April 17
With Kathleen and I reunited after our Easter week vacations, we decided to take a day trip around Northern Ireland because neither of us had yet to explore the northern half of the island. Early Friday morning we took the train into Dublin and walked to where the tour bus was supposed to pick us up. We arrived right on time at 7:10, but as I pointed at the bus and made eye contact with the bus driver he drove off towards the next stop. Kathleen and I had to sprint towards O’Connell Street to catch the bus, luckily we got there in time before it left, but I was not prepared to have an asthma attack that early in the morning. Huffing and puffing, I staggered onto the bus after the tour guide gave us a hard time about our tickets. Finally on the road to Belfast, we settled in for the long day ahead of us. There was a choice of going on a Black Cab political tour or go to the Titanic Experience, and of course Kathleen and I were the only ones who chose to go to the Titanic Experience. Our tour guide once again forgot about us, and tried to not take us to the Titanic Experience, but the bus driver reminded him and we were dropped off at the museum, with a chunk of time missing due to his poor judgement. Needless to say we had to go through the experience quickly. We went through the building, fitting, sailing, and sinking of the Titanic on fast forward in order to see everything and be back at the bus on time. Despite the fact that we had to speed through it, I still thoroughly enjoyed every part of it from its construction in Belfast, to the décor of each room to the last telegraph messages from the ship, and even when they played “My Heart Will Go On” I started singing in the most dramatic fashion. After going through the experience at top speed, we came out of the museum into the windy morning to be told by the bus driver that we had an extra fifteen minutes. Annoyed and irritated that we had to rush through our museum time; we walked around until it was actually time to go.
With Kathleen and I reunited after our Easter week vacations, we decided to take a day trip around Northern Ireland because neither of us had yet to explore the northern half of the island. Early Friday morning we took the train into Dublin and walked to where the tour bus was supposed to pick us up. We arrived right on time at 7:10, but as I pointed at the bus and made eye contact with the bus driver he drove off towards the next stop. Kathleen and I had to sprint towards O’Connell Street to catch the bus, luckily we got there in time before it left, but I was not prepared to have an asthma attack that early in the morning. Huffing and puffing, I staggered onto the bus after the tour guide gave us a hard time about our tickets. Finally on the road to Belfast, we settled in for the long day ahead of us. There was a choice of going on a Black Cab political tour or go to the Titanic Experience, and of course Kathleen and I were the only ones who chose to go to the Titanic Experience. Our tour guide once again forgot about us, and tried to not take us to the Titanic Experience, but the bus driver reminded him and we were dropped off at the museum, with a chunk of time missing due to his poor judgement. Needless to say we had to go through the experience quickly. We went through the building, fitting, sailing, and sinking of the Titanic on fast forward in order to see everything and be back at the bus on time. Despite the fact that we had to speed through it, I still thoroughly enjoyed every part of it from its construction in Belfast, to the décor of each room to the last telegraph messages from the ship, and even when they played “My Heart Will Go On” I started singing in the most dramatic fashion. After going through the experience at top speed, we came out of the museum into the windy morning to be told by the bus driver that we had an extra fifteen minutes. Annoyed and irritated that we had to rush through our museum time; we walked around until it was actually time to go.
I'm obsessed with the propellers of this ship!
We took a ride that told personal laborers' accounts of building the Titanic
A reconstructed first class suite
"You jump I jump"
There she goes!
We so cute!
The outside of the museum
With
everyone back on the bus we drove off to Giant’s Causeway. The Canadian lady
seated next to us was having a great time as she chugged her second can of
Bulmers cider before noon, and all Kathleen and I could do was laugh. Before
arriving at Giant’s Causeway, we stopped at a castle that was the inspiration
for Cair Paravel in the Chronicles of Narnia, which was absolutely stunning as
the waves lapped against the old stones. When we finally arrived at Giant’s
Causeway, Kathleen and I had trouble finding the entrance, but when we did we
were down at the hexagonal rocks in no time, thanks to a shuttle. We climbed
all over the rock formations while the sun broke through the clouds and the
wind pushed us all about. Accidently, we spent too much time at the rocks where
giants used to tred, and we had to hurry back and get a sandwich. I had to hold
the bus while Kathleen waited fifteen minutes for our sandwiches to be ready.
Oh hey Cair Paravel
Giant steps for giant feet!
Giant's Causeway
Our last
stop of the day was Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge, which is a tiny rope bridge
suspended about 80 meters above the sea to connect a fishing island to the
mainland. Kathleen, with her slight fear of heights, was nervous about going
across, while I on the other hand had a rush of adrenaline and was ready to go
across the bridge. We both walked over the bridge, and once we were back on the
main land we made our way to the bus. Our tour guide then stopped us to take a
picture with him. It should be made known that he was a Notre Dame graduate and
knew some Saint Mary’s professors, so when he found out we went to SMC, he then
made every effort to talk to us and preach to us how great Notre Dame is.
Honestly, we were still a little bitter that he continually forgot about us,
and he was not a very informative tour guide, but we still took a picture with
him. We were then on our way back to Dublin with the tour guide still talking
to us about ND, and not paying attention to where we were going, but we made it
back safely.
Pretty coastline
The view from the bridge
Looking pretty after going across the bridge
The bridge
No comments:
Post a Comment