Connemara..

15th December 2009.. the official date of freedom after 2 gruellling weeks of battle against exams and I was glad that it ended with a not-so-tough Anatomy paper.. Swee San was in Galway since Sunday but I couldnt meet her earlier.. Hence, I decided to make up for it by bringing her to NUIG and also Connemara which is part of county Galway... After a host tour around NUIG, I brought Swee San and her friends to my house for a short visit while I called up the tourist agency to pick us up from my house.. *the best way to save taxi fares* At around 1030am, we were on our way to Connemara, where I met the other Malaysian girls as well.. It then became kind of a Malaysian trip because there are 13 Malaysians including us on the bus!!

view of Salthill

The view along the way was describable only in ONE word - MAGICAL.. It was really awesome and the tour guide told us that the views will be different every season, green in summer, brown in winter, orange in autumn and probably yellow in spring.. We made a few stops in Maam Valley where the most scenic landscapes of Connemara are situated, Scriob Waterfall, Ros a'Mhil and the famous Kylemore Abbey.. By the way, if anyone fo you have read about the Irish Potato Famine, I have seen ruins of these villages along the way to Connemara and it saddened me how they have nothing to eat during the famine..

ruins of the famine villages

Kylemora Abbey was once known as Kylemore Castle and it dated back to 1800 and it has a beautiful love story behind it.. Ta daa.. Story telling time ^ ^ Mitchell Henry built the castle in the 19th century for his wife, Margaret and their kids. However, Margaret passed away due to fever two years later and Mitchell never remarried. Years later, Mitchell moved out of the castle since he felt that it was incomplete without his belove wife.. *how romantic*

Kylemore Castle

After 2 hours of tour around Kylemore Castle and the Gothic Cathedral, we hopped on the bus and went back to Galway.. On our way, we saw lots of sheep painted with multi colours on their wool.. According to the bus driver, the owners let their sheep roam all over the valley and foe identification purposes, they paint their sheep with different colour.. Sheep are cute but they arent friendly, unlike the Connemara ponies.. The ponies are so friendly that they dont mind me stroking their soft fur.. =)

sheep around the valleys