On July 21st the whole class took a trip up to Belfast in Northern Ireland for a black taxi tour. There was a long bus ride from Dublin to Belfast and I thought it was interesting that when we got to Northern Ireland we were in the United Kingdom. They use Irish pounds for the currency which is pretty much the same thing at English pounds but they manufacture their own Irish version. Upon reaching Belfast we separated into smaller groups to ride in the taxis around to 3 different areas of Belfast. Belfast is a city that is separated into a Catholic section and Protestant section. We first rode to the Protestant section of Shankill Rd, there are many lovely murals there, but many are political in nature, and there is one that is super creepy...its a soldier that points a gun at you and the barrel of the gun follows you no matter where you are. I was super creeped out by it. After this we rode to the Peace wall and signed it, the wall separates the Catholic and Protestant sections and many people have written, drawn, and painted peace messages on this stretch of wall. The Catholic and Protestant sections have gates that close at certain times at night so the neighborhoods can't mix and cause problems. After the peace wall we went into the Catholic section and saw many murals, a few that were on the side of the Sinn Fein building which is the Catholic political party in Northern Ireland. The rest were on the side of a road and were really cool looking. I will put some pictures up soonish.
We then headed to the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge. It is this bridge that the local fishermen use, and its in an area where on a clear day you can see Scotland. I was terrified to go across the rope bridge since I am scared of heights and it was rainy so I figured the bridge would be a little wet and slippery. I was right that is was a little slippery but it wasn't that bad. The bridge gets you to this little islandy thing, that is I am pretty sure made of peat so the ground was pretty bouncy. The views from the island were beautiful, and we had a ton of fun wandering around and taking pictures in the misty rain. After about an hour wandering around we took the bus to Giant's Causeway and ordered food then went down to the causeway. This place was super cool because it was formed by a volcanic eruption and the rocks are very geometrical so it makes very little sense that is was naturally formed. I loved the rocks though they were so cool and fun to climb! :)
The next few days were filled with classes and not much else since finals were coming up I had to work on more homework and such. By the 23rd Caitlyn came to visit to me in Dublin, so I got to take her around to the Brazen Head, St. Auden's, Dublin Castle, Boxty House, Trinity College, and Temple Bar. On the 24th Cait, Jenny and I went up the Enniskillen in Northern Ireland to visit her families castle. While we were there we had lunch at a little tea and sandwich shop before seeing a little thrift store and stopping there to get lots of lovely souvenirs. After that we made it to the castle which is still standing and has a museum inside that explains the McGuire's history in Ireland and it gave an idea of how many old Irish castles would have looked.
After Cait left I only had a few days left in Ireland with the trip so much of that time was used doing homework and making sure I had gifts for everyone I needed. On the last wednesday we all went to All Hallows College. We got a tour of the school which is really cool and the Brother that gave the tour was really funny! Everything that was there was related in some fashion to Harry Potter. I was highly amused, but the place was really pretty and had a great history.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Monday, August 9, 2010
Kilmaiham Jail and asst. days
Coming back from London very early in the morning was probably not one of my better ideas which is probably why the day I got back after classes I took a nap because I was exhausted. Therefore I have nothing important to talk about for the 19th of July.
On the 20th however I took a trip to Kilmainham Jail which was the main jail in Dublin for many years and was used to hold both the common prisoner and also the prisoners that were to be sent to Australia. One of the other important things about this jail is this is where all the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising were kept and then killed. It was the killing of these men that caused the true uprising that eventually led Ireland to become separate from England. If the English had just jailed the men for a while and then let them free there is every chance that Ireland may still be a part of the UK. However the English decided to murder all the leaders and the Irish citizens saw how unfair it was and then decided to actually attempt an organized revolt against England. It took many years but they did succeed in their revolution. The jail no longer is functioning as a jail but it still has a lot of history and there is so much that I felt while I was touring around the grounds.
