[The Carricka-Rede Rope Bridge was one of our favorite activities, and something we highly recommend to anyone visiting Ireland! Well worth the admission, which I don't exactly remember, but was under 10 pounds per person.]
"With the girlies both sleeping on full-size beds, it seems like every night poor Ruthie falls off the bed at some point, so last night I folded up the duvet to make her a nice cushy bed on the floor. She didn't fall off, but she did wake up crying at 5:30 AM (despite being up until after 10 PM), standing up and confused about being on the floor. Thankfully she went back to sleep with me on the bed on and off until 8 (I think). We quickly dressed in order to get a walk on the beach and some more yummy breads from Ruth's Bakery. Gorgeous morning for a walk (and a run for Sarah!). I realized at the bakery that we'd dropped her dolly Caroline, but thankfully we recovered her without too much retracing of our steps.
"We had a leisurely breakfast with Sarah and Logan of eggs, soda bread and potato bread and finally hit the road for the Carrick-a-rede rope bridge! It was a really beautiful drive--all the small towns are still decorated with banners and buntings for their July 12 celebration. Bushmills and Ballintoy seemed particularly charming!
"The walk to the bridge was windy and enthralling and we took loads of pictures.
[Not someone we know pictured above, Sarah and Logan pictured below :)]
"The girls did pretty well, Gemma walking and holding John's hand on the way over the first time.
[The island on the other side was dream-like. The cliffed edges were not fenced, so we had to hover over the children, but I think we could have stayed and played there for a long time if it hadn't been for all the wind.]
"We chatted briefly with a lady who seemed to be on her own; on the way back across to the mainland, we all had to wait as the man overseeing the entrance of the bridge walked patiently backwards and helped her across--found out later she is a believer, and it just struck me as a picture of how we are to fix our eyes on Jesus when we cannot make it ourselves, and always.
"After that, we parted ways with the Robertsons who headed off for the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum while we were intent on Belfast. We stopped and got sandwiches on the way.
"Finally found some parking in the Titanic quarter of the city and a kindly city bus driver helped us figure out how to catch a tour bus. (We were just barely in time for the last tour of the day.)
"We enjoyed the history refresher (Falls road:Catholic Unionists :: Shank Hill Road:Protestant Loyalists) and Ruthie slept a little bit.
"We opted to get let off a 'ten minute walk' from our car in order to see a little bit more of the city before heading back (more like 30 minutes).
[The famous Leaning Albert!]
"Logan and Sarah made us an amazing dinner of tacos and nachos and we got the girls in bed, watched a bit of Avatar, and worked on getting clothes ready for tomorrow--Jenni's wedding day!"
We barely scratched the surface of Belfast that day, and realize we could have spent two or three more days exploring the highlights of the city. It didn't really matter, though, because our most favorite hours were those spent at the coast!
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