You Haven't Really Been Anywhere Until You've Got Back Home

Not much to say for this final travel day. With our Derry Girls Experience, Uisneach Fire Festival, and Killruddery House and Garden under our belts it was time to begin the journey home. We had packed up basically everything the night before and were up at 9am and ready to head downstairs by 9:30am to check out and see about breakfast. My stomach was feeling tight and upset, probably the stress of knowing it’s a travel day, and Jess had eaten a lot of the pasta and treats last night, so we just had a light breakfast of a bagel for her, hashbrowns for me, and orange juice. They had a fancy coffee machine (ya!) that made mocha’s (double ya!) so I made one of those in a to-go cup and we set off towards the carpark!

I had, the other day at Tesco, purchased a lint roller to try and clean up the floors of the car. There’s an extra charge for excessive dirt and debris and Jess and I had Lizzie Bennet-ed our way across a great deal of mud and lawn in our travels. I wasn’t willing to pay for or figure out how to work a gas station vacuum so a lint roller was my bright idea. And it worked! We got to the car, started rolling, and it got basically everything of the parts of the carpet we couldn’t lift and dump! Perfect! Nice and clean! Then off we set the 12-ish minute drive from the hotel to the Hertz Rent-A-Car return. It was a pleasant final drive and we had no trouble getting the car parked and returned. So far the bill seemed to reflect exactly what I was originally charged so I guess I did everything right!

We had to wait a little bit for the shuttle to the airport, but the guy driving made sure to ask who’d been waiting first as his shuttle only fit 12 people and everyone else would have to wait for the next one, though he said it was right behind him. We got loaded up and off we went back to Terminal 2 of the Dublin Airport. We got there at around 11:15am and our flight wasn’t until 2pm so we had plenty of time to sort ourselves out. We’d meant to get food and spend the last of our cash but neither of us were hungry so we ended up leaving with about 90 euro unspent. Not too bad, all things considered. We found our way through the shops to the US Precheck or whatever it’s called and discovered that there was where we had to dump all liquids, not at the initial TSA where we had chugged the whole bottle only to find out liquids were allowed in that part of the airport. We got through no trouble and were seated at our gate about an hour before boarding. Boarding was delayed by about 20 minutes but that was no bother as we sat and chatted. The wifi wouldn’t work on any of my devices for some reason, but c’est la vie. 

My goodness, does AerLingus keep you FED on it’s flights! We boarded, got seated, and took off with no trouble and not long after a soft drink cart came around with juice, soda, and pretzel snacks. We got skipped at first, somehow, though neither Jess and I nor the two flight attendants could figure out how that happened, but we did eventually get our Fanta’s and two baggies of pretzels! After that came a hot drink cart with coffee and tea. We ordered one of each and the coffee was, as usual, awful, but I drank most of it anyway. A little under the  halfway mark the dinner service came and we got the vegetarian penne and sweet and sour chicken meals. They both came with bread and butter, a small salad, custard, a tube of milk for some reason, and a sealed cup of water. A short time after that the attendants came around distributing ice cream! We each got one but then one fell off the cart and rolled right into Jessica’s foot so we ended up with one and half each! Not long after that they came round with hot cheese and sauce stuffed rolls, and finally did a final hot coffee and tea service! Unbelievable! So much food! 

While we ate I watched first Saltburn because we’d laughed about the idea of watching that on a plane and I decided it would be fun to see for the first time that way, then I rewatched Pride and Prejudice, the Ghostbusters: Afterlife, an episode of Wheel of Time, and began a rewatch of Edge of Tomorrow as we landed safely in Orland. Jess mostly just listened to music, rewatching the odd episode of Wheel of Time throughout. The landing was smooth enough and the taxi as short as can be expected for MCO but soon enough we were off the plane, feeling the heat and humidity wafting through the boarding tunnel! Ah, to be back in Florida! We got off and headed first for a bathroom, obviously. While Jess waited for me an older man also waiting for someone asked about Jess’s sunburn, assuming she’d gotten it here in Florida and we were traveling back to somewhere else. Imagine his surprise when she said we’d got it in Ireland! As I and his wife emerged from the bathrooms he told Jess that he loved Ireland and actually knew and regularly visited Killruddery House and Gardens when he went! Small world!

