It's a long way to Tipperary!

It really is quite a long trip from Dublin to Tipperary- about 3 hours via coach bus. My Modern Irish Social History class had an opportunity to take a trip to Tipp for a day for a behind the scenes tour with Anthony O'Halloran - my teacher and his good friend Councillor Seanie Lonergan for Cahir.

The day began with a cup of coffee and scones with jam and cream. It was bright out and our first stop was the Cahir Castle and memorial to the soldiers fallen during the Great War. Our day was so packed we didn't have a chance to go inside Cahir Castle but it's very pretty and several movies have been shot on location here.

While waiting for our cab van to arrive I noticed this curious little guy and couldn't help but take a picture of him. He had an eye on a few birds circling around but he looks so handsome with his little red collar.

We hoped in the van and were on our way. About 5 minutes later we arrived at our first destination - a holy well- located in the woods behind a field in the middle of what was probably 'nowhere'. This particular well was supposed to bring fertility to those who drank the water many years ago when religion could not be opening practiced due to persecution. You couldn't pay me to drink the water now, but the well has been out of service for many years now.

Here we all are standing around, listening to the story of the well. Most of the students in Anthony's class are also in Stephen's science class, where we studying groundwater and how it often leaks back out of the ground and into rivers or springs. This is precisely how the fertility well functions. Upon further inspection we could even see the bubbling of ground water from the bottom of the well as it was pretty shallow at the time.

Yay for applying science to real life. Honestly, if Stephen taught anyone science there is no way the could forget it much less not enjoy it!

Anyways, back to the fertility well. In the above picture you can probably see what looks like bits of trash hanging in the tree. This is actually another religion, more like witchcraft, that comes to the holy well. They hang ribbons, beads, rosaries, silk flowers and the like in the tree above the well. Seanie wouldn't say much about the ribbons but I thought they were very pretty.

As we left the holy site we passed through a gate that had this stone carved cross on it. Seanie told us the cross was like a site marker to guide people to the well when they were looking for it since it used to be quite a long walk from town.

Our next stop was the Tincurry Children's Workhouse. Another friend of Anthony, Ed O'Riordan, met us there and told us a bit about the history of the workhouse, which was opened during the famine in order to provide relief from families that were struggling with conditions at the time. Many times parents went to one workhouse and the children were sent to the other. It was a harsh way of living and thanks to Seanie help there was this monument erected in memory of them in 2008.

The work house is across a dirt road from the memorial and is now a private residence.

From Tincurry we traveled up to Cashel to visit a Monastery and for the life me I cannot remember the name or find it online. The outside was quite a sight to behold:

But the inside was just as stunning with vibrant stained glass windows. There was a great, white room we were allowed into only briefly to hear the monks chanting for the morning service. The brotherhood is in danger of ending since the tradition has been lost on the younger generations and fewer and fewer men are joining the monastery.

We stopped for lunch just down the road as a small bed and breakfast type establishment. We had warm brown bread and piping hot vegetable soup help relieve some of the cold. Then I had a full thanksgiving dinner with turkey, ham and gravy, cranberry sauce, peas and carrots and what i assume was a lightly fried parsnip. We were all so full after lunch but had to move quickly to stay on schedule and see everything Anthony had planned for us.

We all took off in our van as Seanie and Anthony led the way, whipping around back country corners on roads barely wide enough for one car. Before long we arrived at Willie's, a close friend of Anthony and Seanie. Willie owns a prize winning dairy farm with some of the best bred heifers in Ireland. Here they all are, friends for many years, Willie, Seanie and Anthony.

Willie gave us a short tour of the farm and showed us his baby calves.

Then, in true Irish fashion, all ten of us were invited in for tea and sandwiches. We were all stuffed from lunch but we didn't want to be rude and the sandwiches looked so tasty that we ate several of them. We chatted with Willie, his wife and daughter about our stay in Ireland so far and about the unseasonable weather this year (it's been cold for them). We thanked them for their hospitality and hoped in the van once again. This time we took a bit of an unexpected stop when Seanie and Anthony just pulled over of the side of the road in town. Anthony had us hop out and cross a field that looks like like it was used for hurling to show us another castle. This one was built at the orders of King John. Now, the Tiperary postman lives in it!

