On to Northern Ireland and back to Switz...

From Dublin we drove to Northern Ireland and spent the rest of our time there. We headed up there so that BK and J could play golf at Royal County Down Golf Club, the number four golf course in the world! They had a great time playing an amazing course. A and I did not play, but we did go out and walk a few holes with them. You'll have to ask them more about their adventures on the course; I just know they reported in that they had a great time.

Entrance to golf course from our hotel

BK on the links!

While we were in Northern Ireland we stayed at a great hotel, the Slieve Donard. It ended up being more of a resort than we expected, but it was great. It's a Victorian Era hotel that has been completely updated and is in close proximity to both the golf course and main street in the town, and also sits right on the coast, making for some stunning views. I would highly recommend and would go back if we were ever in that part of the country again.

View of our hotel from the ocean

The final two days in Northern Ireland we left completely unplanned and decided that we would make a game time decision on what we wanted to do. This included extending our stay at the hotel and deciding that we were going to stay in Northern Ireland for the duration of our trip. On our first free day we headed up to the very northern coast to see Giant's Causeway, Dunluce Castle and go to Bushmill's Distillery.

Giant's Causeway

Giant's Causeway was really cool and very interesting. I don't even know how to describe it, other than a rock formation, but that just makes it sound so boring. It's an area right on the coast that has stacks and stacks of hexagonal shaped rocks. You can hike around on the rocks and hike up to various outlooks for a view of the coast. The visitors center also provides you with a free audio guide so you know what you're looking for and unique formations within the rocks that people have identified over the years.

Climbing on the rocks

From here we stopped for a quick lunch, then headed up to Dunluce Castle, which is not far from Giant's Causeway. We didn't actually go inside the castle, but it is a medieval castle that clings to the side of the mountain right on the ocean. I think part of what makes all these sites so interesting is that they are all on this wild, untamed coast line that has to be very harsh to live on. We hiked around a bit at the castle, and BK and J even went down into a cave that lead to the ocean.

Dunluce Castle

We then headed to Bushmill's Distillery, which has been licensed to distill since 1608. Unfortunately they don't allow anyone under eight-years-old to go on the tour, so Baby K and I had to sit this one out. We hung out with A in the cafe while BK and J did the tour. They acted like the tour wasn't all the great, but we had to try, just to see what the experience was like. You do get a free drink with your tour, which you can partake in at the cafe. I personally don't like whiskey at all, so this wasn't of much use to me.

Bushmill's Distillery

That night we enjoyed a nice dinner at one of the restaurants in our hotel and had a relatively early night. The next day we didn't do all that much before having to head back to Dublin to fly back to Basel that night. J&A attempted to golf, but got cancelled due to heavy fog, and BK, Baby K and I slept in (or rather, all took a nap during morning nap time). We did get out and walk along the ocean and promenade, and partook in one last dish of fish and chips along the main street in the town.

Heavy fog along the coast

We took the coastal route from Northern Ireland back to Dublin, stopping along the way if we saw something that peaked our interest. Thankfully, it was sunny most of the way back. Our flight to Basel was delayed, but we made it back to the apartment around midnight that night. I was seriously stressing (inside) about the late flight back, but our seasoned little traveler did great- eating her bedtime meal on the plane, then falling right asleep for the entire two hour flight.

Back in Switzerland, Baby K and I skipped the next day's trip to Luzern with BK and J&A, as we needed a day to recover. They went up to Mount Rigi, but were again greeted with fog, then explored around Luzern a little bit. Switzerland feels a lot different from the UK and Ireland, so I'm glad they got to have the experience. Baby K and I met them at our favorite Mexican restaurant in Basel for dinner after they returned that night.

They stopped to see the Lion in Luzern

Their final day was spent in a different part of Switzerland; we took the train to Bern, picked up a car (yes, we're buying a car- more on that later), then continued down to Montreux to show J&A where we would be living in the very near future. We had lunch, walked along the lake, went to see the new house, then made a very quick trip to the Olympic Museum in Lausanne. I wish we would have had more time at the museum, as it is a very interactive experience. I'm sure BK and I will go back, since we'll be living down there, but we really enjoyed what we did get to see.

Olympic Museum- uniforms and equipment that has been used

After we got back to Basel that evening, BK walked J&A around Basel so they could see some of the city, then we had an easy dinner and early night since the taxi was picking them up at 5:30am the next morning.

Tired yet? Yeah, all of us were too, but had a great time on the trip. It felt crazy that we had gone back and forth between four countries in just a few days. J&A hit the ground running with us and we never really slowed down after that. If you're going to come to Europe you might as well make the most of it though!

BK and I have had about a week of downtime, but are gearing up for our move, which is happening on Monday!! Baby K has had some big milestones the past few days, but I'll have get back to you on those soon. Right after the move we're headed to the US for a month-long visit. Busy times!