Kylemore Abbey

Imagine you're driving out to a national park to do some hiking and turn the corner to see this:

.....

Yeah... we had to stop. We ended up staying here for the entire day.

It was first a castle built by a doctor/politician (who inherited tons of money when his father died) for his wife. It was built in the 1860's, has over 70 rooms (33 are bedrooms), heating, its own fire department, a lake, and 21 glasshouses for exotic plants.

Charlotte climbed up and slid down the same three steps forever.

Above a closeup and below the castle's front yard.

About ten years after being built, his wife died while traveling in Egypt. He built this church (below) in honor of her and buried her in a mausoleum on the property. He stayed at the castle until around 1901, sold it to a playboy of an Englishman and his aristocratic American wife (the Duke and Duchess of Manchester), who then sold it to nuns years later because he went bankrupt. The nun's abbey in Belgium had been bombed by the Germans in WW1 so they needed a new home. They turned it into a boarding school for girls just up until last year when they ran out of money. They asked us if we knew any rich Americans to let them know about the abbey and ask for donations =)

The next day Charlotte was not in the mood for going out and about so we stayed in, took naps, went to the park, and headed to the grocery store.