Tuesday morning we started the long
drive out to Westport, Elliott managed to be late again, and Kiley didn’t open
her eyes once on the bus. Halfway through the drive we stopped for lunch and
the second we got back on… Kiley passed out once again. Mr. Lind told an
interesting story to keep us occupied for the last couple hours. Apparently he
is pretty normal compared to the rest of his family. We arrived at the bed and
breakfast, unpacked, and listened to Laura play an amazing piece on the piano.
Shout out to you Laura! We took an hour
to check out the shopping around Westport and bought authentic Irish gifts for
our parents. Dinner was wonderful as usual, and after stuffing our faces we
waddled home.
This morning, a few of us realized
(Jordyn) that if you keep a bathroom window open AND the light on overnight,
your bathroom becomes the new home of many moths. Everyone was wide-awake after the wake up
call of girls screaming. After major bug killing, we had a delicious Irish
breakfast of poached eggs, toast, black and white pudding, sausage and bacon. Elliott did a good job of being on time! Gold
Star!
We departed for Clare Island, which is one of 365 islands
sitting in Murough Bay. According to Ms. Holtschalg, only three people inhabit
the island! Upon our arrival, we saw two thirds of the population drive by.
Oddly enough, we were stumped on why there were more than three houses on the
island. Liv calculated that each person must own eleven houses! Talk about
wealthy! Sadly enough we were unable to ride bikes up to the lighthouse, but
that didn’t bring us down! We took a nice stroll (if you consider a 4k+ long
trail a stroll) up to the lighthouse to look at the view off the island. At the
very begining of our trek, a miniature Pomeranian dog joined us for the
journey. We all believe that this dog was sent by Mr. Lee himself to guide us
along the way. In his honor, we named the dog Mr. Lee. Not once did he leave
our side, nor did he complain as much as the rest of us. He brought us to the
top of Mount Sheep-Poop, name given because of the thousands of gifts that
native sheep left for us. The view was absolutely beautiful and smelly. Mr.
Lee, on the other hand, didn’t find the smell bothersome, in fact he personally
enjoyed rolling in the brown grass. Our
stomachs started grumbling only to remind us of the 4k trek back down to the
town. Emily stopped continuously to take selfies with the sheep, and James
became a hero after saving Mr. Lee from getting run over by a car. Although
James may have caught Derpes (dog herpes) from this heroic act, he seems to be
acting fine. Some foaming around the mouth and random bleats have occurred, but
I mean its James…
We rejoiced
as we arrived to the restaurant. We sat down relieved, but luck was not on our
side for long. We patiently await service only to find the power had just gone
out on the entire island... No steak for Big Girl today. Going with the flow,
we all ordered cold sandwiches and a drink. Even though Emma was sick, she was extremely
flexible and took a tuna salad sandwich when they ran out of her original
order.
Mr. Lee
faithfully waited for us, and then we spent the next hour chillin’ on the beach
with our new doggy friends: Judd, Arthur and Mr. Lee. Judd was the community dog and Annie’s new
best friend. Arthur liked to bark a lot,
for no apparent reason, and was finicky about which rock he would play fetch
with. Mr. Lee played fetch with
everyone, but was a little confused when the rock was thrown in the dry sand.
Playtime
came to an end, however Mr. Lee walked us back to our ferry. We said our goodbyes and went home. Soon it was dinnertime again, and we headed
to Sol Rio, an Italian restaurant. After a yummy dinner and desert, we walked
home and started to relax. Christina
found her new talent, walking like a zombie, and James entertained us with a
few songs on the piano. Then we just
hung out with each other and our beloved Wi-Fi.
Good night and see you all soon!
-Annie and Liv
Liv here, at almost every restaurant there has been
traditional Irish bread that people either call wheaten bread or brown
bread. The bread has been one of my
favorite foods on the trip. I always ask
the waiter to bring us some, so I’ve been rating which restaurant has the best
bread. You know, just in case you come
to Ireland and are searching for the bread.
1. The
Fullerton in Balintoy
2. The
Merry Ploughboy in Dublin
3. The
Sheep View Hostel in Balintoy
So there you have it, the best brown bread in Ireland.
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