Ireland, Day 3

March 26th had us heading north to Downpatrick to Down Cathedral where we saw the graves of St. Patrick, St. Columba, and St. Brigid. And oddly enough, it isn't a Catholic church but is a Church of Ireland.

The High Cross

This is the grave of St. Patrick.

The Cathedral was built in the 1100s.  St. Patrick died in 461.  The granite stone covering the grave was placed in 1900 and looks very nondescript and plain other than the flowers that had been placed there.

After leaving Downpatrick, we headed to Trim Castle. Trim Castle is a Norman castle on the south bank of the River Boyne in Trim, County Meath, Ireland. It is the largest Norman castle in Ireland. It was built by Hugh de Lacy and his son Walter in the 1100s.  We took a tour of this castle with a tour guide and we even got to go up to the very top of the castle (the keep).

This is the lower floor of the castle where they have three models showing how the castle looked in the beginning and then as it was expanded and renovated in the 1200s and 1300s.

One on of the upper floors of the caste.

Peter on the top of the castle!

Parts of the movie Braveheart were filmed here.

We left Trim Castle and headed to Dublin to Trinity College.  Trinity College is the location of the Book of Kells.  The Book of Kells  is an illuminated manuscript Gospel book in Latin, containing the four Gospels of the New Testament. It was created in a Columban monastery in Ireland or may have had contributions from various Columban institutions from both Britain and Ireland. It is believed to have been created c. 800. 

We went back and forth on whether to go here or not but Peter was adamant that we see it and Dan and I had never seen it so we decided to go.  We warned Peter though that it would probably be like when we went to the National Archives in DC to see the Declaration of Independence, The Constitution and the Bill of Rights - kind of boring. (Luckily when we went to see them in DC there were zero lines and we walked right in so that was a bonus!)

I got on the old smart phone to order tickets. A family pass was $22 Euro but you could pay $28 Euro and get in on a fast pass...which meant we could go in front of the long line of people and walk right into the exhibit.  I highly recommend this!  It was totally worth 6 extra Euro!

This is a picture of the outside of the library at Trinity College and do you see that long line of tiny people?  We go to pass them all!  Also, it had just been pouring rain a few minutes earlier so they got wet.  But do you notice how the sun is shining in this picture and the skies are clear?  That's Ireland for you!

Once inside there was a big exhibit before you actually got to the room that contained the Book of Kells.  The exhibit gave history of the book adn showed pictures of the actually book and many of the beautiful drawings from the book.  So it was a bit of a let down when we finally got to see the actual book and it was turned to just a regular page with no real illustrations.  Apparently they turn the pages on a regular basis and you get what you get. 


Upstairs from the Book of Kells is the Long Room.  The Long Room is 210 feet long and contains over 200,000 books.  It was built in the early 1700s.  The library was given the right to a copy of every book printed in Britain and England and the roof was raised in 1850. 

The room was breathtaking and smelled like old books. 

My pictures don't do the room justice!  Also contained in this room is Brian Boru's Harp which dates back to the 14th or 15th centuries and was used as a model for the Coat of Arms of Ireland.  You might recognize better from the Guiness Can!

We drove around Dublin for a bit and tried to take the kids by the General Post Office which was the site where the Easter Rising occurred in 1916.  However, they had the roads blocked in preparation for huge parade they were having the next day to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising! 

We headed to Oranmore where we spent the night at a hotel which was not nearly as fancy as the Slieve Donnard but it was clean and each of the kids had their own bed so it was perfect for us.  There was a great little  Italian restaurant downstairs and we enjoyed a delicious dinner before heading to bed.  We did a lot of driving this day in order to see the Book of Kells so even though it was a long day, I don't have many pictures to show for it.  But Peter was very excited to see the Book of Kells and Dan and I had never seen it either so it was worth it.

