Continuing their wonderful tour of Ireland since returning home, Marguerite, Ben and Jude made their way to Derry and Donegal for a few days to get away from it all, relax, kick back the feet and chill out. Can you guess what exactly Marguerite and Ben are in in this pic? The answer will be provided later.
The trip began in Derry / Londonderry. This is a fascinating place full of history, much of it great and much of it not so, but fascinating no matter what. Depending on which side of the Northern Irish fence folk sit on they will either call this place Derry or Londonderry. But this year with it celebrating it's status as UK city of Culture everyone seems to be embracing a new way of addressing the city ..... Derry / Londonderry, as in saying one name after the other, to keep everyone happy. Wha? 
This means nothing to Ben right now but it may later in his life. Today he was just happy to get out for a spin in his buggy. But Marguerite and Jude wanted to learn more about this great place for themselves and sure there's no better way of doing that than going on a walking tour of the city. 
So here they are at the start of the tour. 4 quid each was pretty good actually. Yer man there was the tour guide ...... he talked a lot about the history of the city ....... and right from the start even Ben was engrossed, as you can see here ......
....... and here.
Part of the famous Walls of Derry.
Yer man the tourist guide is giving all the interesting facts about the city, the walls, why they were built and how they impact on modern life whilst throwing in the odd joke here and there to keep the craic going. Jude loves this sort of banter ....... 'sure ye can't beat this Ben, this is magic', he said.
The walls of Derry give great views of the various murals on both sides of the political divide.
Here is the tour group walking on top of the walls of Derry. Folk from all over the world were in this group and 'our man flint' the tour guide kept them all amused and intrigued.
St Augustine's Church is a beautiful building situated along the walls.
The famous Bogside of Derry stands behind the tour guide as he explains the story of 'Bloody Sunday'.
Marguerite enjoying the tour.
'Death of Innocence' mural - While today Derry is a thriving, exciting place all around there are still reminders of darker days in the recent past. This mural painting of schoolgirl Annette McGavigan is a stark reminder of those days. Annette was shot dead by a British soldier as she walked to a shop in 1971. The broken gun to the left side symbolizes peace, and in particular the relative peace that embraced Northern Ireland with the decommissioning of weapons in the 1990's. 
This mural shows Bernadette Devlin (McAliskey) on the streets of Derry in the early 1970's as she tried to represent the people of the bogside.
The stories being told now by 'yer man' had everyone focused one hundred percent. Who's minding Ben?
Marguerite liked the looks of these cannon guns, they were pretty impressive indeed. 
The tour ended at the Diamond in city centre. Thanks to this man Marguerite and Jude learned an awful lot about the this great city today.So from the 'walled city' they moved onto .....
........ Buncrana in Donegal. Donegal is a very large county and Marguerite, Ben and Jude decided to focus on the beautiful Inishowen Peninsula portion of the county. They used Buncrana as their base as it would be a great spot to explore the region from.
'I'm sick of this auld hat, I've been wearing it since I landed in Ireland ...... I wonder would my Mama and Dada ever buy me a new one', Ben may have been thinking.
'Sure we'll go for a wee dander down through Buncrana and have a wee look around', said Marguerite.Moments later ...... and as if by magic ......
....... Ben was all dolled up with a new hat just like the wee dude in the shop windy there. This shop was great, it had all sorts of knitted jumpers, hats, scarfs, and other stuff like books, etc ....... it had the heap. So to match the Cardigan that his uncle Kevin and Aunt Joyce had got him, Ben did indeed get himself this nifty new hat today. Doesn't he look cool? 
The base for the weekend was the Harbour Inn in Buncrana. A very nice spot it was too. Here is Marguerite as she heads in for dinner ......
..... and Jude and Ben do the same.
Ben has some fun reading the menu.
That's what I call a view from a room. This was the view from room 202 at the Harbour Inn. That's Lough Swilly reaching over to the Fanad Peninsula of Donegal. Nice, wha?
The next morning and Ben is raring to go as he checked out the tourist guides in reception. Here he is sitting with his hair all brushed and all.Moments later ..........
....... and they were on the road. So they headed to the lough Foyle side of the Inishowen Peninsula and set about exploring.
First stop was Greencastle. This was a lovely wee spot with a nice wee harbor area.
Dylanfest was happening this weekend in the town of Moville. 'Dylanfest ......... that's magic ....... now if I had known that earlier we could have stayed here for a night', Jude was heard to mutter.
And after a quick scoot around Moville Marguerite ....
...... Jude and .......
....... Ben headed to Shrove beach. 
Jude wasted no time in getting Ben's kite up in the air.
Pretty good, wha? .........
Then Marguerite and Ben had a go.