We managed to get to the shuttle pickup just as a WallyPark shuttle disappeared out of sight so we had to wait for another, but not for too long. We were a little tired, as it was 11pm back in Ireland, but we got ourselves sorted and ready on the shuttle for the hours drive home. At the car all was well and after letting it air out for a hot second we were back on the road! I didn’t have any trouble readjusting to driving on the right, so that was good. Makes for a safer drive on the I-4! We made good time and were home by around 7:30pm, getting unpacked and settled in for a casual evening. Our sleep schedule was going to be off but we wanted to try and stay up until our usual Florida-time bedtime of 11pm or midnight. We kind of succeeded but we were mostly napping about the house before going to our actual bedrooms for bed.

And that was it! A week and a day of Ireland! I would say we had an absolutely marvelous time through and through! I’m a nervous traveler, not big on leaving my creature comforts and cozy corners, but this trip didn’t feel so very far from all of that! We made loose plans around things we really cared about, took it easy, prioritized what we really wanted, and gave ourselves plenty of downtime in between to recuperate. None of this “go, go, go”ing for us, that’s not our style at home or abroad. I’m so pleased with the way this trip turned out, that we got to do everything we wanted just as we wanted to do it. I am going to savour and remember this trip fondly for the rest of my life, going to remember how delighted and giddy and happy I was doing all these things we’d talked about for so long in these places we hand-picked to visit around our favourite shows and hobbies. But I’m the same kind of glad to be back in my house, not just because I love being home, but because being away is how we love our home. You can really only love your home and your comforts if they’re something you get to return to, somewhere you get to reflect in peace on the time you had to spend away from it. I keep thinking about that quote from Terry Pratchett’s The Light Fantastic: “The important thing about having lots of things to remember is that you’ve got to go somewhere afterwards where you can remember them, you see. You’ve got to stop. You haven’t really been anywhere until you’ve got back home.”

We Are The Winx!

Derry Day was some steep competition, but Killruddery House and Garden took the prize for best day in Ireland. Just a phenomenal day all over, a perfect end to our fabulous trip. But, we begin at the beginning: Breakfast. I was up at 9:30am and out the door to check out the buffet while Jess stayed behind to begin packing. The buffet spread was pretty consistent with what every other hotel had had so I collected our favourites to bring back, two croissants with butter and jam, four potato toasts (hashbrowns), and two glasses of cranberry juice. The attendant working was lovely enough to get me a tray so I was able to carry all of that the lengthy journey to our room with no trouble! As we munched and crunched we got ourselves all dressed up in our fanciest outfits of the trip, the pink two-piece for Jessica and the blue velvet dress for me, because today was Winx Day!

Jess and I built this trip essentially around fandom things. We went to Derry because of Derry Girls and planned our day around activities based on the show. We went to the Beltane Fire Festival because we’re into Celtic mythology for a number of reasons. For one, we’re of Irish descent so there’s that, but more importantly Celtic myth is woven into several of our favourite things, including Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Prydain (even though that’s Welsh Celtic myth), The Wheel of Time, and Winx Club. Winx Club is especially important because it features twice in this trip! Fate: The Winx Saga, the rightfully poorly received live-action adaptation of Winx Club was partially filmed in Ireland at the Killruddery House and Gardens. Jess and I agree the show was right to be panned, but we also have SUCH fond memories of getting blasted on Four Lokos and eating way too much mac and cheese from a cauldron pot when we watched both seasons. We also talk about the show all the time and have essentially created entirely fictitious plotlines and theories to try and make this show make sense. It’s a favourite past-time of ours, and therefore this show holds a special place in our heart. So, naturally, we had to see Killruddery!

