I wish I'd paid for our room the previous night. The ladies who served our phenomenal breakfast and cleaned our rooms to a shine were not the same as the folk who dealt with the money! I ended up having to walk to the ATM, get a whole bunch more pounds, attach the cash to a handwritten receipt, and slide it under a locked door. Sheesh.

Our destination was highly recommended by Lonely Planet. Now that we knew about the ancient "monolithic" cemeteries, we were anxious to see more!

First, we crossed the border back out of the UK. "Speeds are now in Kilometers," said a sign as gas prices changed from £115 to €130. We were cruising so fast on the M1 that I failed to pull over at the scenic overlook, though you can take my word for it: simply lovely.

We then turned off onto a side road. Like you do.

Driving through the countryside over one-lane bridges on twisty roads, we followed the signs to Newgrange. The signs were easy to follow despite the regular turnoffs onto even more pastoral roads. We saw few cars. We felt like we were wandering in the middle of nowhere, despite our relatively close proximity to Dublin. Signs guided us right to the visitor center.

Then...

Every. Tourist. Ever. Astounding numbers of vehicles looped a packed parking lot (that we only managed to get a spot in because someone backed out in front of us). Similar to our experience at Giant's Causeway, I wondered where everyone came from! Is there some secret other road here to this oasis of tourists?

We exited our car and got in line. An on-top-of-it staff member gave waiting folks the spiel so we would know which tour we wanted by the time we reached the front. The tours were selling out rapidly. In one hour was the next available tour to Knowth and in three hours was the one to Newgrange. Neither place offered a self tour. We decided on Knowth.

After eating our leftover breakfast munchies at the restaurant, we rejuvenated with a mocha and wandered the museum and gift shop. (This place is huge; how is it hiding? We saw no sign of it on our way.) A quarter hour before our early afternoon departure, we followed the signs outside to catch our bus. When we'd bought our ticket, we got a sticker to wear, so we'd know which bus/time to take. Cute!

The bus driver dropped us off and told us not to be late for pick-up an hour later. The busload wandered into the field of mounds. A waiting tour guide gathered us together and began her talk about Knowth history then paused as a French tour guide gave the French version for the majority of our group. The guides continued their multilingual back and forth as the chill wind blew.

Word of the day TUMULI, as in the above left photo. Wiki says, "A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or kurgans, and may be found throughout much of the world."

Meaning that ancient people all over the world happened to come up with this same idea.

Which is kinda creepy...

Also fascinating are the surviving rock carvings on the boulders, mostly of spirals and other abstract shapes. No words. Or people.

We were allowed to both climb on top of a mound and go inside a mound. We weren't allowed to follow the passage all the way, but we got to be underneath.

Did I mention these have been here since Stonehenge?

The top of the tumuli provided a picturesque view of the beautiful countryside.

I like how the sign shows the tree-defined green patches of hills. Quintessential Ireland.

We were free to wander the hill o' mounds after that, but had only a little time before our bus pick-up.

Back at the main building complex, we made use of the facilities (not as good as some other tourist locations, but not too bad). The moment we pulled out of our spot, we had a taker!

Our next destination was our splurge for the trip...

...and our final night in Ireland

The internet map we printed got us close enough that we could follow the signs to "Kingscourt" and the turnoff, a one lane driveway so long, you couldn't see the castle from it. After driving along several pristinely mowed grass fields, the impressive building came into view.

We arrived at the same time as a wedding party and stood behind several fancy-dressed folks as we checked in.

Why'd I choose Cabra? Well, this castle is not only a convenient hour from Dublin, it also has twin rooms. (If you are looking for a romantic getaway, castle hotels all over Ireland have rooms at a variety of inflated prices. This one, though, only cost about twice the normal bed and breakfast rate.)

We wandered around until we found an outer row of buildings surrounding the main building that had our room, one of four. The door was squeaky. No sneaking around if were we wedding guests!

The Wifi was not fast, but existent, which is about all you can ask for in a castle miles from the nearest town. And, after seeing just how far from town we had to drive to get here, I'm glad I also opted to make a dinner reservation when I booked.

Before dinner, we wandered the extensive grounds, heeded the signs to watch out for flying golfballs, and ignored the buzzing bugs.

Clouds rushed over, threatening to drop rain, but we managed to avoid getting wet as we circumnavigated the building and surrounding finely-cut grass.

Dinner was served in a lovely high-ceilinged room with large windows that overlooked the beautiful green grounds. And wedding partygoers. I expected the first 7pm group to be packed since they told me that reservations filled quickly, but it was not too crowded. Probably because half the guests were part of the wedding feast happening in the other dining room.

Meals fit for queens, perhaps? Melon balls and garlic chicken for me, black pudding and pesto salmon for sis, and after dinner, some kind of melted chocolate fondant on a brownie with vanilla ice cream on top (WOW YUM) that we demolished with two spoons.

Overnight, all 800 of our photos got uploaded to dropbox. (Sorry to anyone staying at the castle if we throttled the internet that night...) We were still full from dinner the next morning, so we opted for the "half" Irish breakfast. What a fantastic concept! And hooray for the breakfast place opening early enough for us to partake before we had to head back to Dublin airport.

We left time to get lost on our way. Which was good, because we got lost. Not too badly, though, just a disconnect between what the road signs told us and what maps told us. But we got on the highway to Dublin and made it to the airport. Despite that I was freaking out about time, the car rental return to Dooley went as smooth as it could possibly go and we had plenty of time to make our flight.

The airport experience was fine. But wow. Having traveled internationally lately, all I can wonder if how anyone can stand to go to the U.S. anymore. Multiple passport and bag checks. Line after line of security.

I'm kind of amazed that all these airports in other countries agreed to all these extra personnel for all the additional required checks. Surely, the U.S. didn't pay for it. It also amazes me just how English-centric arriving in the U.S. is compared to other countries.

In any case, though, traveling internationally is always worth it for the experience.

So is taking a trip with your best sister.