Northern Ireland

During my first weekend in Ireland, I had the chance to visit Northern Ireland with Andrew. We didn't want to rent a car, so we went on one of those Paddywagon Tours that a friend had suggested. The tour takes you through Belfast and up to cross the Carrick-A-Rede rope bridge and Giant's Causeway.

It was a really beautiful day and so clear out along the Northern Coastline. I was really impressed with it all, having been taken primarily with California's coastline. If you look below, you could almost imagine this being out somewhere along Highway 1 don't you think? In any case, I actually liked the rope bridge visit more so than Giant's Causeway. The Causeway is really fascinating but aesthetically speaking, I didn't think it held up to what you see below.

As for the tour itself, we had a ton of fun. We had really awful seats on the bus (poor Andrew's legs barely fit in the aisle), but overall it was a great value. We had lunch before heading to the causeway in a tiny mom and pop restaurant (I had seafood stew) and then we returned to Dublin around 5 PM to catch our early reservation at Pearl Brasserie. This was one of my favorite days on the trip. I didn't feel stressed out. I didn't think about the e-mails coming through for work. I just had a blast visiting new places with Andrew. All in all an unforgettable start to my trip abroad.