The Emerald Isle: Day 1

Yes, I am finally recapping our recent trip to Ireland/Northern Ireland!  Aren't you happy?  Here goes...

sunrise over the ocean

We landed in Dublin on Sunday, May 6th at 6:55am.  We had a nice, but fairly sleepless, flight over the pond and were excited to be on our way!  We changed clothes and exchanged some money at the airport, picked up our rental car, and proceeded to drive 45 minutes in the wrong direction!  Upon realizing our printed google maps directions were wrong, we stopped for a Dublin city map.  And then realized that Dublin is the most difficult city to drive around in; most street signs are either missing, in Gaelic, or on the side of a building that you just passed.  We had a very stressful hour or so of driving in circles where I recounted again that I did not have a good relationship with Dublin.  I spent a week feeling lost, lonely, scared, and confused there once and this was rapidly seeming similar.  We finally decided to park in a garage and immediately upon exiting I knew exactly where we were and we walked to our destination: Trinity College!

a building at Trinity

We quickly strolled through the grounds (I found the building I had stayed in, of course) and on to the library which hold the Book of Kells and the Long Room.  You aren't allowed to take photographs there, but we snuck some.  :)

the Long Room, Ryan's personal heaven

By this time, we were starved and took the recommendation of several friends to eat at The Queen of Tarts.  It was delightful, if you are ever in Dublin we recommend it as well!  We had a lovely brunch before heading north to Ballymoney, Northern Ireland for the night.

At this point, fatigue (and what we would later realize was Hand Foot & Mouth disease, thanks Liam) was setting in for Ryan, so I got to drive!  Let me just say that it was a trip!  We were in a manual car and I think the most difficult part was shifting with my left hand, and remembering what to do at the round a bouts!

we didn't die!

We arrived in Ballymoney in the mid-afternoon and checked into our lovely guesthouse, Country Garden House.  We could not have been more thrilled by the quaint cottage and lovely hosts.  They greeted us with tea and wanted to hear all about our lives.  We settled in and drove into Bushmills for an early dinner before going to bed at 7:00pm!