Giant's Causeway: Part 2 | Northern Ireland

The walk to Giant's Causeway was absolutely breathtaking despite the weather not cooperating. The weather wasn't the best and it was one of the coldest days during our trip. Some people would describe it as miserable, cold and rainy, but it added to the grandeur of the scenery. Surprisingly, you can trek all over the basalt columns. There were some guards looking about, but people could climb as high as they wanted. Since we weren't really wearing hiking shoes, we decided to stay in the safer and less slippery areas. Didn't want to trip and fall into the tumultuous ocean. 

Despite the weather being terrible and the holiday season, there were still a lot of tourists. I didn't love the amount of people, but Game of Thrones is filmed in the Belfast, so there were a lot of tours geared towards lovers of the series. I love the show as well, but we went for a tour specifically focusing on the Causeway, which I think is the smart way to go. So if you ever make it there, skip the Game of Thrones tours and focus on the good stuff! 

Giant's Causeway: Part 1 | Northern Ireland

Let’s go back to 2006. Markus and I have been married for about a year and we’re about to have our second wedding. With this set of nuptials, we had an opportunity to travel abroad for a second honeymoon. Both Markus and I knew that we wanted to go to Europe, specifically the U.K. The first place that jumped to both our minds was the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland. Back then, we were poor twenty-somethings with really low paying jobs and barely any vacation days. With these restrictions, we both decided to go to London for six days. Hoping that one day we would make a month long trip to Ireland, Northern Ireland and the Giant’s Causeway.

So that brings us to Christmas 2016 or we lovingly called it Happy Britmas 2016. Markus and I decided to spend Christmas and New Year’s with our friends, James and Ari in the U.K. Since Markus and I spent time in the U.K. two times before, we wanted to do something a little different and head somewhere none of us had been and that ended up being Belfast. Thankfully, Ari was able to find a day tour that took us north to a few other touristy spots. The real draw for Markus and I was Giant’s Causeway, since we didn’t get a chance to go in 2006. It only took us ten years, but we finally made it! I took so many photos, so this is just part one. As always, there will be much more!

Koffee Pot, Town Hall & More | Manchester, England

Even though Markus and I visited Manchester and other parts of the United Kingdom in 2012, we've always wanted to go back. I think we always will, it's such a wonderful and amazing place. On our previous trip, the three days we spent there were really great and something that we always reference when we talk about the U.K. When we were planning this trip, we had to fly into Manchester to meet our mates before we traveled on to Stokey Town for Christmas. I was ecstatic when our flight arrived early in the morning, that meant we had a full day in Manchester to revisit old haunts and find new ones as well! 

After 12 long hours of travel and an interminable wait at baggage claim, we spotted our friends, James and Ari at arrivals! Thankfully the first thing they had planned was breakfast at Koffee Pot. We ate there back in 2012 but it was worth a second trip. Markus ordered a Full Irish Breakfast and I ordered the Rarebit. The Full Irish came with sausage, bacon, bury black pudding, white pudding, tatty cake, beans, fried egg, hash brown and grilled tomato. The Rarebit was made of smoked haddock, cheese, mustard and Worcesteshire sauce on sourdough bread topped with poached egg and tabasco tomatoes on the side. Both meals were incredibly delicious. The haddock wasn't too fishy and worked extremely well with the cheese and other sauces. Everything on the plate for the Full Irish was so satisfying. It was greasy, tasty and the perfect beginning to seventeen days in the United Kingdom. 

After we ate breakfast, we walked around a bit trying to find a Christmas market, but for some reason we couldn't find a single one. Which was surprising considering it was December 23rd. You would think they would be all over the place. I did want to see something really Christmasy and while we were wandering around, we found the Santa monstrosity that was erected in front Town Hall. I know I wanted Christmasy, but that was kind of cheesy and not at all expected. We ventured inside hoping to see some grand ornaments and decorations, instead it was business as usual, but it was still quite pretty. After looking around a bit, we left and sought out other fun places in Manchester, which will be included in another post!