The view from my windows this morning
Bedroom
Breakfast room
If you are thinking about Ireland as a holiday destination, please make sure you include Galway and if you love scenic country and country pursuits, get yourself to Connemara and find Ballynahich Castle. It is in a secluded, woody glen hugging the river and you can see how it would have been lived in by the owners of the estate, dating back to the 16th century (as far as I can tell from a quick google search). I know if I could live here I would but only if I can retain the services of the chef who produced the best meal of our trip for dinner last night. Every single mouthful was TDF, we have never had scallops this good before. Even food photo shy MGM said please take a photo of this so we can remember it. Those little yellow cherry-like objects are actually apples in a light toffee, which sounds odd but just worked with all the other flavours. As with all fine dining we got chef's canapes, a palate cleanser and sweets, before/middle/after our 3 courses. It was a real highlight experience.
This really is a place for the out-doorsey type, fly fishing and shooting etc. and they are very proud of their locally sourced produce. I just love the fine print disclaimer on the menu ...
"although every effort is made, small traces of shot may be found in wild game."
Plus we got to sleep in four-poster bed, first time for both of us.
The whole place was just so pretty, I had time for just a few photos before we had to rush.
Don't the fishing poles make a great room decoration
Here we are, rushing away to get to Dublin before Trinity College closed its doors - to see the Book of Kells.
The.Book.of.Kells!
The Book of Kells is is an illuminated Bible which is believed to date to around 800AD, and I was so excited about seeing it today that I could not sleep last night - think Christmas eve when you were a kid level of excitement. I felt like this is the way university is supposed to be whilst wandering around Trinity campus (sorry Western Sydney U, I love you but you're just too young to have this kind of gravitas).
The Old Library and THE BOOK OF KELLS!
Cue wailing and gnashing of teeth ... the BoK exhibit ... closed. I cried.
I did get to see the great room of the old library that was pretty cool.
We followed this up with a visit to the reading room of the National Library of Ireland, although I can't show you photos because ...
Naughty Dublin.
I got a cheer-up hug from MGM, who realised this was a jewellery-level event.
MGM always knows what to do.
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