“There are good ships and wood ships, ships that sail the sea, but the best ships are friendships, may they always be!” ~ Irish Proverb

Today is the last day of our trip.  Technically we fly back home tomorrow but today is the last day for touring and drinking.  Tomorrow we start the food, fun and alcohol detox.

“I can resist everything except temptation.” 

~ Oscar Wilde

The sun was shining once again as we ate our breakfast and left beautiful Abbyglen Castle in Clifdin. We have been incredibly blessed with good weather in Ireland for which I am very grateful.

We headed to our final tour of the trip, Aughnanure Castle which is a tower house in Galway, Ireland.  To be honest, I think my brain was on overload of historical data or I had reached my mental quota.  The castle was beautiful and the guide was very informative.

Today was a lot of drive time in the van and we were all a little spent after two weeks of travel.  We stopped in Galway for a couple of hours to break up the trip and for lunch.

It was a lovely city, very clean and full of life.  On such a sunny perfect summer day there were lots of people milling about, walking, talking, shopping and feeding the birds by the river.

Three of our group looked particularly fashionable in their Irish Tweed Caps.  Tom, if you remember is of royal descent being king so only wears a crown.

After a few more hours in the non air-conditioned van we were back in Dublin for the night before an early rise and flight tomorrow.

It’s been a wonderful, relaxing and yet tiring trip.  It’s been more than I hoped for and yet everything I hoped for in another way. I’ve tried whisky and confirmed that I really do not like it at all!  We’ve walked and climbed and wined and dined.  We’ve laughed and made more marvelous memories.  It’s time to go home, and that is OK.  Home is a good place to be as well.

“And if travel is like love, it is, in the end, mostly because it’s a heightened state of awareness, in which we are mindful, receptive, undimmed by familiarity and ready to be transformed.  That is why the best trips, like the best love affairs, never really end.”

 ~Pico Iyer

“May your home always be too small to hold all your friends.“

~ Irish Blessing