It's almost one in the morning and thanks to the jetlag, my earlier exhaustion has given way to a childlike refusal to go to sleep. And so I blog…

Today we took a tour down the coast. We woke up early only to find most things closed, but where there's a will there's a way, and there is no such thing as an early morning without coffee in my world.

The bus was comfortable, and the tour guide was informative. We got to the bus later than most other tourists (since they mostly started in Dublin, they were at an advantage) which meant that we didn't get to sit together, but it was an excellent opportunity to chat with new people. I was lucky enough to spend the day with a Chicagoan (I asked and he uncertainly decided that's what they called themselves) who had been living in Galway for a few months and had tons of good suggestions for me.

We stopped at a castle ruin and an old abbey. We drove past several sheep, all colour coded and in the process of lambing- very cute! We drove through the Burren with its moonscape-like terrain and learned about faery rings and trees. Disappointingly the faerys are neither tiny nor can they fly. Apparently they're quite nasty creatures, and simply stating a lack of belief in them does not cause them to fall down dead.

Lunch was in Doolin, a tiny little fishing village and apparently the gateway to the underworld; that's a lot of responsibility for one little place! The beef and Guinness stew was beyond delicious. Then we finally got to our main destination, the Cliffs of Moher. The cliffs are designated as the top UNESCO site in Ireland, and are one of their more famous places to visit. They're beautiful and dramatic, but my main desire in going there was to get up close and personal with the Cliffs of Insanity and see if the man in Black had had enough of Princes Buttercup. I wanted to give him the opportunity to meet me!

The weather today was even more ridiculous than yesterday. Happily, aside from crazy winds and multiple bouts of hail, we had a lot of sunny breaks. I slept through as good portion of the bus ride, as one ought to do when driving through beautiful scenic areas, which meant that I had plenty of energy to finish the evening at a proper little pub with traditional Irish music and seriously good cider. But we have yet another early morning and tour tomorrow, so I'd best be kicking my butt into bed!!