The Adventures of O'Sandi in Ireland - Day 3...

Our Friday, March 29th, would begin with breakfast for all of us at the Riverview Hotel. Then we would board our coach for a full day ride around the Ring of Kerry.

Mary, our tour guide, told us they think of Ireland as the shape of a teddy bear. Think of the bear sitting with his legs out to the left side. The head would be the northern Ireland portion. We didn't venture into that area much. From the neck down is southern Ireland were we spent most of our vacation. On the west side of Ireland is the Atlantic Ocean. On the southern half of this west coast of Ireland are three peninsulas. These would be the feet and arms of the teddy bear. They are each beautiful in their own right. The Ring of Kerry on the Iveragh Peninsula is the center of these peninsulas and that is where our tour would take us.

First we stopped at St. Anne's Cathedral in Killarney. While not Catholic I still love to visit a Catholic cathedral. They are magnificent creations and ,for a person who likes to take photographs, they provide many, many wonderful angles and views. St. Anne's was our first cathedral to visit and it did not disappoint in the least. Here are a few pictures from St. Anne's Cathedral in Killarney, Ireland.

The first town of any size we passed through was Killorgin.

Along the highway were these bushes that were filled with yellow buds or flowers. Mary explained they were 'gorse' bushes. In Winnie the Pooh he gets stuck in a bush at some point and that bush is a gorse bush. They reminded me of sage brush out west in America. They have the fragrance of almonds. However, their little leaves are really pointed and with the power to stick you real good. Gerald, our coach driver, pulled to the side of the highway so we could take some pictures of gorse bushes. I snapped a twig and took it back to the bus for those who didn't feel they wanted to traipse out into the cold air for this photo op.

Gerald would also stop at a lookout along the coast.

It seems Queen Victoria came to Ireland. When she came she brought her own train!!! They literally had to build rail tracks for her train. This is one of those tracks that has been abandoned.

On the outskirts of Cahersiveen we pause to view a monument to Daniel O'Connell. I was more impressed with this view of a little river headed to the ocean.

And a little further down that same highway was a monument to St. Brendan, the Patron Saint of Kerry, the county we were driving through. This St. Brendan was quite the adventurer and in his little boat traveled to American before Columbus. Image that!

Our next stop was on Valentia Island to visit the Skellig Experience. This facility is a museum, theater, cafe and gift shop to help visitors learn about the Skelligs.

There are three islands off the coast of the Iveragh Peninsula which the Ring of Kerry goes around. These are very rugged peaks coming out of the ocean. The largest of these is called The Great Skellig or Skellig Michael. This island seemed the perfect place for monastic monks to live in solitude and draw closer to God. Overtime they constructed three stone step paths up the sheer rock faces of this island. They constructed a monastery complex which eventually included dwelling places, a large and small oratory and a medieval church with cemetery. Further up the face of this imposing rock was an even more secluded spot where a monk could go on his own for long periods of solitude. Only when the seas allow is there a boat to take tourist to the islands where they may climb Skellig Michael at their own risk. Fortunately, the seas were not in good humor when we visited the Skellig Experience. Small Skellig is a bird sanctuary and thousands of birds reside all over its rock face. These pictures were on the back of a book about the Ring of Kerry we bought while in Ireland.

Portmagee is across the channel of water there. After our tour of the Skellig Experience, I braved the wind to take pictures of the spot on Valentia Island and Portmagee.

Then we were off to complete the rest of the Ring of Kerry.

As we left the Ring of Kerry we entered the Killarney National Park. This park has three big lakes connected by rivers. There are also oak forests.

Before returning to our hotel we stopped at Muckross House. This was owned at one time by a very wealthy who really, really, really wanted a title. When Queen Victoria came to visit Ireland, he invited her to stay at his home. He borrowed great sums of money to refurbish his home and make it suitable for a Queen to stay for a week. Queen Victoria arrived with two fire brigades. She was deathly afraid of fire from a bad encounter with one as a child. She would not stay on the top floor of the home so three rooms on the main floor were converted as her apartment while she visited for only three days. She also insisted on a fire escape from this set of room so the owner of this home incurred more expense in building a metal fire escape out of the back of his home. Queen Victoria also arrived with her militia of 200 men and her own personal family and attendants. No small group of people. The end of story is this man did not get a title and he lost his home because of the debt he incurred. According to Mary, he was not at all liked by the people of Killarney.

