Where's the Craic?: Medieval Times (Or, Why Irish Public Services are Really Annoying)

Another day trip this weekend!

This time Ian, Hannah, and I headed to Trim, a town about an hour away, to see a castle! Our Early Irish History professor had suggested it to us because it is the largest Anglo-Norman castle still intact in Ireland. I've been wanting so see a castle ruin since we got here so I was really excited! We decided to take a bus to Trim and headed to the Bus Eireann (like Greyhound) station. Ian was really hoping we'd get a double-decker bus. Do you think we got one?

We sat front and center on the top floor and couldn't stop grinning the whole ride. As we got closer to the town, we could see the castle in the distance. The bus driver continued to pass bus stops and we waited for him to stop so we could get off and head to the castle.

Then we watched the castle fade away into the distance as we drove through Trim and on to the next town.

Our faces fell as we realized something had gone wrong. Ian went to talk to the driver to investigate.

Apparently Bus Eireann is not exactly like Greyhound. The bus doesn't automatically stop, you have to tell the driver when you want to get off. Only we didn't know that, and since we were sitting on top we had no examples to follow in any of the other passengers. Luckily, the bus was heading back through Trim so we did get off in the right place, but for awhile I was extremely mad that we had messed up.

But when we got there, it was all worth it. The tour of the castle was fantastic and interesting with lots of facts about how the family living in it would have been defended. After the castle tour, we walked around to see some of the other ruins in the area. Here are the pictures!