Home from the Emerald Isle
Well, we made it back from Ireland after a busy, but exciting five days in Ireland. Chris, Evelyn, Andrea, Carin (our friend from school), and I set off for Ireland at 5:15 am Monday. Nicola, another friend from school was suppose to have joined us, but she overslept and had to travel to Dublin on her own. Anyway, we travelled to Dublin via (taxi, ferry, train, tube, train, bus, ferry, bus, tram). It sound a lot more complicated than it really was. Needless to say, we arrived in Ireland by about 7:00 pm MOnday.
On Tuesday, we went and toured old Dublin, OConnol Street, the Natrual History Museum of Ireland and the National Gallery of Ireland. The first was really neat in that they had a lot of preserved animal specimens ranging from microscopic plankton to a blue whale. Dubliners call it the Dead Zoo. The art gallery was really nice. They had a Picasso, which didn't impress me at all. In fact, it looks much better on the post card. However, they had a Vamerre (?) which look fantastic in real life, but not so great on the post card. That night, we went to a pub near our apartment (O'Sheas) that has been in business for over a hundred years. We had a couple of Guinness's, the girls had soda.
On Wednesday, it rained and rained and rained. I don't mean a nice sprinkle or all day mild shower. I mean it poured cats and dogs all day long. If that wasn't bad enough, the wind was blowing hard. By the end of the day, we were all in various states of wet and our umbrellas were in various states of damaged. However, we did manage to go and see Kilmanham Goal, which was a prison built in the 1700's. It is were the prisoners from the various revolutions attempted in Ireland prior to their independence. It was a neat place, but the tour guide was very dry.
After that, we went to the Old Jameson Whiskey distillary. There was only room on the tour for three people, so the girls and I just looked around the gift shop and waited upstairs in the tasting room. The bartender, who serves the complimentary whiskey, served me a head of the tour, and gave the girls a soda. He was very nice and funny - telling me that if I hurried and drank it, he would give me another and my husband would never know. They put on this whiskey taste test, which was a lot of fun. After that, we went to the Guinness plant. After touring the plant and finding out how they make Guinness beer, you get to go up to the bar on the top floor which gives you a 360 degree veiw of Dublin while you enjoy your complimentary pint of Guinness. I can't say how much better it tastes in Dublin and especially at the Guinness plant. Todd, I thought of you all the while I was enjoying my free pint. I even picked up something for you at the gift shop, but you have to wait to see it. After that, we were all pretty tired and soggy from the rain, so we just picked up some sandwiches to take back to the apartment.
Faye and Chris at the Guinness Plant
The next day, we split up for the day. Nicola and Carin went shopping, while Chris, the girls, and I took a train out of Dublin to see alittle more of Ireland. The country side was beautiful, and the area around Dublin reminded us of Wisconsin. We went to Malahide, Ireland to visit the castle there. This castle is one of the oldest in Ireland and has been in the same family for 800 years. It is really neat from the outside, but the insides weren't as 'midevil' as were would have liked. But it was still very nice. The girls really liked the playground area on the castle grounds. It had a lot of really neat stuff. The walk from the Malahide train station to the castel was about 20-25 minutes, but it was through some beautiful woods.
Malahide Castle, Malahide, Ireland
When we got back to Dublin, we went to tour the crypts at St. Michans. This is a church which was founded in 1085. The current church, was build in the 1600's, but the crypts were original. Anyway, due to unique conditions in the crypts, the bodies buried there are naturally mummified. So, you go down into these very creepy, old crypts and in the very back of the first one, are five mummified bodies. Two are around 150 years only, one is around 300 years only, one is around 400 years old, and the last, the one in the rear of the crypt, is around 800 years old. Due to how the body is displayed int he coffin (arms/legs crossed), it was determined that the body was that of one of the crusaders. Anyway, in Ireland, it is considered good luck to touch the bones of one of the crusaders, so those who wanted to could go into the crypt with the mummified bodies and touch the finger of the 800 year old mummy. Well, Evelyn wanted nothing to do with that, but the rest of us did. It was very creepy. We then left that crypt and went into another. This one had two crypts which we could see. One contained the remains of two revolutionaries. They were both - hung (but not until dead), their entrails were removed and burned in front of their eyes, their head was cut off and their body quartered. The other is an aristocrate whose family hated him so much, they refused to have anyone else buried there. That evening, we went back to O'Shea's and had dinner. I had Irish lamb stew - it was great.
