Giant's Causeway, Northern Ireland- Day 15

What can I say about Giant's Causeway?! It was amazing! I seriously loved it and I could have spent a whole day at Giant's Causeway and the surrounding area.

Legend has it the causeway used to extend all of the way to Scotland and was built by a giant. Or maybe it was formed by lava and natural processes 60 million years ago. :)

Enjoy the pictures of the causeway and the area surrounding it!

Pictures don't do the causeway justice. You have to see it in person. :)

It's so cool that nature formed the rocks into columns... or maybe it was the giant.

I love this picture of J! Isn't he cute?! :)

We spent a couple of hours at Giant's Causeway! We all loved it including or maybe especially the little ones!

 

This is the view from the parking lot of Giant's Causeway. It's so green and beautiful! Pictures don't do it justice.

On our way back to Belfast (and not too far from Giant's Causeway), we stopped by the spot where we could hike to Carrick-A-Rede Rope Bridge, but alas the trail was closed for the day and we weren't able to go. It was okay, though, because the view from the parking lot was gorgeous! 

Looking out at the view from the parking lot of the bridge.

Of course, Dad, Matt and I had to get a selfie here.

Apparently that strip of land in the distance is Scotland.

We took the scenic way along the coast back to Belfast and can I just say how beautiful that drive was?! It seriously was amazing! I have no words to describe it properly.

I didn't get very many pictures of the drive since it's hard to get good pictures while in a car, but it was so cool even if it was rainy the whole time.

To see Giant's Causeway and then to drive along the rocky coast of Northern Ireland with the sea on one side and the rocky, green hills on the other and then driving inland from the coast going through the green hills on narrow country roads through the middle of nowhere in one day was a memorable and unforgettable day!

I have one more story about the day that I want to remember. I was in the car with Dad and Grandma this day and towards the end of the day before we went to our hotel in Belfast, we had a quest of finding an ancestor's home (which we knew was still standing) just a little north of Belfast in a town called Carrickfergus.

We found Castle Dobbs (the home where our ancestor lived) on a country road just outside Carrickfergus. It was getting dark and we drove along the dirt road that led up to the house but a locked gate prevented us from getting any closer to the house.

The owner happened to drive up as we were turning around to leave. We talked to her briefly and I'm afraid Grandma was sorely disappointed when she didn't invite us in. I think Grandma was hoping we would be able to go to the house and that whoever lived there would invite us in since we are related (although a few generations back) and that we would have a nice chat about our ancestors.

But the lady who lived there had no interest in inviting us in (and can you blame her, we're some crazy Americans coming to the house a little before dark saying we're related to them.) Any way, that my friends was the end of an amazing and adventurous day in Northern Ireland!

Stay tuned for more adventures from my trip...

New Grange, Ireland and Belfast, Northern Ireland- Day 14

We woke up bright and early this morning and headed to the nearest airport to Matt and Karey's house (which was about an hour away) to fly to Dublin.

I won't go into great details but I'll just say we didn't give ourselves enough time at the airport before the flight left and Matt, Karey, the kiddos and I almost missed the flight and Dad and Grandma did miss the flight due to being held up at security.

 

Dad and Grandma got the next flight to Dublin, a couple of hours later. Once we got to Dublin, Matt and Karey and family and I got in our rental car and headed in the direction of our hotel with some pit stops along the way. 

Our first stop was Newgrange burial mound in Ireland which dates back to 3200 BC which is actually older than Stonehenge. The picture above was the path to the visitor center at Newgrange.

Just outside the visitor center.

Can I just say how beautiful Ireland was (England as well)?! It was so green and breathtaking even at the end of January/beginning of February! I loved it!

Along the path to the bus to take us to the burial mound.

The outside of the burial mound. The white stone is not original but there are stones at the entrance that are from that time period and have prehistoric art on them.

The view from the mound.

The entrance of the mound. We couldn't take pictures inside, but basically you walk through this narrow, short (about 21 yards) tunnel that opens up to a small room with a taller ceiling where you can see some really old art on the walls. Although they don't know exactly what some of the art symbolizes, the tour guide told us what they've been told about them. I really enjoyed our tour. The tour guide was knowledgeable and was passionate about what he was talking about.

The tour guide mentioned that you can come back to the mound (but you have to sign up) for the winter solstice when the sun will shine directly into the back of the inside of the mound through the tunnel. It still amazes me what kind of engineering it took to align the tunnel with the winter solstice sun.

Matt and Karey and the kiddos in front of the mound.

On the other side of the bridge leading to the Newgrange visitor center.

After Newgrange, we stopped in Belfast, Northern Ireland to see the Titanic Museum as well as meet up with one of Karey's cousins and her husband for dinner.

