Clontarf

Hello, hello! Yesterday we drove all the way back into Dublin, to a little place called clontarf.
We tried to stop in a couple malls on the way to do some shopping, but they were not open till 1 or 2  because it was Sunday! I guess everyone was in church? Eventually we made made our way to castle clontarf, where we stayed the night. It was different from the last castle.. much more trendy, and fancy. But not so original. The first was may have been a but crumbly but it had real charm. This one is just another hotel.. with castle designs. It's still cool, but the other one is definitely my favorite. Though this one is the biggest bed we have come across and maybe the most comfortable. I have to day, I suspected this country would not be Morgan sized but DANG. Corridors, doors, chairs, beds, showers.. lotta laughing ans making due . This was the days place he could stretch out. Today we plan to see the historical hill of Tara. A site associated with king ship rituals. There is a stone of destiny. If a wouldbe king fulfilled all of his challenges, and was a true king, when torched by him, the stone world let out 3 ringing roars that could be heard all throughout Ireland.

And then possibly  to the Jameson factory.

It strange to think that this is our last real day here. Tomorrow we leave for Chicago. How will I ever adjust to driving on the other side of the again? Where will I find jeffer cakes? At least I get to keep the fiance  I found here.

Belfast

At first we thought Belfast was kinda burning. Not a lot of shops.. we got a nap in. Then we went out for Thai food (sticky rise desdert!) and found a club of young people dancing and drinking..we kept looking cause the club scene is not really my thing. Pop music.. meh. We found a little club called "the royal"

it looked closed from the outside,but once we pushed through the doors, disco lights and lounge music blaring, or was a while different place. We ordered drinks at the bar,but the bartender understood me a lot better than Morgan,for whatever reason.then people started to say things like..been here before? And grin. turns out it waa a super local bar and evetyone knew everyone. They were all impressed with Morgan's height and we manage lots of friends. We say down at a table and just kept making friend.they wanted to give us the thumbs up,know where we were from,tell us they had been to Vegas, and hills peter hams meaningfully. All of them.. haha. Them the music changed to karaoke. Again, ALL country and oldies. Amazing. Then this guy who looked like a mob don waved us over and garbled at us.he was taking our hands and thumb-upping us so we kept smiling. And nodding. Colin bought us a don't of whiskey each, and was Berri friendly. Edmond was very drunk but very friendly, and Alex "hurricane" Higgins, the people champ of pool was all over the walls. On our way out,we couldn't leave because the owner insisted on buying us more whisky. What the heck, why not? He apparently loves Vegas, bud light line in alUMInum cans, and Americans. Everyone was great and I spent the whole time laughing and smiling. Also! I met a lovely may in the bathroom. 40s ? Mini dress and tights . She was ruling the extra risk of time paper around get hand in case there wasn't amount in the stalls . (seemed like a smart idea to me.. I followed suit)she smiled at me, then started to Bang on the door and yell. "hurry up girls"!! At the two stalls.then she started to dance a little and banged and yelled again "hey! Get the fuck out of there ! I can't hold it anymore !"Bang bang bang. She ended up knowing both girls, or being drunk enough to smack them on the shoulders. When I came out, she had her door open, while in full view , and said "jaysus you're fast! I'm still going." I told her I was afraid to keep anyone waiting! It wad awesome. The cabby we rode home with ended up being a best mate of the son of the guy who owned the pub. He showed us pics of his three month old son. It was a fantastic evening. Morgan's Irish accent gets stronger when he's been drinking, by the way. Haha.. goodnight!

Giants causeway

Was absolutely my favorite scenic location so far.

We tried to go to bushmills, but we were5 Minn to late. They wouldn't even let us in the gift shop. Sad face

Or GPS system shut down down though as Doon as we cruised over into modern Ireland, so that was... Fun? Ahem. We found out hotel.. and our room was really  lavender!  But very comfy. Actually it was pretty. The hotel was very nice. food was good too, and they had a photo album of the hotel being built up from this old derelict..

They let us sneak behind the bar to take the short cut to our room. One thing I have noticed here is that a lot of the shower heads are up really tall, so Morgan thinks he isn't going to have to duck to get his head wet, but then sneakily, some of the bath tubs are way taller on the inside, so you get fooled.
Ballyrobin country hotel did have a raised tub, but the shower was still the highest so far.. the Irish must be used to the feeling of rain!

In the morning, we got up early and headed to Belfast. We both think so far, that the towns are not as care and the people not as friendly as the south. It send a but gloomy over here in the uk. But, maybe its just 'cause we got up early..
We are checked in and about to take a nap, shop maybe that will give us a fresh perspective. :)

Galway squared

2 days in Galway! At the Eyre Square
Hotel. It wad am okay hotel.. like many of the places we stayed, it had a double bed and a twin. Galway is similar to Dublin. One way streets.  So we spent a good chunk of time searching for the parking lot.. of our hotel.. it was separate. Then we got some food. And passed out. It was a nice little place with terrific sea chowder.
The next day, we backtracked to the cliffs of moher. Beautiful!! Morgan convinced me to go over the "danger you will die fence" and we got some fantastic views.  I was waiting to be arrested, but sure enough no one came. But I did fall of a cliff and die. Superman saved me though.
On the way home despite the signs that said *food all day*, we couldn't any. We ended up at the Irish arms. Good food With a very charming host. He even did his best to make me a white russian . I've been able to get a few  of those, though when I once tried to order a whiskey sour, I got the strangest look. Like I was psychotic. Ha. After that we caught a showingg of real steel. The movie was okay. Hugh jackman  was hot . Fun fight scenes. Then back to our room to sleep. All that hiking and falling off cliffs makes you tired I guess.