On the 20th however I took a trip to Kilmainham Jail which was the main jail in Dublin for many years and was used to hold both the common prisoner and also the prisoners that were to be sent to Australia. One of the other important things about this jail is this is where all the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising were kept and then killed. It was the killing of these men that caused the true uprising that eventually led Ireland to become separate from England. If the English had just jailed the men for a while and then let them free there is every chance that Ireland may still be a part of the UK. However the English decided to murder all the leaders and the Irish citizens saw how unfair it was and then decided to actually attempt an organized revolt against England. It took many years but they did succeed in their revolution. The jail no longer is functioning as a jail but it still has a lot of history and there is so much that I felt while I was touring around the grounds.
There is no place like London!!
Craziest trip while in Ireland was not actually in Ireland but rather in London, England. Jenny, Ashley, and I took a flight to London on thursday July 15. Once in London after a terrible cab ride we met up with Cait in Surbiton where she was staying. Since we got in at 1am we all just went to sleep upon reaching Cait's flat. Friday was a very busy day that started with a cruise on the Thames River. The cruise was super informative and I saw and oriented myself pretty well based off what we saw. It was interesting to see how much of London I have either heard about or known about previous to my trip, I really thought I didn't know much about London at all. Once we hopped off the cruise we went for lunch and then stood in line for the London Eye, which is a super large ferris wheel that made me nervous to be on, but had the most amazing views one can even imagine. When we got off the London Eye we met up with Cait and wandered past the House of Parliament and Big Ben towards 10 Downing St where the Prime Minister lives. They have the actual road blocked off but we did see the gates. From there we walked to the Horse Guards which was awesome because we saw the guards all dressed up and marching to protect the royal horses. Our next stop was to walk through St. James park heading towards Buckingham Palace. After seeing Buckingham Palace we found Wellington's Arch and walked through Hyde Park. At this point I was wanting to be back in the 1800s with a horse drawn carriage to ride through the park like many people used to do to see and be seen! After a brief rest in Hyde Park we continued to the adjacent park called Kensington Gardens where they have a statue of Peter Pan and they have a playground in memory of Princess Diana. After all of this in one day we went back to Surbiton and had a great meal at one of the local pubs, and got some rest for saturday.
Saturday was a bit more relaxed and we started the day by attempting to go to a street market in Notting Hill, sadly we found nothing but a very pretty street so that was slightly disappointing. But then we went to the Earl's Court tube station for Jenny to find her Police Box (a Dr. Who thing, I am told). Then for Hannah we ventured to Harrods in hopes of trying on fancy clothes but it really isn't possible to do that unless you have gobs and gobs of money so we just wandered until we got lost in there. I was then on a mission to find a specific book that somehow managed to be in the computer system (of the stores) but never actually in the store. We walked from Covent Garden down Fleet St. (thank you Sweeney Todd) to St. Paul's Cathedral. It was one of the best moments of my life sitting on the steps of St. Paul's with a tuppence and Cait singing Feed the Birds. After more fruitless book shopping Jenny, Ashley and I went to see The Lion King on the West End. The show was so unbelievably good! The British accents made Scar sound all the more menacing and Simba all the cuter! :) Everything about this day was just amazing!!!
We also had all day on Sunday since we had an early morning flight back to Dublin on monday, so....we started the day with the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. The whole ceremony is really rigid and calculated and pretty long, we did have great "seats" meaning we were standing right at the front gate. The only problem was this was that the people behind us we always crushing us to get closer to the gate, I did NOT appreciate that! As soon as it was over we booked it for the Tower of London in an attempt to get away from all of the crowds. At the Tower I got a tour by one of the resident Beefeaters, and he was super funny to listen to. Since we were on a limited schedule we took the tour then went into one of the small tower things, then stood in line for the Crown Jewels. The Jewels were so so so very pretty!!! Then we went to the one prison tower where many famous people were held and graffiti-ed the walls. We then went to the British Museum with Cait to see the Elgin Marbles and many other ancient artifacts. After the British Museum we went back to Surbiton and celebrated our last day in London.
As I said earlier, this was the best trip I took in Ireland even though it was really rushed.
