Weddingbee

Greetings, my much-missed friends-and-relations! Today Mr. LB and I conclude the Ireland leg of our honeymoon, and hop back across to London, where we’ll spend a quick couple of days before coming home. I’ve taken almost six hundred photos so far (this is one photogenic country) - fortunately, I found a way to ram as many as possible down your throats. Collage-a-than starts now!  Favorite “wow” scenic shots:

The first shot is from Carrick-a-rede on the Antrim Coast. See those little islands trailing off? You can walk a short rope bridge across to the first one and wander around unsupervised on some terrifyingly sheer cliffs. Which we did, natch.

Bottom left is from Castleconnell, outside Limerick. I wanted to walk down and get closer shots of the water, but swarms of mosquitoes scared me off. Bottom right is a shot of what was everywhere during our stay: gorse. Between that and the dandelions, the entire island was an explosion of yellow.

Favorite “OMG! Look at the ___!” captures:

The minute we left Dublin and got into the countryside, the sheep started appearing. I have never. Seen. So many sheep. In my life. And as it was spring, that meant something even better…LAMBS! I kept making Mr. LB pull over so I could take pictures. But every time I got close, either they got scared, or there were no lambs nearby. I was so psyched to get the nursing shot.

Along with sheep, there were loads of cows. Big, healthy beauties, and most of them oh-so-picturesque Holsteins. But this guy was right alongside the country road we were on; we had to stop and say hello. And the sheep on the bottom right were hilarious - so curious about us, they came trotting over and had a whole conversation with us. Just the four of us, bah-ing at one another for ten minutes. It was fantastic.

Favorite plant/flower prettinesses:

These shots were basically my camera showing off. I couldn’t believe how crisp and colorful the detail shots were coming out - so I couldn’t stop! The rose was photographed at Dromoland Castle gardens, the walkway is St. Stephen’s Green in Dublin, and the greenery from the wood near Cabra Castle.

Favorite castle pics:

See that incredible twilight? That wasn’t until almost 9:30 at night! (Astronomy is so cool!) We were eating dinner at the restaurant inside Solis Lough Eske Castle (where we also stayed two nights), and it was getting darker and darker…and I was getting antsier and antsier to get outside for some night shots. I finally abandoned Mr. LB and ran out to get this one.

Bottom left is Dromoland Castle (another hotel we stayed in); bottom right, Donegal Castle.

Favorite “iconic Irish” moments:

When we came upon the scene in the top photo, we thought we’d died and gone to heaven. We followed this 21st century shepherd for about ten glorious minutes - at one point, he encouraged us to join in and help herd the sheep along the road with our tiny car. It was AWESOME.

Bottom left photo - I was dying to get some good photos of the locals, but kept getting shy whenever the opportunity came up. Finally, about a week in, we were just driving by this chap having a round of golf. “STOP!” I yelled. screeeech! I jumped out of the car and tried to like, politely holler at him to get his attention. He quite obligingly smiled and waved.

Favorite doorways:

I loved both the color of the top door and the “IRA” graffiti. Not that I’m endorsing graffiti. Or any political agenda. I just thought it was a great shot.

The bottom right doorway was in Kingscourt, where we stopped to buy a converter and ended up befriending a massively tall shopkeeper named Paul.

Favorite natural wonders:

Natural wonder #1: Giant’s Causeway, Northern Ireland.

(Not so) natural wonder #2: ruins at Clonmacnoise. Natural wonder #3: that we fit ourselves and two weeks worth of luggage in that tiny Kia.

Favorite “us” portraits:

Mr. LB walks the rope bridge at Carrick-a-rede; I snap a self-portrait in a gold plate at Dromoland Castle; oddly, there was a mirror hung on the outside wall of one of the buildings at Cabra Castle; we kick it with some ale at Durty Nelly’s, a 350-year old pub in Bunratty.

Favorite headstones:

Celtic, classic; Brian Curly, whose 18th century kin had excellent taste in fonts; doing my duty as a former English major and paying my respects to a master.

Favorite road signs:

Favorite random finds:

It’s a phone. Plugged into a hill. That’s all I know. Plus, a freaky vintage mannequin models the latest in tweed hats, a massive grocery store mural urges me to be carnivorous, and a sign warns me away from trying to walk through fire to ride a seagull.

I’m hivesick like crazy and can’t wait to get home and start posting our wedding photos. In the meantime, thanks for indulging me in this moonblogging session - I’ve been starved for the ’bee love!