After checking out and packing our things into the car we left our car in the parking lot of the hotel, which seemed like it was ok to do as there was no shortage of parking and we didn’t think anyone would notice, and tried to figure out where the directions on our phone were telling us to walk. It was supposed to be a 12 minute walk from our hotel which was very, very doable for us so we set out and as soon as we left the parking lot saw the sign for Killruddery across the street. We were literally across the street from it and we didn’t know. With that sorted we put the phone directions away and waited for probably the entire estimated 12 minutes trying to cross the street to get onto the path leading into Killruddery. The sidewalk and driveway in run parallel for a little while, but about halfway into the windy entrance the sidewalk shoots off into a little woodland area for a first taste of the natural wonders to come.

The short path through the little forest was just darling, dark and whimsical with children’s fairy doors tapped onto trees throughout. We were getting very excited at that point, joking about Burned Ones in the woods off the path. We followed that path until we reached an opening that led to the entrance. Sort of. There’s a courtyard where a Farm Market is held every Saturday so Jess and I poked our heads into that for a hot second to see what it looked like. There’s also a pizza place and a few other stores but we were too excited to get into the grounds to bother too much with any of that. The official entrance was just past that, a cute little building with a desk for the attendant and some merchandise for sale. A little notebook caught my eye but I decided to wait until we were leaving to make any purchases. Any except the tickets, of course. It was about 10 euro each for access to the grounds, with no access to the house. The house is for tours only, but we didn’t care for a tour as Fate: The Winx Saga did little to no filming inside the building and that was really all we cared about.

The attendant encouraged us to check out the picnic and garden part of the grounds first, which we discovered later was because it’s the only part of the grounds that doesn’t loop around to anywhere so if you don’t make a point to go see it you might accidentally skip it. We took her advice and saw the rows of herbs, fruits, and vegetables, and especially the apple trees from which they make pressed apple juice. Around the apple trees live several colonies of hens! The hens droppings make excellent fertilizer for the trees and the hens fatten up by enjoying the first apples of the season as they drop from the trees. Everyone’s happy! The coffee cart in that part of the grounds wasn’t open, which makes sense as it was a Wednesday, but there were still plenty of people frolicking about the picnic area in the center, eating and lounging and playing with their children in the sand pit!

With that seen and enjoyed we made our way back to where we had entered and went towards the left side to be welcomed officially into Killruddery House and Gardens. From the first second we entered we were overwhelmed with delight. The grounds are gorgeous, of course, but also felt so familiar, so personal to us, if for very silly reasons. We walked straight and then took a direct right into the Beech Hedge Pond, a fountain surrounded by a circular wall of hedges, and were filled with glee to recognize the spot as the place Bloom and Sky meet up in the show, among other scenes. We knew this spot for /sure/ and that only made us more excited for all that awaited us on our journeys through these grounds!

We saw a statue ahead of us as we exited the Hedge Pond but decided to turn onto a different path and found ourselves wandering through The Wilderness. There had been rain early in the day so the ground was still rather muddy but we didn’t mind! We felt very Lizzie Bennet about the matter! We just kept picking random paths until we exited through a clearing onto the Long Ponds and absolutely LOST our mind! It’s the training grounds! The place where the specialists trained and fought over the water, the place where the mind fairies and specialists practiced combining their skills, and we were actually STANDING there! Where they stood! We almost couldn’t stand how excited we were! Lots of pictures later we headed towards the house. We weren’t going to go in, but we could look in some of the windows to see if anything looked familiar. It didn’t really, except maybe the one sunroom full of statues which might have been used as a greenhouse, but we couldn’t be sure. It was fun looking in the windows though and seeing what there was to see. That part of the house is only for guests and tours, but there are parts of the manor that are exclusively for the family that lives there, as the house has been owned and lived in by the same family for 300 years!

