But Really, I Do Love Cheese

OK, now I can finally post some Palma pictures! I had an amazing time with Olivia, we had three different kinds of ice cream the first morning I was there, plus amazing coffee and pastries.  You can imagine my joy, especially those foods followed by yummy cheeses and wines all into the evening... Besides feasting, we walked around  the city a lot and Olivia showed me the Cathedral, I got to meet a lot of her friends, have a picnic on the beach, and go to a club all night! 

Thanks Olivia, see you in Galway soon :) 

Connemara is for Lovers (of Sheep)

Hey y'all, I'm sorry again for how delayed these posts are getting... I was in Connemara almost two weeks ago, but took a lot of pretty pictures so I'll just share those.  We went on a tour that took us to lots of nice little stops, as well as Kylemore Abbey (formerly Kylemore Castle, built by a very wealthy couple) and The Quiet Man movie replica cottage.  I hadn't seen or heard of the movie, but we also visited a stony bridge that was involved if that means anything to ye. 

Traffic jackpot.

Kylemore Abbey, it smelled really nice here. 

Beeeeeeeee

Two friendly donkeys, I fed them some apple and we totally became friends. 

A small cathedral near Kylemore Abbey.

Super creepy diorama inside 'The Quiet Man' movie replica cottage.  

If someone can explain any part of this, I'll sleep better.

Burn you with my laser eyes and furrowed brow...

"I'm eating what you say? A solid cherry dining room table??"

Lovely pony, she was very friendly and charming.

Boat and failed flying car parking lot.

Note: Special thanks and apologies to Olivia, I was in Palma de Mallorca visiting last weekend and haven't uploaded photos yet, but see her blog for detail ahora! I'll post soon, pinky swears. 

Animals Vol. 2 - Land

Ok, so I'm getting really behind in here - this happened last Saturday the 4th, but it was a pivotal event despite the slowness in my reporting. The Ballinasloe October Horse Festival is one of the oldest fairs in Ireland, I think it's been going on since the 1700s. Ballinasloe is a small town between Dublin and Galway that people only really go to for this festival, because there doesn't seem to be all that much else to do.

Anyway, it was amazing - I was beaming for hours, because this place was just absolutely totally packed with horses. It was a big market, so all the horses were for sale and hanging out all day. Wee little miniature ones, and massive plow pullers, and elegant fancy cart horses, plus donkeys, some sheep, and lots of boxes of puppies! All the animals were in a giant field, but people were also just riding them everywhere, going for a test drive, showing off, etc.

There were also a lot of little stalls in the surrounding streets and a few carnival rides, and people selling lots of junk. This was the boring part, we mostly stuck around the horses although there was a crepe booth with Frenchman making them on the spot. We got a super delicious homemade toffee and Nutella one.

Ok, so now some pictures so you can see a little bit of how incredible this place was:

Sooo many horses, take this photo and multiply by 100

And the cutest puppies evar in boxes!

Hope you're all doing well, thanks for reading - next post'll be on the Connemara tour from this weekend. This Thursday I'm going to Palma de Mallorca to visit the lovely and wonderful Broad Abroad, Olivia!

Animals Vol. 1 - Water

Hey so sorry it's been awhile again! The week gets so busy with class and time is going by so fast, I can't keep up.

Anyways, last weekend was a blast! It was full of my favorite thing... animals! More importantly, animals you can pet and feed!!

First, on Saturday we went to the Salthill Aquarium - it's Ireland's national aquarium. It was fairly modest inside, but still really fun. Here comes the story, in pictures and video (unfortunately I can't really remember the names of everything now, so feel free to make you're own up):

The blurry seahorse - his tank was dark and hard to photograph. Someday I want a tank full of seahorses, they are the most adorable.

A crab with an anemone on his shell, they go way back.

Some kind of nervous looking fish.

I told him to smile for the picture.

Crab on Clam action, living seafood special.

The hang out and look pretty tentacle suction guy.

Guess what this is... the biggest eyeball ever. Don't get into a staring contest with a whale.

Some toothless fish we got to feed. Since they don't have teeth, they like to eat bread soaked in water. It felt like lots of slimy kisses, they get really excited at bread-time.

This big crab looked scary in the water, but got totally shy when taken out. And then we got to hold him! It was like holding a rock with some legs curled up.

Creepy old fisherman in one of the exhibits. I don't think this would really help the fish relax and feel comfortable, but maybe they're more fun to watch when they always think they're about to be caught by Gordon and turned into fishsticks.

This is the hang out fish. He and his friends just hang out on rocks. They didn't really swim, just sat around. I guess they could be laid back because they were in a different tank than the Gordon.

Finally... movie time! There was a big pool with crazy looking flat fish, which were Turbot I believe, and a shark with a busted nose, and a bunch of really awesome looking rays. At the end of the first video the shark does a little dance. The turbot just look weird all the time, their faces are all one one side of their body and they swim sideways.

This beautiful ray way trying to communicate... We think maybe he wanted to come out and play, but the docents said 'no touching.'

OK, that's all for the aquarium, stay tuned for Animals Vol. 2 - Land!

Let Me Eat Cake

Hey y'all, sorry it's been awhile! Hope you're doing well, I'm still having a lovely time here. We learned there was a castle nearby and biked out to find it last Sunday. Menlo Castle used to be owned by a super wealthy (duh) family, but it burned down in 1910 and hasn't been looked after or restored since. It's right next to the Corrib River and is now supporting a healthy amount of greenery:




There were some cows nearby, it's cute when they're lying down...


Saturday we went in search of the International Oyster Festival, but it turns out it's only for very fancily dressed people who purchased expensive tickets beforehand, so that was a bust. However, wandering around the city we found a full scale replica of the HMS Bounty, as in Mutiny on the HMS Bounty (the original burned down). This was one they built for the 1962 movie, and nowadays a crew sails around and show people the boat, I guess.





On Thursday I went for a bike ride and found a nice spot with some ducks hanging out. I didn't have any bread though, so we didn't become friends. Yet.


The rocks by the river are strangely pock marked, like they were hit with lots of little meteors but I'm not sure why they're this way. Any ideas?


On Wednesdays I've been going to Archery Club, which is a lot of fun even if you're crap at hitting the target. There's also an Art Society that will having weekly drawing classes.

Friday my friend Sam and I were looking for a raincoat for me, being totally unsuccessful. But then I found 5 Euro on the ground and we used it to buy this beautiful cake! The frosting is amazing... I think I'll go back and ask for a recipe, I wish I could share it with you all, I guess you'll just have to imagine instead :)