Ireland

We flew into Dublin from London and went to the Guinness Storehouse the first evening. We also saw the Brazen Head, a bar that was opened in 1198. We walked around a bit, saw the Temple Bar that is used in some movies and just checked out some of the sights. We didn't spend too much time in the city. I was more excited to go see the scenic views of Northern and Western Ireland. Southern Ireland was sadly going to have to wait.

These sounded disgusting!

When in Ireland, we buy shamrock-flavored things...

The next day, Evan and Danny weren't feeling well, so only Eli and Embry came with me to Northern Ireland. It was simply an amazing day and I was sad they missed it. The views were breathtaking! This was the only sign (below) to show that we were crossing into northern Ireland. 

Even though these pictures are through the bus window, this gives a glimpse of how beautiful it was.

Our first stop was Dunluce Castle. 

There were sheep everywhere!

Our next stop was Giant's Causeway. We had the best time there. The kids loved climbing all over the volcano-formed rocks.

If you look closely at the side of the hill in the picture below, you can see what looks like a cave with more volcano-formed rocks covering the entrance. It almost looks like a mouth with long teeth.

Our next stop was supposed to be an amazing view and the experience of the rope bridge, but this is what we saw instead (see below). 

This is what we were supposed to have seen and walked on. I'm not disappointed--it looks terrifying to me!

The next stop is the Dark Hedges. They were gorgeous! These were used in the Game of Thrones.

Finally, we ended in Belfast. We decided to go to the Titanic Museum. This was were they built the ship.

Embry wanted the ring in the gift shop and paid for it with her own money.

The next day, we went to the west side of Ireland to see the Cliffs of Moher, Kilmacduagh Abbey, and the city of Galway.

We had only a couple of minutes before the fog settled in at the Cliffs of Moher (used in Princess Bride, Harry Potter, Star Wars, etc). It lifted again about 15 minutes later, and then came back for the rest of the time. We were so glad to see what we did. You can see (in the first and final family picture) what it looked like when the fog settled in.

Next we stopped by this scenic area and climbed over the rocks. A past glacier had cut into this area and there were hills that looked like shelves behind me, but I didn't get a good photo of it.

Our guide called this a Leprechaun castle.

These shots are through the window, but I loved seeing the buildings with thatched roofs.

Kilmacduagh Abbey

We ate and walked around the city of Galway.

The last day in Ireland was really low key. Danny took a tour of the Jameson Distillery while we went to a playground to wait on him. We were going to have to get up around 1:30am the next day, so we then took a bus up to our hotel by the airport. It was nice not to be on the go after a long (but wonderful!) trip.