June 22, 2019

        For my last day in Dublin, I took a guided tour to the Cliffs of Moher and Galway. The first stop on the trip was to the Barack Obama Plaza, which is really just a glorified gas station. It's run by Barack's eighth cousin, Henry (Henry the eighth, as they call him), who wanted to name something in Ireland after his cousin came to visit one year (maybe like 2011?). The plaza has a lot of restaurants and snacks, so it was a nice start to the trip. Next stop was the cliffs, which were beautiful! There was a nice Dutch boy on the trip with me who was also traveling alone (named Ger), so we wandered the cliffs together and took pictures for each other. Something fun that I didn't expect to see were puffins! Very cute. I also bought a handmade Claddagh ring from a vendor at the cliffs, and a necklace with my name on it, if only because I was excited to find something that said Elaine after a lifetime of "Ryan" magnets. After we left the cliffs we attempted to travel to Galway, but the bus broke down on the side of the road. After sitting for about an hour, we finally gathered up enough water to cool the engine to the point where we could get to a nearby town. Ger and I went to grab a drink while a mechanic came and fixed up the bus. After the bus was fixed we finally made it to Galway! It wasn't exactly what I expected--more chain stores and less live music--but still very fun! Ger and I walked around, saw a street musician, window shopped a bit and grabbed dinner before going back to the bus. Ger stayed in Galway, so I was alone on the way back and I mostly napped. Overall a very fun tour! I loved our driver and guide, and everybody was fun and friendly.