Where is Hogwarts? I know it's around here somewhere!

The last week of classes flew by with the exception of my spoken Irish final which was, aha....interesting to say the least. I just really hope the other teachers know how awful my teacher is at actually teaching.

The weekend started off on such a good note when I didn't wake up for my alarm and woke up to my parents calling "We're just leaving now! Are you ready to go?" Being the procrastinator I am, I was not actually ready. After rushing about throwing random clothes into my backpack (but really it was a surprise when I opened it to see what I packed) I raced out and we were on our way. We were headed back up to Dublin as my parents had their flight out on Sunday morning and we decided to do things along the way.

First up was the rock of Cashel, which is actually a bunch of rocks....in the form of a church:

 It's supposedly where St. Patrick did something important, but I was still too tired from my early morning rush to really pay attention. Maybe he broke off this part of the wall:

That could've definitely done in the wicked witch Dorothy didn't need a whole house.

It was fairly early in the morning so there weren't very many visitors or guides walking around so it was perfect for taking picture that would definitely no be allowed:

such as climbing into a centuries old tomb and doing my best impression of Nosferatu. I was coerced into taking nicer pictures:

but that's probably because I was too tired to care really. I also took this gem of a photo:

which doesn't actually have any significance but I just thought it was funny.

After that we continued upwards to Newgrange where there's a really really really really old tomb. There's an exhibit a couple of miles away since it's actually still on private land, but it was pretty cool. Kinda reminds me of what Native American exhibits are like in the States, which basically these people are the equivalent for the Irish. They had fake houses and lots of little artifacts that were dug up and fake fur clothes, which were pretty gross from all the grimy little kids' hands touching it:

I didn't really want to touch it.

There's also a picture of this five year old trying to be funny and go planking:

well even if he didn't succeed in actually planking, he did succeed in trying to be funny.

The tomb is actually called Brú na Bóinne which basically means "Lodge of the Bóinne" who were some tribe or family or something. It also is kinda camouflage since the entire top of it is covered in grass:

A bunch of the front stones are replaces but there's a lot that's still original. Some of then have these cool spiral designs on them:

We were allowed to go inside as part of the tour, but man was it a tight squeeze. What's coolest, for my not-so-inner nerd is that during the winter solstice light shines through the passage and creates a beam of light on the floor in the end burial chamber. It's pretty incredible considering the passage is so winding and the fact that this thing was built before either Stonehenge or the Pyramids. Pretty dang nerdy and pretty dang cool.

After that we tried and failed to find a place to eat as it was Good Friday and basically the whole country shuts down on that day. Literally, there were very few places besides big grocery stores that were open. We bought some food to eat back at the bed and breakfast, which for some reason, required a picture:

of which I was not pleased of the taking.

In an attempt to finally get a picture of me where I wasn't making some sort of face at the camera, my dad took on the title of ultimate creeper of the day and the next morning after he got ready, waited for me to wake up. The result was indeed a picture of me not intentionally making a face, but like I said early, my face looks weird even if I'm not trying:

I don't even think I'm awake in this.

After finally waking up fully, we made our way to Kylemore Abbey which was in the middle of this gorgeous scenery that really looked like what I imagined the train ride to Hogwarts would look like:

Serious, Hogwarts must be just behind the mountain.

The place is actually very cool and was built as a summer home for some couple;

Then a bunch of other people owned it until some nuns eventually go their hands on it and now it's call "abbey". There's some pretty cool grounds that go along with it. There was a chapel thing that had pillars made from all the different marbles of Ireland:

We also took the classic "good catholic girl" picture:

as well as the more realistic version:

We also snooped around the gardens which were still pretty even though nothing was really in bloom since it was still so cold. There was some gardener's house or something that was set up as it would've been and some typical pictures were captured there as well:

After that we mad our way up to Dublin where I again managed to do things I hadn't done the other two times I've been there.

We strolled up O'Connell St and saw the Spire which is just about as stupid looking as it sounds:

It literally is just this narwhal-ish horn sticking out of the middle of the street. No real point to it, it's just there.

We also went to the museum that's in the post office there which was actually kinda cool. It had the mother of all stamp collections as well as the evolution of the postal system. We also did the Book of Kells again since my parents haven't done it and I actually wanted a chance to read all the nerdy info on it this time around unlike last time where we whizzed through it. We also got super sneaky pictures of the long room which we weren't really supposed to take:

We managed to find a pub that was open for dinner and even saw this cool guy:

I wish.

After that we took the long route (got lost) to our hotel which was really close to the airport since their flight the next morning was pretty early. We had to wake up redonkulously early again since they had to return the rental car and it was a pretty uneventful morning. They hoped on their flight and I hoped on a bus back to Cork to start my month long adventure