Ed Here: Deb took the night off to catch up on her sleep so I have the honor of bringing you up to date on our Ireland travels.  Today was the first really rainy day we have had so far.  The original plan was to drive down southwest of Galway to see the Cliffs of Moher.  Instead we decided to do that the next day on the way to Dublin (yes I know its really not on the way..cut us some slack..we are from out of town).

Today we drove west of Galway into the Connemara region (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connemara).  We first headed into Galway for a last minute camera repair as Deb's beloved Canon DSLR fell off the bed last night right on the front of the lens.  The good news is the camera itself is ok because the filter on the camera lens tool the brunt of the contact.  The bad news is the filter is cracked and cannot be removed at the moment meaning the lens is useless.  This lens will be going into the shop once we return to Dallas.  Between the two of us we have some additional lenses so this setback should not be a trip killer for Deb and her photos.

Back to the trip: On the way out of Galway, we stopped at the Celtic Crystal shop
(http://www.celticcrystalireland.com/).  If you visit the web site and choose the link for "Limited Edition" you will the most exquisite examples of colored cut crystal.  The pieces we saw were just incredible in craftsmanship..and in price!  Colored crystal takes 2-3 times longer to create than clear crystal and the price reflects the additional craftsmanship needed to create such incredible pieces of art.  I was able to talk to the owner and main designer of the crystal.  She gave me a good 20 minute explanation of how the crystal is cut and why the specific shapes and cuts are used.  If you have a few minutes I stongly suggest you browse through their web site. Fascinating indeed!

From the crystal shop we continued west until we came to Aughnanure Castle.  The literature states this is a prime example of 16th centure Irish Tower house.  As you can see by the photos this castle is in restoration phase but we were still able to get a sense of how live might have been in the Sixteenth
century.

From the Castle we continued west until we came to the "Connemara" statue.  Initially I thought this was some long lost relic from bygonne days but if you read the inscription you will see the statue was created in 1999 so I am thinking its pretty much a billboard to stop a the gift shop across the
street...which we did!

Moving on down the road, we cut through the loop and got a real view of the "Bog land".  This baren land with over 100" of rain annually creates a unique ecosystem.  In the past the major source of fuel for fires and such was the land itself.  Parts of the "Bog" were cut into sections and dried, flipped over, and dried some more until the brick looking pieces of peat were dry of all moisture.  Then the pieces could be used as fuel for fires, cooking, etc.  In recent times conservation movements have deterred the use of the land for this purpose to better preserve the rare ecosystem of this region.

Turning off the road we came to the Kylemore Abbey.  The ground were picturesque but we only visited a short time due to the mass quantities of gnats and flying bugs!  What a shame as the gardens were supposed to be spectacular..we just couldn't take the bugs anymore so we left.

Finally we reached our destination of Clifden.  We were told that this region of Ireland has really been at the forefront for the preservation of the traditional Irish music and dance.  Sure enough we were met in town by a festival celeberation 200 years of the Connamara region, complete with fiddle\accordion traditional music..and dancers!  The children of town would take turns dancing to the tunes played by the local band.  All in all a great end to an unexpected day.   What we thought might be an uneventful day turned out to be one of the most memorable!