St. Patrick's Day

A:

Happy Paddy's Day! It's very much a family holiday here, and we celebrated in style with my dad and two of his sisters.

Brinda's Trip to the North

B:

This is me and Tucker. We were at the Giant's Causeway. The Giant's Causeway is near Belfast, and Belfast is in a different country. The name of the country Belfast is in is Northern Ireland.

This is the Giant's Causeway. It was formed by lava a long time ago. Have you noticed that the rocks are like a stop-sign shape?

There's a story of how it was formed. A long time ago there was a bridge. It started at one side, then came all the way over to the other side, made of those same rocks. And then the waves broke it. It took a long time, but the waves did break it. The other side of the bridge was in Scotland. Did you know that I was twelve miles away from a different country, Scotland?

As you can see in this picture, the rocks do go up and down.

Here's what they look like from the side. I stuck a Pound penny into the wall, and that means that you are going to come back in ten years, when I'm 20.

Fun fact: In Ireland the money, instead of dollars, it's euros. In Northern Ireland, instead of dollars and euros, it's called pounds.

We were watching a video about Giant's Causeway. This was at the museum center. As you can see, the big guy was Benandonner, and the woman was Oonagh, Fionn McCool's wife. Did you know that McCabe is an Irish name?

This is a part of story about how the Giant's Causeway was formed, and wrecked.

Sligo

A: 

Mary and I went to Sligo, to see Yeats' Country. Mary hates Yeats, which extends to not admitting that Maud Gonne was the most beautiful woman ever to live.

Actually, we went to have seaweed baths, which were really wonderful. Then we drank all their tea and walked along the beach.

This is Knocknarea, which holds Mebh's Cairn. We didn't walk up it, because it was 4 km of climbing to get there.

We think Mebh was angry, because after that, everything we went to see, or anywhere we went to eat, was closed, despite what the signs on the door said. Here's me not getting in Carrowmore, the largest megalithic cemetery in Europe.

The parking lot at Strokestown Park, home of the National Famine Museum. It was lovely. We drove all over the grounds to stick it to them. They seemed nice too.

Dirty Water Sipper

N: 

on Mainguard Street in  Galway City

I foudn a spoon in the park. My dad was thirsty. I asked him if he wanted any water. He said yes. Then he drank it. And then Tucker said, "She found the spoon in the park in the garden in the dirt." Then he said "I don't care." And I said, "And I found the water on the street, too." Then he said, "Yuck!"

Clonmacnoise

A:

We went to see Clonmacnoise with my friend Mary. It's on old important monastery sitting right in the center of Ireland, on the Shannon river. It's known as the crossroads of Ireland. 

That's the Shannon River you see behind the round tower. It's really full right now, like all the rivers. 

This is the whispering doorway, that supposedly the priests used to use to hear lepers' confessions. We couldn't get it to work.

T found a "dungeon" where they kept stone pieces from the buildings. He was very creeped out by the face he found staring at him.

 Clonmacnoise is famous for some really beautiful stone crosses.

From inside the museum/interpretive center/whatever
"1070 'The head of Conchobar Ua Maeil-Shechlainn forcibly carried from Clonmacnoise by Toirdelbhach' who was compelled to return it, 'for he was smitten with a miraculous disease imparted to him by a mouse that issued from the head, and ran under his garment.' "

Just a warning that the same thing will happen to anyone who takes my head.

Yummy!

N:

This was a very yummy hot chocolate place. The hot chocolate was really yummy. There was other stuff that we could put in there. There were marshmallows, and actual cream, and chocolate sticks. And really really long spoons. They were almost 4 feet long. I drank mine really quickly.

There were some apples. We ate them in a bar. There was a little bit of our apples left when we left.

The rest of my apple I ate at the bridge. The water was really cool. There was a castle, but it was closed. (in Athlone)

Real Castle!

another photo from inside the Athenry Heritage Center

 T: This is me in a part of the real castle. By a river it makes it so real. Like the river is the moat.



These are smarties. Not. They taste like M & M's.