Day 5: Final Touches

It is so sad to say this but our final full day in Ireland has come and gone. We started out the day waking up in our beautiful room in Waterford Castle. I didn't want to get up but we walked through the forest to see the sunrise and watch the deer and pheasants in the forest. It was magical! Here are some final pictures in Waterford.





We then headed back to Dublin and spent the remander of the day buying last minute things and eating our last pub dinner. We are now packing and getting ready to head back home. We always experience this bittersweet feeling when getting ready to leave somewhere because we get very attached with the places we visit and can often picture ourselves staying there. But when it comes down to it, we are anxious to get home and see our friends and family.

We will soon put up ALL of our pictures from the trip and hopefully the videos that accompany them. We have had a wonderful and unforgettable time here in Ireland and hope you have enjoyed seeing this unique country through our eyes.

Love, Jason and Lisa

Day 4-Southern Ireland

Well, today was a little dark and cloudy in Dublin. Which was just fine, because we left it by train. We avoided the rain, and fled to Kilkenny, the former ancient capital of Ireland. Kilkenny is a beautiful town that is reich in history. We strolled through Killkenny's narrow streets to get to Kilkenny Castle and all of its ornamental gardens. Here is a picture of us at the castle in one of the gardens.



We strolled through the city for several hours taking in all of the sights and sounds. Afterwords, we took the train to Waterford in the South. We are staying the evening in the posh Waterford Castle. To get to the castle you have to take a private ferry as the Castle is situated on a private island. We are staying in the Presidential Suite of the castle this evening.
Here is a picutre of the bedroom. In the back of the picture you can see the door to the HUGE bahroom, and a second door to the library/drawing room.




We are off to dinner, so more from Ireland tomorrow!

Day Three-Western Ireland

Today was another day out and about in Ireland. Today was about castles and the natural wonders that Ireland has to offer in Western Ireland. We first started off by traveling from Dublin to Limerick to see King John’s Castle. Basically, it is like most other castles, but here is a picture of us in front of it.




From there we went to a place in Ireland called the Burren, which I think it means barren in Gaelic. They describe it as a lunar landscape. To us it really looked like a barren landscape; yet, in its own way it was really is interesting. It reminds us a lot of the lava in St. George. Here is a picture.




After that we ate a pub lunch in a small town called Doolin. Following that, we drove to the Cliffs of Moher. These Cliffs are the tallest in Europe, even taller than the Cliffs of Dover. The tallest point is a half mile drop. Here are a couple of pictures we took there.






We had tons of fun today, and will have more fun with castles tomorrow. We will try to get some of our videos online then.

Day 2: Northern Ireland

So today has been nonstop and we were up at 4:00am (that is 9:00pm yesterday for you guys) and got home around 10:00pm (3:00pm today for MST). We traveled to Northern Ireland, which is actually part of the UK. It was a beautiful drive up there and actually, the weather was fantastic! Our guide was telling us that the weather was better than most summer days. It was an outdoors day and we started out the day at this cool rope bridge that is actually within sight of Scotland. Here are some pictures and a video from there:





This is an unusual shot for the rope bridge because it is taken off of the bridge where there is nothing but a long drop into the Irish Sea. If you figured out how we took it, keep in on the down low.

After that we traveled on to what I had been looking forward to on the trip: Giant’s Causeway. It is an interesting legend on how it got the name, so be sure to ask us when you see us in the states. I love the shape of the rocks, because they formed in a hexagonal shape and rose up in pillars. Some people call it Ireland’s playground. It is right next to the ocean and the waves were calm and a deep, vibrant blue! Here are some pictures and another video from there:






We love each other!

This is a castle in Northern Ireland (one of many) that has long since been abandoned but I love the location of the castle.


We spent whole day getting history lessons and walking tours of the towns up North. We then traveled back and are getting ready for tomorrow. Cya!

Day 1: Dublin

We made it to Ireland! After a long flight and only a couple hours of sleep we arrived in Dublin and immediately started exploring. We dropped off our luggage and jumped on a bus tour that allowed us to get on and off as we pleased. One of our favorite spots was Trinity College. I know it sounds sad that when the two of us, who are both full time students, go on vacation the first thing we visit is another college! What can we say, we like to learn!! Jason fell in love with the library and I loved exploring the buildings.



We eventually made it to other places in Dublin, including Phoenix Park. This is the largest park in all of Europe, and it is huge!! The leaves are starting to change here so it is the bright Ireland green you would expect with splashes of reds and yellows.



We went on to see other sites in Dublin and including some shopping and visiting some museums and art galleries.
Basically, we are exhausted! Dublin is a fun and exciting town but we are excited to go and see the country tomorrow.