Final Days in Ireland

 

Here's a not so great picture of final Airbnb and the car we rented, which fit all of us and was automatic. Dad drove everywhere and we didn't have any problems, although like I said before, this road trip wouldn't have been so great for anyone who gets car sick!:

We were less than an hour from our first stop, The Rock of Cashel. It's such a beautiful castle up on a hill. We got Grammie up the super steep hill and reserved our tickets for the guided tour, and then let Grammie rest on her cane-seat while we trekked over to an Abbey. Here's the view of the Abbey from the castle:

It's in a walled field and there were lots of cows milling around. We walked around to the proper entrance to avoid the cows:

It was quite beautiful and extensive. Lots of ruins to explore!:

Dad's cool picture of the Rock of Cashel seen from the Abbey:

The cows had moved when we were done exploring so we took a short cut across the field:

Now we're climbing back up to Rock of Cashel:

Rock of Cashel was first a castle for the high kings of Munster in the 4th Century! In the 5th Century St Patrick baptized the king, and you can still see the well where he baptized him:

In the 12th Century there was a large round tower as part of the fortress, which is the oldest building you can still see:

Also at that time a chapel was built, which is called Cormac's chapel. It's been preserved pretty well because a bigger cathedral was built right next to it and protects it somewhat from the elements. Most of what you can see and visit is the bigger cathedral:

TJ is always sad when a staircase or area is blocked off:

A little remnant of paint:

The graveyard around the church is pretty cool too:

Our guided tour took us into the big cathedral, around the graveyard, talked about the 15th Century Vicar's Choir, and went into Cormac's Chapel. Only a certain number of people are allowed in the temperature and moisture controlled Cormac's Chapel:

The reason it's so controlled is because it has the remains of Ireland's oldest Romanesque frescos. It used to be brightly painted in reds and blues: 

The front of the chapel is actually right next to the wall of the Cathedral. Look how green it is in there:

Pretty cool old preserved entrance:

Then after this tour, we headed to a grocery store to get stuff to make a picnic sandwich lunch. I got the timing wrong for our next tour, but luckily I double checked just in time and we hurried as quickly as we could into Dublin. 

We barely made our tour of an old prison called Kilmainham Gaol (Jail). It was opened from 1796 to 1924. It's really hard to get tickets to tour this, so luckily we made it.

The jail housed criminals during the famine, many who did petty crimes just to get in and get meals, and most famously was where the people who were part of the rebellion for independence were kept and executed. 

It was abandoned and in disrepair for a long time and then made into a museum in 1966. It was an interesting tour!:

This is a painting inside one of the cells, viewed from the peephole:

This is the execution site:

We walked back to our car and then found our hotel. We got parked and left Grammie and the boys to rest at the hotel while Lulu and Dad and I walked around the city a little and came back with groceries to make dinner. Here's Dublin's St Patrick's Cathedral:

This is another cathedral near our hotel, the gates were closed, but there is a Homeless Jesus statue that we could see. See him? Laying there on the bench:

Some cute pubs:

The next morning we started out at Dublin Castle, which was quite different from the other castles we toured. We got tickets for a guided tour, but had to wait an hour, so we walked around the plaza:

We randomly found a free police museum. You guys thought it was pretty random and didn't really want to go in, but I rang the bell and in we went! We quickly walked through and it was actually kind of interesting:

There was lots of Irish history and old police uniforms:

And modern day police info:

After that unplanned excursion we went back to the castle and took our tour. The tour begins in the oldest part where we walked down to the foundation and could see the Viking settlement foundations as well as the foundation of the 13th Century castle that was there. It was cool to see!:

This is the old entrance to the castle:

We also got to explore the Chapel Royal, which was from the 1800's:

All of the carvings were made of wood but supposed to look like marble:

There's an old organ:

Then the tour continues into the big building which was a military fortress, a prison, a treasury, a court, and from 1204 to Ireland's independence in 1921 it was the seat of English rule in Ireland. You can see the fancy stairs that led up to the ball room, banquet room, and throne. It's now a government center where they still have ceremonies:  

The ceilings were very pretty:

This mirror is in the shape of Queen Victoria's crown:

King William IV was a big guy, so this throne was made for him to fit comfortably. He weighed over 300 pounds. Then Queen Victoria was next in line and she was really small. She hated this throne because it made her feel so tiny:

Just outside Dublin Castle is Dubh Linn garden. Dubh Linn means black pool in Viking, hence the name of the city. The pool is still there, it's under the green grass:

Next we walked around the touristy part of the city:

and ate lunch at Nando's, which we all enjoyed:

We passed Murphy's ice cream and I convinced everyone to stop since it's famous Irish ice cream. It was yummy and mild, but not worth the price:

We toured the free National Museum of Ireland, mostly to see the bog bodies. It's so interesting to see the level of preservation from being in the bog. This one is 4,000 years old and it still has skin and fingernails! It was cut in half by farm materials: 

This one still has red hair:

We did a quick visit to the National Gallery as well, to see some Van Gogh and Monet:

Next we did some shopping as we walked to Trinity College to see the campus. There is a really old book on display in the campus library, but it was pretty expensive to see it, so we just quickly saw the campus. It is pretty:

We left Grammie on the campus and walked up to the river. There was a pretty Custom House:

a famine memorial:

and behind is a famine ship, which offers tours that we didn't have time to do:

For dinner we went to the pub around the corner from our hotel. It's called the Brazen Head and it's the oldest pub in Ireland:

TJ took this picture to show his friend his drink of choice in the pub:

Adz took this one:

They actually forgot to bring out our food until I asked about it. We weren't super happy about that, but it tasted good. Thanks for Grammie for dinner!:

That was our final night in Ireland. Here are the boys in their new shirts in our hotel:

TJ is showing us the baby seagull that was stuck on the balcony all night and was still there in the morning. The boys fed it French fries in hopes that it wouldn't die before the hotel workers could help it out. Poor baby bird couldn't get enough of a running start to flap his wings and get out of there:

The hotel:

Our first flight left on time and then our second flight was delayed, plus we had a long layover anyway, so we were bored. Plus the flight attendant was rude on our flight, so we didn't have a great experience with the flights:

However, we really enjoyed seeing Ireland and loved all of the sunshine and the cool history!

Thanks for still getting excited to go see the world with me. I've checked my top bucket list location off my list!! I used to be sad that I don't have more Irish in my DNA because I just love all things Irish. However, after visiting Ireland and England I'm ok being English. Even though Ireland is a little prettier, I really loved the English countryside as well. 

We didn't get to see Belfast and the north part of the island, so maybe one day there will be another trip. 

Love you!

Mom