Exploring Howth

From our hotel room, Rachael and I could see what appeared to be a mountain of some sort. Yesterday, when the skies cleared up a good bit, we noticed that we could also see water on both sides of it. My natural curiosity took over, and I began to research online to see what we were looking at. If you look at a map of Ireland, a d look just barely north-east of Dublin you will see a pinensula sticking out into the Irish Sea. The town on this pinensula is called Howth. Our hotel room is situated so that we are looking straight down the landmass that connects Howth to the the rest of. Ireland. This morning we set out on a mission to find a cafe to eat breakfast in, and to see what there was to see in the town of Howth.

The breakfast was not impressive, but it served its purpose of fueling the start of our day. As I said yesterday, it was bright, sunny, and beautiful; and we spent the day indoors. Today, on the other hand was grey, wet, and cool, about 60 degrees Fahrenheit. I know this sounds like a dream to all of you in Virginia who are sweating it out in the 105 degree heat. We first walked through a small farmer's market, where we bought some hand made soap and some cupcakes for later. We then proceeded to simply walk. Unbeknownst to us, we had parked right next to the harbor, and we spent the bulk of the remainder of the day there, taking hundreds of pictures, getting soaked to the bone with rain, and loving every minute of it. My favorite comment of the day came from a local woman who, when we passed her, squinting to keep the rain out of our eyes, said "Beautiful Irish summer day, no?" After walking nearly entirely around the harbor we stopped at a restaurant called The Brass Monkey for a warm drink and some dessert. (We were operating under Rachael's grandmother's motto of 'life is short, eat dessert first.') After taking some more pictures in weather that had cleared considerably, we headed back to the car. We drove around for nearly an hour looking for a place to have dinner, but to no avail. We settled on the food court in the shopping center across from our hotel. Then, it was back to the hotel to dry out. Below are just a few of my many pictures from today.

Rachael and I in front of the lighthouse

Lighthouse between boats

Big chain

Classic Irish subtlety

Rachael's apple berry crumble

My banoffee -food shots for A'Leigh

Martello Tower

Ireland's Eye

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