After our impromptu stop we headed for our last scheduled visit, a former crowning seat of the high kings of Ireland. This was before Christianity was introduced to the island. It was rather informal but it offers a great view of the countryside.

We raced our way up the hill to the top and Anthony beat us all by a mile. He then proclaimed himself king of Ireland, and I know if I had to vote, he would have definitely gotten mine.

Here he is, Anthony O'Halloran, King of Ireland:

He is such a great teacher. I enjoy his class more than most of my others.

To end the day properly Anthony and Seanie joined us at one of their pubs in Cahir for a few pints before we had to take the bus home.

What a great day so see the true way of life outside the city.

The Valley of the Two Lakes

Happy April!!

I am sorry that I was such a terrible blogger and didn't post much during March. It was an extremely busy month though, so luckily I have lots of stories to share with you!

Of all the outings and trips we've been on this semester, we have lucked out and had beautiful sunny skies almost every single time. In fact, I think I can count on one hand the number of times there has been a drizzle. The trip to Glendalough was one of those days. It rained every which way rain could. It drizzled, it spit, it poured, it sun-showered, it "wintery-mixed" and it may very well have even hailed briefly. But try as the weather might, it couldn't stop us from adventuring. We did have a brief, good omen before we arrived in Glendalough- a rainbow stretched across two plowed fields - sadly, no leprechaun or pot of gold at the end.

Glendalough is in Wicklow County, where Bray and Greystones are as well. It is slightly further inland and a little further south of Dublin than Bray. Glendalough can be literally translated into "the valley of the two lakes" and is nestled in between several very large mountains. It has been this way since a glacier carved the valley at the end of the last ice age. There is a narrow strip of land which separates the two lakes and it is said St. Kevin lived in a cave on the side of a mountain, above the lakes, until he founded his monastic 'city' in the 11th Century.

This is all that remains of the city and during the majority of the year visitors cannot walk around the site anymore because of previous vandalism. However, you can still see the round watch tower, and St. Kevin's church.

After stopping to take a fair share of pictures we continued on with our walk and found the first of the two lakes, it is smaller in size than the second lake and has no foot path access when it is so wet out.

You can see in the background some of the mountains starting to get a little larger.

On the strip of land between the two lakes is a parking lot now, it holds only 20 cars or so and there is a great place to stop for snacks. I really wish it had been open when we walked by, but because of the weather and time of day, it was simply not an option.

We finally approached the second lake and walked right onto its sandy beach. After snapping a few photos of the scenery, like this one--

Lilly, our operations manager, made us all stand together for a picture. I can't imagine any of us look too happy since it had really started raining only a few minutes earlier.

On our way back to the visitors center, where we were going to have our lunch, several people decided it would be fun to splash in all the puddles along the way. Knowing we had a full day ahead of us still, Tricia and I walked towards the back to avoid any unwanted splashes. Good thing too since one friend jumped into what she thought was a puddle but ended up being a mud hole. She went in almost up to her knees! Then, when passing a certain part of the path that runs even with a dip in the road above, a car passed and sent a waterfall of puddle water over the wall and onto the heads of everyone in front of us.

Here is a picture of Tricia and I hanging back a little until the cars passed- I really like how green everything is in this picture. Including Tricia.

When we got back to the visitors center we decided to have lunch, however, there were no picnic tables and we weren't allowed to eat inside so we stood and watched as the sky cleared up a little. We noticed a mountain in the distance we hadn't seen before, mostly because it was so cloudy and this mountain was covered with snow. I think it looks rather hidden still in this picture. You can also see the top of St. Kevin's Church here.

Due to the lack of tables of benches for lunch most of our group stood and ate our sandwiches and crisps (potato chips). This little robin caught on and started hoping around our feet picking up our scraps, sometimes eating them and sometimes carrying them away presumably to her nest. A few other robin timidly joined her in picking up bread crumbs. However, she was the only one brave enough to get very close to us. Here she is on the stone wall, patiently waiting for one of us to drop more food.