As we reached the other side of the house, gasp, we saw it: The entry gates! The gate and driveway into Alfea College! AH! Lost our cool again, did some silly dances of excitement, and took lots of photos. You can’t go down to that gate as it leads to the lived-in parts of the manor, but we were close enough to take some great pictures and recall scenes where the driveway had been featured. After that little bit of glee we wandered to the grounds on the other side of the Long Ponds to see what we could see there. We found a neat little place between some trees that had two weird cauldrons that are probably planters but they felt very magical to us. From there we wound up in a hedge garden designed as something called a Goose Foot. The Goose Foot isn’t a maze, as such, but there are lots of offshoots and paths that lead to dead ends so it was great fun to explore! We’re sure that part of the grounds was used in some training scenes in Fate.

Exiting the Goose Foot found us at a football field called the Bowling Green, which makes sense as the grounds seemed perfect for playing ball, though no one was on it at that time. We went around it the long way to end up at a gate that separates the visiting grounds from the working farm and wondered how much of the land Fate had been allowed to film on. On the other side of the football field, which we’d ended up at, there was a great Lord of the Rings style creepy pathway of trees that we followed to a row of magnolias and some turnip shaped gazebo? Turns out the magnolias and turnip gazebo were dedicated to the Earl of Meath and his wife, Elizabeth, so we took a seat and rested there a moment while we perused the map.

From the map we saw something called The Rock Garden and The Rock and decided to venture onwards and find those places! The Rock Garden ended up being a dark, steep series of paths through a wood that seemed to be where they put any fallen tree parts or broken stonework, which was very interesting actually! We took the path that was at the very furthest point on the grounds, the very border of the tourable Killruddery Grounds, and it was very creepy and very cool and we’re very sure they filmed a Burned One getting impaled there. After reaching what we assumed, because we couldn’t see past the dense trees, was the peak of the path we were walking we found a janky, steep stone staircase down and we had a hoot finagling that. Down in the grounds again we emerged into the light to see how very high we must have been as The Rock, which we discovered we’d been on top up, was basically a tiny mountain on the grounds! 

We went looking for something called the Strawberry Tree that was supposed to have been split when it was struck by lightning but we couldn’t seem to find it as we followed a path back towards Killruddery House. Perhaps we passed it and didn’t know it, but we didn’t see anything that looked like it had been hit by lightning. Nevertheless we wound up back at the house and decided it was time for lunch at the tea house, having spent about two hours wandering about the grounds. The tea house on the grounds is a darling little place set up in an octagonal dairy that never ended up being used as the grounds never held any cows. We ordered a chicken sandwich, a chocolate and caramel cake thing, and a cup of mocha. The chicken was excellent, made from items from the “Garden and the Farm” which I think was a roundabout way to not let guests know they’re eating the chickens they saw earlier in the day aha! The cake was delicious as well and you know what, the mocha was actually great! Not the best I’ve ever had or anything, but certainly the best I’ve had in Ireland! So kudos to them!

After eating we decided we’d like to purchase one of the bottles of pressed apple juice they sell to take to our hotel with us. We thought about waiting until the end to get it, but it wasn’t such a hardship to carry in our messenger bag so we just got it then. From the tea room we spotted a hedge-y part of the grounds we hadn’t seen yet and it turned out to be a Sylvan theater! A totally natural theater that they actually still use for performances and events! How cool is that! We could see the Long Ponds from there so we headed back that way to the fountain at the end to sit on one of the benches and finish our coffee, and that was lovely. It was so zen, sitting there with the fountain going and the birds tweeting, surrounded by so much natural beauty. Well, highly manicured and specifically designed “natural” beauty. But still. Lots of plants.

We took another turn about the grounds after that, finding a weird path in the Goose Foot that felt like a portal to another world, before returning to the Hedge Pond, our favourite place on the grounds for a final lap around as way of saying goodbye. We decided we’d seen everything so we should probably head out. At the entrance/exit I made a formal decision about the little notebook and decided to get it, though they only had the little ones in green and that isn’t either of our favourite colour. Still, it was a pretty little notebook and we wanted something to commemorate our time in this special place, so we got it. With all that under our belt we walked back to our car at the hotel, punched our new hotel by the airport in Dublin into the GPS, and set off wondering why we had to leave such a gorgeous place to return to a city.