Saturday was a bit more relaxed and we started the day by attempting to go to a street market in Notting Hill, sadly we found nothing but a very pretty street so that was slightly disappointing. But then we went to the Earl's Court tube station for Jenny to find her Police Box (a Dr. Who thing, I am told). Then for Hannah we ventured to Harrods in hopes of trying on fancy clothes but it really isn't possible to do that unless you have gobs and gobs of money so we just wandered until we got lost in there. I was then on a mission to find a specific book that somehow managed to be in the computer system (of the stores) but never actually in the store. We walked from Covent Garden down Fleet St. (thank you Sweeney Todd) to St. Paul's Cathedral. It was one of the best moments of my life sitting on the steps of St. Paul's with a tuppence and Cait singing Feed the Birds. After more fruitless book shopping Jenny, Ashley and I went to see The Lion King on the West End. The show was so unbelievably good! The British accents made Scar sound all the more menacing and Simba all the cuter! :) Everything about this day was just amazing!!!
We also had all day on Sunday since we had an early morning flight back to Dublin on monday, so....we started the day with the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. The whole ceremony is really rigid and calculated and pretty long, we did have great "seats" meaning we were standing right at the front gate. The only problem was this was that the people behind us we always crushing us to get closer to the gate, I did NOT appreciate that! As soon as it was over we booked it for the Tower of London in an attempt to get away from all of the crowds. At the Tower I got a tour by one of the resident Beefeaters, and he was super funny to listen to. Since we were on a limited schedule we took the tour then went into one of the small tower things, then stood in line for the Crown Jewels. The Jewels were so so so very pretty!!! Then we went to the one prison tower where many famous people were held and graffiti-ed the walls. We then went to the British Museum with Cait to see the Elgin Marbles and many other ancient artifacts. After the British Museum we went back to Surbiton and celebrated our last day in London.
As I said earlier, this was the best trip I took in Ireland even though it was really rushed.
Glendalough, Ireland
So July 13th held very little of importance in my trip other than picking up my amazing celtic ring that I had ordered about 2 or so weeks before. I LOVE my ring!!!!! Then we had a lovely group dinner with some Dayton alum that are living in Dublin right now and some of the brothers from St Lawrence College which is one of Dayton's sister high schools in Ireland. The brothers were very nice and told us many stories about living in Ireland and changes they had seen take place in the time they have been living there. The brother I was talking to even told me what it would take to actually teach in Ireland which is a lot of work for a non-irish citizen. But it was interesting to hear nonetheless. I had a lot of fun talking to everyone that I could but I wish we could have talked to more of the brothers and alum than we had time for.
The next day on July 14, we took an all day trip to Glendalough. Glendalough was created by St. Kevin when he came to this area to live as a hermit in a cave on the mountain. After a while more and more people came wanting to live like St. Kevin so he was forced to move out of his cave and in to the main area between the two lakes. This is how the monastery of Glendalough was created. I know I have said that many things have been beautiful on my trip but nothing more than Glendalough with the trees, lakes, and the high crosses. I was absolutely astounded. We didn't have that much time to explore since it was a specific bus tour, and I could have spent an entire day out in the woods and exploring the lakes. Oh well, next time I go to Ireland I know where I will spend at least part of my time! :)
The next day on July 14, we took an all day trip to Glendalough. Glendalough was created by St. Kevin when he came to this area to live as a hermit in a cave on the mountain. After a while more and more people came wanting to live like St. Kevin so he was forced to move out of his cave and in to the main area between the two lakes. This is how the monastery of Glendalough was created. I know I have said that many things have been beautiful on my trip but nothing more than Glendalough with the trees, lakes, and the high crosses. I was absolutely astounded. We didn't have that much time to explore since it was a specific bus tour, and I could have spent an entire day out in the woods and exploring the lakes. Oh well, next time I go to Ireland I know where I will spend at least part of my time! :)
July 12, 2010 Dublin, Ireland
Once classes were over on monday the entire group went to both Christchurch and St. Patrick's Cathedral. Both churches were absolutely beautiful and very large in size. They are both Church of Ireland churches even though they are only 2 blocks away from each other. The reason for their close proximity and being the same denomination was that in the original Medieval city of Dublin Christchurch was within the walls and St. Patrick's was outside the city walls for those citizens that didn't want to pay city taxes and therefore lived outside the protection of the city walls. Christchurch has the supposed tomb of Strongbow a famous Irish warrior that took control of Ireland from the ancient Kings but it is not thought that he is actually buried there. The heart of St. Lawrence O'Toole can also be found in this church and it is the only relic to survive the reformation. There are many other important things and graves in this church mainly because it was the main cathedral in Dublin for many years.
