Ritas Ireland Dream: Rita's Castle

Cerrickfergus (Rock of Fergus) Castle

This castle is the reason we drove into Northern Island to brave the 5 lanes of traffic through Belfast. We actually got through the city OK except for the stop at the Petrol station to find out we had taken the wrong exit -again. As I was coming out I slipped on a step that was well hidden and went into a full body fall. I was a bit dazed for a few moments, but got back in the car and took off. I now have a huge bruise on my arm and a slight limp. Just add that to many of the embarrassments I've performed which I will keep secret and so will Rita.

Back to the Castle visit. Carrickfergus is right on the Irish Sea and it's a fantastic setting with the bay and you can see Scotland on a clear day. But it wasn't a clear day so we couldn't see it :-) It's very impressive and really enjoyed our tour around it. They did a great job of setting it up to give you a feel of what it was like from it's beginning days. Rita came with the idea that she was going to take it over, but thought it had too many stairs. She can fill you in on all the historical background since my little brochure is in the car parked 3 blocks away from the hotel. That's a whole other story to be spoken of another day.

So happy to see HER castle - In the late 1400's her ancestors had inhabited the castle. Thus comes the name Ferguson

The entrance of the castle.

Can you guess which room this is? Notice the trousers around his feet and relieved look on his face.

In the meantime, Finnegan was trying to escape from the dungeon.

We did start out our day with a laugh while we were having breakfast at the B&B in Navan. While I was sitting at the table, the hostess came up and asked if I was a NUN. I wanted to say "Why yes, I'm Sister Mary Margaret Suzanne of St. Albanie", but decided to say "no". Of course, Rita pops in and says; "Oh, she's a missionary and I'm her servant." Guess I won't be wearing my cross around Northern Ireland.

Northern Ireland is Protestant and we saw many evangelical churches. In fact, while we were at the castle, three people started to sing a hymn and then the older gentleman started to preach on Psalm 51. The sad thing was that there was no one there to hear him.

After we checked into our room we decided to go out and get some food after a very grueling search for the hotel. We walked about two blocks and found the Crown Saloon & Restaurant. It was so nice on the inside and the food and servicewas wonderful. That's one thing I can say about all our meals here in Ireland is that it has all been so well cooked and served. The Irish do take pride in their food. Oh, Rita had vanilla ice cream that was to kill for.