Carrickfergus Castle, and helloooooooo Dublin!

    Because Kaia and Tess wouldn't forgive me if I left out any castles, I want to mention that before we arrived in Dublin last night, we made a stop at Carrickfergus Castle, in Northern Ireland.  "Carrickfergus" means "Rock of Fergus."  (and remember, Carrick-a-Rede means "Rock in the road."  Who can guess what "Carrick" means in Gaelic?)  Apparently, King Fergus sailed for Ireland, having heard of a fresh water spring in the rock that would cure all diseases- handy, since he had leprosy.  Alas for him, his ship sank at sea.   But there really was a spring,  later chiseled into a well.  We'll never know if it would have cured leprosy, but the well did help those trapped in the Keep of the castle during various sieges survive.  

Here's a photo of the well.  Oh sure, I'll post a picture of a plastic disc you can't see through.  The well really is under there, though, so use your imagination!

   I don't have a photo of the castle itself. It was cold and raining outside, so we didn't wander the grounds much. I was going to take a picture when we left, but I was so hungry I practically ran out of the castle in desperate search for food other than my own hands, which were beginning to look very tasty.

    Speaking of eating....

In order to get to Dublin, we were going to drop off the car we'd been using with David's parents, who would then drive us to the bus station in Belfast.  But Betty and Tom had bigger plans.  They were going to take us up to Belfast Castle.  But since it was so cold out, they settled on simply serving us lunch.  And by lunch I mean: stuffed chicken, slices of pork, vegetable quiche, smoked mackerel, wheaten bread, scones, homemade chips (fries), salad, apple crumble with custard, ice cream with jello for the girls, chocolate covered cookies, and endless amounts of tea, all along with lovely, cheerful conversation.  We could have spent much longer there if we hadn't had to hurry out to catch the bus.  Betty and Tom did the reputation of Irish hospitality very, very proud!  

    We arrived in Dublin fairly late and made our way to our second house of the trip, this one on the outskirts of the city.  The house is fantastic.  Lots of toys, books, and dress-ups for the girls, lots of cookbooks, books of Celtic fairy tales, and endless Irish guide books for me, and space to practice and wireless internet for Michael.  It's within walking distance of the tram, so it will be very easy to  get downtown.  

  We explored Dublin itself today, both on foot and on a "hop-on hop-off" tour bus.  And it was....crowded.  And loud.  And pretty much like any other city- full of shops, restaurants, people, some pretty buildings, more shops, more people, and an occasional park.

    Oh, poor Dublin.  It doesn't deserve to be talked about like that.  It's a city rich with history and culture.  It's just that we went from this:

To this:

Tell me you wouldn't resent it, too.

Sigh.

Hi.  My name is Jodi.  I've lived in a rural state for 11 years and just spent the last two weeks in one of the remotest parts of Ireland (Antrim, as in County Antrim, which includes the part of the North where we were staying, by the way, translates as "Isolated Place.")

    But I'm not the only one who was less than enthralled with the city. 

Okay, okay, okay.

I'm sure Dublin will win me over in the end.  And Michael is completely in his element, and he does deserve a turn, for goodness sake!

But the first sunny day, we're heading out of town and down to Newgrange.

Just for the record.