Day 12: A Dream Come True

We traversed the Irish Sea today for a wee trip to Oxford. We braved plane and train to arrive in this beautiful city. The first thing we did when we got off the train was take a bus tour but we got off half way to eat lunch at the foot of this place, Radcliffe Camera. 

Ryan found this place called Vault and Garden. It was a place that all the students of Oxford used to congregate in the 1300s but is now a quaint restaraunt. The food was sooo good. 

Then there was this guy juggling fire...

Dinner that night consisted of dark alleys that led to an awesome historic tavern.

The food (and drink) were great, however, I hope they gave Elizabeth Taylor larger fried pickles..

Day 11: Caught in Time

Cultra Manor, a wee quaint recreation of old East Belfast including cottages, farms, shops, churches, bank, courthouse, police station, etc. Most of the pictures were taken with our camera, but we are currently unable to upload those, so here are a few shots from Ryan's phone.

Day 10: More Belfast

Please excuse some of these pictures as we experienced Belfast from a bus this day.

Would love to see this street lit up at night!

Belfast's Little Ben

The Peace Wall built during The Troubles separating Protestant Loyalists and Catholic Nationalists still remains, and there is apparently great opposition from the citizens on either side regarding its removal. Very humbling to see.

Queens University 

From the dome at Victoria's Square

Day 9: Ulster Pride

Saint Patrick's Church of Ireland where Saint Patrick was buried.

Church of Saul, the first Christain church in Ireland, planted by Saint Patrick in 432 A.D.

Killyleagh castle, still a private residence so we couldn't venture past the outside gates.

You'll have to turn your head or your screen for this one. We are having technical difficulties, and it is almost 1am now in Ireland (i.e. Too late to bother fixing). We went to our first rugby game tonight...Ulster (the province we are staying in and therefore the team we are cheering for) vs. Cardiff (Wales). Ulster won 36 to 17. It was good "craic." In case you haven't been following the latest rugby stats (don't worry, we wouldn't either if we weren't here), Ireland just won the Six Nations championship. 

Day 8: Trim

Trim castle, Hugh de Lacy's estate and the largest Anglo-Norman castle in Ireland. Also the site for the filming of "Braveheart."

Newgrange, a 5,200-year-old passage tomb.

Neolithics carved over 5,000 years ago...or so they say.

More trees for Madison.

As you might expect, rainbows are a common occurrence in Ireland.

Day 7: Dublin

Christ Church

Guiness Storehouse

Lunch at Third Space with Stephanie, a missionary in Dublin 

Day 6: Dark Hedges

Today was slower paced and more of a breather as we made our way "home" to Dromara from the North coast. On the way back, we pulled over to witness the Dark Hedges, also known as the King's Highway in "Game of Thrones." We've never seen the show, but after visiting all my of these sites, perhaps we should check it out. The Dark Hedges definitely satisfied Madison's fettish with trees.

Banofee for dessert by a hot coal fire. This is the Irish version of banana pudding...biscuit and butter crust, caramel sauce, sliced banana, fresh whipped cream, and chocolate flake. Lovely.

Day 5: Service with Speed and a Smile

Dunluce castle again. The interior.

Now entering Giant's Causeway.

14,000 columns of petrified lava.

Groupon deal. Authentic Irish food served by an Alaskan hippie hitchhiking her way to Scotland. Scene 1: Joy has just managed to get Oliver out of the car and into the pram (stroller). He is getting hangry (as are the rest of us who have just climbed a steep mountain). The wind is a-blowin' and the rain is starting to fall. We are met at the door by a young ginger who asks us to please wait (outside) 10 minutes while they mop the floor. So we wander around the rather tight car park (parking lot) singing and entertaining Oliver (and ourselves) while trying not to blow away. Scene 2: We return to the door only to be asked to wait 10 more minutes while the floor dries. "We don't want any customers fallin'." Scene 3: We are finally granted entry into the brilliant cafeteria. The only ones there, and we quickly figured out why. Ginger dude has to leave (after abruptly advising me to get the chicken pie...most likely because it meant all he had to do was throw it in the microwave), so we are left with Alaskan hippie girl who has only been in the country for 3 weeks and is staying/working at a hostel down the street. When Ryan and I scoot our table next to Gareth and Joy, we learn that ginger dude and Alaskan hippie girl didn't bother to move the table when they mopped. We are served up rather cold steak and Guiness pie (chicken for me), mash (mashed potatoes), and veg (carrots and parsnips). Alaskan hippie girl, who has just been accepted to the Alaskan state trooper academy, tries to console fussy Oliver with a rather awkward, hand-waving "A-booga-booga" that frightened even me. It didn't help. I could go on. What an experience. We all had a good laugh (and are still cracking up about it). Certainly some good memories to bring home.

Mom, you really do belong here.

We replaced our dissatisfying lunch with ice cream from Morelli's in Port Stewart.