I.: a day trip, a night in a hostel and rock art

Hi!
So I've got some more pictures for you -- from Ireland, this time. Over the weekend (Sun-Mon) we went to the Aran Islands, the Burren, Doolin (and its cave) and scenic drives along the way. (We being 12 of us, coworkers, residents and children of coworkers. It was a lovely mix).
The plan was supposed to be: get to Doolin, get the ferry across on Sunday, stay the night in an Aran Island hostel and head back on Monday. And the cool thing is I planned all this and booked the ferry and booked the hostel, because sometimes I can be an adult. :) If I must. :)
But...the weather on Monday was forecast to be stormy and terrible, so the ferries made Sunday their last day. So, instead of being stuck on the island or being shipped back to Connemara instead (totally NOT where the car was), we decided on the day-trip-and-stay-in-a-Doolin-hostel plan instead.
It was awesome. The island (Inis Oirr, "East Island", the littlest one) is beautiful. There are stone walls snaking all over the island -- and not like the tiny stone walls you find elsewhere in Ireland, like the Burren. These are serious, shoulder-height walls. And a lot of the stones are on their heads...which begs the question how is the wall staying up?...but it does. Stone magic, I suppose.
We didn't get to see all of the island, since we opted out of the driving tour (which was good -- I think you get more out of walking around a place like this anyway). We made it near the lighthouse, and to the castle ruins, and to a cafe for lunch. And to the beach, although I didn't bring a towel (or anything resembling a towel), so there was no swimming. And we were hurrying to the ferry back to the mainland...so maybe a swim would've been a mistake. Unless I was to swim all the way back to Doolin. Unlikely.
Also, then we stayed on the boat and got a free tour of the Cliffs of Moher from the water (not the usual view), as a sorry-for-the-inconvenience-of-Monday's-storms. It was cool to see the people on the top of the cliffs, because I've been up there three times already. That's right -- I haven't yet been to the North, but I've been to the Cliffs four times. Is ok, though. They're really pretty. :)
And then we found a hostel in Doolin for the night, and we played some card games and watched some TV...and had a lovely communal supper (spaghetti, cooked in a team effort by yours truly and two other coworkers) which felt more to me than it does here sometimes, maybe because I've never been to a hostel with that many people...and it was interesting to experience our normal eating routine (minus the blessing) somewhere else.
And some of us tried to go to the pub for a music session that night, but it was PACKED (which, as well you know, I hate), and we only found seats in the part where you couldn't hear the music. We stayed for a drink...and then went back and watched more TV with some others. :)
And then we had a relaxed day yesterday, slowly heading back and stopping by various points of interest -- see above.
The Doolin Cave is this underground cavern formed by water dripping through the limestone rock above, and a passing stream, and there's this huge stalactite in the middle of it. I was torn during the tour -- partly interested, cause the stalactite looks like cloth from the way the water falls through it and because I haven't been into a lot of caves. And partly creeped out, because the stalactite was just a little too big (weird, but true) and because I didn't like the story of how the two men who found the cave crawled through a tiny tunnel for an hour and if they had come to a dead end would have had to crawl out backwards. I've decided I never want to explore caves -- I like wind.
Which, in fact, we had plenty of when we went to see the Burren (see previous post). We explored a different part of it, with very little vegetation and huge expanses of rock open to the wind and facing the ocean. It was starkly beautiful. And all along the rock there were little piles and formations of stones -- rock art. Like, actually, people passing by stopped to make little standing stones, or a tiny dolman (sacred spots from the Druids). So, of course I made an inukshuk pointing across the Atlantic (pointing home) -- and to do so, I took some rocks from what may have been other pieces of art, which felt less like ruining someone's work and more like continuing the cycle of impermanent (but beautiful) art that share the stones on that cliff facing the sea.
The Burren is most definitely on my Top 5 places in Ireland (and maybe the world).
And then off we went home, stopping for food and to pick up a resident who'd gone home for the weekend.
And no one messed too badly during the trip (I think it was enough just to be out of the house and routine and hanging out with new people -- the new coworker couple from England and their family came.) Yay meeting new people! :)

And that's that, for now.
Enjoy the photos, and here's hoping your week has been filled with moments of rock art. :)

LOVE.