Connemara (& Other Craic)

Last Sunday, the NUI-G Mountaineering Club's weekly hike brought us to the North Bens, located in Connemara (the region west of Galway.)

Farmers mark their sheep with different colors so as not to lose them among others if they're out grazing. We found, though, that this does not stop your sheep from trying to follow a group of NUI-G hikers into the mountains!

Barbara and I, "having some craic" as the Irish would say - meaning an Irish good time

The wind was incredible - but the views were beautiful!

Frozen ponds at the top (and lots of fog)

Funny things about Ireland: I'm pretty sure that in the States, they make you sign some sort of liability release form before sending you down a steep, narrow, rocky ravine.

Kylemore Abbey (in front of the mountain that brought us there)

A few pictures from previous weeks that haven't made it in yet.... Above, the Galway Cathedral

The first of many weekend visits to come - Mick and his crepe cart at the Galway farmers' market

Didgeridoo was a highlight of the continued parade of shop street performers...

...as was "Buddy, the invisible man" (according to our introduction by his friend)

I do actually go to school, really. The Quandrangle, the oldest (and prettiest) part of NUI-G's campus

Note sign on the left - NUI-G is a bilingual campus, so everything is written in both Irish and English

"Windings", an Irish band we went to see at local venue Roísin Dubh

With Lydia and Clare, friends from Fairfield U.

A Galway Bay sunset