From the two lakes we headed to Glendalough's horseback riding center. The small farm had about 15 horses. Behind the stables were several paths that led through the woods, along a stream and by a pond. The trees offered some shelter from the rain but everything was coated in little rain droplets and it was green everywhere. Here's a picture of some of the horses we got to ride in their stalls before getting all set up. I really like how all the horses in this picture are distracted by Sheeba, the stable dog, barking at another horse.

Here is the horse that Sheeba was barking at, her name is Pluto and she took quite a liking to Casey (also pictured). When Casey tried to walk away Pluto would kick her stable door and Sheeba would bark. Quite a symphony.

Due to the amount of students that wanted to ride, and the number of horses available for riding we had to go in a few different groups. I was in the second group and got to ride a horse named Belle. She was so gentle and really enjoyed stopping to snack on holly or ferns whenever possible. Here we are before our ride, I'm wearing my rainjacket, even though during our trip it was the only sunny time of the whole day!

Our ride took us over hills and through valleys, passed farms and fields and into the woods. The woods were definitely the coolest part too because all the trees were gray and dead but the ground was still damp and green and mossy. Our leader told us if we looked carefully we could see large herds of Irish gray deer in the woods and sure enough, there would be dozens of the standing just past the tree line starring at us as we passed. I tried to take a picture but this is the best I could get with one unsteady hand on the back of a horse.

You can see the rough outline of a deer between the two trees on the left, there are also several sets of antlers (the white horns in the background) I would guess there were between 5 and 7 deer near the edge of the woods when I took this picture.

Overall, Glendalough was beautiful despite the weather. Having the opportunity to ride horses was really nice and the scenery was breathtaking.

I promise to blog more soon and not get so behind, especially because my time in Ireland is coming to an end much quicker than imagined possible.

Love and hugs as always,

Annie

Adventures in Howth

I had the chance to go to Howth, a peninsula north of Dublin on the east coast of Ireland. It's a 20-ish minute ride on the DART with lovely ocean views. Every weekend there is an outdoor market with all kinds of fruits and vegetables, breads and cakes. There are jewelry vendors and antique booths. It's a lovely to wander through the aisles looking at all the hidden gems and tasty treats.

When we first arrived in Howth we walked by the marina and yacht club. The boats were stunning and it happened to be a very beautiful sunny day, perfect for sailing. Here are some of the boats still in the marina but just as many, if not more, were taking advantage of day in Dublin Bay.

My companions, Emma and Kate and I grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed over to the market. Our first stop was this lovely pastry booth. They had baclava, tea cakes, jelly rolls and many more delicious treats.

Doesn't it look heavenly?!

Just around the corner is the greatest food stand I could imagine:

Yes!!! Olives! Every olive option you could imagine: kalamata olives, stones in or out, green olives stuffed with garlic, feta cheese, pimentos, almonds! They had homemade hummus and pesto, seafood salad, feta and red pepper salad. So many delicious treats! The best part about the stand was that all of the food was in giant wooden barrels with hand carved wooden spoons and LOTS of olive sampling platters!

After eating a fair amount of olives and picking a selection to bring home we all walked down the boardwalk to see the main attraction-- seals! There is a small pod of seal that hang out down the wharf and every day people buy bags of fish and feed them. They are quite hefty seals as they know about this secret and take full advantage of it by looking at you with those big dark eyes and romping around together in the water. I took a fair amount of pictures, here are a few to coo over: everyone together now......"aawwwww"

After seeing those you'll have to understand why I caved, bought a bag of fish, picked up a few gloves and tossed some treats to them in the water. There was a fresh fish store just across the street from the seal show where they sell all kinds of fresh seafood and usually cod or herring for the seals.

The fish were pretty gross (they are in the styrofoam box in the back) but the seals seemed to love them!

I'll leave you with this picture because feeding the seals made me smile and I hope you get a chuckle out of it too!

Up the North

Happy Springtime Everyone!

