We've seen many friends since we arrived home last Thursday, but I haven't contacted our friends abroad since returning. I also wanted one last chance to post more photos from our summer. This is going to be a short essay and a hodge-podge of photos.
Mostly, I want to take the opportunity to thank our wonderful friends in Ireland (Oonagh and Jim), for hosting us for a weekend, to wish the best of luck to the Garcias in India (we can't wait to visit you!), and to tell Tiago in Oxford that Andy would love for him to visit us soon!
We ended our trip to Ireland and England with another visit to Ireland. I hadn't figured out exactly where or how we would return to Shannon Airport (on Ireland's west coast), when Liam asked me in mid-July if we could leave Oxford with enough time to stop and see the Book of Kells in Dublin. So we ended up taking a coach to London, flying from London to Dublin, leaving our luggage at the airport, riding a bus to the center of Dublin, visiting the Book of Kells, eating a quick meal, going back to the airport (where we picked up a car), and driving across Ireland (along with several million All-Ireland Hurling Semi-Final fans from Kilkenny and Cork!) to Miltown Malbay--all in one day!
The next two days we relaxed at the beach and listened to traditional Irish music at night--except that on Monday night, when we intended to go out to hear the music, we all fell asleep and didn't want to wake up.
It was a very relaxing, peaceful way to end our summer in Europe--and we hope that it is merely the first of many summers abroad!