VIsit to Tullamore, Ireland

After our quick tour of Dublin, we caught the afternoon train to Tullamore. Tullamore is a town of about 25,000 people in the middle of the country. It's where Ruairi grew up and where his parents still live. It's a beautiful and active town and has many national government offices based there as well.

Andrea and Ruairi's mom Dell, picked us up from the train station and drove us to our B&B. It was close enough to walk, but since we had luggage they were kind enough to give us a lift. It was quite warm and sunny that afternoon, and coming from England, we didn't expect the summery weather, but definitely enjoyed it.

We settled in and after a bit met up with Ands and Ruairi for a nice long walk along the canal running through Tullamore and then into the surrounding farm land. I don't know how else to explain it, but it felt like a cross between Iowa farmland and England farmland. I guess since that's all that I know! But I thought it was beautiful, and there were many cows, sheep and horses in the area farms. The animals are free to roam along the canal, so we ran into a flock of sheep who checked us out as much as we checked them out! It was a great walk and good exercise. We realized we walked for about 6 miles! It was so great to chat and catch up with Ands and Ruairi. And luckily there was a pub at the end to cool down with a cold Balmers beer! Balmers is a popular Irish cider which we really liked. It's not too strong and they serve it over ice. Yum!

Ruairi's dad picked us up from our walk and we all visited Ruairi's parents house for tea. Tea in this instance means a light dinner, and Ruairi's mom had some cold cuts and sandwich fixings, Irish brown bread, coleslaw (which is popular in England too) and a yummy rhubarb crumble for dessert. And of course tea with milk.

Brian and I were able to walk back to our B&B to clean up and then we met up with Ands and Ruairi for a night cap drink at the posh hotel in the middle of town. Our plans for the next day included some sightseeing around Tullamore, then catching the afternoon train to the west coast city of Galway.