We left Galway City early in the morning and stopped at Celtic Crystal, the most famous crystal company in Ireland, where we had a tour and demonstration. It was really interesting; one spent 5 years as an apprentice, and 7 for a master. Only masters could cut colored crystal, and this was so difficult and such a strain on the eyes that they were limited in the number of pieces they could do in a year: only 3 blue pieces, and a master needed a 2 week break after cutting blue (and couldn't even cut clear crystal), and could only do ONE purple piece a year. We saw Master Sean demonstrate cutting a clear crystal bowl; he cut a weave and claddaugh (the hands, heart, and crown design) into a small bowl in a matter of minutes, it was amazing.

We the stopped at Kylemore Abbey, a Benedictine nun convent in the beautiful countryside of County Galway. In the 1800s, a young couple spent their honeymoon at a hunting lodge there. The husband fell into a large inheritance when a relative died, and when he asked his wife what they should do with it, she replied, "Buy me the hunting lodge in Connemara and build me a castle." --Sheesh, that was quite a request! haha -- And so he did, but she tragically died before it was completed. After it was completed, it was left to a group of nuns who wanted it, where they still live and run a boarding school today. There is also a huge Victorian garden on the property.

We spent the rest of the day driving through the region of Connemara - the absolutely breathtaking area of rugged Irish beauty, the region that is probably responsible for quite a bit of post card profits. Returning to the bus after Kylemore, we also found out that our perseverence in trying to find a place to go pony trekking (aka trail riding) paid off and Jerry was able to schedule us in with a place! Liz and I had come up with the idea earlier in the week, but had had difficulty finding a place that didn't have lessons on Saturdays. So Liz, Amanda, Allyson, Morgan, and I were dropped off at the stables while everyone else went to lunch. Allyson, Amanda, and I rode actual Connemara ponies, horses that originated in and are bred specific to the Connemara region (where we were), which was REALLY exciting to ride Connemara ponies IN Connemara. Morgan and Liz rode other Irish-bred horses. We trekked along the beautiful Connemara coast and on the beach with the white sand and crystal blue water, and they let Liz and I even gallop along the beach on the way back - it was absolutely AMAZING!! I can't even describe the feeling of riding and running along the beach on a true Irish horse in Ireland with the scenery and everything...it was wonderful. High point of the trip!

After about an hour of riding we picked everyone up from lunch and continued on our tour of Connemara. We saw lots of sheep hopping along the rocks, mountains, lochs (lakes), ruins, peat/turf farms, and the real Gaeilge-speaking part of Ireland (no English on those road signs!).

Returning to Galway, we walked around the city a bit before turning in. Sunday morning we went to a pretty cathedral for mass, where they said the Our Father in Gaelige which was really neat. We then left for Shannon airport and our 7 hour flight to Boston, where we had another 6 hour layover before we flew into Pittsburgh at 10:30pm.