This picture of the back of Muckross House shows the three rooms used by Queen Victoria. They are the main level and begin at the left side of the house with the room with four windows, then the room next to it with two windows and finally the room with the metal fire escape out the center set of window/doors.

Such amazing scenery this day. I expected green rolling patchwork hills with stone fences. I found some terrain just like out west in America, ocean scapes to rival any I have ever seen and more bogs than I ever imagined. One never tires of the old castles and towers that pop up all over. Such a long history in Ireland. We seem fascinated when something in the States was from the 1700's. Here we find things from 200AD. Just a wonderful day.

The Adventures of O'Sandi in Ireland - Day 2

Thursday, March 28th would find our tour group loading into the coach to head from Dublin to Blarney in Cork County, Ireland. We woke up to snow on the ground. But it would go away as the day wore on. Here are a few pictures of the lay of the land between Dublin and Blarney.

We stopped once between Dublin and Blarney for a rest and snack. There was a lady from Romania selling all kinds of nuts and sweets. On her stand was something called Turkish Delight. I looked at that and said to myself, "Self, you know that name...but from where?" I pondered for a minute and then the light came on. I read the Chronicles of Narnia while Hayden was reading them. It was in one of those books that a child was given Turkish Delight. Claude purchased two pieces each of three different flavors and we enjoyed them in the coach as we headed on to Blarney.

What I did not realize was that Blarney also has a woolen mill. We would have lunch in the cafe and shop the Blarney Woolen Mill store for the bulk of our souveniers for us and family.

After lunch we all walked to Blarney Castle so we could hike the 127 steps to kiss the Blarney Stone.

There was much discussion and question before we left on this trip as to whether my dear hubby would kiss that stone. Even when we got to the base of Blarney Castle he was still sizing up the situation. Claude is in the front of the picture with his hands in his khahi pants looking up.

After climbing the 127 steps, there was no way he was not going to kiss that Blarney Stone, he had paid his dues and owed himself that much. 

The next picture is the view from the opposite side of Blarney Castle. This is the side with the Blarney Stone. If you look at the top of the castle in the center above the top center window, you can make out where you must lay on you back while holding onto railing over your body, lean way back and then lift your head to kiss the Blarney Stone on the bottom of that ledge. There is a little man there to hold your feet. And, they have built a metal rod framework so you won't fall to the ground. There was time when that railing was not there and you just had to trust the man not to let you fall.

They also have a camera set up and you must stand so their camera can get your picture.  They take two pictures. One of you kissing the Blarney Stone and one of you trying to sit back up after kissing the Blarney Stone. These are pictures of me kissing the Blarney Stone first and then Claude kissing the Blarney Stone. Proof positive we did it!!

I have to say my undoing was not the kissing of the Blarney Stone but the walking to the top of this castle in a tiny turret with a spiral staircase full of very little stone steps and people behind and in front of me. That closed space for all those stories was a mite unnerving. For a moment I questioned my ability to get back down those steps. I was relieved to find places to get out of the turret and look through other places on the different levels of the castle on the way down.

Here is a picture of the inside of the castle and another of the view of the countryside from the top of the castle.

The remainder of our day was spent riding in our coach from Blarney to Killarney where we would stay at the Riverview Hotel for the next two night.

The bottom picture has 'bogs' on either side of the green strip in the middle. These are where they harvest the peat for the turf fires.

 

This was another lovely day. It was great to see all the different landscapes of southern Ireland.

The Adventures of O'Sandi in Ireland - Day 1...

