Ireland Days 7, 8, & 9

Ireland Days 7, 8 & 9 First for those not familiar with travel package days, this was a 10 day trip. The day you leave is the first day, and more than likely you fly overnight so you arrive on day two of your trip. So technically speaking day 9 of this is actually day 10 but for consistence sake I’ll keep it at 9. :) So Day 7, we awoke early and headed out. First a little back story, before we left some friends recommended that we go to Bangor, Northern Ireland, to see the area where there had be a 24 hour prayer place that had gone on for like 300 years. I’m not sure of all the details but we decided we’d check it out. It so happened that the rental car company we had was the only one that allowed you to take your car to N.I. We also rented the WiFi hotspot from them too, a key to a later part of this tale. :) Also before we left we asked our prayer group to pray for us and send us out. A Christian is to shine the Light of Christ where ever they are and we wanted to have our friends praying for us, that we’d enjoy the trip but also be a bright light to the people we came across, if only in who we were. :) So the first reason we were headed this day to N.I. was to visit Bangor but when we had visited with our new friends in Dungarvan, we were telling them about our trip and that we planned to visit N.I. Fast forward to Galway, I received an email asking if we’d be interested in meeting their son for lunch at Parliament in Belfast. Since Belfast was on our way we excepted. Due to email problems we couldn’t get timing locked in but we proceeded anyway. That morning before we left we emailed both our new friend Tom and his son John, saying that we would stop just before crossing the border to check our email and send one last message, due to our wifi not working once we crossed the border. When we stopped we still hadn’t heard anything, so we emailed and let them know when we’d arrive in Belfast in about 2 hours and that we’d stop at a McD’s and we’d be there for 30 minutes if he was still interested in meeting. Of course we also told him what we looked like. :) We arrived right about 2 hours later and there he was waiting for us. That was cool. He then had us follow him over to where he worked. Yes he works at the Northern Ireland Parliament Building. He’s in charge of the Libarary/Historical Documents/Research. He gave us the Grand tour and also treated us to lunch at the Members only dining room. Now remember N.I. is part of the United Kingdom so there is British influence there, so lunch was Nice. When they brought us our main course they had those high dome lids on them! So much fun. We had a nice visit with him and learning a bit about Northern Ireland.

We then said our good-byes and proceeded onto Bangor. Where we got to see the coast and the Bangor Abbey. A walled area on the Bangor Abbey grounds is dated to like the 1400’s or maybe older. Bangor is one of the places that Saint Patrick sent out missionaries. It was neat to see the Bangor area but we agreed that the reason we were in N.I. was to meet our new friend John.

After Bangor we headed for our B&B which was just north of Dublin. Note Always have a paper map in the car with you. Thankfully we did but thankfully my ipad is smart enough to show our location without wifi and I already had the map saved to it. It took some work but we finally arrived at our destination. Next time I’m definitely doing some more traveling in N.I., to see the Giant’s Causeway and other places. Day 8 we again got up early and took the public bus into Dublin. When we had arrived we purchased the 24 hour Visitor Leap card at the airport. This gave us a 24 hour period to use multiple types of public transportation when we arrived back to Dublin. There is SOOOOO much to see in Dublin and it can feel overwhelming. I’m not a big city person, if I know the area and how to find things then I’m good but in a new place I’m quickly overwhelmed. I recommend multiple days if you want to really see Dublin. We walked a lot, checked out a bunch of the small stores and then we headed over to the Guinness Storehouse and took the tour. It was a neat self guided tour. It wasn’t till after I returned home that I read an article about Arthur Guinness that really made it really interesting. It was neat to see this piece of history for the Dublin area. I recommend doing one of the tours and/or pick up maps to understand where things are. I think I will return to see Dublin again but it wouldn’t be my first place to see. Of Dublin and Galway, Galway felt easier to visit and see. Day 9 and it was time to say Good-bye and head for home. It was such a Wonderful trip! Way to quick and still had a mile long list of things to see but it was good. It had been a trip over 20 years in the making/dreaming and I had finally done it. I was So glad I had my brother with me to make the memories with. When you come home you have someone to say, Remember that or this… It seems surreal that I was actually over there. It never felt that I was international, that I was in a different country. I felt like I was at home. I can understand why when our Irish ancestors came to America, why they settled where they did. It is beautiful over there and so much heritage and history. Someday I hope to return for a much longer visit.   And that folks was our trip to Ireland. I would love to hear what you thought. Has it made you interested in going or at least interested in searching out your roots? I’m glad I got to go, now hopefully I can get my dad on that plane and send him, he’s been waiting much longer than I. It’s your turn now.