The Adventures of the First Weekend

So last week I mentioned that we were heading to the Aran Islands, but I never really followed up on that. Well bad news, lads. That leg of our journey was canceled when the ferry that was supposed to take us at 1 p.m. on Thursday decided it wasn't going to sail then. Never fear, though. We saw sites that were even better (I assume, having never seen Aran).

First on the magical mystery tour was St. Senan's Church.

St. Senan's is known for its lovely stained glass, which is best exemplified in the glass behind the alter:



After a brief stop for lunch at the Corner Stone,


we made our way to Cliffs of Moher:


These cliffs may or may not have been used in the sixth Harry Potter movie. Any verification of that would be greatly appreciated. Regardless, they are really amazing. Nowadays the edge of the cliff is walled off and lots of warning signs are posted about not climbing over the wall, but time was a body could just stroll up to the edge, defying death itself. Those were the days.

On Friday we visited the Burren - a sweeping expanse of rocks that was created thousands of years ago and where now grow very few trees and almost all species of Irish flower, including some very rare ones. Here I am, looking appropriately angsty in this setting:



And here are some presumably rare flowers that I photographed but did not pick!



Friday night we stayed in Kinvara at the famous Doorus House - the place where the Irish National Theater was first conceived - and we attended the Cuckoo Music Festival that takes place in Kinvara. I tried to record the band we saw, but the sound did not work, so here is a silent film of them playing (with a bit of a surprise from Dorothy, who thought I was taking a picture). It's kind of long for a silent video, but I hope you like it nonetheless.



Next time on Kimber Goes to Ireland, I will expound a bit on our trip to Thoor Ballylee and Coole Park, with appropriate meditations on Yeats and Gregory. Good night!