I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack! (Updated with pictures!)

I'm back ladies!!! I'm at work this morning and I'm all jacked up. I woke up at 4:30 this morning ready for breakfast and couldn't go back to sleep. And I'm at work. Booooooooooooo! But the trip was amazing, we had a blast. The wedding was soooo different than they are here, but it was a great time! I'm going to try and upload some photos later on since it seems to be pretty quiet here! Anyway, just wanted to say hiiiiiiii!

ETA: Whooooooooo! I finally uploaded all the photos! I took 600 in total so it took foreverrrrrrr. Here's some of my faves and highlights though!

We stayed in the nicest cottages in Bruff, right outside Limerick. They looked like barns from outside but they were massive and modern inside. And we had some lovely sheep for neighbors. And yes, someone fell over that half door trying to get into that house to turn off the alarm.





The next photos are from the local church and the attached graveyard. DH's grandparents were buried here. I know it's a little morbid taking photos of a graveyard but it was so old and the stones were beautiful.









Some pictures of the stream next to the church. (Mahore River)





Clovers, all three leaf.



Some pictures from the wedding...

The bride and her father.


One of the ringbearers in his adorable tux.


The bride and groom.


The cake.


The mother and father of the bride and the drunken priest. (Isn't he exactly what you would expect him to look like??)


Cake cutting.


The pub- if you're ever in Knockainey for the best Heineken on tap I've ever had. Tell 'em you were sent by O'Connors! As a sidenote- this is the front entrance to the pub on the street, but their house is attached! It was awesome to be able to slip down to the pub in your PJs, grab a bag of crisps (Cheese and onion tayto's anyone?) and a pint and pop back into the house. Plus, the bars close very early (1 AM or 1:30 AM the latest) so DH, myself, and DH's cousin James (who is my favorite relative of his of all time) would sit in the bar after it closed and have a few drinks and listen to music. DH and I had our first shot of Absinthe in Moloney's after hours with James! lol!


The pubs backyard. And a little bow chicka wow wow.


Loch Gur. When we climbed this... this... hill... we thought it was the highest, steepest thing we've ever seen. Not so.











View from the top.


DH & BIL.


This is the Old Church in Knock, where my MIL/FIL were married. I didn't get too many photos because I was reeeeeaaaalllyyy sick that day.







We stayed at MIL's house that she grew up in in Mayo. And these were our lovely neighbors. They ran right over to us, from way across the field, every time they saw us on the road. We'd feed them grass and sugar apples and sometimes, even chocolate.





DH feeding our friends.


And just so you get an idea of how close they were, this is the view out the kitchen window.


This was my favorite part of the trip- our climb of Croagh Patrick. The top is 2,500 feet in the air and the climb is 3.5 miles each way and it is not easy going. It's rocky, slippery, steep, and absolutely terrifying. Walking sticks are highly recommended (And we used them.). There is a church at the top (stupid idea, right?!) and a pilgrimage to the top is meant to be done barefoot and is considered a religious experience. We didn't do it barefoot, obviously, because we're not insane. The first 3 miles of the climb is extremely difficult, the last half mile is almost impossible but once you get 3 miles up, you figure you might as well go the rest of the way. We did it. And then MIL bought us all t-shirts saying 'I climbed Croagh Patrick' and a victory beer. Here's some photos, though I was way to wrecked to be snapping a lot.



DH.




View from the 3 mile peak.




Once you get to the top, the wind is so insane that nobody even can stand up straight. And of course, a storm was rolling in as we reached the summit. It was so bad that I took literally TWO photos and flew back down that mountain. I never wanted solid ground so badly.

The view from the top.


The church.


Here's what the last half mile looks like and this does not illustrate nearly enough how steep and scary it was.


Me and my walking stick after getting back to the bottom. It took us 3 hours for the complete hike.


Our victory drink.


Then on the way home, we saw a rainbow. It was beautiful!


Another beautiful place we visited- The Cliffs of Moher. It's really nice, but we had such a nice day for it, that it was PACKED with people. Oh well, what can ya do? Also, the museum with it suckkkedd.

Cliffs of Moher.




The castle on the cliffs.






The last place we went to visit was Bunratty Castle, but we were so hungry we decided to eat first and then we missed the last tour by like 5 minutes. Boooooooo. So here's two photos of the outside, but inside there's a whole old fashioned town with houses with thatched roofs and they even do a sit-down banquet like at medieval times. I've heard it's awesome, so check it out and tell me how it is. lol! We did get to visit the gift shop which was awesome and very reasonably priced, too. Just saying...





Anyway, sorry for the photo overload. We didn't get to do as much sight seeing as I would've hoped- we did a lot of traveling back and forth between towns for weddings, b-days, reunions, and other various family activities but it was a lot of fun. We also visited Limerick City a few times to shop and go out to dinner. I wish I had my camera, but I had left it at home, because Limerick City was kinda cool. All the doors were all brightly colored and had fancy, old fashioned knobs in the center of the doors. It was very pretty, as were all the cities and towns we visited. But anyway, hope you liked some of the photos and maybe they even inspired you to visit a few places. Croagh Patrick was definitely an experience that I think everyone, especially of Irish descent, should do once! Thanks for looking!

