Day 20 Galway Ireland Thursday 19th July 2012
Yesterday we left stunning Kenmare around 10am saying goodbye to Adrian until Saturday when he will travel north to Maghera for our Grand reunion. We drove to Killarney to meet Frank and Leonie and it was great to catch up with them again and so we continued on our journey towards Galway together. Our destination were the Cliffs of Moher which took about 3 hours to reach. They reminded me of the Twelve Apostles on Victoria's south west coast. The weather was a bit miserable but seemed to clear enough for us to walk up the steps to get a good view and take photos.
We arrived at Galway at 5pm and checked into our hotel, The Jurys Inn in the centre of town. How cute is this place! We got settled and went out to the Quays Inn Pub for dinner which was lovely and this pub had live music and the craic was great. I couldn't believe how many people were about on a Wednesday night. There were street musicians and buskers everywhere and the atmosphere was fantastic. Lone loves Galway and has been here 4 times so she was able to guide us to all the great places!
Leonie, Frank, Mary and I on the streets of Galway Ireland.
The music was great!
Salute!
Today we are going to Knock in County Mayo which is an hour's drive from here. On Thursday evening of the 21st August, 1879, at about 8 o'clock, Our
Lady, St. Joseph, and St. John the Evangelist appeared in a blaze of Heavenly
light at the south gable of the Knock Parish Church
. Behind
them and a little to the left of St. John was a plain altar. On the altar was a
cross and a lamb with adoring angels. The apparition was
seen by fifteen people whose ages ranged from six years to seventy-five and
included men, women and children. Today Knock shrine is an
international place of pilgrimage and prayer where over one and a half million
pilgrims come every year. The Shrine grounds
incorporates five churches, including the Apparition Church, Parish Church/Old
Church, Basilica, Blessed Sacrament Chapel and Chapel of Reconciliation. All of these are set
in beautiful landscaped gardens of approximately 100 acres creating an
atmosphere of peace and tranquillity. SO looking forward to seeing this wonderful place and believe me, we will be there for hours praying for all our intentions from both here in Ireland and back home in Australia!
Brenda
ReplyDeleteI am loving reading all about your trip. It sounds just wonderful. Thank you for all your effort in writing this. It is greatly appreciated.
Looking forward to hearing about this weekend & hope there will be a few photos of the Irish cousins!!
Please pass on my best wishes to them all & let them know they are welcome to visit us out here anytime!!
I do think my grandfather was more handsome than your grandfather!!! LOL!!
Have the best time. Your 'cuz' Peg Wood (née McGuigan)
Hi Peg, It's great to hear from you and I am thrilled you are enjoying this blog. We are having the time of our lives. Will certainly load up as many photos as I can from the weekend and I hope to try and capture our special day in words as well. Cheers, Brenda PS: I agree that James was pretty hot!!!
ReplyDeleteHi Bren and Lone great blog wishin i was there with you, amazing family history uncovered.Glenullin farm where Henry grew brings tears to the eyes makes the stories Johndy told so true he would,ve like see it.Ok great read bye for now.Vern
DeleteHey Vern, So glad you are liking the blog. It has been the most wonderful journey and we have loved every minute of it! I too was very emotional at Glenullin as I imagined the carefree childhood the boys had roaming around this stunning spot. Local Historian Bill Macafee told us that our Henry would probably have been born at Glenullin as it was family tradition that the first born child was always born at the mothers home! No wonder Henry loved Glenullin so much. We are now in Maghera for our Grand Reunion Day on Sunday and everyone here is SO excited. Will keep you posted daily through the blog with photos and stories xxx
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