Thursday!

A quick jump back to Wednesday night, as my evening diverged a bit from Billy's. After hanging out for awhile at a few pubs, I wound up at a rock club with a number of fellow Paddywagon travelers. A local band banged out all sorts of good songs (Bob Marley, Red Hot Chili Peppers and AC/DC, among others) that we all danced to until last call. This made it 3 consecutive nights in Ireland I closed out a bar, which I haven't done since my college days...

The big locale for Thursday was one of Ireland's most amazing sites, the Cliffs of Moher. This is comprised of two gigantic cliffs at the edge of the land, overlooking the sea. Much like the Grand Canyon in the US, the cliffs have hundreds of layers of different rock in them. With blue waves lapping at the bases of the cliffs, truly, its a fantastic site to see.

The path up the left cliff ends at a "Do Not Cross" sign. However, 9 out of 10 tourists we saw ignored this and continued up the path. Needless to say, you know what Billy and I did. We ended up paying for our sin, though, as the higher up you go, the more flies attack you. It was utterly disgusting being covered in flies. From what views we could see, it was very beautiful but we were better off in the park-sanctioned zone.

The right cliff leads up to an observation castle turret. Naturally, we went to the top of the turret and took in the views, which were amazing. Once you're done with the cliffs, you can visit the museum, which is built into a nearby hill (exactly like the Shire in the Lord of the Rings). One of the highlights was a virtual reality movie of a bird swooping in and out of the cliffs. Right as we departed on the bus, the heavens opened up, so we timed the visit just right.

We then struck out for lunch at a seaside town (whose name escapes me). After eating - I had seafood chowder, Billy rolled the dice on 'New York style' pizza - I went to the local beach. Really, it was a few feet of sand with large rocks. While hanging around with some fellow travelers, a powerful wave ended up knocking me backwards onto the rocks. Ouch. Some other folks got drenched in sea water.

After a few hours of driving and stopping off at another Irish town (other than the cities, the villages kinda blend together), our final destination for the evening was the remote town of Annascul. They have a dedicated Paddywagon hostel there. Yet again, Billy and I wound up in a 4 man hostel with the 2 other Americans and with our own private bathroom. Score. We had dinner at the adjacent pub (the only one in town!) and then began the karaoke. Michelle (who you'll meet later in the blog) and I took a stab at the B-52's classic "Love Shack" and later, Billy and I gave a faithful rendition of the Proclaimers' "500 Miles." Lots of good, clean fun. Since the pub closed at midnight, we all turned in for some much needed sleep. And if you're keeping score, that made it 4 bars closed in Ireland in 4 nights.