Thursday and Friday

On Thursday we spent a long day on the bus and then we visited the Bunratty castle. Sorry I did not have any pictures--my camera was dead!

Ask your children to make sure you see the pictures of the 15th century castle located at the bottom of the river Shannon with a folk park
with historical houses and shops.






Moving on to Friday--FABULOUS, FABULOUS DAY at the Gap of Dunlow in Killarney.
We boarded row boats in groups of 10 and we headed out into one of the most beautiful parts of Ireland. We saw an old monastery that was actually built 500 years before Christopher Columbus discovered America. We had to get out of the boat at one of the areas where we passed from one section of the lakes to another because of low water--no rain for the last 5 weeks! The boat ride felt like we were entering the Lord of the Rings--a very magical area. `

After the boat ride we walked up the road for a picnic lunch and then we enjoyed an hour and a half jaunty ride for 7 miles into the
mountains. We learned that only 30 families live in the area and 14 students attend the one school in the area. The area around the water is protected by the National trust-but the rest of the acreage is privately owned

Back to our hotel for dinner and then trivia games. We don't have to change hotels tonight-so we are thankful to stay for 2 nights in Killarney.