I guess it was to be expected that we would have at least one really rainy day and that was today. It rained steadily, all day long with some pretty gusty winds too.

We traveled today through the Connemara countryside to Kylemore Abbey, home to a community of Benedictine nuns. We had a substitute bus driver today because our regular driver had to take a day off as required by law. We rotate assigned seats on the bus and today Paul and I were seated right in the front. It gave us a close up view of the narrow, twisty roads and confirmed our decision to never drive in Ireland. We have a lot of respect for our usual driver, Dave, and today’s substitute, Clifford. Both managed to skillfully steer the big coach through roundabouts and around oncoming cars on the narrow roads. I do not know how they do it.

When we arrived at Kylemore Abbey, it was pouring rain, so we headed right for the restrooms and shops and had a cup of tea to get out of the rain for a few minutes. Then we took a shuttle to the Victorian Walled Garden where we walked the paths, checked out a greenhouse, and said hello to the Connemara Ponies.

The Garden was impressive but we had only seen a fraction of it before we were soaked and cold, so we headed back to the queue for the shuttles.

We then visited the Kylemore Castle that was built in 1868 as a family home for Mitchell Henry, a wealthy London doctor, Exhibits in the castle told the story of Henry and his family and the tour took us through reconstructed rooms from their home. The Benedictine Abbey was established in 1920 for Benedictine nuns who escaped from Ypres after World War I. We intended to see more of the grounds and visit the Gothic Church, but the rain showed no sign of letting up, so we opted instead to make our way to the restaurant for a bowl of soup.

Back on the bus, we made our return trip to Galway. The original plan was to spend more time exploring the city this afternoon, but no one wanted to spend any more time outside today, so the bus returned us all to the hotel. We were happy to have a few hours to just relax in our room before we all had dinner together in the hotel restaurant.

Tomorrow we head to a farm where we will see sheep and a herding demonstration, and then on to Knock Shrine and Sligo.