Two weekends ago was the first of our two school sponsored field trips. This one was to Northern Ireland, which is actually a different country, part of the UK due to over 200 years of British/Protestant occupation. We left on Friday morning just as the sun was rising. With our overnight bags and lunches packed we started out driving through Dublin suburbia, which does exist on the north side of the River Liffey. We took this route to bypass commuter traffic and were soon off and rolling down the highway.

Only recently (in the last 20 years or so) has the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland become easy to pass. In the past there was a checkpoint where cars, luggage and people were subject to be searched for any reason. Now the only notable difference is the change over from a broken yellow stripe on the highway to a solid white line. I doubt any of our group would have noticed unless our director, Stephen, had pointed it out.

Just outside of Belfast, our first stop we had a restroom break at a McDonalds were everyone scurried to buy breakfast and coffee. We met up with our tour guide Nigel, a native of Northern Ireland and headed into the city.

Our first stop was Falls Road, which is famous for murals depicting the victims of various atrocities around the world, calls for peaceful living and trade etc. Behind these cool old-school cars is a painting that is a call to Obama to reopen trade with Cuba. Interesting connections in these paintings from an American/ foreign point of view.

After looking at these murals we hoped back on the bus and headed off to see this mural:

This mural of Bobby Sands is just around the corner from the headquarters of Sinn Féin, which is the political party of Irish Republicanism but it is considered very "left wing". This mural was painted after Bobby Sands died during the hunger strikes in the 1980s. He was elected to Parliament while serving time in Long Kesh jail (which is why the letters MP are written after his name) and was the first member of the strikes to die. The men were striking for political prisoner status, which British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher denied at the encouragement of US President, Ronald Reagan.

Our next stop was the Bombay Street memorial which commemorates the tragic burning of all the Catholic homes on Bombay Street in 1969 during a three day period of rioting. One side of this street lines the peace wall which segregates the Catholic and Protestant communities which is where this banner and other memorials to the events are.

Once all the homes were rebuilt on Bombay Street the previous owners were told they would not need to pay a mortgage on their homes for over 100 years as long as the homes remained in possession of a blood relative.

Following the visit to the Catholic side of the "peace wall" we drove by the opposite side, where the Protestant majority lives. There is a gate that closes at sundown that separates the two sides to try to prevent unnecessary violence. However, the current generation of adults in Belfast, those who primarily grew up during the Troubles have decided that in the next 20 years they intend to take the wall down, in hopes that people my age and younger will be ready to interact non-violently and will have grown up in a peaceful time. On the Protestant side of the wall there is an area that people from all over the world can sign and leave messages of peace. Now there is a small sculpture that has immortalized the messages left by people like the Dali Lama and Bill Clinton. I also signed the wall, a simple message but one that I think the young adults of Belfast are embracing and applying in their lives.

Here is a picture of Nigel, our guide for the tour of Belfast. He had a great accent and was very knowledgeable of everything he showed us. So knowledgeable in fact, that our 2 hour tour became a 3 and a half hour tour. Nonetheless it was extremely interesting and I really enjoyed it because he put everything into perspective, using examples that we could relate to our lives.

The last set of murals Nigel showed us were painted on the side of several apartments. The one below was painted by a man who lives in the complex and it won an award because no matter where you stand the sniper's rifle is pointing right at you. Near, far, left or right the sniper has an eye on you.

After our mural tour of Belfast we drove by city hall which has a statue of Queen Victoria in front and a statue of Thomas Andrew, the man who designed the Titanic.

We had a brief trip to a shopping mall for a bathroom break and a chance to use an ATM since pounds, not euros, is the currency there. Once we were back on the bus, on the way to Ballintoy, where we were spending the night, everyone took a little nap. Since the bus seats were pretty small we all cuddled up wherever we could find a spot. Here is Katherine and Aaron, passed out on our bus. So cute!

Having had a large coffee from McDonalds that morning I was not very sleepy so I was awake for the beautiful drive to Ballintoy. I am not sure where exactly this was but the wind turbines were beautiful on the mountainside.

