Wednesday, May 12th - our last day in Ireland

Wednesday was our last day in Ireland.  Alisha volunteers at St. Vincents on Wednesday, and Mark had a meeting and errands to run, so Lee and I occupied ourselves by getting organized for our trip home on Thursday.  First on the list was getting our suitcases packed and able to close!

Mark picked us up at 1:15 and we went into Kilcullen to pick Alisha up.  We went to lunch at a new restaurant there, which was just wonderful.  As we ordered lunch, and came back to sit down, somehow there was a large gift bag where I was sitting!  It contained a framed, enlarged photo of Lee and I at the Dunamase ruins!  That was one of Mark's errands!  Thanks, you two, we love that picture!

After lunch we returned home and spent a quiet afternoon.  It was raining off and on, and it was nice and cozy in the house.  About 5, the rain cleared and the sky got blue, so we went for a walk to the ruins that is visible from Mark and Alisha's house.  It was a great walk, and felt good to be outside getting some exercise!

The ruins are the site of an old monastery and graveyard, that is reported to have been commissioned by St. Patrick!  The amount of ancient history in Ireland is just amazing!

The ruins are at the top of a hill and have a fabulous view all around, including a clear picture of Mark and Alisha's house.  One of the paddocks had grazing sheep in it, who paid us no attention at all.  The other paddock had a herd of cattle, who were lying down, or grazing, off in the distance.  As we got closer to the side of the graveyard that bordered the paddock, all of the cows looked at us, got up, and in a body, started moving towards us.  They must have thought that we had food!  It was a little eerie, but they got pretty close to the fence (thank heaven's for barbed wire!) before we decided to move on.

After our walk, we got ready for our dinner reservations at Fallon's.  Fallon's had recently won some best restaurant awards, and Mark and Alisha hadn't eaten there, so we were all looking forward to trying it.  We got a great seat at a table in an alcove with a fireplace - it was a great space and was good for photographs, but poor Alisha just about baked!  The fire slowed down, and Mark traded places with her, so all was well.  The food was delicious, the service and ambiance were great!  It's on our do-again list!  It was a great place for a birthday dinner.  I had a wonderful birthday in Ireland.

Then it was home, finalize packing and relatively early to bed, as we needed to catch an 8:15 am bus the next morning, for the airport and the trip home.

Thanks, Mark and Alisha, for a fabulous first trip to Ireland.  We'll be back!!

This is the tower at the site of the ruins across from Mark and Alisha's house.  This photograph was taken from their front yard.

Enlarge this picture and you can see the reference to St. Patrick

Entering the grave yard - note the steps built into the stone fence.  Those were common in the areas we visited.

The tower and some of the crosses and headstones in the graveyard

Another shot that shows the age of this place

There was a great view in all directions from the site.  Make this picture large and you can see Mark and Alisha's house!

The cows are interested in us!  You can see that some of them are still lying down, but they all got up and started toward us.

Here they come!  Ok, that's close enough...

Mark and Alisha at Fallon's

The four of us at Fallon's.