St. Michans Crypt
So, today, we got up at 5:00 and began our journey home. After getting the tram, bus, ferry, train, train, tube, train, ferry, train, walk we made it home. Overall, it was a great half term break holiday. The girls really enjoyed it and want to go back.
On Tuesday, we went and toured old Dublin, OConnol Street, the Natrual History Museum of Ireland and the National Gallery of Ireland. The first was really neat in that they had a lot of preserved animal specimens ranging from microscopic plankton to a blue whale. Dubliners call it the Dead Zoo. The art gallery was really nice. They had a Picasso, which didn't impress me at all. In fact, it looks much better on the post card. However, they had a Vamerre (?) which look fantastic in real life, but not so great on the post card. That night, we went to a pub near our apartment (O'Sheas) that has been in business for over a hundred years. We had a couple of Guinness's, the girls had soda.
On Wednesday, it rained and rained and rained. I don't mean a nice sprinkle or all day mild shower. I mean it poured cats and dogs all day long. If that wasn't bad enough, the wind was blowing hard. By the end of the day, we were all in various states of wet and our umbrellas were in various states of damaged. However, we did manage to go and see Kilmanham Goal, which was a prison built in the 1700's. It is were the prisoners from the various revolutions attempted in Ireland prior to their independence. It was a neat place, but the tour guide was very dry.
After that, we went to the Old Jameson Whiskey distillary. There was only room on the tour for three people, so the girls and I just looked around the gift shop and waited upstairs in the tasting room. The bartender, who serves the complimentary whiskey, served me a head of the tour, and gave the girls a soda. He was very nice and funny - telling me that if I hurried and drank it, he would give me another and my husband would never know. They put on this whiskey taste test, which was a lot of fun. After that, we went to the Guinness plant. After touring the plant and finding out how they make Guinness beer, you get to go up to the bar on the top floor which gives you a 360 degree veiw of Dublin while you enjoy your complimentary pint of Guinness. I can't say how much better it tastes in Dublin and especially at the Guinness plant. Todd, I thought of you all the while I was enjoying my free pint. I even picked up something for you at the gift shop, but you have to wait to see it. After that, we were all pretty tired and soggy from the rain, so we just picked up some sandwiches to take back to the apartment.
Faye and Chris at the Guinness Plant
The next day, we split up for the day. Nicola and Carin went shopping, while Chris, the girls, and I took a train out of Dublin to see alittle more of Ireland. The country side was beautiful, and the area around Dublin reminded us of Wisconsin. We went to Malahide, Ireland to visit the castle there. This castle is one of the oldest in Ireland and has been in the same family for 800 years. It is really neat from the outside, but the insides weren't as 'midevil' as were would have liked. But it was still very nice. The girls really liked the playground area on the castle grounds. It had a lot of really neat stuff. The walk from the Malahide train station to the castel was about 20-25 minutes, but it was through some beautiful woods.
Malahide Castle, Malahide, Ireland
When we got back to Dublin, we went to tour the crypts at St. Michans. This is a church which was founded in 1085. The current church, was build in the 1600's, but the crypts were original. Anyway, due to unique conditions in the crypts, the bodies buried there are naturally mummified. So, you go down into these very creepy, old crypts and in the very back of the first one, are five mummified bodies. Two are around 150 years only, one is around 300 years only, one is around 400 years old, and the last, the one in the rear of the crypt, is around 800 years old. Due to how the body is displayed int he coffin (arms/legs crossed), it was determined that the body was that of one of the crusaders. Anyway, in Ireland, it is considered good luck to touch the bones of one of the crusaders, so those who wanted to could go into the crypt with the mummified bodies and touch the finger of the 800 year old mummy. Well, Evelyn wanted nothing to do with that, but the rest of us did. It was very creepy. We then left that crypt and went into another. This one had two crypts which we could see. One contained the remains of two revolutionaries. They were both - hung (but not until dead), their entrails were removed and burned in front of their eyes, their head was cut off and their body quartered. The other is an aristocrate whose family hated him so much, they refused to have anyone else buried there. That evening, we went back to O'Shea's and had dinner. I had Irish lamb stew - it was great.
St. Michans Crypt
So, today, we got up at 5:00 and began our journey home. After getting the tram, bus, ferry, train, train, tube, train, ferry, train, walk we made it home. Overall, it was a great half term break holiday. The girls really enjoyed it and want to go back.
posted by Faye Ewald | 3:01 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home