There was so much beauty, so much free time, so much laughter with Steve, so much green. I whispered "Thank you God" over and over. When I came home I needed a few days to hibernate, to smell my kids hair and kiss their cheeks and settle my heartbeat from this whirlwind trip. Here are a few of the images from our first day.. Quin Abbey was our first stop, it is a Franciscan abbey founded in 1433, the thick stone base used to be a castle in 1230, the abbey was built on the remains after the castle was destroyed in 1286. The fog was so thick we had already walked through the large iron gate with the sign indicating that this was in fact Quin abbey but we could not see it. There was a large field we were walking through and suddenly up ahead there she was. All mystical and beautiful in the fog. This is one of the many places we visited that I felt like I could come and spent days exploring and taking in the feel of the place. 
One of the many crosses in the yard by the abbey 
What would you do if through the fog in the distance you see this monk? Steve and I had a lively whispered discussion on whether it is "proper" to take a photo of a meditating monk. Please understand that we were at quite a distance, this photo was taken with my monster 200mm lens so he looks much closer than he actually was. we debated whether we should actually approach him and ask if it is okay, but then you might break up his silence...so what would you do? 
Steve "owned it" driving on the wrong side of the road with the wheel on the wrong side of the car and roads that are not really roads but more like extra narrow cow paths hardly big enough for our tiny car. Buses were coming at us 80 mph,. It took a few days. What with all the roundabouts and the times where we ended up on the wrong side of the road and had cars blaring their horns, and us dazed and confused! Sometimes he would be white knuckling the wheel and saying "The speed limit is 60mph?!. are they out of their minds?!!! No way am I driving that fast "I choose life!!!". In this picture he is either tuning in to a local station speaking in Gaelic or listening to their major talk show guy, Gerry Ryan. I loved listening to the Gaelic and was pleased at how many people spoke it, not a day went by when I did not hear it. Also the english is quite delightful, when you get gas and they are giving you the change back you will hear "cheers" instead of "have a good day " they say "Holiday" instead of "vacation" "Grand" instead of "good" or "great", "solid" is used the same way. "Crack" means "laugh", they also say things like "lets give it a go" "no worries" "lad" "gents". Oh and they say "tird" instead of "third" they never say the "th" there is an almost British-ish ring to their accent. | 
