Bonnie Gross

So in case you couldn’t tell from my Facebook page, my parents and sister came to visit this past Friday and are staying until the next Saturday.

On Friday we drove straight to the Cliffs of Moher. These are cliffs off the west coast of Ireland near Galway. They are gorgeous and considered a wonder of the world. It was crazy how close to the cliff edge you were allowed. (We almost saw someone die kinda close)

Then we headed to Galway for some shopping, eating and drinking. I have already written about Galway when I went for a whole day trip, but again, it is an amazing town. There is a beautiful river and music performances everywhere. Along with this, my mom, my sister and I all got Claddagh rings. They represent love, friendship and loyalty. You cannot buy it for yourself since it is bad luck, so we all bought them for each other. Wearing the heart towards you means that you are taken and wearing it outwards means that you are single. Many people will put diamonds in the rings and use them as engagement rings.

The next day we took the car straight to the ferry for the Aran Islands. There are multiple islands, but we only had time for one, which was the biggest one. It is called Inis Mór. We rented bikes with baskets and carried our sandwiches to eat later on the beautiful stones. The islands have scenic views of the ocean, old style houses and a lot of cows and other cattle. We biked a circle around the entire Island and it was my favorite thing to do in Ireland thus far!

After we headed to The Blarney Castle on Sunday. We can officially say that we kissed the Blarney Stone, which is apparently good luck. (Seeing as I missed my bus to Limerick this morning, I am not too sure on that fact) A worker actually has to hold your legs and tilts your back and head off the castle to reach the stone. It is quite terrifying to be honest.

Next we headed to Cork to go to the Jameson Distillery. We took a tour and learned about the whiskey making process and then of course got our free samples. The sampling gave us a bit of Scottish whiskey, which uses peat soil and tastes like drinking the Earth, American whiskey, or as you are all familiar with Jack Daniels, and some Jameson. Turns out I liked the Jameson the best….you win for now!

On Monday we headed to Killarney in county Kerry. The Ring of Kerry is a 179-km-long circular tourist route in south-western Ireland that is located in Killarney. We drove up and got this beautiful view from a point called “Ladies View.” This was one of the highest points and you could see all the rivers and mountains from up here. Then we headed to the Torc waterfall. A gorgeous forest walk that leads up to a waterfall. Being typical Bonnie, I climbed into the waterfall and fell in…it was just a bit painful. (Worth it for that Instagram) Then we stopped at various pull offs to get pictures of the scenic views, including some castle ruins. We spent the rest of the time touring around the town of Killarney, eating and drinking.

Then of course for Tuesday (aka Saint Pattys Day) we drove into Dublin and stayed at a castle. No joke…our hotel was a castle! Because I had already done the walking tour of Dublin, I headed off to hang out with Dillon while the family learned about Dublin. Decked in my green skirt, clover beads and leprechaun headband, we headed into pubs, drank Guinness and listened to music. (PERFECTION) Then we went back to the Hairy Lemmon for dinner because I could not go on without another Cottage Pie…and another Jameson.

At night the town was all light up in green. It was so pretty to walk along the main river and take in all the beautiful green lights. Sadly they only cancel class on Saint Pattys day and not the day after, meaning I had an 8:45am bus to catch and went to sleep in my castle.

I had to come back for classes till Friday, but my family is coming back to Limerick on Thursday so I can show them around till Saturday. I am guessing this will involve a lot of hot cheese plates, thrift stores and the Stormy Tea Cup!