St. Patrick's on the other hand is just as large but it feels a bit more welcoming and there are many many beautiful stained glass windows. In many way when I was in St. Pat's I focused probably too much on viewing the stained glass than I did focusing on the rest of the church, for that reason I have less to say about it, other than I would most definitely go back to St. Pat's waaay before going to Christchurch. I feel like St. Patrick's is more of the people's church that Christchurch is.
St. Patrick's on the other hand is just as large but it feels a bit more welcoming and there are many many beautiful stained glass windows. In many way when I was in St. Pat's I focused probably too much on viewing the stained glass than I did focusing on the rest of the church, for that reason I have less to say about it, other than I would most definitely go back to St. Pat's waaay before going to Christchurch. I feel like St. Patrick's is more of the people's church that Christchurch is.
Cork, Ireland
As far as I can tell from the family history my Grandpa Murphy made for my brother and I, our Irish ancestors come from County Cork on the southwest coast of Ireland. This is one of the many reasons I wanted to go and see this area. After classes on that friday Jenny and I went to Cork via a bus, it was a long trip but very worth it because the views were amazing! When we got to Cork it was raining (which is no surprise in Ireland) so we headed to our hostel to set up camp and figure out what we wanted to do for the rest of the night. This hostel was the least private one that I have stayed in on my journey since it was a 16 person mixed room, but it didn't feel that bad and the place was pretty well kept.
On saturday we decided to venture out to Blarney Castle even though it was once again raining. If you ever get a chance to go to Blarney caste leave on the earliest bus it isn't crowded at all and there are no lines at Blarney. When you get the to site you walk towards the castle which is a simple tower castle of which there are many in Ireland. We climbed up through the castle which is missing its roof so we got absolutely soaked. Once we reached the top it was the moment of truth...would I kiss the Blarney stone? Well running through my mind is the whole dilemma, this stone is disgustingly dirty but with the rain and being the very beginning of the day is probably the cleanest it will ever be, it will give me the gift of gab which many people tell me I really don't need, and its at least 3 stories up from the ground and you have to lean back and hold on while kissing it and I am scared of heights. Needless to say I did not kiss the Blarney stone because of all three contributing factors, but mostly because I was scared of heights and it was rainy and I didn't want there to be any way possible that I would fall, because that would be most unpleasant.
After I climbed back down from the castle we didn't really feel like leaving yet since we were still soaked. So we wandered the estate in search of the Blarney house since I saw a sign saying they were giving tours of it now. When we finally made it to the house I was astounded, it was so beautiful!!! We were just in time for the first tour of the house and let me tell you I really really wish I could have taken pictures of this house! So I brought my notebook with me and took note of some of the cool things the tour guide told me. The house is owned by the Colthurst family and they still live in the house today, the leave the house for a few hours a day for the tours and then they get the house back for themselves. In their entrance hall they have a 1716 grandfather clock that shows the time, tide, and moon position. They have a pure silk rug from Pakistan (which both Jenny and I were scared to walk on because it was PURE SILK!). There was also a 1710 Queen Anne writing table, a grand piano with a rose and sandalwood inlay from 1840. Another thing I found interesting about this house is there was a giant picture of a King in the stairwell going upstairs, I don't remember the particulars but apparently one of the Colthurst men rescued the King from prison during a war so in return the King gifted the family with a big picture of himself and a large bag of gold. I personally would have left the picture and just taken the gold but it does make for a nice story. I loved touring through the house, I think it is a hidden gem inside of the Blarney estate since the main draw is of course the Blarney stone. Its so much more interesting to see how a family still lives in there family house after many generations and still has the history they are living with.
