Last Full day in Ireland

It´s hard to imagine that we´re traveling Back to Canada tomorrow morning, but our three week European tour has come to an end - but Kathleen and Gerry ensured that our last day was chocker full of new and amazing sights!

We decided to get in our trip on the Dart this morning by taking the train to Greystones to meet Gerry there rather then having him come and pick us up in Bray. It was a fun trip and the first time for me on a train in probably About 2 decades! At the Greystones station we encountered a group of nuns... I´m not sure what it is About a group of nuns - but you somehow simply MUST photograph them - so Kellei did...

From there it was on to Glendaloch (the valley of two lakes) where we toured the monastic settlement of St. Kevin that dates Back to About 1200 and had a very nice walk along the lake and up to a small waterfall after a pleasant lunch at the local hotel (that´s been there forever basically) From there we drove on a road that crosses the County Wicklow - there are only two roads that do this and they meet at a crossroads in the middle of the mountains - it was stunning. There was another waterfall, lots more cows, and lots of peat bog.

We emerged from this barren landscape to a view overlooking Dublin (with even more cows) and stopped for another photo shoot before driving Back down into Bray and a quick stop at the harbour. Two things About this stand out - one the HUGE number of swans (as you can see from the photo) and two, the fact that most of the boats are normally high and dry with the tidal shift. We have seen a lot of this kind of moorage here in Ireland - something completely foreign in Canada.

Gerry and Kathleen treated us to a final dinner at the seaside and we retired somewhat early to our hotel for the final packing session.

It´s a very early start tomorrow with a 0640 flight out of Dublin so we must be off to bed - we´ll probably try to summarize the trip upon our return, but in short - it´s been a bit of a whirlwind Starting with lots of information in England and Sweden and finishing with beauty and relaxation in Ireland. That said we´re both looking Forward to returning home and Starting to digest some of the information we´ve picked up and putting new ideas and experiences into practise at home. We´re not looking Forward to taming the 10´ grass in our Back Yard and any jungle creatures that may have moved in whilst we were away.

Finally - HAPPY FATHER´S DAY to both our dad´s me may be on the other side of the globe - but we haven´t forgotten you!

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