Today was the best day in Ireland so far, in my opinion. When I dreamed about coming to Ireland... this is exactly the day I had pictured in my head. We spent 24 euro to take a tour today, and it was the best 24 euro I've ever spent. Take a little time to read this post, and click the photos to make them big... they're worth it. Although the pictures never do the scene justice.. the pictures are pretty cool too. And there's a lot of them :)
Here's how it went down.
We started early, 7:40am. Grabbed the bus, which was painful for most people considering the night we had last night. Took the bus into town, and still had some time before the tour began, so grabbed some Burger King! We met our guide, Martin, at 8:50am and hopped on his bus. Some people got sick on the ride... they chundered. I won't say names, but you may be able to guess.



Our tour guide was fantastic. We stopped at tons of little villages on the way to Wicklow, and many times he would come over the PA to tell us some history and little secrets of the areas. Our first stop was only about 30 minutes away. We stopped in the town of Dun Laoghaire. (Pronounced: Done-Leary.) He told us the history of the town and the king it was named after. If you have ever seen the movie PS. I love you, this is the town it was based in and some parts were filmed in. We didn't run into Gerard Butler though. Unfortunately.




After we left Dun Laoghaire, we had about an hour till the next stop (hence the bathroom break pictured earlier.) He played Irish music on the bus and told us fun facts about all the towns we drove through.

Our next stop was only for about a half hour, but it was absolutely amazing. My favorite stop by far. These pictures are pretty great, but will never do it justice. We were on the edge of a cliff, with other cliffs all around us. These are the lush rolling hills my dad always talked about wanting pictures of. It was so incredible. We were all gasping and smiling so excited just to see it. The lake below us in these pictures has several names. The nickname is Guinness Lake, of course, because of the black color it has, and also because the Guinness family owns some of this land and rents out the few homes around here. (Michael Jackson and Tiger Woods also lived in these houses.) The actual name of the lake is Lochte Lake.





















That was it for Guinness Lake. We continued on through the Wicklow Mountains, and made another stop just to see the bridge where PS I love you was filmed. It was filmed in this area, a little later in the season when the Heather plants were in bloom and pink. But all around this bridge is where they filmed, and on the bridge is where the two main characters met for the first time. So naturally, we stopped the bus. :)











So the next stop we took on the bus tour, even further up into the Wicklow Mountains, was at some waterfall I unfortunately forgot to write down the name of. But I think it was near the "Salley Gap."






So after this waterfall, it was back to the bus for a while. Our next stop was the Glendalough Valley, where we were let out for lunch and hiking for 2 and a half hours or so. As soon as we got off the bus here, the rain began, so we decided to start with lunch. We grabbed lunch at this little hotel and scarfed it down before leaving again to walk to the lake. There were two lakes in the Valley, Lower Lake and Upper Lake. (Creative, right?) Lower lake was close, but we went for the more abitious trek to Upper Lake.






























So, back to the bus it was. And back down the Wicklow Mountains. Our final stop for the day was a little, teeny, tiny town called Avoca. Established in 1723, they were a weaving village, and they still hand weave everything today. We got a quick tour and demo of the looms and hand weaving process.












Great, beautiful day. Special thanks to Mandy and Maggie for finding and suggesting this tour :)
9 comments:
WONDERFUL!
oh man, im so upset i missed this! It looks so beautiful and like you guys had so much fun!!!
Rachel, I love the photos!!!!!Yes, this is the kind of day I was wishing you would have. I love the picture of the window. By the way, when I click on the photos, they do not get bigger. So glad that you are having fun. We got your postcards yesterday. In today's paper it said that Govenor McDonnell is going to Ireland with his family in July. Will visit Dublin and somewhere else. Will probably tie up all the traffic!! Might want to show all your work friends the photos of you and him at the VMFA. Stay safe and away from the cliffs!!!!! MOM
haha thats cause McDonnell and I are friends and he follows me around. they should get bigger are you sure they dont?
This is the day I was hoping you would have many times over!! Rolling hills, streams, ruins, beautiful flowers........
everything I imagined you would see.....except for the chunder (yuck). I hope you get many more days like this!!! Keep up the good work on the blog!! Thanks!
Dad
Love, Love, Love the pics, Rachel! What a beautiful place. I was wondering when you would start to show "SHEEP" pics...and here they are! I'll copy the flower pic for Granny to paint!
~Les
Rachel, these pictures are amazing! you told me to check it out but i didn't expect anything like this. I know just what you men when you say the photos can't even begin to capture the expirience of being there. I wish i were there with you!
i like the use of the word CHUNDER.
and thought the blue light inthe bathroom was very unique.
keep posting. keeping us updated. and missing us like we miss you! :)
Awesome pictures today! :) Love all the group shots, very cute. I also like the picture of the purple flowers that were toward the beginning!
This is like a real life story book! I just can't imagine seeing it for real as the pictures are already unbelievable. You are so lucky. I especially loved the picture of you sitting on the edge of the cliff/mountain!! Fabulous!! I wouldn't want to come home!! The Governor's daughter works in our office and she told me about her trip there! Everyone I know is suddenly going to Ireland! Keep enjoying this incredibly special experience!
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