Ashford and Doolin

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So... we made it to Ashford Castle with out a problem, although apparently reserving seats on the train does not mean a whole lot here. At the castle (see the amazing pics) we had afternoon tea and then Michelle and the girls toured the gardens while Mike went for a run(need room for the Guinness). We went for an "informal" dinner at the thatched roof restaurant at the castle then enjoyed the live local entertainment in the Dungeon lounge. On Tuesday we had a rather large buffet breakfast and took a boat tour of Lough Corrib that Ashford Castle is situated on. We then walked into the local town Cong to mingle with the commoners and have a bit of a late lunch. Mike played 9 holes of golf and the girls relaxed for the afternoon in preparation for the gala event. For the evening we enjoyed an amazing five star meal in the George V dining room (yes big George himself once stayed at the Castle). We've never had so many waiters wait on us at the same time it was pretty cool. We then retired to the Drawing room for more local entertainment. Soon we became the entertainment for the castle staff who relished in serving us drinks past closing time and chatting 'bout farming, the weather, and life in general. On Wednesday, it was time to leave our Castle abode for the road... our tour driver picked us up at 11:00 at which time Mike felt pretty good given the previous nights exploits. 1hour later and 30 miles of Irish road, Mike truly immersed himself in the Irish country side... we'll just leave it at that. On our way through Galway we saw the Volvo ocean race yachts set up and under repair for their next leg to Russia. The we were off to Aillwee Caves on the Burin, which was were pretty cool (all the geologist out there would have loved it.) We made it to Doolin by 5 and Michelle and Mike set off on a hike to Doolin proper (our B&B is just outside of town) for shopping and walking. We then all met up at O'Connors Pub for dinner and some live music.

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Photos

Ashford Castle
Here's the Castle From the Boat

Gala Event
The Group before Tania's B-Day dinner

Doolin Proper
This is Doolin proper