After arriving in Ballintoy, which was a very small town near Bushmills (the makers of the famous whiskey). In fact, this town is so small that you can stand on the main road and see both ends. It's a lovely place with one hostel and two pubs. Dinner was provided by our hostel and was very Irish: beef stew, two types of potatoes, sweet corn and for dessert, strawberry cheesecake. We ate much more than our fill and headed down to the pub. Our friends Tom and April got a chance to sing while we had a few pints.

In the morning we awoke to see a beautiful view of Scotland! Yep, that's right, we could see Scotland from our hostel in Ireland. We could also see Rathlin Island, which has cliffs of chalk and less than 200 inhabitants.

Our group walked down to Ballintoy harbor and walked around on the rocks while we waited for our bus. We then headed to Giant's Causeway. It was a short drive from where we stayed so we had plenty of time to explore. The causeway is made up of basalt columns that cooled after a volcanic eruption 60 million years ago, when Ireland was closer to Eygpt's current location. The rocks cracked into these formations and there are thousands of them in the area. Some are smaller, 3-7 feet tall. Others are over 20 feet tall but they are all relatively perfect. Legend has it that a giant named Finn McCool built this causeway to Scotland to battle a giant living there. In fact, these rocks, slightly more eroded, are indeed present all the way to Scotland.

Here I am standing next to one of the smaller columns.

Here is another picture of the Giant's Causeway with all the formations stretching out into the water. They are like stepping stones, though several of them are shaky.

The next stop on our trip was Dunluce Castle, Catherine Manners lived here when she remarried to Randal MacDonnell. Catherine supposedly hate the sea (crazy) and was horrified when one night the kitchen broke of the back of the house and fell into the sea. Since then no one has lived at Dunluce Castle. It has remained in pretty good shape, only really losing it's roof and second floor since the 1600's.

Here I am taking in the beautiful view of the castle and the ocean. It was lovely and sunny all day and nice to sit in the grass, since, in Ireland, spring starts the 1st of February!

-I have effectively bypassed the cold winter months! Hooray!

One very cool aspect of Dunluce Castle was that underneath was a secret tunnel that led to the ocean. I am not entirely sure what it was used for but it's huge! We all climbed down the slippy stairs and then the slippy, shaky rocks all the way to the edge of the water. Being the Harry Potter nerd that I am I was really excited that it looked like something out of one of the novels! It was a very damp and cold cavern and even the ceiling, which held the castle above, was leaking water so I didn't spend too much time inside, you know, just in case.

Our last stop on our trip was the Carrick-a-Rede bridge. This bridge is made of really thick rope and two planks of wood all the way across. It connects the piece of land in the shadow in the picture below to the first piece of land in the sun.

Originally the bridge helped salmon fisherman get out to the end of the islands so they could catch the fish who returned to the rivers nearby to spawn every year. Since the coast has so many high cliffs this was one area where the fisherman could get out into the water with their nets and catch as many as 300 salmon a day during the right season.

This is a picture of the bridge from above, you can see how one might be frightened to cross it but Aaron and Lori were brave and went first. We were reassured by our bus driver that it's only 100 or so feet to the rocks below so you would hardly have time to freak out if you fell...yea...very reassuring.

Here is one last picture of me, on the rope bridge. I'll admit, it was absolutely terrifying but knowing that no one has ever fallen off the bridge made me feel better. Plus it's not very long and only a few people are allowed to cross at a time. As you can see, I am holding on very tightly, with both hands!

After the rope bridge and the hike back to our bus we were sufficiently exhausted. We started our drive back to Dublin but took the scenic route along the coast. As tired as I was I tried very hard to stay awake to see it since I may not have the chance again for a long time. It was beautiful and there was a very pretty sunset. As soon as it was dark and we hit Belfast I went right to sleep and slept most of the way home.

That's about all I had energy for in one weekend but I will soon share with you the adventure I had in Howth most recently. A little preview though...it involved olives, fudge and some very funny seals!

Until next time, stay well, keep laughing and remember that I love you!

Annie