Why did we have to leave? Like for real, why were we leaving? What was waiting for us in Dublin? Our hotel, sure, but we didn’t have anything else planned. If we were just going to try and entertain ourselves for the rest of the afternoon and evening then why couldn’t we entertain ourselves lounging about the Killruddery Grounds? We were maybe 5 minutes into the drive when we started questioning it, and started to understand that something in our very marrow knew we couldn’t leave Killruddery yet. We already wanted nothing more than to go back. We had to. So we did! I did a full 360 at the next roundabout we came to and sent us right back to where we’d come from! We cheered and laughed and had a ball recalculating our route to go back to Killruddery and were pulling into the parking lot within maybe 20 minutes of leaving it!

Parked and reinvigorated to have more wonderful times we stopped in to the courtyard officially to have a look about. There was a shop way at the back, we discovered, that was a larger gift shop for Killruddery and guess what we found there? A pink AND purple mini notebook! They only sell green at the entrance but they had several colours to choose from in the official shop! We explained the situation to the clerk at the desk and she was happy to exchange the one green book we’d already bought for one of the notebooks in a color we wanted, so we traded the green for the pink and paid for the purple one and we knew right then, for sure, we were supposed to be back here.

We re-entered the grounds with a degree of heel-clicking glee that should have set off alarms. As the house and hedges came into view we couldn’t believe we’d been stupid and actually left this place when we didn’t have to! The grounds were open until 6pm and we intended to enjoy ourselves as much as possible until we absolutely couldn’t anymore! So, we wandered about the places we’d already been, revisiting the outside of The Rock for a better picture, restrolling around the Hedge Pond because we loved it and so Jess could get a picture in her Other World Tunnel when she found it again, then setting up on a bench outside the house to crack open our bottle of apple juice and have ourselves a treat as we basked! We didn’t stay at the bench for long as we wanted to keep moving locations, keep experiencing new things, and found ourselves lying on the grass Parisian-style before going back to a gnarled tree we thought was cool to sit on and drink our juice. 

When we’d been laying in the grass, however, we’d seen some people emerge from the top of The Rock and we realized there must be a way to the front to get the view that we’d missed by taking the furthest route. Invigorated to find the access point we reclimbed the mini-mountain and indeed discovered the opening to the top of The Rock! And it was gorgeous! A perfect view of the house and grounds and so much more, what an absolute treat we had almost missed! We finished our apple juice up there and admired the place for some time before heading back down to basically wander aimlessly wherever we wanted! We found the Venus statue, took a turn around the house again peering through the windows, and took many, many turns around the fountain in the Hedge Pond because if there’s one thing we love, it’s talking to each other while we walk in circles around a body of water. It’s been that way since we were kids and aided us quite significantly when we became lifeguards. We just love to walk and talk!

At last, 5:30pm rolled around and we had to start finding our way out. We used the bathroom, took our final photos, and said our final goodbyes to this charming place. Except no, we weren’t leaving yet. Jess was sure if we took a little walk we would find the place where the owners cars drove down to the private gate and she was determined to get a photo in front of it so off we set on a little adventure! We walked past the pigs that live on the other side of the driveway and lo and behold she was right! We found it! We probably looked like absolute freaks positioning ourselves strategically between the driveway partitions to keep them out of the shot of us in front of the gate but we GOT the SHOTS! We did it! Mission accomplished!

With that handled we did, actually, finally, leave Killruddery behind. We had a devil of a time hitting a Circle K to fill the tank with diesel as I get nervous about filling unfamiliar cars with gas, but we made it happen and arrived at the Hilton Airport Hotel after an hours drive. We had to park in some off-site parking garage that was murder to get into as you have to pull up to the gate, then get out of the car to hit a button to call reception to have them open the gate then get back in your car and drive through this insanely small little road down into the parking lot. But we survived and checked in then almost immediately headed out to hit the Tesco across the street to find snacks, soda, and some instant pasta we could make with a kettle because we weren’t feeling up to going out for dinner. We also needed some After Sun for our sunburns, which weren’t too bad but could use some care, and a lint roller to use on the car to get it cleaned up before its return. Crossing the street was insane with at least 6 different crosswalks in the one intersection, so that was insane, but we got the hang of how much jaywalking we can do and just followed the pace of everyone else.

