Northern Ireland Day 4 - Belfast Castle and Day 5 - Heading Home

 This was Koen's big attraction. He wanted to go to Northern Ireland's capital, Belfast. As we researched what to do and see in Belfast, this is what he chose to do: visit Belfast Castle. The turrets reminded him of Hogwarts and immediately he wanted to see it as Harry Potter.

Rather than having a castle-looking interior, it's more like a nice mansion made for events. It's mostly used for weddings, and when being used for one, the inside is unavailable for tours. We were super lucky and showed up on a day when there wasn't a wedding happening, but they were preparing for one the next day. This made it possible for us to see inside. I apparently wasn't too inspired to take photos of the interior, so I apologize for that.

Koen attracted attention walking in his Harry Potter attire and people were pleasant enough to play along. He was slightly reserved, but loved it at the same time.

Belfast Castle

  

Silly time with Macie

I got a selfie with HARRY POTTER! 

I should have better photographed the back stairs. They were grand and the kids loved them. 

Hadley

We drove through Belfast a bit afterwards looking for a fun place to walk around, but it was a little too corporate looking for us. Belfast does have a big Titanic Museum but we didn't feel it was the right activity for our family at the time. So we opted to head back, taking a longer, coastal route. It was beautiful.

Day 5

I didn't photograph much this day either.

It was a long day of traveling all the way back home. We drove down to Ireland so we could ferry from Dublin and be able to mark it off as another country we've visited.

The time was fast and short in Dublin. We were able to get a bite to eat and an "Irish" Subway ;) and spend about 5 minutes in a souveneir shop. The kids chose key chains (Hadley opted to pick on for her friend instead of herself) and a bag of sweets. We then drove to the ferry port feeling a little stressed about the time but being just fine. Our drive home was long but the kids did a fantastic job and were in good spirits and kind moods, which certainly helped seal our trip as being super fantastic.

At the Air BNB just before leaving Friday morning.

Macie waiting for our subway sandwiches.

Koen and Hadley with the ferry mascot, Happy.