Day 2: Visiting Our Lady of Knock in Ireland (Guest Post)

Ann is back guest posting about Day 2 in Ireland.

With literally no food in the house the first priority was to get to a grocery store or a place to eat. Hitting the grocery store the night before wasn’t even an option as they had all closed before we had gone to dinner. We found a grocery store and loaded up on food for the house and what my oldest calls “ the weirdest breakfast of the whole trip” as we took over a parking spot and doled out cups of fresh fruit with yogurt, croissants and pastries, plain sausages (including blood sausage) and sausages wrapped in a pastry, Irish Cheddar, and cheese sticks. I also stocked up on some Cadbury chocolate bars for souvenirs, and perhaps a treat for the boy’s and girl’s car.

Once everyone was fed we started the hour and a half drive to the Marian Shrine of Our Lady in Knock, located north of Galway in County Mayo. We arrived at the Shrine just in time to get everyone to the bathroom and find two free pews to accommodate the 13 of us and attend noon mass. There are three places to attend mass at the Shrine, the Apparition Chapel, the Parish Church, or the Basilica. Luckily the noon mass was held in the Parish Church, which was a lovely church that had just been renovated and reopened the week before we arrived. My kids were so impressed with the beautiful alter, stained glass and statues adorning the church, as well as the statues on the grounds of the Shrine. Sadly the newer modern churches in America, especially near where we live, don’t hold a candle to the beauty of all of the churches we visited in Ireland and Germany.

Comforting Jesus, what sweeties!

All the kids outside of Our Lady of Knock, after Mass

Ann's family

Touching the wall, 2nd class relic, where the apparition occurred.

After mass we walked around and saw the stations of the cross as well as the apparition Chapel. The apparition Chapel backed up to the Parish Church and was built on the site that Mary appeared. Inside the chapel there are beautiful large, white statues representing Our Lady of Knock, St Joseph, St John the Evangelist, a lamb and a cross on an alter and the angels that appeared with Our Lady. There was a piece of the original stone from the apparition in the wall of the chapel that my son noted was a 2nd class relic, which is an item that touched a saint. We spent  the rest of the afternoon in the gift shop, visiting the museum, which tells the story of the apparition, waiting on a few of us who went to confession, and made a visit to the Blessed Sacrament before we left.

Drew's picture of his memories at Our Lady of Knock, hard to tell from this photograph, but it's a crucifix.

We decided to head into Galway for dinner so we could experience a larger city and more options to feed our large crew. We passed through some showers on the way, but the weather had cleared by the time we parked. We were right in the area where the Claddagh ring originated. We popped into a store selling Claddagh rings and shopped first before getting dinner as the store was closing soon.  My son picked up a great wool cap that looked really sharp on him, while the girls and I bought a pair of shamrocks and Claddagh earrings.

From later in the day, but it shows Ann's son's sharp hat.

Once the souvenirs were purchased we headed off to find a place that wasn’t too expensive, and most importantly had room for our large crew without a wait, as it was quite busy that evening. We ended up at The Kings Head, a medieval restaurant/pub, that served up the most delicious fish and chips of the whole trip. They also served the worst burger as the burgers have to be well done. Lesson learned on ordering burgers in Ireland.  On the way to dinner the kids had checked out Kenny Joe’s Gelato, located inside a storefront that looked like a Hobbit House. The kids topped off the evening with a treat from this place, then we walked back to the water. There was a group of older kids playing music. We stopped to listen and watch for a while the little kids were happy to run around.  My daughter decided to put some of her Irish dancing steps to use. A lovely lady pulled her on stage behind the musicians to finish up her dance. She seemed really embarrassed, but I think it was one of her top memories from the trip. We left Galway soon after in an effort to make the hour drive around the Irish Sea back to the house and get all the little kids to bed a little earlier and introduce the older kids to some soap and a shower. The dad’s returned to the seafood pub and enjoyed some conversation with the bartenders, a pint, a fair share of Irish Whiskey.