Back in the hotel room we showered, put on the kettle, and settled in to eat our pasta, drink some tea and cocoa, and reflect on our last full day here in Ireland. We both agreed today was something magical, something special. I was so glad I decided to turn around and come back, so glad to have had as much time in that place as possible. I hope there’s a heaven, because if it is I know what it’ll be: Jess and I wandering aimlessly about Killruddery House and Garden with a bottle of apple juice that never gets empty, and we never get tired, and the sun never sets.

You Can, In Fact, Get A Sunburn In Ireland

As I drifted to sleep and woke up the next morning I found myself thinking it was particularly loud outside all night. It hadn’t been a great nuisance, I just thought it was strange that the seagulls had been so much louder that night than they had been the night before. Found out when we woke up that the reason it had been so difficult for me to close them yesterday was because there was actually a bottom AND top lock and I had, somehow, managed to lock the top locks into the window, meaning the windows were technically locked but still open a crack at the top. Jess couldn’t even figure out how I’d manage to do it, the window, by all rights, shouldn’t be able to do that, but I am Clinically Stupid with great upper body strength and by God I made it happen! But no matter, Jess and I were up and at ‘em by 10am to head down to breakfast. We’d checked the day before at the front desk to confirm breakfast was included and ask how that works, so we knew to go to the restaurant hostess stand and give them your room number so they can seat you for your meal. They had a full buffet as well as to-order items, but we decided we were satisfied with the buffet.

Anyone would be satisfied with the buffet, it was insane! They had scones, rolls, prepackaged breads, hashbrowns, black and white pudding, beans, fruit, parfait cups, porridge and all the fixings, Irish bacon and sausages, eggs several ways, three different kinds of smoothies, juice, a make-your-own Bloody Mary station and bottles of Prosecco. All included! Unbelievable! We helped ourselves to what we wanted, particularly the fruit and smoothies as we aren’t good about spending money on that but definitely need it in our body, and had a fabulous meal! Nothing I love more than getting to feel rich and sophisticated when I am, in reality, a poor minimum-wage slob. But vacations are about having experiences you don’t get at home! So, we ate our fancy breakfast and then filled out the little card they left asking for room number and name and there was this section for a ‘discrete gratuity’ but we have all these Euro’s we have to spend so we just left a cash tip which might be tacky but cash is king as far as I recall. Then we went back upstairs to basically zip up our suitcases and had out as we had everything packed and ready to go last night.

We had made light plans about possibly taking public transport to the Dublin Zoo, our first stop of the day, but decided we didn’t want to have to be working on a timetable and also didn’t want to have to go all the way back into the city just to get our car, so we decided to drive instead. There were pros and cons to this decision. We realized when our GPS told us we’d arrive at our destination that there was, in fact, no parking for the zoo. Buses and cabs had a drop-off zone but there was nowhere connected to the zoo to park. We were going to have to fend for ourselves, for the first time, with Dublin street parking. Hideous business. We drove through a few places and found a spot that wasn’t street parking at one point, but it was just too small a spot for the car to fit. According to Jessica that isn’t true, it’s that I wasn’t fearless enough with my parking attempts. There’s a reason I’m the only one driving here in Ireland, by the way. We did manage to find a very nice, free spot we didn’t even have to really parallel park into because there was this leaning tree right beside it so no one had parked there because the left-side doors would be trapped and unable to be opened. That didn’t bother us though as Jess just crawled out the drivers side and we cheerfully headed back the way we’d come on foot to head into the zoo!

