June 14th, 2014 // Game of Thrones Tour, Northern Ireland & Neverland

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I AM A STARK.

(SPOILERS CONTAINED IN THIS POST FOR THE FIRST FEW SEASONS OF GOT)

As I read my journal to rewrite it on here, I found out the night before I went on this tour I was out at Coppers. If I didn't feel badass before, I sure do now. For everyone reading who is not from Dublin (which is probably everyone), Copper Face Jacks is a notorious club in Dublin. Probably nothing as bad happens there as everyone says, (rumors grow for miles) but you're bound to show up there sooner or later. 

I woke up early to make it to the bus on time. It picked up on the north side of the Liffey and I lived on the south. I made it to the CHQ building, where the bus picked up. The bus was large, black and had the Game of Thrones logo. I was already stoked. I got some coffee and a pastry and sat on the bus. I ended up befriending a girl from Brazil, we were one of the only two on the tour alone. We banded together and had a great time. Our tour guide was fantastic, she was from Spain and had a pretty awesome accent. She informed us about Northern Ireland as we drove through it and made some pretty clever jokes. 
Northern Ireland was so beautiful, there were so many mountains. It was stunning. Though Northern Ireland is part of the UK, the currency changes and there is a lack of gaelic- which is by far the worst part of it.

The bus ride up took just over two hours to get to Castle Ward, AKA Winterfell! It was extremely cool, although not near as grand as Winterfell is in the show. It was amazing to see how much cgi goes into the show. I still felt extremely awesome to be walking on Stark soil. There was a really awful choice to make once I arrived: do archery or go walk and see more of where the show was filmed. I gave up the archery to see more of the filming. A not so hard decision, was paying to wear a Stark outfit. HECK YES I WILL.

And I did.

Walking around Winterfell with a bellowing cape made me feel on top of the world. Let me tell you, if you ever do the tour- rent the costume. Totally worth it. 

I was able to see Rob's camp, the land Brienne and Jamie docked, also the tree where they witnessed two people being hung. In the photos below, quite a few show my tour guide and she's holding stills from the show. I tried to get the pictures so you could compare what is behind my tour guide and the still in her hand.

After we walked around Winterfell and took several photos, we turned in our costumes and took a break for lunch. It was calm chowder and brown bread. It was amazingly good. I also had some tea and cake before we were marched back to the bus and headed to Inch Abbey. This was not only a beautiful, beautiful place- it was amazing to see it had been build in 1180 AD and still stood. This was where Cat and Rob found out about Ned being killed. I even saw the tree Rob took his sword to angrily in response to the news. 

We didn't stay at the Abbey for to long, which was fine with me because the next place we went to might be my favorite place in the world. It's where Neverland exists. It's called Toy More. It's a stunning forest. In the show, it's where the dire wolves were found. In real life, it's a series of trails and castles built into sides of creek walls and I swear the lost boys lived here. 

The day we went was perfect, as there was a run supporting a child charity and there were hundreds of kids running around and laughing and playing and climbing through the tunnels built into the cliffs. It was perfection. 


I enjoyed taking pictures out of the bus window





Welcome to Winterfell!


You can see the difference from the show

Look I'm a Stark!



Check out the still

This little guy showed us around




Jamie and Brienne


The Hanging Tree



Just some beautiful Ireland








They take out this entire town in the show, but they show this bay often.




Yes, I twirled in my Stark cloak.




Walking around like I own the place.







The stunning Inch Abbey










Welcome to Toy More







That bridge though..




Welcome to Neverland








Where the dead stag was found



Where the dire wolf pups were found







The end.


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