I didn't know before I went to the Titanic Museum that the Titanic was built in Belfast and then sailed to Southampton, England for its maiden voyage.

In the picture above is where the Titanic was built right along side its sister ship, the Olympic.

 

The Titanic was huge!

There was a room in the museum that had the reports and distress signal messages from the Titanic on April 14 and 15. You can read some of the messages in the picture above and the rest of the pictures below.

I was crying through this room.

I took a few pictures in the Titanic Museum (as you can tell) but I was also trying to soak it all in. This museum was fascinating and it had so much information and it was well worth the cost.

After the museum, we met up for dinner with Karey's cousin and her husband (I can't remember their names right now), who live in Belfast as the husband goes to medical school there.

Then we drove to our hotel which was north of Belfast, closer to Giant's Causeway, which I will write about next time...

I moved!

Yesterday I moved... about five miles from where I lived before. I lived in that town home for 5 years and it's crazy to think that I lived there that long. That's the longest I've stayed in one house since I graduated from high school.

It wasn't just me who moved but all of my housemates moved out too. So it's been a bit crazy the past few weeks, packing and cleaning and getting rid of things and finding a lot of stuff (especially in the kitchen) that didn't belong to anyone because former housemates had left it. But we are now officially moved out of that old place.

And now I'm in a newer place with a bigger room and only one other housemate who happens to be my brother.

Also I just wanted to mention that yesterday morning we had a good number of people help us move. And later when I was by myself I had an overwhelming feeling of gratitude for those people for taking time out of their day (some of them at the last minute) to help us move and for my sister and brother-in-law for letting me use their van to haul my stuff to my new place. Although I know none of those people read this blog except my family members, thank you for your help! I really appreciated it!

My old place! It's been a good five years! :)

Bath, England and Chepstow Castle in Wales- Day 12 & 13

Day 12- I stayed at Matt and Karey's house and helped prepare the house for Dad and Grandma's arrival. When Dad and Grandma arrived, we just hung out and let them rest after their long flight and drive from the airport. (This was Grandma's first time traveling overseas.)

Day 13- Dad, Grandma, and I went to Bath, England and Chepstow Castle in Wales. I had talked about how much I liked Bath from when I visited the week before that Dad and Grandma decided they wanted to go there as well.

Dad had rented a car so he drove us to Bath (instead of taking a train) and that was fun! Although I saw the English countryside from the train rides I took to my various destinations, it was somehow different and awesome to see it from a car!

We decided that going to Bath Abbey and the Roman Baths were the two main things we wanted to do while there. Here's Bath Abbey again... and it's still beautiful!

I didn't take as many pictures this time around since I had just been there, but I still enjoyed it!

And the Roman Baths...again. We, unfortunately, were limited in the amount of time we had at the museum (due to our car parking meter running out soon and Dad not having the keys to the car to put more money on the ticket). ;)

I enjoyed the museum immensely the second time around too! I just wish Grandma had had more time there, but that's okay, she still got to see quite a bit.

After we finished with Bath, we made our way to Chepstow Castle in Wales. Dad had never been to Wales before and he wanted to make sure to get to it on this trip. This is crossing the bridge into Wales.

On the bridge. It was a beautiful day!

Chepstow Castle! The castle is ruins now, but it was fun to explore, nonetheless, and the view from it was amazing!

Papachka at the castle. According to Wikipedia, Chepstow Castle is the "oldest surviving post-Roman stone fortification in Britain."
 

These doors are really old! They date back to the 1190s. You can read a little about them in the picture above this one.

I, of course, had to touch the doors.

I love this selfie of Dad and me! Look at the view behind us. There'll be a better picture of the view below.

Although the castle was ruins, there was much to explore (or maybe that's what made it so fun)!

Dad and Grandma!

Grandma and Dad! They got to a point where they had to rest and I went on my own to explore.

I fell in love with the view! The River Wye.

Not only was it a beautiful day outside, but it was lovely day with Dad and Grandma exploring Bath as well as Chepstow Castle!

Truly Alive from Amazing Grace!

I've been anxiously awaiting the original Broadway recording of the musical Amazing Grace to come out. It finally did about a month ago and I've been listening to it ever since. :)

I love the CD and every time I listen I can imagine the scenes from the show from when I saw it. It was a beautiful show, the music, the production, the story. Anyway, I just wanted to share a song from it that I love.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGZQFNJMwD4

This song is the opening song of the show and it's a great song and I love the powerful voice of Josh Young (the man who plays John Newton in the show). :) Enjoy!

I also wrote about seeing the show on Broadway back in September.

P.S. I will eventually get back to blogging about my trip...