June 5

Cliffs of Moher

I had to wake JT up in the morning, as I had every morning, but this time it was early. We had to catch an early bus for our tour around the Cliffs of Moher in the morning. We were up too early for breakfast, so we all had something to snack on before we headed out. JT and I made it to the buses first, because Aleesia and Nicole decided to stop for coffee and Starbucks, which almost made them miss the bus. We were put on separate buses, due to their lateness, but that was okay for the most part as we always ended up at the same places. We drove for 2 and a half hours before our first stop in this super, super small town. They had one grocery store, and it felt all out American. I cannot easily describe what made it American, but it was more like Walmart than any other store we've seen throughout Europe. We had a half an hour break here, there was a "castle" thing we could see, but JT spent too much time waiting in line for the bathroom, so we missed it, but we were not disappointed. 

We took another 10 minute break later on at the "mini cliffs," those were a nice preview for the main event later. Then we stopped at another very small town for lunch. There were about 3 places in total to eat, but JT wanted fish and chips, so we went there. The tables were filling up, so the lady tried ot sit the 2 of us at a table that could hold 5, easily. An older couple in the corner noticed our hesitation in sitting at such a large area, so they invited us to sit with them. They were from Washington and were in Ireland because the woman has an Irish background. I guess she never wanted to travel here until now, now that they're almost 70, but her husband has been to Alaska 12 times, and now it was her time to choose.

We got back on the bus after lunch and had the opportunity, thanks to the gorgeous weather, to take a boat tour around the Cliffs. It was just nice being on a boat, and not a bus, for a while. We got to see the cave where Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was filmed on our voyage. When we got back we hopped on the bus to see the Cliffs. I don't really know what I was expecting, but they were neat. We stood, about 730 feet from the water, which is a crazy thought, and we took tons of photos, of course. Aleesia and I just sat, at one point, with our feet hanging off the edge, taking it all in. 

Then we got back on the bus and had some more stops and it was sill about a 5/6 hour bus ride, and I was so done when we got back. We were starving, so we found this burger place, it was amazing. It was probably the best burger I've ever eaten. It may have helped that I was starving, but, regardless, it was so good.