King John's Castle in Limerick is definitely worth visiting. It has a good mix of the original structure with indoor interpreation signs and videos explaining the history, and some costumed musicians.
If you're in that part of Ireland you may also see signs for Bunratty Castle and Folk Park. The castle is a bit overrated - it's alright but there wasn't much information about the history etc, and it was very crowded. Most of the time in the castle was spent queing to go up and down spiral staircases (which was kinda fun tho ) There are better castles to see I think. The folk park was brilliant though - they have cottages set up as old homes, schools, the post office, etc., some cafés and loads of little shops selling everything from pottery, woollen jumpers, sweets, other souvenirs, etc. It's worth going, but the folk park is better than the castle.
Adare Castle is also rlly good but slightly unconventional to find. You have to go to Adare Heritage Centre and reserve tickets on a guided tour - they take you to the castle in a minibus and then a guide shows a group of you around the castle. The guide was extremely knowledgeable and knew just about everything there was to know about the castle. As the guide was telling you everything there weren't information boards or anything, so it felt very authentic but you still learnt its history.
I would also recommend St Patrick's Rock of Cashel in County Tippereary, which is a huge ruined church. They tell all about it's history and about some of the conservation of a sandstone chapel there, which was really interesting.
For more modern history, the Flying Boat Museum at Foynes was worth a visit.
The coastline is absolutely magnificent there - we didn't manage to make it to the Cliffs of Moher, but we did go to Loop Head Lighthouse and the Bridges of Ross a bit further south, which were both good to see.
Oh, and if you want a complete adventure, go to Holy Isle on Lough Derg - an old man takes a handful of people to a little island in his motorboat, then leaves and abandons you there for an hour. You spend most of the hour wondering if he'll remember to come back
Also, if you're going through Dublin, go and see the state apartments in Dublin Castle.
...I think I just told you 90% of the things I see, so imma stop now. tl;dr: the west of Ireland is a wonderful place to go.
Oh, but if you manage to go in August, look up Heritage Week. The Office of Public Works, which looks after all the castles etc., lets people in for free that week. We didn't know it existed until we got there so were only there for the first day of it.
Time heals all wounds. Yep. I'm always pleased to hear about MB diaspora relationships thriving.
*frantically writes all of this down* Thanks so much!! I am actually writing this down, as I'm especially interested in visiting castle ruins and learning more about the local culture, both old and modern. I'll let you know if I'm able to visit any of those places.
We'll see if the immigration laws get any better and hopefully this MB relationship with thrive even more Have you ever been able to meet up with any MB friends?
Good, that makes my info-dumping less embarassing. The only other thing I'd say is make sure to get cash when you go - here in England pretty much everything can be done with by debit card/contactless/apple pay etc. but in Ireland there were a lot more cash only things - the bus I went on in Dublin was only accepting coins.
Oof, laws. Sadly the venn diagram of people I still talk to vs. people within a feasible distance does not align.
How many people here actually drink pumpkin spice lattes when it's fall? I'm just curious.
I disdain the taste of coffee in all its form, so not me. But there's a company in Bristol that makes Pumpkin Spice Chai tea, which is decent, and I guess kinda counts.
It's all minivans and sippy cups from here on out. TheSmallCon has no clue what's coming, fingers crossed he is a good big bro. Finding Friendships
Oh goodness I've heard that kids learning about new babies can be such a hit-or-miss experience. My mom once told me that soon after Mock was born, I came up to her while she was sitting and rocking him, and I said very seriously, "Mommy. Put the baby down. " Apparently I wasn't too thrilled that someone had taken my place.
I expect TheSmallCon to be less than thrilled about the baby for the first year or so, after which they'll hopefully be friends. Finding Friendships
That's not a very romanticized era, so that's far from a boring pick. I think I'd gamble on the future, I might end up in the nuclear apocalypse, but history seems too unhygienic, I think it'd be hard for me to go backwards. I shudder thinking about life without modern plumbing. Finding Friendships
Oh that's a good point, dysentery and the plague would SUCK But also, you would know how to keep yourself clean and what to not eat, so there'd be much less of a chance that you'd get sick than the others living in that time... If you went to the future, then you'd have to adapt to their standards of cleanliness that probably has a lot to do with warding off radioactivity.