Ireland, Day 2

We woke up to sun on Friday morning, Marcy 25th!  But in typical Irish fashion, it didn't last long.  But that's okay because we learned quickly that it can be raining one minute and literally two minutes later the sun will be shining (and usually with  a rainbow).  And then cloudy, rainy, sunny. Repeat.

Typically the Irish people don't use umbrellas.  I think in part because they would spend much time putting it up and immediately putting it back down and also Ireland is very windy and wind and umbrellas don't mix.

All of the hotels we stayed at offered a Traditional Irish Breakfast.  This includes:

Bacon - but don't get excited, it was just sliced ham.
Irish Beans - they looked exactly like pork and beans.
Blood sausage - the taste very earthy and dry.  Try them once so you can say you have and then keep on moving.
Irish sausage - pretty close to what I consider sausage links but just not quite the same.
Fried/poached egg - just like here.
Fried tomatoes - although not coated in a batter, just placed in a pan and fried until they start to shrivel up.
Potatoes - diced and roasted, like chunky hash browns
Bread - lots of different types of bread

And the buffets all had yoghurt (Sarah loved how they added the h), porridge (oatmeal with toppings such as dried fruits and nuts, cream, and honey), cereal (but like granola not Lucky Charms), cheese and meat tray.  The cheese and meat tray was my favorite part of breakfast!

There was always something for us to eat at breakfast, even on this day (Friday) when we couldn't eat meat because of Lent. Most of the hotels we stayed in had a complimentary breakfast and if they didn't, we paid a little extra when we made our reservation so that we could eat and get out the door without worrying about finding a restaurant.

After breakfast, we headed up the Antrim Coast and our first stop was to see Ardboe Abbey and High Cross which are over looking Lough Neagh. The cross stands at the entrance to a cemetery and a monastery and a church from the seventeenth century which was founded in 590 by Saint Colman.

Once the old churches started to deteriorate and new ones were built, the graveyards were continued to be used and graves just placed inside the church which is what you see here!

 

It was really windy here because the graveyard overlooks Lough Neagh.  Lough means lake and it's the largest freshwater lake in the British Isles! 

After visiting this high cross, we took a long drive and headed to Dunluce Castle. First built on the dramatic coastal cliffs of north Antrim by the MacQuillan family around 1500, the earliest written record of the castle was in 1513. 

Next we headed to the Giant's Causeway.  This  is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic eruption. 

 The tops of the columns form stepping stones that lead from the cliff foot and disappear under the sea. Most of the columns are hexagonal, although there are also some with four, five, seven or eight sides. The tallest are about 39 feet high, and the solidified lava in the cliffs is 92 feet thick in places. It is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Northern Ireland.

Because it's a popular tourist attraction, there were tons of people there.  We tried to keep the people out of the pictures but this place was literally crawling with people.  It was also very hard to walk along the causeway because of the uneven stones.  Dan and the kids didn't seem to mind but I felt like I was going to slip and fall the whole time. 

Here's a professional picture that gives you more of a feel for the area than our picture with all the people cropped out:

Next we headed to see the rope bridge at Carrick-A-Rede.  It is a famous rope bridge near Ballintoy in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The bridge links the mainland to the tiny island of Carrickarede  It spans 66 feet and is 98 feet above the rocks below.

Sarah was not at all interested in crossing this bridge. Unfortunately she has inherited my fear of heights.  So I waited with her on one side while Dan and Peter crossed and explored the island for a bit.  She and I had fun people watching.  When the boys got back, Dan encouraged me to cross.  I was reluctant but I did it anyway.  In part because I'll probably never get the chance again because I wanted Sarah to see me doing it! 

Peter doing his classic Napoleon pose. 

Me faking a smile for the camera while trying not to die of fear!

 After leaving the rock bridge, we drove to Belfast.  Peter wanted to see the political murals and the dry dock where the built the Titanic.  We got to see these things right as the sun was setting and it was getting dark but we got them in. 

Day 2 was another long day but we got to see everything our travel agent (Dan) wanted to see. 

