July 10

"Have one beer to think about it. Have another beer to forget about it."

- Crazy tour guide.

DAYTIME.

Today we went to the amazing ARAN ISLANDS. We got up and ready and jumped on a bus that took us to a ferry that took us to the islands haha. It's pretty isolated. There are three islands, but the one tourists tend to visit is called Inis Mor. We thought we'd be on rocks and walking all day so Tshirts, raincoats, jeans and sneakers sounded like a good outfit choice right? Wrong. When we stepped off the ferry we immediately realized it was absolutely freezing on the island. We were like shaking right away. The first shop we saw, strategically placed, was the sweater shop. So naturally we ran over there and two of us got authentic, huge Irish sweaters. (Leslie, I'm working on yours I promise.)

(Leaving Galway.)

(Galway, town square.)

(The ferry ride.)

(More stone walls in Inis Mor.)

(So pretty.)

(Maggie found a friend.)

So after that, we needed to book a tour. Jenny and I went outside to look around and found the line of tour buses with slightly different routes all shouting out different day rates for us. It was like the wall street of tour buses. The guy we chose gave us 7 euros a person for the entire day tour. He had a good list of sights to see, and he said "if you want to stop here, maybe an hour, maybe an hour and a half, if you want lunch two hours, you guys get to pick." The fact that we set our own schedule was most alluring. We chose his tour. We found out quickly that he was probably high and definitely crazy. He was insane, and talked about weed like 14 times on the trip.

Anyways, he was funny and we had a good time.


We stopped at a random spot on the coast. I loved it in the Aran Islands. The whole place. Probably my favorite place yet. It's all limestone. And climbing. It's wonderful. I love rocks.

(So pretty.)

(It's love.)

(I needed Julie time.)

(And Megan time.)

(And Hannah time.)

(Maggie's go-to pose.)

(Amazing.)

(I love it here.)

(Jenny Davenport photography.)

(Seriously, hair? Seriously?)

(Maggs.)

(Out the window, once back on the bus.)


We made a few little stops on the way to the main event, to talk about sheep grazing and stone walls etc. There are only 900 people living on the island, for example. And there's four pubs. And three schools. And two hospitals. And we drove by the tour guide's parents house. We were then getting closer to the main stop and saw places where Leap Year was filmed. It was pretty cool.

Then we got there. The main stop. We stayed for over two hours. The tour guide suggested we do an hour walking and an hour at lunch. He said to walk first, because the forecast said rain. So we did. This place was no doubt my favorite from the trip so far. The stop was a walk up to Fort Aengus, an old two layer fort of protection from however long ago. It was beautiful, but what takes your breath away is the cliffsides and the view. No barriers, no ropes, no walls. Be careful. Death lies below you. But the thing to do here, according to Jenny haha, is to lay on your stomach and hang your head over the cliffs. Because you can. I was scared and mine was pretty pathetic, but I could have laid there all day long.

(Walking up to the fort.)

(On the way up.)



(The amazing view opposite the fort.)

(Pictures at the cliff edge once we arrived.)

(Sweater!)

(The outer tier of the fort.)

(Leaning over the edge.)

(Super scared.)

(Cliff.)

(Admiration.)

(Contentment.)

(Daww.)

(Nice devil horns Julie.)

(John and cliffside.)

(Such a big drop!)

(Leaning over the edge.)

(Cute.)

(Don't fall!)



(Entering the fort!)
(Tripod Benny/Carlos' work.)

(Amazing.)

(Aww.)

(Julie's work.)

(Wow.)



(In the inner fort.)
:)

(Virginians.)

(My two lovers.)
(We link arms sometimes.)

(Other times we smile.)

We were really, really, REALLY glad we took the advice about seeing the fort before lunch... right as we were walking back down, the rain came from nowhere. Downpour. We were drenched at lunch. The rest of the day called for storms. When we got back on the tour bus, we took a vote, and everyone decided to skip the next stop which was an hour walk to the highest point on the island. It would have been really cool, I think, but it was insane rain out there. We eventually caught an earlier ferry and of course the rain eased up while on the ferry, but we turned into Galway earlier than expected.

(Stopping in the rain to see the cows.)

(Taken by the bus driver. Wow, both eyes shut, good job Jenny and Rachel.)


(Avoiding the rain by shopping. 2:07)

(Sheep!)


(The site of the "Seven Churches." We only jumped out of the bus for less than a minute to snap some pictures.)

(Wish we could have had nicer weather, to explore this area further.)


(Ferry ride home. He makes this pose/face a lot?)

(Hannnnahhhhh)


(Yay hoods!)

(Us.)

(Awww)


NIGHTTIME.

We spent a while drying off, showering, and relaxing, then went out to conquer the Galway nightlife! We seriously went to probably 2 or 3 pubs/bars and like 8 or 9 clubs. Fun night.


(First pub. Bachelorette party of course.)

(hahhaha.)

(Pink wigs.)

(Becky looks like she has a little white hat.)

(Walking to the second pub; Jenny was in this photo with me and left? Leaving me alone like a tard.)

(John making his move- second pub.)

(Second pub had cheap cocktails.)

(Cute.)

(She was singing a lot haha.)

(Julie's free hat!)

(Uh oh.)

(I really wasn't any good at that.)

(The guy who BOUGHT the free hat from Julie.)

(This man KEPT asking Kim if she was Chinese or Japanese? Then, "Ohhh Chinese food driva!" Each time shes just like "NOPE." "NOPE." Annoyed. Pretty funny though.)

(A new bar with a dance floor this time.)

(Mandy attacking boys with an umbrella- the norm.)

(We turn around and Kim has new best friends? No clue how it happened.)

(More shots. Leslie, don't show Granny.)

(Why do I keep making this face?)

(We only went to a few clubs this night...)

(Fog machines are the vain my camera's existence.)

(So much fog. This guy then proceeded to two-hand grab three of us. Classssyyy Irish guys.)

(Hahhahhaha, ummm. This is the guy who wouldn't leave me along for a good while. So Julie told him we were lesbian. Thought process: He would leave me alone. Mmmm no. He said "Prove it." Julie and I just stared at each other, and began dancing inappropriately. He stopped asking me to dance, but he never left our side, hahaa.)

(CPs??)

(Don't remember where we are haha. Cute though.)