It doesn't seem like we can be over halfway through October already. That's what happens when you're keeping busy though.
I finally got to take my first overseas trip as part of Mentor. I've wanted to see some other parts of the world as well as meet some of my overseas counterparts and Ireland didn't disappoint.
Our Mentor office in Ireland is in Shannon, which is in the southwest area of the country. Shannon has an international airport so it's convenient to fly into but is a small city otherwise and doesn't have many amenities other than business so we stayed in Limerick, the third largest town in Ireland.
One of the things I love about visiting other countries is the little quirks and differences. This was the fire exit sign in my hotel. Gets right to the point...RUN! PANIC!
This is the town of Limerick looking over the Shannon river. In the distance is St. Mary's Cathedral and King John's castle, both situated in the historic King's Island area of town. And both were within walking distance from my hotel.
I arrived in Limerick on a Saturday morning and only had the weekend for sightseeing so I had to cram in as much as possible in a short period of time. Plus I had to keep myself awake to try to force the time change. So, as soon as I got into town, I immediately hit the streets to check things out. My first stop was St. Mary's Cathedral which was founded in the year 1168. It is the oldest building in Limerick which is still in daily use. The church included several different chapel areas.
I was especially taken with the stained glass windows.
Churches in Oregon just don't look like this.
I might be inclined to attend more often if they did.
This is a view of the church from the exterior. It is surrounded by a really cool cemetery.
After touring the church, I made my way to King John's Castle. This is another 800 year old building for which construction began in 1212, though it took decades to complete. Someone was kind enough to take my picture at the castle with Limerick in the background.
A view of the city from one of the castle towers. The landscape looks like most of that I saw around Ireland. Very green.
I had to take a picture of the Mason room after all...
After enjoying the sites and even taking in high tea on Saturday, I crashed at about 9 and slept for a good 13.5 hours. Jet lag at its finest.
Sunday, once I finally made it out of bed, I decided to brave the driving thing (after a frightful drive the day before from the airport to the hotel). Fortunately I had GPS with a lovely Irish lady inside who told me where to turn. I definitely wanted to visit the Cliffs of Moher which is about an hour drive from Limerick.
The Cliffs are Ireland's most visited natural attraction. Also, if you've seen The Princess Bride, they were used as the "Cliffs of Despair"...
I am totally in love with the fences in the farm areas...they all look like this. I can't even imagine how long it took someone to lay all that stone to make them. Course, it was probably hundreds of years ago.
There are miles (or kilometers, whatever) of walking paths along the cliffs and I probably walked for about an hour. There is a lot of farmland that goes right up to the walking paths. Guess these cows wanted to greet the tourists.
Another shot of the cliffs. I may have taken about 20 such pictures like this...they were amazing. I should note that it is also incredibly windy there. I had to buy an (Irish) hat.
After visiting the cliffs, I headed back towards Limerick and visited the Bunratty Castle and Folk Park. Bunratty is a small town right in between Shannon and Limerick and we passed this castle each day going to and from the office. This castle was built around 1425. During the 16th and 17th centuries, it was an important stronghold for the O'Briens - kings and later earls of Thomond or North Munster.
One of the interior shots of the castle.
Surrounding the Bunratty Castle is a folk park which is essentially a recreation of a rural Irish town from 100+ years ago. I had to take this picture from inside one of the folk houses to show the kids where they'd be sleeping had they been born back then.
A view of the folk town.
Inside the school.
The other side of the folk town.
The bar. Note the Guiness sign. Yup, Guiness is everywhere.
The post office.
There were a lot of animals around the folk park. I had a good chat with this guy.
The church at the folk park.
I loved this walk way...very Anne of Green Gables...
There was even an antelope who came over to say hi.
A pickers dream...
I think this should be Papa Ron's next restoration project.
That's about it for my sightseeing adventures. The rest of the week was spent at work. However, I celebrated a birthday while over there and my Irish coworkers were kind enough to have cake for me and Luis somehow managed to have flowers delivered to me there. My manager took me out to a wonderful dinner at a place in town called Freddies...I would highly recommend it to anyone with Limerick in their current travel plans.
Course, I had to take a license plate picture for my kids who keep track of such things. Pretty sure we didn't see this on any of our road trips this summer...
Last week was Siena's 9th birthday!!! Her birthday was on Thursday so we had dinner that night at my parents so we could celebrate both her and my dad's birthdays. Her big party with her friends was yesterday at Oaks Park roller skating rink which Luis and I agree looks exactly as it did when we were kids. Actually, I think my parents even said the same thing.
Heidi the bag lady...
Chipper the Squirrel found Gloria.
Siena made and decorated her own cake and cupcakes.
The party kids and Chipper.
Mason loading up on some sugar before hitting the rink again.
The kids were quizzing Chipper on her Spanish. Since all of these kids are in Spanish class, they're pretty good.
The party animals and Chipper. From left, Mason, Katie, Felix, Chipper, Siena, Ellia, Gracie, and Amy in front. Emerson was in the bathroom at the time and we couldn't convince Berren to come over for the picture.
Gift opening may have been Siena's favorite part. She got lots of great things. I told her she wasn't allowed to claim boredom for the next year.
With her magic crayon set she got from her friend Felix.
As great as the party went, the trip home, not so great. Luis' key fob decided to no longer work and his key won't work for the car door. So here we look sad waiting for my dad to come to our rescue.
Mason's look says it all...
At least Siena had some presents with her and made the most of it!
And a new Barbie that matched her!
The kids below the old Oaks Rink sign. I love this sign.
Siena with the special "S" pillow her Grandma Gloria sewed for her.
Despite the car setback, it was a great birthday!
