Hello again dear reader! Today was another truly wonderful day, and many wonderful things happened, so let's get into it!
Thursday, March 7th
Breakfast: pancakes, tea, and toast. A rather simple breakfast but I wasn't feeling too great when I woke up this morning so I didn't want to overdo it! The pancakes were not the greatest, but like the pie from last night I may just be spoiled with how good of a pancake my dad and also my Uncle KC can make, and so all other mediocre pancakes are subpar for me. The toast was, as always, delectable, and the tea was wonderful as well! That is until I spilled it down the front of myself and burned myself a wee bit. Yikes! But, as I said yesterday, I specialize in treachery, and after some deep breaths and a quick outfit change, all was well again.
We then hopped on the coach and went to the Salthill viewpoint, which had a beautiful (albeit foggy) view of Galway's harbor. One fun fact from John was that the landmass visible from this viewpoint is believed to have come from Africa hundreds of years ago due to tectonic plates shifting!!!! Cool, right? It was rather windy and cold, so we snapped some quick pictures and were back on the coach. On the way back to the coach, Mrs. Gillespie, Ms. Tripe, and I decided we had better get started on naming the supposed "40 shades of green" of Ireland. Here is our non-comprehensive list: downtrodden green, wet green, green green, and moss green. Stay tuned for more!
We then embarked on our drive up to and through Connemara National Park, which was absolutely stunning. Made a quick stop in Joyces for a much-needed loo break and hot chocolate, and found a cute craft shop. I FINALLY found a gift for my brother that I think he'd actually like (Declan if you're reading this, you're incredibly hard to shop for)!! It was a very small town, but all of the people we met were so kind!
We continued driving through Connemara Park and learned some more about its history from John, and it was honestly so fascinating. By the time he had explained everything we had made it to Kylemore Abbey, where we toured the estate and church, and the other parts that weren't having construction done. The parts of the house that had been turned into a museum were SO pretty. Chizzy and I put on posh accents and pretended we were the co-duchesses of the estate. From there we took a shuttle bus to their walled gardens, which reminded me a lot of the gardens at Mount Vernon! Their gardens also featured a Samoan pig named Ken. He was adorable but unfortunately refused to respond to my oinks. Maybe I offended him. We continued to meander through the gardens and found a sheep!! He was also rather uninterested in us and incredibly focused on his grazing efforts, but hey, if I were a sheep, I wouldn't really care about the humans taking pictures of me either. We thought he might be injured or something as we were walking up, but never fear! He had simply been sheared recently. Although it was only on the one side, so it seems someone didn't quite finish their job. After the gardens, it was back to the main grounds for lunch: traditional Irish stew. You know, beef, potatoes, carrots, celery, the works. Let me tell you, this was NOM. It was sooooo amazing and came with mashed potatoes on top and brown bread on the side!!! Truly a 10/10 experience. I gobbled it down with such intensity it was as if I was never going to eat again, which may have been a bit dramatic, but it was seriously so good. In line for lunch, I talked with one of the Benedictine sisters that lived there! She had a very thick Irish accent so I didn't quite catch everything she said, but it was lovely talking with her, she was so kind. One thing that made me laugh a bit was as we were talking, she grabbed a Diet Coke from the fridge. This was just funny to me because I've never seen a Sister in a full habit drinking pop before. We then looked through the gift shop, and I have found that gift shops are one of my Kryptonites. Whoever created the first gift shop ever had me specifically in mind because I simply cannot resist them. Their handmade fudge (as in handmade by the Benedictine sisters of the abbey!! I mean come on!) was on sale, so Layla and I each bought 2 slices together since it would be cheaper to buy together rather than separately. #ballingonabudget I got mint chocolate swirl and caramel chocolate swirl, and Layla bought white chocolate raspberry and rocky road.
We spent a little over 3 hours at the abbey, so we didn't get back to Galway until about 4:30. I read some more of my book and took a short power nap, then it was back down to the lobby for dinner. Since we were here two nights, we didn't schedule another dinner in the hotel, so we explored and found a place called Classico for dinner. Maddie and I split a four cheese pizza, and I discovered that I strongly dislike gorgonzola cheese! You learn something new every day. We then got gelato at one of the shops near our hotel, and I had strawberry and Belgian chocolate. I usually am not a strawberry gelato or ice cream kind of girl, but it was seriously so amazing. After my years of being a strawberry ice cream hater, I might have been converted tonight. My sister Maeve will be delighted to hear this, she is the only fruit ice cream lover in our household!
Well that is all folks! Maddie, Chizzy, Rowan, and I are now back in Maddie and Chizzy's room blogging and chit chatting. This trip has been truly so amazing because of these girls, and I am so grateful for them!! Hope all is well back in Omaha!
Love,
Maggie ☘️🐑🌟🌈🫶
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