Ben loves the beach and he was having a great auld time of it. You'll spot the blue flag in the background indicating that Shrove Beach is a good one.
'My Mama's brill, flying my kite one handed', Ben may have been thinking here.
Indeed she was. 
Here's a nice pic of Marguerite and Ben on the pathway to the beach.
Ben thought it was really funny walking up here. It must have been the long green grass that had him chuckling. That was Shrove beach ..... very nice indeed. 
Marguerite and Jude were particularly fond of this pic. Can you guess what this is. Any ideas? Now folks ....... for those of you who do not know ...... that is a field of cows!!!
'Jude I want to live here', said Marguerite as she spotted this cool wee thatched cottage. 
The countryside in Donegal was just beautiful.
Moving on up the coast they headed to Culdaff.
Culdaff was another nice village which had a very 'old time' feel about it.Earlier you were asked if you can guess what exactly Marguerite and Ben are in in this pic?Well, what did you guess?
It was of course ..........
...... an old Irish Telefon box.
Ben, Marguerite and Jude stopped for lunch in Malin. They just parked the car, scooted across the street and grabbed a sandwich and sat here eating it. Dining al fresco it was! 
Pooper-scooper-doopers and jimmy-riddle-piddles galore!!! Ben is sprawled out in the nappy changing quarters - the car boot (trunk to those reading this across the pond - well apart from Ann Marie, Clare and Roberto, it'll always be a boot to them). Oh ..... can you guess what pooper-scooper-doopers and jimmy-riddle-piddles means? Use your imagination!!!
Soon they were on the road again and off to their next stop ......... which the most northerly point in the whole of Ireland ....... it was off course .....
.......... Malin Head. The views were great from up there ....... and it was windy, ever so slightly windy!
Jude just loves living life on the edge ......
..... and reading the history cards at places like this. So what did he learn? Well Malin Head was the location of a couple of very important things - a marker during the World War 2 with a big sign marked onto the land with 'Ireland' written so the Germans would know this was part of Ireland and not the UK (ehh ... so they would not drop bombs on it). Wha? And off course it was, and still is, a very useful location in weather forecasting. A fascinating spot this was.
'Here Jude, what about this house, could we buy this one? called Marguerite. 
'Wise up Marguerite, I'd only bang me head going through the door!!!
The house were spectacular in Donegal, very old but beautiful. Check out this one's thatched roof!
Next stop was Glenevin Waterfall Park. First of all Ben needed fed and when he needs fed it needs done there and then, without delay. 
This really was beautiful countryside. Here Jude and Ben start their trek to the Glasnevin Waterfall.
Ben was loving his new hat, and it really was perfect for today when walking around the countryside.
Jude risks being swept away as he steps into the middle of this river to have his pic taken. Ehhh ..... or is it a stream?
'Ahhh this is magic ........ hey Marguerite, please take a picture of Ben and I here at the Glasnevin Waterfall', said Jude. 'Wise up Jude, that's not the Glasnevin Waterfall ........
....... that's the Glasnevin Waterfall!!
The Waterfall was spectacular, it really was. Marguerite and Jude remember seeing a magnificent waterfall in Hawaii and this was every bit as cool. Here is a nice wee family pic at the waterfall.
Jude loves this pic showing Marguerite and Ben looking at the waterfall. Cool, wha?
The dander back down to the base was a lot easier than the dander up the mountain, so Marguerite took the pram this time. 
'Hey Jude, I want one of these in our garden of our new house so I can sit and read my book in the rain', said Marguerite. 'Just whatever you want Marguerite, you will have just whatever you want', was Jude's reply.
It's another one of those beautiful houses in Donegal. Nice!
Jude took this pic so he could remember this cool wee orange flower. It was all over the Inishowen peninsula and he remarked about how he would like it for their new house when they get it.
The Mamore Gap was really beautiful but very, very scary. At one point the gradient was so intense that Marguerite and Jude were freaking out with fear. They started driving up a slight hill and before they knew it not only was it too late to turn back but it was also so narrow and steep that they were scared stiff. Eventually they made it though, they made it through the Mamore Gap in one piece. Stunning views again.
'Now where do we go? So they had drove all around the Inishowen Peninsula and seen all the beautiful sights and scenery but now they were nearing their base again, they were 10km from Buncrana. 'Ahh sure we'll head back then, it'll be a clear road and we'll be back for dinner time', remarked Jude. 
'Not so fast ........ there's sheep on the road'.Why do we never tire of sheep on the road? Probably because it's just one of those cool Irish sights. It's great every time, even if it does slow down the journey somewhat.
Eventually they made it back to Buncrana and the Harbour Inn, just in time for Ben to get his tea.
Yummy, yummy!
This was a great wee trip to Derry and Donegal, two great places indeed.
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