The zoo was 24 euro per person, which is pretty steep I imagine but I don’t mind paying extra for something that contributes to the care of living creatures. I have to assume they need the money, though I guess it could just be all about profit. Anyay, we paid and went in and begun our journey to the right towards the Zoorassic World exhibit to see the lizards! We got lost for a second, as there aren’t many signs pointing to the building with the Zoorassic World exhibits, but when we saw a giant mural of a dinosaur on the side of a building we knew we had to be on the right track. And we were! The entrance door was right across from that! We saw the dinosaur bone replicas and iguanas and chameleons and crocodiles and got very hot as that building is kept super warm, obviously! 

After that Jess wanted to see elephants and what do you know, the elephant enclosure was right ahead! And we arrived at the elephant enclosure just as the elephants were all headed into their pond for a swim! They looked like they were having such a fun time, splashing about and falling onto each other. There were 4 elephants, but only 3 participated in Pool Time. The other one seemed to be rather predisposed to shaking all of the hay out of a basket that was hung above the enclosure on some kind of crane. Possibly food, possibly enrichment, probably both. 

That was very fun to see, for us and the school kids who were present at the same time. There must have been some kind of field trip going on that day as there were dozens of children in blue school jackets all wandering about trying to do some kind of photo challenge with certain animals. As far as we worked out there was an assignment to get pictures of a number of animals while they were there, but also a contest to get the best picture of you holding some sign that said ‘Leadership’ in front of any of the animals. We aren’t totally certain about either of those ideas, but that’s what we worked out as we ran into and overheard the school kids throughout the day. 

From there we found our way into the African Plains section. The Dublin Zoo, like most zoos, is designed to be basically a giant loop with little offshoots you can take along the way, but all roads lead back to the start. Except, this zoo has a second loop attached to the primary loop, this African Plains, that closes early for some reason. We ended up right next to it after the elephants so we went there next to see the giraffes, rhinos, zebras, and lions, among others. It was a beautiful day out so all the animals were out and about, enjoying the sun and we got a great look at all of them just having fun. From the African Plains circle we rejoined the main loop and followed the signs to the penguins and sea lions! The penguins were the South American kind that don’t live in the cold and the sea lions had an underwater viewing room and above water section so we got a good look at all of them swimming around and, in some cases, doing some kind of tricks. One of them in particular kept doing this thing where it would splash water with their fin into the air and then catch the water in their mouth. I don’t know if they do shows with the sea lions or if this one comes to this zoo from a performance background, but that one seemed to really enjoy doing their little tricks for their own amusement and that was fun to see.

We ended up missing the flamingo section somehow and would later have to backtrack to find them, even though we see them all the time in Florida, but we went on to see the several monkeys and birds, a snow leopard, some kind of fox-like animal I can’t recall the name of, a bunch of playful wolves, and the okapi, one of my favourite animals! The okapi actually got real up close to us as it stuck it’s tongue through the gate to steal leaves off the trees around it’s enclosure because we were all really quiet as it approached! So cool! They’re such majestic animals, so tall and elegant. We found a Nocturnal Room after that which was this almost totally dark room with red light that housed an aye-aye. Possibly it housed more but we only caught a glimpse of the one when our eyes finally adjusted to the darkness. It was a lot of tripping over people and walking into each other in that room though, and most people left well before their eyes adjusted because you really can’t see anything for the first few minutes you’re in there.

After that I wanted to get a coffee so I got a latte from the first open restaurant we found and it was, like all my coffee has been here in Ireland, so bad. I don’t know what’s wrong with coffee in this country, it’s just so weak yet also powerfully bad tasting. Some of the coffee I’ve had has been more palatable than the rest, like the cappuccino/hot chocolate mixes I made in Derry, but I still had to work on those drinks myself. Every coffee has really varied from ‘salvageable’ to ‘absolutely foul’, with the former being the coffee from the hotel in Derry, the latter being the coffee I was served with breakfast at the Conrad that I took one sip of and couldn’t take a single sip more, and the middle being the latte I recieved at the zoo. Not totally disgusting, just also not actually anywhere nead good. But it was caffeine so I drank it as we meandered back to find the flamingos we’d missed before and then hit the gift shop back at the front. I bought myself a Unicorn Surprise egg and got a little unicorn toy because I am, at heart, a silly little girl, and we decided we’d had our fill of zoo fun after a little over two hours and set off to the National Botanical Garden.

