Ireland, Day 2

Today started off well. We got up a bit after 0800, checked out of the hostel (though we left our bags for holding) and made our way to our meeting point for our day trip to Giant’s Causeway. We left Belfast around 0930 and made our way to Carrickfergus Castle. We had a small bus malfunction, so our driver was able to call it in while en route to the castle. Took about 20 minutes extra than our stop time for us to get the replacement bus, but was no worries. As soon as the bus arrived, we all boarded and got on our way. We got to see Ballycastle on a drive by along with many other scenic areas. We stopped at the viewing point for Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge above the ocean. Unfortunately, post-Covid restrictions meant we couldn’t actually attempt the rope bridge (the new rule was put in place in June) due to us being on a tour bus. Only cars were allowed down and they all had to be preregistered tickets. We still got to see the bridge from afar (and gave me yet another reason to come back to Ireland). After that, we headed to get some lunch before making our way to the main destination: Giant’s Causeway. We got to climb and explore around a bit. We did see an old woman fall and hit her head as well as breaking her clavicle, so we helped to get her to the bus off the rocks so she could get back up the hill and to the hospital. After that, we made our trek back up the hill and to our bus. Our next stop was the Dark Hedges. This landmark is also famous in Game of Thrones, where it’s known as the Kingsroad. It was pretty cool to see, though many trees are missing due to weather damage throughout the years. Nonetheless, it’s amazing the trees are still upright having been planted in the mid 1700s and weren’t expected to live past the mid 1900s. After that we made our way back to Belfast where we grabbed our bags from the hostel and slowly made our way to the bus stop to start our journey to Dublin. We got on the bus and a couple hours later we were in Dublin. It was pouring rain, so we grabbed a taxi (we did not feel like walking in the pouring rain for 10-15 mins) to drop us off at our hotel. To our surprise, our room got a free upgrade (Junior Suite!). We got settled in and the had our food that we bought ahead of time heated up so that we had dinner (we arrived after everything was closed for the night). After that, we got ready for bed by watching some tv. Tomorrow is our last full day here and will be spent doing the Guinness Storehouse along with filling out the lovely declaration forms that we need to get back into the states with all of our gifts and souvenirs.