The American Triangle, Ireland, Part 2

Our first morning in Dublin we made sure to tell our B&B hosts that we were heading down for a full Irish breakfast, which I failed to mention yesterday. It was awesome. Eggs, sausage, beans (my personal favorite), bacon, mushrooms (for Tanner, not me), tomatoes and toast. D-e-licious! Our second morning we had to leave extraordinarily early so we snuck downstairs in the dark, grabbed some yogurt from the fridge and were on our way to the train station for our tour of the countryside.

Tired and happy faces.

We boarded the train for our first leg of the journey and watched the city slowly disappear and the quaint villages come alive. Travelling by train really is fantastic. Outside of the very, very dirty backpacker sitting near us that smelled atrociously (hey fella, baby wipes can be your new BFF) it was calm, quiet, cozy and the scenery was beautiful. There were several stops planned for this trip and we knew we'd be away from Dublin until close to 10PM. Talk about a long day!

After hopping off the train, we were picked up by charter bus for our first destination: Bunratty Castle. With floors, walls and windows dating over 500 years old, the place was stunning. I am in awe just knowing that feet from generations past stomped these floors, were in that dungeon, took these winding stairs. We learned a few neat things about castles like how the stairs were always circular because if they were invaded the army coming up had their right arm (fighting arm) blocked and the home base army had theirs free to swing. Clever, right?

Mind you, those stairs were TIGHT. How on earth did men and women in the clothes they are depicted in pictures wearing make it everywhere???

Old and still beautiful.

Irish flag on ramparts we watched!

The whole village next to the castle has been kept up and currently houses adorable shops. 

After spending a few hours here, we boarded the bus again and headed for lunch! Guinness stew, here I come!

It did NOT disappoint. Perhaps best stew ever*!

With our bellies full, and a quick stop to the local chocolate shop (YUM!) we were back on the bus and headed to the Cliffs of Moher!

Look at that handsome man.

The colors all looked fake, the entire thing was mesmerizing and even our tour guide was in awe because he said the weather was typically overcast, cloudy, foggy, rainy and cold or some combination thereof. Thank you, travel gods, for this gift!

After making it across the entire island, coast to coast, we were through exploring and were back to the train station to catch our ride home. It ended up being really enjoyable as we had already started chatting with another couple on the tour and it turned out they were from Dallas! We spent the entire train ride chatting about books, Dublin and their trip so far (she'd had food poisoning for 4 days of it!!!) and their jobs and life back home.

We strolled home from the station and promptly went to bed. The next day had turned into another Dublin exploration day, story to follow as to why, which worked in our favor as we wouldn't have otherwise been able to visit Kilmainham gaol.