Been off the Blogging for a bit because Claude and I took a lovely vacation to Ireland. Now that is a great reason not to Blog. However, upon one's return, there are now thousands of pictures to sort through and select before one can start to Blog about the trip. I have several days worth of pictures complete so I'll begin to Blog about this grand journey while between Blogging I complete my picture sorting and labeling.

We try to take one big trip each year.  By the end of last year we had narrowed our choices down to Macchu Picchu and the Easter Islands OR China. Then along came an eMail about a trip to Ireland and we both just knew this was the trip we should take. It is so nice when we both know at the same time that something is right.

We booked our trip and then started to share that information with our kids. Jake, our youngest and our only son, was told when we made a trip to Michigan right after Thanksgiving. His reaction went something like this, "You mean to tell me you are going to take all that time and money and fly over the big pond just to visit a country that looks like Kentucky?"  Claude and I just looked at each other and burst into laughter. Neither of us had either had that thought cross our minds, not one time. Yet we both know that is what they say about our Bluegrass area of Kentucky with it's stone fences and rolling hills and patchwork farms. I think the scripture says, "And a little child shall lead them."  Jake is not such a little child anymore but he definitely gave us insight in one brief question that neither Claude nor I had considered. We all did enjoy that laugh.

We received our flight information from our travel agency "Dick Jensen and Alan McKay Tours".  Our flight would leave from Lexington, Kentucky and go to Chicago O'hare airport. We would join the rest of our tour group there and fly to Dublin overnight, arriving in Dublin at 8am Wednesday morning (Dublin time).  This was another first for us. We have lived in Kentucky for eight and one-half years and never flown into or out of Lexington's airport. It is just more expensive for the flight making a drive to Louisville or Cincinnati preferable to the expense. Nonetheless, that is where we would fly into and out of this time.

One of the reasons we felt so good about this trip was our tour guide, Alan McKay. He was our tour guide to Israel in 2005 and it was superb. If you read this Blog and you are interested in an outstanding tour with an amazing tour guide, we can recommend Alan without reservation. He was absolutely amazing in Israel and also on this Ireland tour.

Our flights on United to Chicago O'hare and Aer Lingus to Dublin went fine. It was over and hour to Chicago and seven and one-half hours to Dublin. Not much in the way of sleep through the night.

Arrival on the Emerald Isle found it covered in white. Yep, they had snow and would have for the first several days of our travel. Nothing heavy on the ground, at most an inch or two. But it would melt throughout the day just like it had been doing in Kentucky when we left.

There were 26 people on the tour including Claude and me and not counting Alan, Mary (the Irish tour guide) and Gerald (the bus driver).  This was great because the tour bus was not full, Claude and I sat to the back of the middle and I had a seat on each side of the bus to bounce back and forth for pictures on either side of the road. If my pictures seem blurry in places that is because many are taken through the window of a moving bus or coach as we called it throughout Ireland.

We couldn't check into the Maldron Hotel until after 3pm so our day was spent touring Dublin in our Coach.

We learned about the Georgian homes, each having their own style and color of door. Across the street from these blocks of homes would be a private gated park for the residents of the Georgian homes. Claude and I felt we were in the movie Notting Hill.

We cross the River Liffey many times on many different bridges. They have lots of bridges over the River Liffey which runs through the center of Dublin. These bridges are of many designs. A couple of my favorite were the one shaped like the Irish Harp and the Half-penny Bridge.

We visited Trinity College to see the exhibit in their library building on the Book of Kells.  This is a writing of the four Gospels with beautiful artwork filling the pages.

In Ireland what we call the first floor of a building they call the ground floor. What we call the second floor of a building they call the first floor. The exhibit on the Book of Kells was on the ground floor. On the first floor (our second floor) of the library was 'The Long Room'.  As we entered this room Alan McKay said, "Welcome to Hogwarts".  This room took our breath away. It was filled with the fragrance of very old books, thousands of them from floor to ceiling. The architecture was so beautiful. Claude fell in love with this room and could have stayed there for hours.

