belfast, ireland

carrick-a-rede rope bridge

dunluce castle

just had the most amazing day in ireland yet! we drove a few hours to the northern coast and it was absolutely amazing. first we went to the carrick-a-rede rope bridge for some beautiful scenery and to cross the bridge. only some of the bravest completed the physical challenge of putting our hands up the whole way across. ellie and a few others afraid of heights even made it across - so proud! then we went on to the dunluce castle to explore the ruins there. I felt like such a kid running around taking fun pictures. lunch was in 'the wee cottage' where the prequel goes every year, so the owners give us the entire restaurant and it was great. most delicious scones of my life and they made a gluten free one for adam - his first scone ever! after we were stuffed full (wolfgang lets nothing go to waste, he tried to give jenna 3 pieces of cake), we headed to the giant's causeway, apparently a wonder of the world. the rocks there grew naturally as hexagonal shapes, it was so crazy. a few of us hiked longer to see even more. we drove along the coastline home and now we're taking over the hotel lobby as usual to get internet.

our first day in belfast we toured city hall then went on a walking tour of the city. it's so much different than dublin, it's very built up and modernized at least in comparison. that night we all got to watch a rugby game! so intense, i might enjoy it more than football (which i never enjoyed all that much lol). the next day (yesterday) we learned a ton about the politics of northern ireland and the republic of ireland - the 'troubles' and the conflict within ireland is just crazy. peace walls covered in fantastic graffiti divide the city. it was so strange to see completely opposite sides where one flies the ireland flag and then two minutes away we see the UK flag. we also took a 3hour long tour to see the billions of murals around belfast, which was interesting, but just way too long. tomorrow is our free day to research and explore more around belfast, then we leave for london on monday! I can't believe the prequel is almost over, it's been so wonderful.