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| OMG Padme's summer home. Also, please note that Lake Como is drop-dead gorgeous. |
It turns out that I've made another filming location pilgrimage, but only in retrospect...
As reported by the BBC, Star Wars fans in Ireland are currently freaking out as filming begins on the very northernmost tip of the island, near the village of Malin Head. And we were in the Malin area last July: I was in the exact place where Mark Hamill, Daisy Ridley, and Adam Driver are filming right now! Obviously, we had no inside knowledge when we toured the area that the coastline along Banba's Crown would be an active Star Wars filming location just 10 months hence. I guess the Force was with us!
The explanation of why my husband and I were in that remote region of Ireland is kind of a long, convoluted backstory that involves a friend's really epic globetrotting 40th birthday party and legendary Irish hospitality.
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| Friend's birthday party, private home on the tidal inlet just south of Malin. |
We seized the opportunity to visit Ireland when we received the invitation, especially when it involved visiting a part of the country that we likely would have no occasion to ever visit in the future. So we took advantage of our time there, visiting the handful of tourist destinations, like the Doagh Famine Village (yes, it's as sad and campy/weird as it sounds), hiking around Banba's Crown, and a pint and a meal at The Seaview Tavern.
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| The beautiful coastline off of Banba's Crown. |
Little did we know that in May 2016, Malin would become an epicenter for Episode VIII hype as what appeared to be a Millennium Falcon set appeared on the coastline about a mile from Banba's Crown.
I am so thankful that we were invited to that birthday party, that we were able to attend, and that I'm just now getting that special thrill of treading the same earth as denizens of a galaxy far, far away.
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| "Eire." Rock graffiti near Banba's Crown. |