One really neat treasure in this library is an Irish harp from the later middle ages. We were told there are three instruments that are truly Irish. The Irish harp is one of these instruments. It is imprinted on their coins.

Alan took some of us around behind the library to a big courtyard with Trinity College buildings all around it. The college students were having some kind of a rally and the air was electric with their energy.

 

The Bolton family at Church are from Ireland. They were generous in answering my questions as I prepared for this trip.  In one conversation with Sean, the oldest child, he told me to look for a tree that could be in a Harry Potter movie when at Trinity College. Behind the arch in the picture above and to the left and right are these trees.

We walked in the snow to the monument to Molly Malone statue. She is known as the 'Tart with the Cart' and everyone gets their picture taken with her when in Dublin.

There is a song about this lady. Our tour guide taught us the chorus to use at two later dinners we would attend. I found myself singing the chorus over and over and over after we returned home. Molly was a fish monger and sold 'cockles and mussels' from her wheelbarrow through the streets of Dublin. She eventually gets a fever and dies leaving her ghost to roam the streets singing this chorus. 

In Dublin's Fair City
Where the girls are so pretty
I first set my eyes on sweet Molly Malone
As she wheel'd her wheel barrow
Through streets broad and narrow
Crying cockles and mussels alive, alive o!
 

Chorus:  Alive, alive o!, alive, alive o!
Crying cockles and mussels alive, alive o!

 

We also visited Phoenix Park.  There is a big cross erected at the site where Pope John Paul II visited and 1,000,000 people came to see him. This park is noted for its herd of deer which we saw from the hill with the cross. They were all nestled in a big bunch sitting curled up to stay warm on the lawn. Since there is usually no snow and this time there was snow, Phoenix Park had lots of people trying to make snow men and sled in their little bit of snow.

We were to have visited Dublin Castle. This is not really a 'castle' but a collection of government buildings. Ireland is a part of the European Union. The European Union leadership moves its 'capital' from country to country in the European Union. While we were in Ireland the European Union leadership was using Ireland as their home base from January through July. Their headquarters was the Dublin Castle. This made security paramount in that area and thus we were not allowed to tour it.  We did walk the cobblestone streets to the gates for a few pictures.

Our final stop was at the National Museum of Ireland. This is another beautiful piece of architecture. The big draw for tourist is the 'bog people'. We were taught that Ireland is really in the shape of a saucer that might be placed under a cup. The sides are higher than the center. The result is bogs all over Ireland. The bogs actually grow over time. They are harvested and the result is peat that is cut into the shape of bricks. This is used in lieu of firewood. There is an order to harvesting peat. A field can only be harvested for maybe up to seven years and then it is left to replenish. While harvesting these bog fields, many historic artifacts have been found. The 'bog people' are some of these artifacts. They are bodies that were literally found under the ground in the bogs. It is not known if they were buried there or just left. I'm thinking they were probably buried because you could walk across a bog. It is like looking at mummies. There is also a huge gold collection of things found in the bogs. The top floor has an exhibit of Egyptian items. In our quick visit we focused first on the 'bog people' and then were allowed to tour the rest of the museum as we desired until time to head back to our 'coach'.

We were exhausted. Alan had Gerald drive us to the Maldron Hotel and we all found our rooms. At this point I was beginning to feel full of cold. I ached all over. Not good. But, I brought night time cold medicine with me. Claude and I wanted to stay up until at least 7pm to get ourselves on Ireland time. By 5:30pm I was falling asleep as I tried to read. I told Claude I just couldn't stay up any longer. He agreed and I curled up and went to sleep immediately as Claude continued to watch television a little longer. I woke up once during the night and took a second dose of medicine. I managed to sleep until our alarm went off at 7am. I awoke feeling so much better. My nose didn't drip all day. For the rest of our trip I would begin my night time with a dose of cold medicine and a good nights rest.

 

Thus ended our first day in Ireland. We now knew that the 'lift' meant the elevator. We were familiar with using 'euros' instead of dollars. We already felt comfortable in the country with lots of very old buildings and some new buildings. It promised to be a great week.