Pride of Ireland

Not long after our parents left on the bus back to Clare, I was wondering what will I do with my week off. After a suggestion from +Niamh, I emailed Enniskillen Hotel about a prize I won in the Rte Guide a few months ago, just hadn't the time to use previously. As I still hadn't heard back by lunchtime on the Monday, we decided to organise backup plans in case. Just as we were finalising plans, and heading to book a tour, I get a reply back saying the Bronte Suite was available for the nights I wanted which was great. I confirmed the booking immediately. Now only issue was, was what to pack. I met Niamh after her meeting the following morning, and we quickly got few bits before getting the 13.30 Bus Eireann bus towards Enniskillen. After a slight delay we finally arrived to the hotel just before 5 pm. The Bronte Suite was fabulous no wonder it is the hotel's best room. As part of the 2 night stay, I also got a nice bottle of white wine and dinner. I kept wine for later in the week to use to celebrate Pride. That night we had dinner at the nearby Wethespoon's Linen Hall, which was exactly what we needed after all that travelling on the bus. After dinner we went exploring around the town on the way back to the hotel, which I had arranged for a Bushmills whiskey tasting with the hotel's whiskey expert Alex. Throughout the tasting he was so funny and made the whole experience quite fun. We called it a night after that as we were both wrecked and wanted to do and see a lot the next day.

We went down for breakfast a tad later then we planned, and decided after the nice breakfast to make the effort to really enjoy it properly the next morning. After breakfast, we set out to see what sights the town had for us. Being me of course I visited the two main churches within the town, before paying a visit to the headhunter barbers which is home to the railway museum. This museum within the barber impressed both myself and Niamh, as it told the story of the railway in the area until it closed and the amount of artefacts was quite extensive. From this museum we strolled down to EnnisKillen Castle before walking towards Portora Castle via the Portora Royal School which in the past had been Home to both Samuel Beckett and Oscar Wilde at different times as students. On the way to and from the castle we saw the playing fields which was used for General Eisenhower's visit to inspect the American soldiers stationed there before Invasion of Normandy. 

 

After exploring around the castle, we made the trek back towards Forthill Park, as I wanted to climb Cole's monument to see the view from the top. I nearly winded myself climbing up the 108 steps to the top. Although after the run up those steps I was out of breath, and the wind which I was greeted with was unexpected , the view from the top was breath taking especially seeing all of Enniskillen and River Erne. We took a few mins to recharge our batteries, after which we started the trek to try and find Castle Coole which was about a 40/45 mins walk away. As we found the wrong entrance, the nice guy at the pedestrian entrance was very nice to let us in, although we hadn't any cash on us, we both think he felt sorry for us, as it looked like it was about to start pouring, luckily enough was only a very quick passing shower. To be fair on the young lad, he tried to sell us the National Trust passes, although we had no interest we listened, as he let us in for free and the fact he was cute did no harm either. We ended up doing nearly all of the walks around the estate, from around the lake, down to the ice house, around the house before we left through the same entrance again. The long walk back to the hotel for dinner was made via a visit to the local ASDA, where we stocked up on low cost meds and few treats. We had the complimentary dinner in Wilde's bar, as it was off season for the hotel, the meal it self was lovely except for my Risotto which I personally found very bland, although the hotel staff were great about it and I got sorted which was nice. After dinner we were both exhausted as it was such a long day with all that walking. 

 We did actually get up early for breakfast, and it was even better than the previous one. We even had time for a post breakfast snooze before check out. The receptionists at the hotel throughout our stay were all very friendly and helpful. As we had some time before next bus, I wanted to get few vegetarian products at ASDA which I had never seen before and wanted to try. Like the bus up on Tuesday, the bus back to Dublin was late in this case nearly 30 mins. The journey back itself was very uneventful and relaxing. Once we arrived back, on the way back to the apartment, we stopped off at the Wild Rovers office on Bachelors Walk to book our tour to Belfast and Giants Causeway for the following morning. We were able to both get students tickets which saved some money which was great. We then had to rush home to quickly change and put the food away before heading out to Miele Gallery in Citywest for the Neven Maguire Demonstration evening. I must say I personally was more impressed about the event then I thought it was going to be. We got some cool recipes and even got chance to talk and get our photo taken with Neven. After this event, we had to wait for bus back into town, where we were meeting cousins from Australia who had met our parents and other members of our family previously in the week. It was strange yet interesting meeting Jamie and his wife Josie, before we knew it hours had passed and was time to leave the Brazen Head as we all had early starts the next day. It was great to finally meet them after the emails and calls.