Yeah, and there's also the culture-shock, being homeschooled was hard enough in that department. Finding Friendships
I hate how much I look forward to weekends right now, I want to look forward to every tomorrow not just two out of seven.
Animation, I tried to learn in college but I was self-taught, and I guess I'm a bad teacher. Aren't you studying animation / graphic art of some sorts? Finding Friendships
I knowww... I'm trying so hard to romanticize every day. It gets so bad that I have to daydream that I'm a main character in a Ghibli movie on my way to fulfill my dreams or go on an adventure or something.
Oh wow :0 Like, 3D animation? Or traditional? Lol it's hard to pick up new hobbies in college anyway, when the only hobby your body wants to pick up is sleep. I am! Well, sort of. I'm slowly self-teaching myself frame-by-frame animation, often by imitating clips made by professionals and trying to reverse-engineer how they do it. At first I thought it would be just a fun hobby to have so that I could make funny meme videos, but then I started to actually care about the process and what I was creating. Now I'm seriously considering trying to get a legit animation internship next summer and learning how to do that professionally, although it would be an incredibly difficult job.
I really need to get around to watching at least one studio Ghibli film.
Either or, I just love animation. That's cool, and I hope you can stick with it (if you decide that's what you want to do), it would be a lot of work but it helps to love what you do. Most jobs out there, even if they're a good job, are not meant to be enjoyed by a sane person. Finding Friendships
That felt a little callous RuleJJ. Now that you mention it, that definitely sounds like something this rabbit would do.
*sighs* For a second there I thought you might be the Memoryless One, as foretold in the prophecies, capable of miraculously forgetting anything instantaneously. I had my hopes up. This is a deep disappointment.
Y'know...there's this movie...I'm a little bit of a fan of...that deals with the consequences of doing something like this. All that to say, I'm a big fan, can we convince somebody to get started on this now? Finding Friendships
Welcome to the real world. I'll just have to get a pet fox or something.
Sorry, you kind of lost me there. What are we talking about again?
Oh, yeah, those movies that I still haven't seen any of. Do you have any contacts in cutting edge genetic research laboratories?
Thank you, no one's officially welcomed me to it yet, I was beginning to wonder if they'd discontinued the greeter position. That sounds like a win-win situation.
...there's still hope.
Are you avoiding them on purpose at this point? No, all my friends are in dumb stuff like insurance or banking. I never get to say "yeah, I know a guy for that." Finding Friendships
How many people here actually drink pumpkin spice lattes when it's fall? I'm just curious.
I disdain the taste of coffee in all its form, so not me. But there's a company in Bristol that makes Pumpkin Spice Chai tea, which is decent, and I guess kinda counts.
This is very on-brand for you. Finding Friendships
Welcome to the real world. I'll just have to get a pet fox or something.
Sorry, you kind of lost me there. What are we talking about again?
Oh, yeah, those movies that I still haven't seen any of. Do you have any contacts in cutting edge genetic research laboratories?
Thank you, no one's officially welcomed me to it yet, I was beginning to wonder if they'd discontinued the greeter position. That sounds like a win-win situation.
...there's still hope.
Are you avoiding them on purpose at this point? No, all my friends are in dumb stuff like insurance or banking. I never get to say "yeah, I know a guy for that." Finding Friendships
Kind of. There are still a few part-time volunteers, such as myself. Yes, no one who's ever had a pet fox has regretted it, I'm certain of that.
Hope for what?
I just don't watch many movies. I'm so sorry to hear that.
This conversation makes me wonder when I lost the desire to casually insult americans at every opportunity 
)
are aligned, and that coffee is therefore evil 
" Apparently I wasn't too thrilled that someone had taken my place. 
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