cliffs a little better. Oh, and this is the first time I shot video on my new camera, lol. Originally, I had Annie narrating. Then I "realized" I wasn't filming. Well, actually, I had been....and when I told her to start over, I was actually stopping recording as she began again. This occurred several times, with her and with me trying it, too. Finally I figured it out, lol....and now have several clips of the 'oh, we're not recording' statements....anyways. Here's my (intentional) narration: