You step onto the road

"You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to." JRR Tolkien

We have been having some lovely, quiet days in Ennis. Sheldon is still a bit off kilter with a cold, we think the cliffs may have agitated his lungs, too much too soon and cold and damp. He is on the mend however, partly due to the quiet days! We found ourselves quite a bit further out of town than the website indicated when we booked. As we have been flying by the seat of our pants for this trip it seems you run in to these little "problems" now and then. Such as the popular "map says a kilometre". So the website showed two kilometres to town centre when it is actually two miles, and I have managed to walk there and back a few days this week. Kelsey and I went in the first day here for groceries and cabbed it back, we bought food for the week, which is so fun for me because I love all the different items! Plus it's nice to cook, we have still managed to order dinner in twice this week but, trust me, that is much less! Ross and I walked in one day to find shops closed but Cafe open, so we had a snack and a visit. Then we went in again so he could get a book to read! We have been having issues with wifi disappearing and it has been a bit of a blessing, both boys are reading novels! We only have five tv channels and one is in Gaelic, a language like non other we've encountered so far. Beautiful, but unlike the Scandinavian languages, I can hardly pick out any similarities to English. It's really neat, and it is said to be making a comeback which I like, I think it should. As intimidating as it is to not understand a word being spoken, I like encountering the different languages. Maybe it's because most people we speak to also know English! The English here is spoken in that BEAUTIFUL Irish accent (obviously) and I can not get enough, I am going to miss it SO much when we leave.

We are heading to a small village in a few days and will have a bunch of connections to make to get there, a long day of trains. Dublin has two stations that are not connected by train, the Heuston and the Connelly. We arrive in the Heuston and need to depart from the Connelly to get up to Northern Ireland. We plan on seeing Belfast and area, the town we are in will be close to countryside as well so we can continue our lovely walks. Our way of choosing where we go next has Kelsey and I a bit topsy turvy. We are both a bit unnerved this whole time of not having a plan and spend much of our time planning our next destination. I know most of you are thinking "that sounds fun" and there are aspects of it that are, and I am not complaining of the predicament in which we find ourselves, but my brain is more often in the "what if we have to sleep in a train station?"department rather than the "wow this is fun!"place. What I am finding the most interesting, is that we seem to end up exactly where we should be. Scenarios such as chosing Delft and THEN I learned it was Vermeers hometown. This place has brought with it a wonderful lady named Avril, which has made a place that could be a frustrating disaster, into a comfortable stay. It seems like everything is working out, I hope it continues this way! We have run in to a bit of an issue with the trains in France, we have learned that we need to make reservations for all, even though we have passes. That in itself is no big deal, but they have limited seating for eurail passes and recommend booking months in advance! Plus, we haven't been able to reserve online. So when you don't plan in advance you may end up in a couple difficult situations. For us, worst case scenario is we have to pay for something  we've already technically paid for which is disappointing. We've also underestimated the time needed to see all these wonderful places. We won't be making it to Britain or Scotland, part of this is because we are tired and enjoy our longer stays in one place. Part of it is the travelling, trains and ferries and planes are different when you are carrying a thirty five pound bag on your back and  worrying about four other people! So we are simplifying and will be missing out on some stuff. Again, NOT complaining! We are having fun, sometimes we need to sit and absorb what we've seen, it is so much!

So, I think we are off to Bunratty folk park this am, as long is Sheldon is up for it! It's touristy, but we haven't done that for a bit. Wouldn't trade what we are doing for anything but miss home and all you in it. We were marvelling how it can feel as though we have been gone ages, and yet some parts seems like yesterday, and how it seems as though we have only days to plan for and not enough time to see everything, and its still two months left! Anyway, off to see where my feet take me today. XO