The day after the transit, we flew to Dublin to begin the second trip with a survey of Ireland, which is an extremely beautiful green friendly country. We were blessed with unusually sunny weather the whole time, with only a minor amount of drizzle now and then. We returned to Dublin for Bloomsday, and then visited the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland.
Around Ireland
After a day in Dublin, we drove around Ireland for a few days, through the rolling farmlands of the south, to the rugged western coastline, and to the neolithic tombs in the Bend of the Boyne. More pictures...
Dublin
Back in Dublin, we spent a few days sightseeing. More pictures...
Bloomsday
James Joyce's novel Ulysses follows Leopold Bloom and Stephen Daedalus around Dublin on June 16, 1904. (That was the day Joyce met the woman he fell in love with and married). The novel refers to many Dublin landmarks and businesses, many of which still exist today. Every year on June 16 there's a party to commemorate it, and since this was the 100th anniversary, it was especially big. More pictures...
Giant's Causeway
The Giant's Causeway is an amazing natural formation in Northern Ireland. A stretch of the coast has (mostly) hexagonal basalt columns, like at Devil's Postpile National Monument in the Sierras, and in one spot they've formed a projection out into the ocean. More pictures...
