Today started on a high note; Mom got her camera back! She had just about totally given up on it after checking every lost and ofund on the property, but finally had the bright idea to see if there was a lost and found at the welcome desk for Witnesses. Ta da! There it was and there it had been all along. So we were already all smiles this morning when we set out for the bus. We had an all-day tour today that took us around some of the coast line and to two different castles, which was definitely a highlight for Mom. We even ran into our DO and his wife on the bus. It's a small world, isn't it?

Our first stop on the tour was a castle in County Meathe (I think that's how you spell that). It was in a park-like setting, and was very beautiful. Unfortunately for us they are renovating the interior and we weren't allowed inside. But we did get to take a breather under some very old and large tress, which is one of my absolute favorite things to do. Brittany isn't as big a fan of sitting in the dirt as I am :)

After looking at the castle for a half hour, we walked back towards the bus and came across a children's playground. We spent significantly more time there than looking at the castle! They have all the cool stuff that we used to have but got rid of to avoid lawsuits. Needless to say, Brittany and I had a very good time playing with the kids. We passed a very large field near the castle and saw many, many dogs going for walks or playing. I have yet to see a dog on a leash here. They always just stay right with their owner, and never run off. Brittany and I smiled as we atched so many people on our tour take pictures of the dogs instead of the giant castle right behind them.

The next stop was Trim Castle, and it was the best thing we saw todau. It was a ways away so we stopped at a harbor first (Howth, I think?). It was a real working harbor, with real, working fisherman. They had hundreds of feet worth of netting on the ground and were tediously going through it to repair rips and tears. Seagulls the size of turkeys (seriously...turkeys) scoured the nets looking for scraps left over from the day's catch. We even got to see a couple of seals swimming around the boats. They are a lot bigger than I thought: think small manatee. We had about an hour in the harbor so we meandered through the village and ended up buying som fish and chips. Neither of us were hungry, but who could resist that smell? I have to admit I wish I had just kept walking, because it was exceptionally greasy and I felt like I had a rock in my stomach for the next two hours. A small price to pay...

Trim Castle is exactly what I imagine when I think of a castle, and was used in the filming of several movies. The brothers had arranged a guide for us, and he did a fantastic job of walking us through everything. I am pretty much always too cheap to pay for a guide when we go places, but I might start budgeting for that from here on. You enjoy the whole thing so much more when you know what you're looking at. We walked into the castle and I was surprised to see the interior completely covered in green. The guide explained to us how just about every feature was designed for defense, right down to the size and curvature of the steps. Until 1993, it had been privately owned. What do you do with the ruins of a castle? Apparently the owners had no idea either so it sat in disrepair for many years. Our guide told us that he had grown up nearby, and would sneak into it when he was a little kid to play. Now that's my kind of playground! The owners finally sold it to the State, and they fixed it up really well.

We slept on the bus all the way home, but the golf course looked too good to pass up, especially after we missed out yesterday. I still have no idea how it all worked out, but we got two rounds of golf, two sets of clubs, gloves, balls and tees for about 75 euro. Good deal! The course wasn't exactly perfect, but it was definitely prettier than what we normally play on. When you throw in the fact that we're golfing in Ireland, it was a win-win. There was one particularly amazing hole that Dad and I both birdied. We drove 255 yards right onto the green, yes 255. It was so sweet it almost made us forget about all the other holes that we totally bombed, and the balls we left at the bottom of the many, many lakes :)

We had some time before dinner after our game, so I picked up my Kindle and dug into Around the World in 80 Days. It's a book I've always wanted to read but never have. Now that I've finally started, I can't believe I haven't read it before! It's so exciting, and I hate putting it down. We wanted to mix things up a little for dinner so we skipped out on the Hotel dining room and went to a nearby Asian place for some spicy curry and sushi. Everything was fantastic but we were soooooo tired that just chewing took too long. We trudged down to the pub for one last Guinness (it'll be our last chance for a while, France is tomorrow) and everyone headed to bed. Brothers and sisters are heading home in droves now that the convention is over, and the hotel's demographic is definitely changing :( No more singing in the lobbies! If I type any more I'm going to collapse on the keyboard. So long Guinness, bonjour gruyère!