Unfortunately, what I failed to take pictures of was the beautiful Irish countryside.  The entire trip I kept exclaiming, "Isn't it just so gorgeous here??"  I think the kids were sick of me saying that by the end of the week but it's true.  All the little lanes, low stone walls, the houses, the sheep, the green grass...it was all beautiful so even though we did a lot of driving from place to place it was interesting!

Ireland, Day 1

**It took me over a day to write this post.  Guess I'm not as into the swing of things as I thought!**

It's Monday and we are officially back into the swing of things after our trip to Ireland!  Dan's at work, the kids are at school and I have spent the last two days doing mounds of laundry and just completed a pricey trip to the grocery store.

I'm going to spend the next several days documenting our trip here on the blog.  If you are interested in a lot of pictures of Ireland, then this is the place to be this week. (And based on the amount of time it's taken me to write this one post, maybe some of  next week too!)

We started our trip on Wednesday, March 23rd.  Our flight from Greensboro, NC  to Washington, DC was at 2:25.  Greensboro is a great little airport.  Parking is a breeze, there are never any lines, and you never feel rushed.  Wednesday was no exception.  Our flight was on time and we made it to DC by 4:00.

We had 2 and a half hours until our next flight so we waited at a restaurant and split a couple of appetizers.  After we ate, we headed to our gate and were excited to see our plane:

The plan left right on time at 6:20 PM and was scheduled to arrive in Dublin at 5:30 AM.  But we had great tail winds and actually arrived at 4:30 AM. Which was not such a wonderful thing because we literally only got about 2 hours of sleep on the plane. I'm actually not even sure we got that much.

Tired but excited!

Since it was only 4:30 AM when we arrived and it was dark and rainy, we got breakfast in the airport.  Peter was hot and bothered to try blood sausage but he was not impressed.

Not so good, eh? We tried to warn him!

After several cups of coffee, we picked up our rental car.  We ordered a compact, manual, 4 door.  Dan was stressed about our luggage fitting into it and when we the person at the desk saw the size of our bags, she said, "You're going to need a bigger car!"  So we upgraded to a mid-sized, automatic, 4 door for only $7 a day more.  It was totally worth it.

Dan is pretty cheap and was trying to save money with a manual but with all the driving we did, the automatic was worth it.  And even though they called it mid-sized, it seemed more like a compact to me.

One note about the cars in Ireland.  When you stop at a stop light, they shut off!  And when you are ready to go, you press the gas and then they start back up again.  It was very annoying but I guess they do it to keep pollution down?

Anyway, we got our car and headed out.  After another stop for coffee (did I mention we only had 2 hours of sleep?) we went to the Monasterboice Round Tower just north of Drogheda.  Monasterboice is  the site of a monastery that was built sometime in the 6th century.  The round  tower  was built sometime in the 10th century and was used to protect Ireland from Vikings.

Also located here are three high crosses.  Dan's favorite in all of Ireland is St. Muirdeach's Cross.  This cross is known as the finest example of a High Cross in Ireland.  It dates back to roughly 900AD. (We also have one hanging on our wall at home...told you it was Dan's favorite!)

After leaving Monasterboice we headed to Slane Hill.  According to lore, this is where St. Patrick lit the Pascal fire in 433 AD in defiance of the pagan High King Logaire who forbid any other fires while a festival fire was burning on the Hill of Tara.  King Logaire was so impressed by Patrick's devotion that, despite his defiance (or perhaps because of it), he let him continue his missionary work in Ireland.

The ruins behind us are Slane Abbey

Our next stop was the 5,000 year old Neolithic tomb at Newgrange.  Newgrange is located in County Meath just north of the River Boyne. Let that sink in...5,000 years old! 

The site consists of a large circular mound with a stone passageway and interior chambers. The mound has a retaining wall at the front and is ringed by engraved kerbstones. There is no agreement about what the site was used for, but it has been speculated that it had religious significance – it is aligned with the rising sun and its light floods the chamber on the winter solstice.

This is at the entrance to the tomb.

