ruins, ruins, ruins

Tuesday, November 11...
a little behind because we haven't had the internet...but here goes!

We finished our time in Connemara and were supposed to travel down to Cashel where we were going to visit the Rock of Cashel - well...instead we headed straight east to Clonmacnoise, a site of ruins that contain grave slabs from the 8th to 12th century, and is situated in the center of Ireland. St. Ciaran is said to have founded Clonmacnoise as a Christian site around the year 543 AD. We were able to view some of Ireland's finest surviving high crosses, dating from 900 AD. It was the most beautiful day - the sky was so blue and we were able to walk around and truly enjoy the view along the river Shannon. This was our first encounter with a tour bus on our trip so far - but we managed to go to the rear of the ruins and as they made their way back...we made our way forward! We walked over to a pretty interesting set of castle ruins, looking almost perfectly balanced on a piece of high land. This was private property, so we weren't able to look too closely.

We continued our drive south toward Cashel - stopping for lunch and checking out a local Irish music shop. We picked up a few CD's to listen to along our drives, and then continued into Cashel. Since we missed the last entrance to the Rock of Cashel, we decided to walk around the town of Cashel - checking out a bookstore, etc. and scoping out a good place for dinner - then we checked into our farmhouse B&B. Also a working ewe farm and a bit chilly (what else could we expect from an old house???) but definitely a warm welcome, homey, and friendly. We had a great dinner at a fancy French cuisine restaurant and hit a pub later for a guiness and irish coffee.

P.S. This would have been our "1 - year engagement date"