Glo's Graduation Trip to Ireland--Day Two

I love Sundays in Ireland.  Going to church is always such a lovely thing. Or a brilliant thing.  We woke up to a breakfast at our B&B.  Not gonna lie--I had high hopes, and it wasn't as tasty as some others I've had.  I mean, when there's no PORRIDGE offered, Larisa is gonna be disappointed.  Also, I won't lie--after the nightmare of the night before with John, I didn't exactly sleep well.  I said a little prayer that I would be able to feel okay through the day and off we went.

Actually, we didn't quite leave at the time I had hoped because Gordon realized that his wedding ring was missing.  We spent a good ten minutes looking for it, and thankfully I had built a 15 minute buffer into our time, but no luck.  We asked the B&B owners to contact us if they found it (they called a couple of hours later and had indeed found it).

Church was so sweet.  I mean, you could say most anything in an Irish accent and it would sound heavenly.  Hmmm, I wonder.  Since the angels play harps, the national instrument of Ireland, do they also speak with Irish accents?

Meg had texted me, and we had shared that our husbands both check out real estate in Ireland, but she said that she wasn't sure it would be very easy to be included as part of the community.  I then told her that the people at church would gladly welcome us at any time ;-)

We changed our clothes in the parking lot, and I then drove quickly to Newgrange Monument, probably John's favorite place on earth.  I firmly believe in the spirit of Elijah, and seeing how happy (and almost giddy) John is when we are there makes me think that he has some ancestral connection to that place.  His knowledge of the place just spills over, even to me who has accompanied him every time we've visited.

The best part of the visit is going into Newgrange (versus just visiting the outside of Knowth).  It feels sacred and serene and special. Unfortunately, no photography is allowed.

John found a photo of a "piper", just playing some tunes.

Notice John's gash from falling the night before?

After our nightmare experience at Man O' War from the night before, I didn't want to spend three hours waiting for our food at another pub especially in Drogheda, a Detroit-ghetto equivalent area.  The top restaurant listed in Drogheda? "Yeah Burgr".  Not gonna lie--the service was fast, the pop was free refills, and the burgers were fantastic.  If I could, I would bring that chain (?) over to America.  We all loved it.

Of course, the best moments on any vacation are facilitated by John's humor. In the parking garage, John found a sign for a local gym, Exorcise...and no, that's not a typo. "Say goodbye to your gym demons" was the tagline, and Glo was happy to join her father in relishing the humor ;-)

It was then 2.5 hours to Bushmills in Northern Ireland.  I have learned that if I drive when we are vacation, the vacation improves by 98.3%.  John can look out the window and enjoy the scenery while I keep my eyes glued to the left side of the road.

I managed to rent the most delightful house overlooking the Causeway Coast (9 Aird Claughan for future reference), and it was a relief to move in.