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Today we "slept in" and didn't go have breakfast until 900 since the Trim Castle was right across the street from our hotel. The castle wasn't going to be open until 1000 and we wanted to check out before going over so that way we wouldn't feel too rushed. One of the advice Rick Steves and people who have gone to Ireland in the past have suggested was to buy the Ireland Heritage Card. This card gets you into various tourist attractions all around the Republic of Ireland for one price. Trim Castle was part of that price and it included a guided tour. Now before you get all excited about touring a castle I need to tell you that Trim Castle only has the primary main tower still standing. The tour guide mentioned something about not restoring the castle but preserving it in the state that it is. This means no re-construction was done on the castle. Our guide was very informative and passionate about his topic. The view from the top of the castle tower was amazing! You had this vast wide countryside all around you and you can see the towns since most buildings rarely reach 3 stories they are mostly 2 stories.
After visiting Trim Castle and running some errands around town i.e. shopping mostly since all 3 girls on this trip are first time home owners, we finally took off for the closest attraction the Hill of Tara. On the way there we got lost and somehow ended up making a loop back to the city of Trim. So Bob pulls over at a gas station and the guy tell us how to get there but it wasn't too specific so of course we ended up lost again. Pulling into another gas station the lady there tells us we past the turn we needed to make by a mile or so and needed to flip back. As the American couple who ran into us as we were leaving "we found the way here by accident" which is true for us too!
The Hill of Tara was the seat of the High Kings of Ireland and has been an important part of Irish history since the late Stone Age when a passage-tomb was constructed on site(the Hostage Hill I think it was but I could be wrong). During the height of its power it was a political and religious center. We walked around the hill and down the dips or slopes which is so much better from a helicopter's view. Then they showed a very informative video inside the chapel which gave you more detail about the importance of the Hill of Tara. But for me it was a nice dark place where I can rest my eyes and so I was in that mid sleep foggy state.
We had a late lunch at the shop down from the Hill of Tara visitor's center. I had a chicken with melted Brie Panini sandwich. It was very delicious! Also the entertainment part of lunch came from the bees or wasps that bugged us the whole time. They got so close that they landed on you and your food. My friends were laughing at me because I first used a fork to swat the pests away then when they got too close I blew on them. Poodles pointed out that I was spitting Brie everywhere while Allison and Bob are just bursting out laughing. But I hate it when bugs or pest with wing like creatures surround me! My brother will tell you I freak out over bugs because frankly the diseases they carry on with them and transfer over are not good. We walked to this one room bookshop and as I was walking in I felt a bug on my pinky finger so I swatted it but the darn wasp bit me. I could feel the sting but there was no stinger so it wasn't a very hard sting I suppose. J
After lunch we headed back to make our way to the B&B we were staying at for the night. But we ran into some traffic at Kells since it was after school time. I've noticed plenty of construction work is being done on the roadways lately and the detour traffic is horrible! The B&B is rather quaint and the hostess is very nice. We walked around Mullingar checked out this building that looked like a monastery but turned out to be a church. As we wandered inside looking at the ornate decorations of it all a nun came in and gave us the evil eye so I ran out the nearest exit! LOL We then wandered around the main street which was just full of traffic and ended up eating at a place our B&B hostess recommended called "Oscars". This place was totally awesome it was a long rectangular room with tables and chairs were red and while the tables were black. The food was very delicious! I had lamb shank with mashed potatoes that had cabbages mixed in then they set the meat au jus with mint and what I thought I tasted was lime. So yummy! For dessert we had two plates one was Bonaffi Pie, this oh so yummy pie where the bottom was a biscuit then they added bananas, drizzled caramel and topped it off with a thick layer of chocolate pudding drizzled with fudge. The second dessert was Rhubarbs Pie, which I've never tasted rhubarb before so it was interesting and reminded me of apple pie but the texture on the pie was slightly different. It was so good and I didn't feel guilty one bit for eating so much because we have spent the past few days walking around, or as my friends tease me and say "we're walking you're running". J When we got back to our B&B I was ready to crash it was a long day!
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