Ireland Holds My Heart

Hello Everyone!

I have just arrived back at the Manor, and I must say, I'm absolutely filled with blessings after visiting Ireland.  It is honestly the most beautiful and breathtaking place I have ever been in my entire life.  I took so many pictures, and I wanted to share them all with you.  Hopefully you enjoy them as much as I have while taking them. I tried to include some detail on there as well, but let me know if you want me to explain anything more to you.  The link is posted on the page, and it will take you to my Facebook.  Let me know if you can't access it.

Ireland Pictures

On Wednesday I had my British Studies exam...which was interesting to say the least.  I completely understand why I am a Nursing major after that test!  Anyways, we went to dinner and got on the bus and we had a 5 hour drive to Hollyhead, Wales, which is where we were to board the ferry.  Everyone on that bus was fast asleep within the first 30 minutes of the drive!  But nonetheless, we got to Hollyhead at 2:30 in the morning.  We all got off the bus and boarded this massive boat- it honestly looked like a cruise ship.  We got to get a little bit of sleep on the ferry...and we finally arrived in Dublin, Ireland at 5:55am.  We boarded the bus again to get to down town to a hotel for breakfast...and then we were off yet again to head to Blarney Castle.

Yes, this drive sounds absolutely boring so far right now, I understand.  We spent a long period of time in transportation.  I was one of the only people who were able to stay awake for a little while on the bus, but I was able to see the most beautiful sunrise I have ever seen.  I wish I could have taken a picture!  But I knew at that moment it was a blessing to be in Ireland.  We arrived at the Blarney Castle around noon, and we were given sack lunches from the school and roughly 2 hours of time to go to kiss the Blarney Stone.  I had a blast climbing the castle and it was one of the coolest castles that I have seen thus far- and I have seen a lot of castles!  I went up to kiss the Blarney Stone....but I actually can't tell you if I did it or not.  A girl can never kiss and tell....The grounds outside of the castle were stunning; the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day!    I am so glad that I got the opportunity to go to this wonderful place.  It was full of history and lovely scenery.  But we had to get back on the bus so we could travel to Killarney, which is where we were to stay for the next two days!   




















We arrived in Killarney and immediately I loved the village.  It was full of bright colors and very welcoming locals.  Everyone was excited to see us there and intrigued by our accents, which was quite the opposite for us since we loved to hear theirs.  I spent the afternoon shopping at the small shops and walking around the town.  The houses and doors were all different colors...locals say it is so they can find their way home from the pubs at night!  I thought that was hilarious of course, but some of us found it to be true later on during the trip....I had dinner at the hotel we stayed at, which was the Falite Inn.  It was a really cute bed and breakfast joint that many politicians from Illinois had stayed there (cool!).  I ended up staying relatively close to the hotel that night since we had a long day ahead on Friday- the Ring of Kerry!

Red Fox Inn and the Mountains we were to climb!

The Ring of Kerry is a 112-mile drive that was full of scenic and breathtaking views.  It was a complete blast, to say the least.  During this trip I completely fell in love with Ireland, absolutely head over heels.  The sights were just beautiful.  Normally Ireland receives 120 inches of rain per year; our trip, we were lucky enough to get ZERO rain the entire time!  I had the best people on my bus ride; I had never met them before in my life, and they were completely hilarious.  From sheep jokes to singing "Brown-eyed Girl" over and over again, we had a great time.  The pictures are just breathtaking and I have a lot of captions on them on the facebook album, but I will share some of my favorites on here.  I tried to attach some videos as well, so hopefully they work!After the Ring of Kerry on Friday, we went out to explore the nightlife of Killarney, which was a lot of fun.  We were able to go out to different pubs and hear the local music; apparently, they REALLY enjoy American music!

This first video is the "Ladies View", which was one of my most favorite spots on the entire trip!

Torc Waterfall

Waterville Beach

Coomakista Pass

 This last video is at Torc Waterfall.  Again, it was absolutely beautiful!

On Saturday morning, we departed Killarney for Dublin, where we were able to explore the city.  I went to the Guinness Storehouse and to St. Patrick's Cathedral.  I did a little exploring of the city and found Temple Bar, which was a fun college town area.  My favorite part of Dublin was the Storehouse, which was INCREDIBLE!  I had a blast learning about Guinness and trying it at different points in the tour. It's definitely worth a trip to Ireland for.  St. Patrick's Cathedral was gorgeous- I saw a lot of my British Studies history inside.  It was a really beautiful cathedral full of stained glass windows and old flags from centuries ago.  

Sunday morning we had to depart Ireland.  I was so upset, but I was also excited to go back to school to see everyone again.  We had a great trip all in all, and hopefully I will be able to post more about each place on the Ring of Kerry each night this week.  If I included it in this blog, it would be SOOO long!  But it's late here and I have a lot of work to get back to- and some trip planning as well!  Thanks for following my blog :)

Cheers!

Taylor <3