Day 10

0900 GMT - Eamon was up early today, and Amy puts on the TV for him and we sleep in until Connor wakes us up. We have a light breakfast and take note of the rain. Plan 2 and heading to Kylemore Abbey is the choice for the day. The drive is nice and the rain is off and on. We drive through some nice areas and pass a hike to a location where St. Patrick once prayed...apparently there is a statue at the top, but it is too steep for Eamon to hike.




1130 GMT - It is a nice short trip to the abbey. It is pretty stunning, right on the water and looking quite nice.



The Benedictine Nuns of Ireland were relocated several times as Catholicism fell in and out of favor in England. When their abbey in France was destroyed by the Germans in World War I, they were able to purchase the Abbey from it's owner at the time for 45,000 pounds which they, of course had to borrow. They reopened their international girl's boarding school, with 50 boarders and 150 local day students. Their particular goal as an order has been to educate the women of Ireland. We walk the exhibit, the chapel and visit the mausoleum.






We stop for lunch in the cafe and take turns shopping in the gift store where a few choice gifts are located.

1430 GMT - We head back to the cottage by a different route. We drive along the water and note a large number of buoys in the water along the coast, and some sort of trawler. We wonder if it is fishing nets or traps of some sort, but there is no easy answer. By the time we hit the town where we turn back south, all the boys are asleep leaving Amy driving on her own.

1530 GMT - As we get back on the N59, we realize that we have no dinner, and know that our light lunch is not going to hold us over. We have a petrol station store right at the intersection, but decide to try and find some take away food in Oughterard. This turns into a nightmare, as there does not appear to be anything handy. We go into a grocery store and buy some pizzas and water as well as a few other items. We drive back to the cottage for dinner and another early evening. I still have not found the gifts I want to buy for Amy, and with only two days left until Christmas Eve....I am starting to get stressed. I don't even have anything for Eamon. We have decided to have Christmas Eve dinner and open presents on Christmas Eve since we have to be out by 10am on Christmas Day. Our trusty sheepdog herds us to the cottage once more.