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August 18, 2013 at 4:48 PM

Ireland Photo Tour 

Sunday August 18th, 2013

We arrived in Dublin at 7:05 a.m. this morning and after greeting our old friend and driver for this tour David Fox we departed for the first leg of our journey.  Today we traveled to Kildare to visit and photograph the Irish National Stud and Japanese Gardens.  Here some of the best-of-the-best race horses are bred for international racing circuits.

It was interesting to learn about the process, and how much these stud horses are worth and what they earn for the Irish National Stud.  They call this covering and a male stud can mate with up to 4 mares in a day for a fee of 9,000 euros (12,400 CAD) for each encounter. WOW, not wonder they look so happy.  One of the most popular stud horses is .... wait for it Big Bad Bob or known around the farm as BBB. One can guess how much fun we had with that today.

After our tour, we took some time to explore the 1,000 acres of farm property and the beautiful gardens.  We then continued our drive to the west coast and for the next couple of nights will be staying in Galway.  This is a beautiful area full of great photo opportunities.

Tomorrow we will be holding a photo shoot at the Cliffs of Moher and then down to the water front in Galway and the Spanish Arch.  

Enjoy this evenings selection of images from our first day on the Emerald Isle.  James, Dave and the Photo Tour Trekkers.

 

Bill and Marg ready to depart.

Gail ... one last double latte expresso, upside down, decaf caffeine .... you know.

Christine taking some close-ups.

Cottage on National Stud property.

Ray, Jette, Joyce and Dan checking out some of the stock ...

Frank posing for Kate.

I think Gail is enjoying this ... thanks Sue Smith for the image.

Big Bad Bob meet Bob ... thanks Sue Smith for this image,

Now who’s Big Bad Bob ...

Marg checking out the cottage and the beautiful colours.

Swans at the Japanese gardens.

Colour in the beautiful gardens, bee and butterfly stare down.

Teaser ???? thanks Sue Smith for this image.

Gail taking care of some of the gear at lunch today.

 

We will leave you with the beautiful B&W Dave shot this afternoon.

Thanks all for this evening, it has been a long day since we left Toronto.  More of Ireland as our adventure continues tomorrow.