I had been waiting to get to a new country since I was a child.
Desperately waiting to get a stamp in a passport.
And honestly there was no way I thought that the first place I would go would be to Ireland. The place where my Mother’s side of the family comes from, the place where my heart has done little call outs too, the place where 80% of my favorite books take place.
We landed in Dublin after a 10 hour flight, for one night of sleeplessness and too much champagne at The Clarence Hotel. It was beautiful, owned by Bono and covered in my favorite fabric, crushed velvet. It was a misty day out so there wasn’t much wandering around until about 1:30 AM after we couldn’t sleep because of the night club that seemed to be below us. BTW, the whale tale is back in Ireland. 😳 (if you don’t know what that is it’s when the thong is above the pants. Major thing from the 90’s.)
After we fueled ourselves with coffee, the next morning, we headed off to Ashford Castle in County Mayo. Alllllll the way to the other side of the island. Less then 3 hours drive but worth the loveliness of seeing so much of the Irish countryside.
This castle has been somewhere I’ve been dreaming about for over 10 years. It’s also the setting of one of my favorite romance novel series, “The Cousins O’wyer Trilogy”
When we arrived the gates opened up and we where greeted and welcomed in with open arms and some serious levels of joy. It truly felt that every person who worked there wanted to be there. They came from all over the world just to work there.
While there we took plenty of walks, enjoyed some archery lessons, toured the bakery 🤤, ate a 5 star meal and enjoyed live music in the bar area. Everything was incredible and beautiful and I now need to go back.
Once we where forced to leave Ashford we headed back to the middle of Ireland, Athlone, for the real reason we came. The Husbands Brother’s Wedding! They have a farm out there with a couple horses and donkeys and just a short stroll to some cows.
On one of our final days we took a drive over to Frenchpark in County Roscommon to see if, as The Husband put it, I could find my dead family. My Mother’s side of the family came from that area so it was something I had to at least try.
And I’m so glad we did because even though we didn’t find anyone we did encounter one of the most beautiful and rural cemeteries I’ve ever seen and it dates back pretty far.
And that was that. We found a local pub that we fell in love with, and I found out I’m no good on 11-12 hour flights 😬
So now that that trips over…. Where should we plan next? I’m taking suggestions starting now 🙃
Loving. Living. Travelling.
Emily A G 🧳
Emily's Ardor 