summer will be like in Galway. Such good weather makes our running experiences so much more pleasant. I wanted to post some pictures of the path where we have been running because it is just so beautiful. It goes through some grassy areas and then along the Corrib River. At one point we pass this 
beautiful old castle across the river, which you can see in the pictures here. It's just across the river from me in the last picture and then there's a closeup of the castle above. There are often people kayaking and rowing along the river, too.Yesterday we did a tour of an area called Connemara, which was absolutely beautiful. Lots of stunning scenery, lakes, mountains, etc. We stopped at a few old churches and then a beautiful place called Kylemore Abbey. It was originally built by a rich Englishman as a home (it's a massive mansion even though it's hard to tell from this picture!) for his family in the 1800's. Now it is a functioning Abbey for benedictine nuns and also hosts an international boarding school for girls. You can see Marco standing in front of the lake where the old mansion sits in the background. 
There is a national park in Connemara that we plan to go back and explore on a hiking tour. As the bus wound through town on the way back, there was tons of traffic and people just everywhere on the streets and in the pubs. There is so much drinking here! Before coming to Ireland someone told Marco that there are two types of people in Ireland, there are alcoholics and those that used to be alcoholics. It really is surprising how much social activity centers around drinking. You can pass a pub at 10am and see people sitting outside having a pint. And we haven't even had our first pint of Guinness yet!!! Anyway, we hear that the crowds get much worse during the summer as this is one of the most popular vacation spots in Ireland. I'm sure it will get a bit crazy, but that's all part of the adventure!
There is a national park in Connemara that we plan to go back and explore on a hiking tour. As the bus wound through town on the way back, there was tons of traffic and people just everywhere on the streets and in the pubs. There is so much drinking here! Before coming to Ireland someone told Marco that there are two types of people in Ireland, there are alcoholics and those that used to be alcoholics. It really is surprising how much social activity centers around drinking. You can pass a pub at 10am and see people sitting outside having a pint. And we haven't even had our first pint of Guinness yet!!! Anyway, we hear that the crowds get much worse during the summer as this is one of the most popular vacation spots in Ireland. I'm sure it will get a bit crazy, but that's all part of the adventure!
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