This is not my image. The picture I took below doesn't properly show the  outside of the tomb/mound.  The tiny small burial chamber is built inside this giant mound.

After touring Newgrange, we headed to Warrenpoint where we had lunch. Near Warrenpoint is Rostrevor and this is the location of Kilbroney Graveyard.  (If you love old graveyards, Ireland is the place to be!)  This graveyard is located on the site of  St. Bronagh's Convent.  St. Bronagh's Cross, seen below with Peter, as well as the convent,  date back to the 5th century. St. Bronagh was one of a few female followers of St. Patrick.

Peter and Dan are in their happy place...an ancient graveyard!

Ireland's tallest man, Patrick Murphy - 7 feet 3.4 inches (222 cm, is buried here.  We tried to find the gravestone but Dan couldn't remember where it was.  Peter was a little disappointed about that.

After visiting this graveyard, we headed to Kilkeel. Kilkeel is the site of  my husband's company in Ireland.  We visited the company so that the kids could see where Dan works when he's in Ireland and we got a great tour of the manufacturing facility. 

We then headed to Newcastle to check in to our hotel, the Slieve Donard.  This is where Dan stays when he is traveling on business, so he wanted the kids to get to stay here too.  It's a really gorgeous hotel but now I think the kids are going to turn up their noses at the Hampton Inn, our hotel of choice when traveling in the US!

It was a long day, but it was a good one!

Just a little short but he still knows way more than I do!

We got home from Ireland on Thursday evening around 7:30.  I immediately repacked a bag for Peter and myself and around 8:30, he and I headed to Charlotte. 

He won his school geography bee which meant he got to take an online test.  The kids around the state with the 100 highest scores on the test were invited back to compete in the North Carolina National Geographic Bee.  Peter qualified so off we went for the big event which was held bright and early on Friday morning.

Traffic into downtown Charlotte is an unpredictable beast which is why he and I just spent the night in Charlotte.  It would have been nice to sleep in our own beds but I didn't want to risk being late. So off we went Thursday evening in the rain.

Peter was nervous as we headed into the location of the bee.  We checked in and then he put on his name badge and tee shirt and we waited.  At 9:30, they gathered everyone together and welcomed us and gave us a run down of how we would proceed.

All the competitors had been randomly split into 5 groups of 20.  Each of the 5 groups were taken into a different room and were allowed one spectator.  This was the reason that Dan and Sarah didn't come with us. 

Peter was in group one.  When we got into the room, they lined each competitor up by their preassigned number and seated them in that order.  Rules were read and then round one was started.

There was a practice question and then the official questions began.  There were 8 official questions and the score was tallied.  There were two kids in Peter's group that got all 8 correct and there were 2 kids that only missed one.  Peter was one of the two that only missed one.

The score keeper from our room then took the scores out and we waited to see who was going to advance to the final round.  The 10 competitors with the highest scores would be in the final round.  There would also be a tie breaker round if necessary.

After a long wait, our room judge came in to report that the two kids from Peter's group with perfect scores would be moving on to the final round and that Peter and the other person that missed one would be moving on to the tiebreaker round.

5 kids got perfect scores and got to move to the final round automatically and 14 kids only missed one and competed in the tiebreaker round for the final 5 spots in the top ten.

They took the 14 kids into a different room where no one was allowed but the competitors and the judges.  They were given white boards and asked a series of questions.  Each time someone missed a question, they were eliminated.  Gradually kids started coming out of the room but Peter remained in. 

I was frantically texting with Dan this whole time trying to keep him posted.  I really felt like Peter was going to make it to the final round but he eventually came out of the room.  He finished 12th out of 100.

The top 10 got to compete in the final round but we left.  We debated staying but we were so tired from our trip and just really wanted to get home. 

The winners from each state get to go to Washington, DC to compete in the National Geographic Bee in May which will be televised on the National Geographic Channel. 

Win or lose, I'm still proud of Peter.   It was an experience that we won't forget!