Bonjour bonjour! Wow, sorry—I am very much running out of ways to start these blog posts. However, the ILE is not running out of ways to start their days! This morning, everyone donned their swimsuits, and we headed for Inch Beach! We couldn’t have asked for a more WONDERFUL day. The sun shone languidly through a sea of sapphire, blocked only by the occasional stray wisp of cloud, and unhindered by the gentle, crisp breeze. Inch Beach was tucked away between rolling hills of the most vibrant green you could imagine, and most of the kids bounded away into the waves.
After a thrilling 45-minute swim, everybody traipsed back to the bus with dripping hair and huge smiles. Those smiles never left as we drove into the Wild Atlantic Way, and everyone began to see the Ireland they had been imagining. Thousands of acres of rolling hills so green they looked almost fake, stone cottages and tiny pastel villages, rush-filled fields of sheep and cows, jagged islands rising from the deep blue depths of the sparkling ocean—it was gorgeous.
We stopped next in the charming little town of Dingle, where the most famous person isn’t even a person—it’s a dolphin by the name of Fungi! Here, everyone ate their packed lunches by the quay, or indulged in a fried Mars Bar or ice cream (of course, you HAVE to try the Dingle Sea Salt ice cream here!). It was a reasonably quick stop, and soon we were back on the bus, soaring past more wild green landscape. Our last stop of the day was Slea Head, a jaw-droppingly gorgeous promontory jutting out into the ocean. Aspen and Adi tried to make it up to the top by running up the path lined with heather, buttercups, and incredibly squishy grass, but they only got about halfway before we had to head out once more.
Everyone took the lovely drive back to gaze sleepily out the windows, watching as the ocean sped by below them, sometimes drifting to sleep. We made it back to the apartments at about 4, where—once more—everyone made a lovely dinner. Tucker made his steaks tonight, which he has been very excited about! The boys have also been rather fanatically talking about building a blanket fort, so they finally did tonight. It was pretty epic—and they even invited people over to watch a movie in it.
Tomorrow we head off to Galway, so everyone is getting packed up and ready! Goodbye!
