Day 3 - Carrick on Shannon

Day 3 was our lazy day of the trip.  We stayed nights 2 and 3 at the Kilronan Castle in the Roscommon area.  This area is known as the Midlands (in the middle of the country) of Ireland.  This area does not have major “Wow” attractions, but is a great area to interact with the locals. 

Day 3 was a rainy day so we debated on what we wanted to do.  We could jump in the car at take a day trip to Galway (a few hour drive each way), hang out at the hotel, or go into a local town.  We opted to spend the day in the local town of Carrick on Shannon.  We ate lunch at a lovely restaurant along the Shannon River and then split up for some free time.  I shopped a bit and got my first ever Shellac manicure while Paul sat in a coffee shop and read. 

We then went to a movie, which we rarely do, and grabbed dinner before heading back to the hotel.  The movie was the latest release of 007, but it happened to be the opening night for the final Twilight movie.  We ate dinner at fast food joint in front of the theater.  The restaurant was over taken with pre-teen girls when the Twilight movie released!  It was fun to see these girls acting just like their peers in the US.  Paul and I ordered way too much pizza.  Rather than letting it go to waste, I offered it to the girls as we were leaving.  They ravaged it before we got to the car.  It was quite entertaining.

We spent quite a bit of time in our rental car throughout the trip.  It was considered a manual 3 door economy.  That is a good assessment.  It was tiny, but actually fairly roomy with no passengers in the back.  The boot could only hold one suit case so the other was delegated to the back seat.  Paul was pretty pessimistic about the car initially, but I think he ended up being quite pleased with it. 

I am super impressed with Paul’s driving while we were there.  We opted for the full coverage insurance, but did not end up needing it.  Within a day of being in London, Paul was driving in the right (wrong) side of the road and taking roundabouts pretty naturally.  We were very thankful for the GPS Doug and Zona bought Paul for the previous Christmas.  If you are heading to Europe, feel free to borrow ours or the map purchase is well worth it!

Not sure how shoulders on the roads came to be in America, but man are they nice!  Paul accurately described their roads as an alley with a stripe down the middle of them.  It is crazy how narrow they are!  These are some typical road ways in the Midland area.  There are lots of blind corners and speed limits up to 80 and 100 km/hr (50-62 miles/hr).  CRAZY!