Drive by touring scores again! This has been the best day of our trip so far, although it didn’t start out that way. We had booked - and paid for - a ferry trip out to the Aran Islands and back by way of the Cliffs of Moher. As it has been cold, rainy, and very windy, Brian has been expressing doubts about going because he is prone to sea sickness. His position has been that I should plan on going even if he doesn’t. I seriously thought about it, but realized that it wouldn’t be any fun without him and doing things together was much more important to me. He insisted that we go ahead to the ferry this morning just to see how rough the water was. We both instantly realized that he would be miserably sick and I no longer had any desire to go either.
So we set out to see the Cliffs by land, but when we got to the parking lot at the Visitor’s Center we found out that our admission would cost $25. Nope, no way. All that money for a very long and steep climb just to look over at some cliffs. Definitely not worth it. That’s when I looked carefully at the map and noticed a very small, faint line about a mile further ahead. It branched off the main road toward the sea, but had no markings. So, being the drive by tourists, we thought it was worth checking out. It turned out to be a very narrow unmarked - but paved - lane running parallel but below the rise to the top of the cliffs. After a short distance, an unpaved side track branched off directly toward where we knew the sea was. We took it and ended up in a little parking lot with a path that led to the top of the cliffs. The cutest gentleman, who introduced himself as Christy, was there to collect the fee of $5 each, which we were delighted to pay. But he stopped us from parking and said that since it wasn’t busy we could go through a gate and drive up a track where we would be at the highest point on the cliff. We did and found a spot to leave the car. We opened a couple more gates and came out at the absolutely best place to see the cliffs. We were on the long cliff walk and the folks who had gone in at the Visitor’s Center and climbed up to the top and walked a very long way to get to our spot, just kept looking at us, our car, and back to us. I’m sure they were wondering just who we were to be allowed to drive up!
After taking the pictures you see below we went back down to Christy to give him thanks and a tip, which he didn’t want. We had a lovely chat with him and he was happy to let us take his picture. This was the definition of serendipity!
But the day wasn’t over. We headed out into the area known as the Burren. “The Burren is a region of County Clare in the southwest of Ireland. It’s a karst landscape of bedrock incorporating a vast cracked pavement of glacial-era limestone, with cliffs and caves, fossils, rock formations and archaeological sites.”
In the center of the Burren is the Burren Perfumery. We weren’t sure what to expect, but wanted to check it out. What a delightful place. We got there 5 minutes after a tour started and joined the group. I immediately made a fool of myself by standing in front of the poster the guide was explaining, then leaning back against what turned out to be the light switch! Everything went dark and in my humiliation I couldn’t immediately get the lights back on. But after that I settled down and we had a very interesting tour of where and how they manufacture, bottle, and package their products: perfume, soap, lotions, and skin creams.
Before going into the shop I had a chance to talk to the guide, Sandra, about how to select a perfume that goes with your individual body chemistry. She went through a process of elimination with me based on the scent being on paper slips. When we had a couple of prospects, she skin tested them on me. We had learned on the tour about top notes, heart or middle notes,and base notes and how it took time for all to emerge. You have to give it this time to learn how it will interact with your body chemistry. The two that she used on me were very different. After about 20 minutes you could tell what they smelled like on me. The one that I was sure would be “the one” just wasn’t. I couldn’t smell it at all, but other people could and said it was subtle and amazing. But I learned that if you can’t smell it yourself it isn’t the right one. I was positive that the second one she put on me would not work at all, yet during those 20 minutes I couldn’t stop sniffing that wrist— it just smelled so good. I tested both arms on her, and on some of the folks that had been on the tour and they agreed with my choice. Now 7 hrs later I’m still sniffing my wrist!
Then to top off the afternoon we went castle looking and I’m posting a few pictures of old castle ruins.
Ruins of a church 
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