Today was the first day we had completely free to ourselves and nothing scheduled on our itinerary, which after being in Ireland for over a week I think all of us needed. Mr. Slevin provided a full breakfast as usual. After breakfast two of us took Mr. Slevin’s dog, Clay, for a walk around a few blocks near the lodge. He seemed very happy to be out, and is apparently very well known around this city. Once we all were together again we decided to begin tackling some much needed chores such as catching up on homework and getting laundry together for the house maid to bring to the cleaners. Some of us were getting down to our last set of clothes, so this was a much-needed chore to be done.
The rest of the day consisted of a few different activities. First we went to lunch at The Ice Warf, one of the local restaurants that we have adopted as a regular place for us to eat. Fish and chips, burgers, soups, and salads all ended up on the table. We then walked to and across the Peace Bridge, some of us for the first time since we have been in this city. The walk was very cold and windy; especially as some light rain begin to come down on us. Despite the rain, we decided to continue our walk around the city. Our journey led us south past Peace Bridge, then eventually back to the old walls where we made a loop around the city and back over toward our lodging. During our walk we noticed that many businesses were closed, which is what we had expected since it was Sunday. At times groups of people would be walking around together in various directions, presumably walking home from Mass. We were also lucky enough to hear one of the church’s bell towers ringing through the streets on our way back home.

The evening was very lazy for most of us as well. Between naps, food, and homework, we mostly stuck inside the house for the rest of the night. Eventually we convened downstairs, and decided to watch a movie together before we went to sleep. Getting all of us comfortably into one of the bedrooms took a little bit of effort, but we made it work.

Again, I think that this down day was needed by all of us. It allowed us to get some things organized and recollect ourselves to an extent, after going practically nonstop since the day that we arrived in Ireland