Our final day in Northern Ireland. To be honest, I was ready to settle down and never leave, and I wish we had the cash to buy a smaller home that was for sale in the same rental community. I love the isolation of the Causeway Coast--it reminds me of some of my happiest places: Preist, Interlochen, even our home in State College. A place of refuge and peace.
This was our Bushmills day. For the Kennedys, no trip to Northern Ireland is complete without visiting the Bushmills Distillery, and I wondered if Gordon would like it. Something we didn't know is that September is the month when the distillery has a mandated closing of much of its machinery for maintenance and cleaning. So the usual noise and aromas and heat weren't present without the mash fermenting all around us. We didn't miss the nausea that sometimes accompanies the tour, but it didn't feel quite real either. At least not to us. Everyone was given a small bottle of whiskey for the inconvenience, so I'm sure many of the visitors were quite pleased ;-) I wasn't going to take our bottles, but the woman insisted that I give them as gifts....which I did once we were back in Michigan.
It was the standard tour (again, minus the mash), and John and Gordon kept it lively when we walked right by the cardboard recycling bin which held all kinds of whiskey boxes. Using his ninja skills, Gordon picked a box right out of the bin and stuffed it in his coat. John, not being quite so smooth, asked our tour guy at the end who went back to the bin and grabbed two more boxes for us to take. They are thick and beautiful and were the shipping containers for bottles, and they felt like souvenirs in themselves. The distillery has also built a stunning gift shop, and Glo found glass tumblers made from the bottom halves of whiskey bottles (she seriously always finds the coolest things that I wish I had found first).
We tried to visit an art gallery in town. Several years ago, we found the black and white rabbit drawing that now hangs near our library in a small gallery in the heart of Bushmills, but that same flavor of art wasn't to be found. However, I started to gather little trinkets that I could bring home for Mr. Knapp, and I found a candle that smells like the Irish countryside.
Gordon had spent the week looking for a cookbook that would help him make many of the breads that we
had been sampling throughout the week. A woman at the Giant's Causeway had suggested a bookstore in Coleraine called Waterstones. While Coleraine felt a bit in decline, Waterstones was a treasure in the heart of the Füssgänger Zone. I helped Gordon find two books that looked promising, we found a game that Rebecca might like for Christmas, and I found an English edition of Harry Potter that had a beautiful cover.
We also headed to Tesco so that we could buy 30 packets of Colman's seasonings and roasting bags. I am seriously so excited to have those for quick dinners. And we might have grabbed more Haribo and more Cadbury and more Milka. And Leibniz ;-)
That evening, we headed back to town for our final meal in Bushmills, and there's no place like the Bushmills Inn. It hearkens back to a time when servers were trained, and when chefs are cooking the food, and when white table cloths are used. Everything was perfect. And for last time, I had sticky toffee pudding again, something I wish I knew how to make!
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| A perfectly cooked steak served with peppercorn sauce |
We had to grab a photo of the Bridges on Bridge street too, especially with Glo wearing her "Mrs." honeymoon sweatshirt <3
That night, we packed up everything. We played couple games of Stone Age with Glo, and it was off to bed. It was hard to believe it was all coming to an end.
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