After the house Jenny and I decided to head back to Cork to dry of a bit since we were literally soaked to the bone. After spending a little time drying off in the hostel we headed out to the church that was right near our hostel called St. Ann's Church in Shandon. The fun thing about St. Ann's church is that the only time the church bells ring is when tourists go up and ring them. So we did our part climbing up a few sets of stairs to ring the bells to certain tunes, I rang the bells to Amazing Grace. Once we rang the bells we put on our special headphones and climbed right past the bells up to the top of the bell tower to get a view of Cork.
After the Shandon bells we walked just up the block to the Butter Museum, yes you read correctly there is a butter museum and I found it!! It was awesome, I learned a lot about how they make Irish butter and what makes it different than all other types of butter. It was cool to see all the old butter churns and other butter making supplies. I also learned how to hopefully make my own version of Irish butter, here is hoping it works!!!
The whole day was pretty crazy and busy but we still had one more day in Cork on Sunday but we kept sunday more chill and laid back. This was partially due to the fact that in Ireland a lot of things are closed on sundays which is cool but stinks for tourists. The weather was beautiful and we saw many old churches including the Red Abbey which is not really in existence any more. I also managed to drag Jenny to mass at Holy Trinity which was really interesting to experience. I have found that church in Ireland is more relaxed than in the US. I also noticed that there were not that many people in attendance especially younger people. Once mass was over we just wandered the city until we got to the bus stop to take another long bus back to Dublin. Overall the trip to Cork was one of my favorite short trips in Ireland!
(pictures will be coming later)
On saturday we decided to venture out to Blarney Castle even though it was once again raining. If you ever get a chance to go to Blarney caste leave on the earliest bus it isn't crowded at all and there are no lines at Blarney. When you get the to site you walk towards the castle which is a simple tower castle of which there are many in Ireland. We climbed up through the castle which is missing its roof so we got absolutely soaked. Once we reached the top it was the moment of truth...would I kiss the Blarney stone? Well running through my mind is the whole dilemma, this stone is disgustingly dirty but with the rain and being the very beginning of the day is probably the cleanest it will ever be, it will give me the gift of gab which many people tell me I really don't need, and its at least 3 stories up from the ground and you have to lean back and hold on while kissing it and I am scared of heights. Needless to say I did not kiss the Blarney stone because of all three contributing factors, but mostly because I was scared of heights and it was rainy and I didn't want there to be any way possible that I would fall, because that would be most unpleasant.
After I climbed back down from the castle we didn't really feel like leaving yet since we were still soaked. So we wandered the estate in search of the Blarney house since I saw a sign saying they were giving tours of it now. When we finally made it to the house I was astounded, it was so beautiful!!! We were just in time for the first tour of the house and let me tell you I really really wish I could have taken pictures of this house! So I brought my notebook with me and took note of some of the cool things the tour guide told me. The house is owned by the Colthurst family and they still live in the house today, the leave the house for a few hours a day for the tours and then they get the house back for themselves. In their entrance hall they have a 1716 grandfather clock that shows the time, tide, and moon position. They have a pure silk rug from Pakistan (which both Jenny and I were scared to walk on because it was PURE SILK!). There was also a 1710 Queen Anne writing table, a grand piano with a rose and sandalwood inlay from 1840. Another thing I found interesting about this house is there was a giant picture of a King in the stairwell going upstairs, I don't remember the particulars but apparently one of the Colthurst men rescued the King from prison during a war so in return the King gifted the family with a big picture of himself and a large bag of gold. I personally would have left the picture and just taken the gold but it does make for a nice story. I loved touring through the house, I think it is a hidden gem inside of the Blarney estate since the main draw is of course the Blarney stone. Its so much more interesting to see how a family still lives in there family house after many generations and still has the history they are living with.