Sligo!

Today! Horseback riding over beaches, bogs, and freeways! ! It was so great, then we checked in to the beautiful castle Markree.

It is PHENOMENAL. Just to get to reception we had to go through hallways and archways and up two flight of stairs. They was a lift, but then you would have missed the chandeliers and animal heads on the wall. Our room had champagne and strawberries waiting. (I planned ahead) and a view of the garden and fountains.

15 minutes to dinner,and I'm pretty excited for hot food. the riding was over really beautiful scenery of course.. You can't beat climbing up hills and running down them on horseback. Over sand and rocks and in the water, I loved it but it sure was cold!! ..and 2 hours long. By the time we were done, I could barely feel my feet!

Back at the castle we warmed up by crawling over every inch we could find. They told us that the castle was our castle for the night and we took them at their word. hidden stair cases, rooms under stairs, secret churches. We opened every unlocked door we found, and climb every set of stairs in the place.. And we even talked the front desk/barman/cook into letting us borrow the key to the very top attic room. Number 32. so we could take a look.
It was super fun!

Delicious dinner,then a pint in the hotel best when we met some guess from London three to film Irish hotspots for a promotional video. They filled us in on the hotel ghost stories.

Apparently in the room next to ours someone jumped out a single with his daughter in his arms, or.. killed his 6 kids? This castle was the kind to make you unsure whether or not you believe in ghost stories.. haha.

But we lived through the night, and are headed for northen Ireland. So, we will have to switch from euros to pounds! A couple in a restaurant told us how they didn't know about the change over, and they couldn't find any where to eat because no one would  take cards or euros! So to gain pounds, we will have to gain pounds?

Put a Cork in it!

We went to Cork right after Cahir..

And, Blarney castle was amazing! I could have taken a million pictures! In fact, I might've ! Haha.
It was so tall, and had all these amazing stair wells, and it had a murder hole!
I am pretending to pee down it.
There were signs posted every where to tell what the room wad for,and who stayed there, and it wad self guided. I love finding funny holes in the mal that you can barely see that turn out to be passageways. Found one of those at Cahir too that led to another hidden prison cell. You don't want to be in the cell that it's a down a good passage!
We got to the castle very shortly before closing, so we had to scamper around quickly. I was snapping pictures like mad when a tiny little man from 2 or 3 floors up yelled down that we'd better hurry up and get up there! So we ran up the stairs and up and up. There was another couple up there and the lady was saying that she was really too afraid of heights and she just couldn't hang up side down over the edge of the castle and kiss the stone. She thought maybe if she saw someone else do it first. So I jumped up. The old man cradled me in his arms and slid me over the edge. There were rails to hold on to, so I really wasn't scared.. and afterward looking down, they have an iron cage now. you couldn't fall off if you wanted to. Morgans turn! The old man held him too. He didn't seem nervous at all. Who's afraid of heights? Not us. (The lady ended up doing it too.) The top of the castle was amazing..you could see down several floors (since the roof was missing in the middle), and the view
Of the landscape was so many shades of green!!
We had to go, but on the way out, we stopped at the poison garden!

 No eating, touching, or smelling! Then to Darby o'gills hotel. We had some internet in the bar, along with a pint or two, and listened to the locals burst out acapella. To country music . That's all they played on the jukebox too . It was great. Very entertaining. :D Next stop galway!

Going, going, Galway!

Today, we had a three  hour drive...

Or  it might have been if we hadn't stopped off a million times. 
Also the weather was nutty. In the morning it was sunny when we look out, but by the time we got to the door, it was hailing, then rain, sun, rain, sun, windwindwind.. I bought water proof shoes today! My other 2 pairs were water logged.

We went to a to grocery store  for jam and bread, and cheese and salami.
Road trip food.

 Then! We went to the burren! I saw some horses.. they walked over like they were going to come right to me and stay Hiiii... But they stopped short. Cheaters.


It was gorgeous. What else can I say? You are going to get tired of hearing it.
I said to Morgan today, why are we going to a specific scenic place? The whole place is scenic!! 
But it was worth it.

 We did this crazy winding one lane road that had a speed limit of 80 km per hour. The shrubs were so high on either side, it wad like Google was taking us out to be killed. It just kept going! It was a fun little adventure.

   

Crazy rocks, and lakes everywhere. Check out his panoramas.
When we did get back on the road, I saw some kind of graveyard churchy looking thing.
So we pulled over.

We hopped over some fences and found rapunzels tower! It had no way in! Unless you had a 20 foot ladder.

Turns out it was for monks, to defend against invaders. There was a very touching grave yard, dating back to 1100s. It was well kept with flowers and decorations. Some of the graves were so old, they no longer said anything.








 

We saw a sign that said we could see the caretaker to get the key to get into the Abby for 5 euros. So we wandered across the street, and knocked on someone's door.. a tiny lady just gave us this key to borrow!

The inside wasn't as cool as the outside, but I did discover that the arch I posed in was apparently for pooping on.. 

 








one hour later we were in the bustling one way streets of Galway. Who puts their parking lot down the block from the hotel??

 Now we are safe and warm in the hotel room, all full from a very nice dinner.. talking about when to set a wedding date..!