Our First Day In London

Well we were up early and bought our on/off 24 hour bus ticket and off we went. We sat up the top of the open top double decker bus and I was like, "look at that, hey look at that, god look at that, bloody hell look at that, oh my god I can't believe we are looking at that". I know I was a long time living at Morton Plains but it was surreal to be actually in London seeing all the landmarks that we have seen on tv and in books all in one place, it was amazing. The weather has still been great, it is cool 15 degrees or so during the day but it is excellent for being a tourist and we've had no rain which I believe is a bonus in the UK!! We stayed on the bus for quite a long

while just checking out what was what and deciding where we wanted to get off.

View of London taken from near the Thames at Tower of London

Jenny and Joll beside the Thames

Visiting the Prendergasts at Kildare

Jenny and Joll had organised for us to visit Louise Lee (from Birchip) parents who own a farm near Kildare. Kevin is a very successful race horse training judging by his large trophy room!! We had a great night with them, after Kevin took us on a tour of the stables and a bit of a look around the area including the The Curragh Racetrack, he then took us to his local golf club which is just near their house for "a pint", well we had a very sociable time at the golf club and one pint lead to another for the boys!!! After leaving the golf club we went back to the farm and had dinner and a night of laughs with Kevin and Lesley. We stayed the night in their cottage near the stables, which was excellent. The Prendergasts were very generous host and we really enjoyed staying with them.
Joll cooked us an irish breakfast!!!

Irish Dancers

When we were at the little town on the coast called Dingle we saw these people all dressed up and dancing in the street!

Irish Cows

The beautiful countryside around Dingle with its green hills, stone fences and some nice cows!!!

The Molloys of Lake Corrib

Yesterday morning after we left Galway we visited the Molloy family. The Molloys are th family of Julie Lowry who lives in Birchip. The Molloys live right on the shore of Lake Corrib (like the water is about 10 feet from their door!! - Lake Corrib is the second largest lake in Ireland). They are keen fishermen, we saw evidence of their good fishing skills, see photo below this fish weighed over 20 lb and was caught in the lake at their front door . Mrs Molloy and four of her sons live near each other and they were very hospitable, we had a cuppa and chatted for a couple of hours before heading off on our next leg of the trip.

LtoR: Peter and Jenny Jolly, Barbara, Roisin, Bartley and Billy Molloy and David McKinnis

The big fish

Kilmore Quay Houses

How cute are these houses in the town where John and Maggie Nunn lives, check out Jenny standing in the front gate of one.

Chair from 1690!!!

This is the chair in St Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin that dates back to 1690!!!