Below is part of a journal entry I wrote while I was in Ireland in July 2008. This passage describes part of the day’s activities during a tour from Limmerick to Galway.
…The next stop on the tour was a pub in Doolin. It must have taken 40-50 minutes to get to Doolin, but we were moving closer and closer to the coast, so much so that the Atlantic was getting bigger and bigger! Doolin is a small village with a sparse number of homes, and a main street with a few businesses. As we drove up the hills, the view of the Atlantic was spectacular! So there I was, in the coach, listening to Irish music, looking at wonderful views of the ocean with little puff ball clouds in the sky…can you picture it?
At the pub, I ordered and paid for my food first, and then it was brought to my table. I swear, 2 minutes after I paid for lunch, my salad and fries were served; it was really, really quick-I was impressed. It was a highly substantial salad: lettuce, tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, cucumber, bell pepper, pineapple wedges, and honey mustard dressing. The bowl must have been 8” in diameter filled with all that good food. It was a great value for the money I spent. It was absolutely fabulous.
After lunch, we loaded up into the coach and off to the Cliffs of Moher. When we got there, Frank advised us to stay behind the guardrails and not walk out to the edge of the cliff. He said that 8 people fell to their deaths; some were unintentional–they were blown off the cliff–others were suicides.
Frank told us the west coast was supposed to be hit by a significant storm today. Happily, that didn’t happen. It was a wonderfully bright, sunny, and breezy day with puffball clouds in the sky. None of the pesky misty ocean fog was hovering around the cliffs; it was brilliantly crystal clear today. I couldn’t ask for a better day.
After parking in the car park, I walked over to the observation point for the Cliffs. The stair climb was 150 steps-I actually counted. The climb was definitely worth it. My only “objection” to viewing the Cliffs was, looking into the sun to view them, made them look extra dark and difficult to see any of the details and textures. If it were morning, then the sun would have been in the eastern sky and not a problem. I guess it just wasn’t meant to be. I wandered around shooting video for about an hour and then the tour was back on the road again.
We were on our way to the Burren. The Burren, composed of limestone, looks like either scabby/scaly skin or like rocky warts on the green fields of grass. It is an all-natural occurring phenomenon. It made for some interesting landscapes.
My vocabulary words are:
Corollary: a logical deduction; something that is obvious or deduced from something already proven (from the Encarta World English Dictionary)
Clandestine: furtive, done in secret and usually illegal (from the Encarta World English Dictionary)
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