Friday morning we both were up before 6 am to get ready for tour, it was great that the pick up spot was only about 15 mins away and we knew where to go. I was happy out that had prepared a packed lunch and drinks for the day as I knew it was gonna be about long day and we could buy sandwiches at the morning coffee break before we crossed the border. After we boarded the brand 151 bus and got settled and everyone was picked up, we made our way up the motorway passing through the Boyne Valley, our tour guide Robbie told us all the itinerary for the day beginning with Belfast, where you had the option to do a Black Taxi political tour or the Titanic Museum. We chose the Black Cab as we had done Titanic before. We made a coffee break at Applegreen where we got a 5 euro sandwich deal which sorted food for later on the trip. We arrived into Belfast about 9.40 where we got into the Black Taxi with 3 others with our driver Pat. Pat was brought up on the Falls Road, he brought us on a personal political tour of both the Falls and Shankhill Roads, bringing up close to some of famous murals on the Peace Wall, where we got to sign our names on to the Peace Wall. It was quite an interesting tour especially from someone actually who grew up in the area. We met the rest of the tour group at the Titanic Quarter, with even time to have a quick glance around the building. 

Once everyone was back on the bus, we departed Belfast and started the Coastal part of the tour, beginning with a stop at the Dun Luce Castle used as a film location as House of Greyjoy for The Game of Thrones. During this pitstop, the sun finally decided to make an appearance and the rest of the day was sunny and warm. During the coastal drive, Robbie and the Bus driver Ritchie, highlighted other film locations used for Game of Thrones such as Ballintoy used as Village of Pike and Carrick-A-Rede Rope Bridge as House of Baratheon. We stopped for our lunch at the Giant's Causeway, just before we disembarked Robbie told us the 3 different stories about how the Giant's Causeway were formed, the Creationist, Scientific and of course the famous Mythological Fionn Mac Cool which got the biggest reaction on the bus which was funny. We had about 2 hours stop here for lunch, Niamh and myself decided to walk and explore about first and eat after. Luckily  we decided to do that, as we got distracted by walking further and further enjoying the coastal landscape. By the time we actually got down to the Giant's Causeway itself which is Northern Ireland's only UNESCO World Heritage Site, time was going against us, we still were able to enjoy it fully and make it back on the bus with time to spare and then able to eat. Our last stop of the day was at the Carrick-A-Rede Rope bridge which was only about 10/15 mins down the road from the Giant's Causeway. The rope bridge from the main land to the island is connected by a rope bridge over a 30 m deep and 20 m wide chasm. Poor Niamh who has a slight fear of heights was unable to attempt the bridge, I felt the steps down the bridge itself more unnerving than the bridge itself. Once I crossed the bridge I was able to walk around the island to enjoy the cliff top views, before queueing back to cross the bridge again. After leaving this spot, we started the long drive back to Dublin, on the journey back Robbie was telling everyone about fairy trees and fairy rings and stop the bus at one stage to show a fairy tree which historical is always a hawthorn tree. We finally made it back to Dublin just before 8.30 pm although it was an extremely long day, it was worth the money, effort and the tiredness and it was capped out by the banter and expertise of Robbie and Ritchie.

After a slight sleep in, I got up with an air of excitement for Pride. We made our way to my mate Colm's place for a Pre-Parade Brunch via a quick stop off at smithfield. Whilst in Fresh in Smithfield, and at the ATM I got distracted and left the money behind me at the machine, I luckily got it back. After a tad confusion, we finally found Colm's place, there was a great atmosphere and buzz. There was a steady flow of people coming and going which kept the party atmosphere. Niamh left after a while to get her spot to watch the parade. The rest of us helped Colm tidy up before making our way to the parade, before joining the LGBT Helpline banner, as some of the group knew several of those behind that banner. After a few mins who did I see in the crowd but Clare, her brother and her cousin who were joining the same banner,  the people I met at Dublin Castle on May 23rd for the Referendum Result, which was so random and fun. Then literally a minute or two later, I saw Niamh along the route on O'Connell St. I rang Niamh after I reached the finishing area at Merrion Square, who was telling me the Parade had no sign of finishing. I heard after that 50,000 were out for the parade and lasted for almost 2 hours which is amazing. The atmosphere at Merrion Square was quite laid back and chilled. The Speeches and music got the crowd going. When I finally met Niamh, we had a good walk around Merrion Square to get back in as there was only one entrance. I met some people in Merrion Square throughout the day, who hadn't seen in years which was unreal. Niamh and myself finally met up with our group, and made our way towards Front Lounge where we spent most of our evening, getting quite merry and enjoying ourselves. We topped off the night, trying the new bar called Front Door where we remained until closing time. When I finally got home about 4 am, I was exhausted and quite tipsy when I realised was up for work in 4 hours. I think I have never been so hungover and my shift at work couldn't finish quick enough. However as the day processed I started to feel a lot better and the Chinese takeaway that tonight was the perfect way to finish off the weekend.