After the house Jenny and I decided to head back to Cork to dry of a bit since we were literally soaked to the bone. After spending a little time drying off in the hostel we headed out to the church that was right near our hostel called St. Ann's Church in Shandon. The fun thing about St. Ann's church is that the only time the church bells ring is when tourists go up and ring them. So we did our part climbing up a few sets of stairs to ring the bells to certain tunes, I rang the bells to Amazing Grace. Once we rang the bells we put on our special headphones and climbed right past the bells up to the top of the bell tower to get a view of Cork.
After the Shandon bells we walked just up the block to the Butter Museum, yes you read correctly there is a butter museum and I found it!! It was awesome, I learned a lot about how they make Irish butter and what makes it different than all other types of butter. It was cool to see all the old butter churns and other butter making supplies. I also learned how to hopefully make my own version of Irish butter, here is hoping it works!!!
The whole day was pretty crazy and busy but we still had one more day in Cork on Sunday but we kept sunday more chill and laid back. This was partially due to the fact that in Ireland a lot of things are closed on sundays which is cool but stinks for tourists. The weather was beautiful and we saw many old churches including the Red Abbey which is not really in existence any more. I also managed to drag Jenny to mass at Holy Trinity which was really interesting to experience. I have found that church in Ireland is more relaxed than in the US. I also noticed that there were not that many people in attendance especially younger people. Once mass was over we just wandered the city until we got to the bus stop to take another long bus back to Dublin. Overall the trip to Cork was one of my favorite short trips in Ireland!
(pictures will be coming later)
Monday, July 26, 2010
Leinster House
On July 8, I found myself standing outside Leinster House which is where the Irish parliament is located. While I was standing there I found myself watching a few protests going on, one involved the civil union bill that was being voted on in the Seanad, and the other involved the greyhound breeding bill that was being voted on in the Dail. In case you didn't know the Seanad is the Irish version of a senate and the Dail is like the house of representatives. After a few minutes of watching some protesters former Lord Mayor of Dublin Ben Briscoe (brother to a UD professor) gave us a personal tour of Leinster House.
Leinster House was originally built for the Duke of Leinster in 1745 as his town house. It has since become the house for the two branches of Irish parliament. One interesting thing to note is that the two houses have to approve a bill that is identical before it passes to become a law. Ireland also does have a president but they are really just a figure head and can't do anything without the Dail's approval. They can't even travel to another country without approval. The president is voted for by the people and the past two presidents have been female. The president has a 7 year term, but can be replaced early if necessary. The Lord Mayor has a bit more power since he acts as the speaker of the house, but he only has a year term.
It was fascinating to see how the Irish government actually works and how different it is from American politics. Within the house there seems to be a lot more arbitrary bickering that doesn't have much meaning than I have ever heard of in the US house or senate. It was truly fun to watch the process of them voting on a bill too! Ben Briscoe also told us many stories about the 5 presidents he has had the pleasure of meeting throughout his life, which was so crazy to think about. Then on the way out of Leinster house we somehow managed to find a senator that talked to us for a good 5 or so minutes even though he was in a hurry to leave. He was sooo nice, and now I have met an Irish senator!
Here is a picture of the front of Leinster House.
Leinster House was originally built for the Duke of Leinster in 1745 as his town house. It has since become the house for the two branches of Irish parliament. One interesting thing to note is that the two houses have to approve a bill that is identical before it passes to become a law. Ireland also does have a president but they are really just a figure head and can't do anything without the Dail's approval. They can't even travel to another country without approval. The president is voted for by the people and the past two presidents have been female. The president has a 7 year term, but can be replaced early if necessary. The Lord Mayor has a bit more power since he acts as the speaker of the house, but he only has a year term.
It was fascinating to see how the Irish government actually works and how different it is from American politics. Within the house there seems to be a lot more arbitrary bickering that doesn't have much meaning than I have ever heard of in the US house or senate. It was truly fun to watch the process of them voting on a bill too! Ben Briscoe also told us many stories about the 5 presidents he has had the pleasure of meeting throughout his life, which was so crazy to think about. Then on the way out of Leinster house we somehow managed to find a senator that talked to us for a good 5 or so minutes even though he was in a hurry to leave. He was sooo nice, and now I have met an Irish senator!
Here is a picture of the front of Leinster House.
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