The trip back to the car was no trouble and we were on our way in no time to the garden. We ran into sort of a similar problem of passing our destination because the GPS led us to the destination but not the parking. The botanical garden did have parking of its own, which we’d checked this time before beginning the drive, we’d just missed it and had to circle back. The lot is limited and was full when we arrived but we saw several people headed towards their cars as we pulled in so we just circled about for a bit until on of them left and jacked their spot. The parking was not only convenient, being right next to the gardens, but also free as their pay machine was down, so double score!

From the parking lot you’re basically right at the gardens, with the first greenhouse right there to explore and enjoy. We saw two greenhouses before marveling at the enormous Great Palms house which is connected to the Succulent and Orchid houses on either side. We went through from the succulent side and really REALLY loved the Great Palms house! Very neat little place in there with rushing water going through underneath and so many enormous plants, it was a quaint mini tropical forest. After the Orchid House we hunted for a map and bathrooms and Jess decided she wanted to see the Rose Garden so we headed the direction we thought that would be, as there was some pathways blocked off for updates and construction. On the way we ran into a very friendly squirrel who kept trying to climb up people by their legs and some Irish lads told us about how squirrels, and invasive species in Ireland, ended up there and what species of squirrel ended up where as there’s a divide of what places have which.

We got a little turned around, but technically no as we really didn’t care too much where we ended up and were just enjoying wandering around, but we did manage to get ourselves on the right path to the Rose Garden and it was stunning! Even with most of the roses not quite in bloom yet the whole place felt like Wonderland! Roses have some weird names and we had fun reading them off as we passed them. Most flowers had weird names though, there’s just so many different kinds that I guess you have no choice but to get weird. From there we ended up in several sections, from the Rock Garden to the Herb Garden to the Native Irish section to the Yew Trees and more. There were less people picnicking than we expected and commented that if this was France the place there would be blankets spread everywhere with charcuterie boards and pain-au-chocolat as far as the eye could see. But maybe we just missed all the picnickers as it was just about 4:30pm when we decided we’d see enough gardens and it was time to head to our next hotel, the Wilton Hotel in Bray.

Our car's GPS wanted to take us to the M50, the toll road, but we didn’t want to do that so we followed the directions on our burner phone which led us back through Dublin to the M11. I really don’t like driving in Dublin as it’s a nightmare city with daymare roads, but to avoid paying tolls I was perfectly fine. There was a good deal of traffic but that was better for me as it meant everyone was forced to go real slow and I had time to figure out what I was doing while I drove. As we sat in traffic we polished off the Crunchie Bars we had gotten from Tesco but hadn’t opened as there’s no real pick-me up for slow driving like chocolate! Having gotten through the traffic and onto the M11 it wasn’t long before we were pulling into the hotel parking lot! Inside we discovered they do a dinner as well as a breakfast so that was dinner sorted! We got our stuff settled in the room and went back out for a meal.

I got the Carbonara while Jess got the Chicken Curry and both were phenomenal! Huge servings all so well seasoned! And they came with fries! We each ordered a drink as well, Jess taking the waiters recommendation for an Irish cider while I got a Smirnoff Ice and we relaxed and chatted and ate for about an hour. The hotel didn’t offer any boxes for food, which makes sense as there’s no fridges or microwaves in the rooms so they’re not gonna give people food that can’t be stored or reheated, so we finished what we could of the generous portions and then had to say farewell to what we couldn’t. Because we’re lousy Americans we tipped with our meal and the waiter seemed very surprised and grateful. While we know tipping isn’t the norm in Ireland, and nor should it be, we know Americans have a bad reputation so perhaps tipping when we don’t have to is our apology for being such problem people in every other regard! With that settled we moved our car to be closer to our room window so we could see it then headed back to the room to lay down, watch whatever we could find on TV as there was still really nothing on, and fall asleep.