Sláinte!

Wednesday June 3rd

Belfast, Malahide, and Dublin, Ireland

It was a lovely, lazy morning at the B&B. Looked like it was going to be a gorgeous morning, absolutely no clouds. Of course, this is Ireland, so give it 5 minutes. 

We had a delicious cooked meal by the lovely owner Mariann. I had the soda bread breakfast sandwich, which had eggs, bacon (the thick Irish cut!) and sausage. SO GOOD. And of course, hot chocolate, which came in it's own personal heated pitcher that I could pour into my cup. Too perfect! I love Ireland so much.

Oh my gawsh, this was so good.... Ugh...

At breakfast we talked with a lovely lady from California who has been here in Ireland for 3 weeks with her husband and walked the ENTIRE Wicklow Way as part of a tour. That's 70 miles! She thought Steph and I were sisters, and also thought we were in school in the states. Hurray for looking like early 20's!!!

Our first stop of the day was Slieve Gullion Forest Park. It's just on the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Little kids from primary schools were there on a field trip and workers were dressed up in medieval-ish costumes. It was a little confusing to find that the park had been turned into place of giants and fairies, little fairy villages in the woods... The kids had to start by doing the fairy magic before they could go on the trail, lots of hand motions and twirling and we were invited to join in. This was the Storytelling Park. The owner wanted to make it more fun for kids, so she commissioned artists to come in and create stories and bits and pieces to make the park magical and interactive.

The Giant's book of fairytales! So cool!

One of the park workers! She explained everything to us about the park, since we were confused. And she was also guarding the dragon eggs, so there was that.

I wanted to bring the girls here SO BADLY.

One of the houses in the fairy village!

It was beautiful and fun and we think brand new because there wasn't any information or price or anything. We had a blast and became about 5 years old again. We wanted to do the 8 mile drive but it was closed due to flooding and poor conditions. So sad.

Driving back was so pretty. Just Irish countryside. It was really nice when we crossed back into the Republic of Ireland from Northern Ireland because it goes back to kilometres which is what our car is in!

Next stop was Malahide Castle, one of the oldest castles in Ireland and the last one to have people living in it -- 1973! That is just crazy.

I have a thing for wisteria.... And Malahide had a lot!

Look at this place! People lived here? Oh man.

We had lunch before we started since the next tour was at 2:00. I just had a wrap (but it was a superfood wrap!) and a fantastic shortbread cookie bar with chocolate and caramel. And some apple raspberry juice by the family company, DP Connolly and Sons. So good! The business is doing well!

How cool is this??? And it tasted AWESOME!

After lunch we walked the walled gardens waiting for the castle tour. It was gorgeous and old and so peaceful. I got some story ideas from it.

These gardens. I want.

There was a little display about the history of the Talbot family (who owned the house) and the stories going back 800 years, one of which got turned into a poem, The Ballad of the Bride of Malahide by Gerald Griffin. Very sad and haunting!

Finally we took a tour of the castle which was interesting and full of history and had lots of original furniture and details. Malahide is full of cool stories and rich history. It's currently under a restoration process, which is awesome, and there was a lady there from the national gallery working on restoring a massive painting of the battle of the Boyne that will be taken down and hung in the gallery next year for the massive exhibition as part of the 100th anniversary of the Easter rising.

This was SO NEAT. I wish I could have stayed to watch her work longer to see the whole process.

Malahide, guys. Just...Malahide.

When you think castle, you think Malahide.

After walking the lawns for a little longer after that, we drove back to Dublin, checked into the hotel, then caught a bus down to Temple Bar, where tons of bars are and more random shops. We walked around and shopped the very last bit we could, amidst the crazy amount of people, and then caught a bus back, and had to stand the entire time.

Oh, the river Liffey... I just love this place.

We thought we were gonna die a little bit. But hey, dying in Dublin? Why not?

We had a light dinner down in the hotel bar. Light meaning I had french fries. And cocoa...

Oh.....my......goodness gracious heavenly blessed days.... I'm never leaving.

Then the packing began. And wow it was hard! I was sweating so badly! Memo to me: buy less and bring bigger bags! But that's okay. As long as it closes, right?

I don't want to come home -- no offense -- but a break will be nice. We've been running around like crazy people and it feels like we've been here forever. And yet not long enough. I really love it here. A lot. Next time it won't be seven years between visits!

Now I just have to figure out how to drive on the right side of the road without a fancy navigation system to tell me which exit from the roundabout to take. We love Prudence -- aka the navigation system lady. She's our best friend and we would have died without her. Several times.

Maybe Rico will talk to me when I get back...but I doubt it.

Oíche mhaith agat! (Good night!)