Re: I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

Welcome Back Jill!!! i cant wait to see pics!!!

Re: I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

yayyyy!! welcome back!!

Re: I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

hiii welcome back!!

Re: I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

i wanna see some pics!!!!!

Re: I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

YAYYYY!!! You were missed!!! Welcome home!!!

Re: I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

Welcome back!!! Can't wait to see pics!!!!

Re: I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

ohhh man..welcome back, I'm really looking foward to see pics.

Re: I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

yay can't wait to see pics!!!

Re: I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

Welcome back!!

Re: I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

Welcome back!! Can't wait to see pics!!

Re: I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

Welcome back!!!!!!!! Can't wait to see pics!

Re: I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

Welcome back!!

Re: I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

WELCOME BACK!!!! YAY!!!!


Can't wait to see pitures!

Re: I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

Hi!!! welcome home. Cant wait to see the pictures!!

Tell how they are different there, Im interested!

Re: I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

Welcome back!!!!

Re: I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

really interested to hear how they are so different from the weddings here.
Can't wait to see pics and so glad you had a wonderful time!

Re: I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

yay welcome back!

I too am excited to see your pictures!!

Re: I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

Welcome back!! Cant wait to hear more about your trip and see how amazing Limerick and Mayo looked in your pictures!!!

Re: I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

---

Posted by SoontobeMrs.Brown

Hi!!! welcome home. Cant wait to see the pictures!!

Tell how they are different there, Im interested!

---

Still haven't uploaded the pictures yet! It actually turned out to be a little busy at work so probably not until tomorrow, but I'm working on it. Hmmm the weddings are really backwards in Ireland... and I think I like the way we do it here better... or maybe it's just what I'm used to. First off- every single mass is super short. We went to a full Sunday mass and it was literally 20 minutes long. Their full ceremony was half an hour tops. Not that I'm complaining. The photographer also made everyone stand at the end of mass so that we could take a big group picture with the bride and groom at the front of the church and everyone standing behind them. Different, but I liked it. I bet it's going to be a cool photo. They also welcomed anybody and everybody up to photograph them signing their lives away which actually took longer than the vows themselves. When they arrived at the reception hall, they immediately went in and staged photographs of them cutting the cake. Which I found extra confusing because they staged it again after dinner. When you walk into the reception, there's not a cocktail hour (which explains the utter confusion at our very American CH ) but a sort of hospitality hour with light h'or deuvres, cash bar (::Gasp:: ), and cookies which took place right in the lobby of the hotel/RH. Then when you get to the reception room, there's no band or dance floor. They immediately dive into several speeches (each about 5-10 minutes long)- one from the groom, one from the father of the bride, one from the father of the groom, one from the best man and one from the very, very drunk priest. He was... a character. He reiterated several times in his speech to the ladies that he 'may be fat, but he's light on his feet.' And oh boy, was he ever. So, we sit and have our meal which was spectacular and served by requesting your meat (no vegetarian option, at least on the menu I saw) and then servers come around with family style trays of every side you can think of and you load up your plate that way. Also, another weird thing, you were required to order your 'after dinner drink' (the only free drink) before you ate. And this is the drink you were to toast with, but it could not be champagne. I ordered prosecco and by the time it came, I didn't want it at all. After desserts and cake, all the guests were requested to leave the reception room while they ready it for the 'disco' as they called it. We went to our rooms to throw our shoes in (they had a flip flop basket, WHOO HOO!) and take a breather, some of the older guests even changed into shorter dresses, MIL included. And about half an hour later, half the tables were taken out and the dance floor was revealed. The band was set up at the front of the room and it was about 1 AM. We danced to more traditional Irish music, which I was terrible at and DH was no better, and at 2 AM, the band was done for the night. Then the DJ set up and played until 3:30 AM. I went to bed at that point. DH stayed up and hung out in the bar until it closed at 4 AM. The next day, they had a huge BBQ starting at around 6 PM. It was actually awesome. They had it catered and a tent set up in the yard which was clutch since it was Ireland and it rained. The priest returned and got plastered ALL over again. DH actually found him outside, peeing on the side of the tent at the end of the night. So all in all, it was QUITE different from a NY wedding. It was kinda funny though since the entire town of Knockainey was invited. I mean, the entire town. The bride's father is the owner of one of the two pubs in Knockainey (Moloney's! Go visit it if you're ever in the area and tell them you were sent by the O'Connors!) so they know everyone. It was certainly an experience though!

ETA: Going through my photos, I didn't get many good wedding pictures. I was a little... errr... drunk? Whooooooooooops. And there were so many awesome hats!!! DH's cousin's wife had the coolest hat. I know my SIL snapped a shot of it, I'll have to steal it and show you guys. She looked so chic!