October 9-11 - Jake & Leah!

Saturday

Jake, Leah, and I took to the ferry to Inishmore, the biggest of the Aran Islands. Our trip over was, well, good thing none of us get sea-sick. The huge waves rocked the boat enough to make me afraid, and we were sitting in the bottom deck. I knew in my mind that we were safe in a boat that size, but I was still glad when we arrived! I love coming here and enjoy seeing our visitors' reactions to this place and way of life. (link) In this picture, we were on our walk up to Dun Aonghasa, the cliff fort.

Wild blackberries.


Leprechaun house.

The chevaux-de-frise (sharp, upright defensive area of stones) around the fort.

It was extremely windy!!! We were really careful crawling up to the edge. I had a backpack on my back, and seriously was concerned that the wind could create enough lift under the backpack to blow me over the edge. It was a scary thought!
(You can watch a video of our day here.)

More of the chevaux-de-frise.

On our walk back, we ate some blackberries...and what Leah thought was a type of grape. It looked more like some sort of blueberry to me. When we each tried one, we discovered it was neither. After about 30 seconds, I asked Leah if her tongue felt all hairy too. Yes, it did. Wonder what it was - whatever it was, I don't think it was edible. The hairy-tongue feeling was the worst that came of it, thankfully. It would have been pretty humiliating if we had gotten sick from eating this wild berry. It's understandable when a 4-year-old does this and needs to get her stomach pumped, but when you're in your mid-twenties...

The blackberries were good, though.

The "Seven Churches", a monastic ruins from the 5th century.

We were in a tour van, and our guide, Tomas, was telling us about life here and answering our questions. We were a little embarassed of another American lady in the group who was asking some really dumb ones. Like this one, for instance, "Why did they make all the fences out of rocks here instead of wood?" Seriously? Look around...this island is one, big mass of rock, and do you see ANY trees?

Back at the port town, we did a little shopping and watched the boats until it was time to catch the ferry again. The ride back was much smoother.

Sunday

After church, we spent the afternoon in Galway city.

Tide is out.

Quay Street

The Irish flag on the pole must have blown away.

Tide is in.

Grandma Judy found a brand of coffee while she was here that she likes...she asked me to find a bunch to bring back with us when we come. Moriah took seriously her job of puting them all on the table then taking them off, then puting them on, then...

This was the last night Jake and Leah spent with us.

'Silly faces' at Aaron's request.

Monday

Monday morning, the kids and I drove Leah and Jake to Dublin, but first we visited a couple sites in the Boyne River Valley (link) (link).

Newgrange, the best-known Irish passage tomb, is surrounded by a kerb of 97 stones, the most impressive of which is the highly decorated Entrance Stone. The mound covers a single tomb consisting of a long passage and a cross-shaped chamber. There are the remains of two smaller tombs immediately to the west of Newgrange and at least one and probably two to the east.

Newgrange was excavated between 1962 and 1975 by Professor M.J. O'Kelly who discovered the Roof Box through which the sun penetrates into the chamber for 17 minutes at sunrise from Dec 19-23, around the winter solstice. Based on archaelogical evidence, O'Kelly also designed the reconstruction of the white quartz facade.

While the outside quartz facade caved under the pressure of the earth mound in the 5,000 years since it was built, the inner stone passage remained perfectly intact. For more info if you're interested, newgrange.com is a good site.

We got to walk through the very narrow passage into the inner chamber! The guide warned those who are claustrophobic not to come in, or at least to come in last, so they'd be able to get out if need be. Once inside, we crowded into the chamber. We got to experience a mock winter solstice sunrise after the lights were turned out and we waited in total blackness. It was pretty neat, and it really came in handy that our kids have learned to fall asleep in pitch darkness from the time they were newborns. The guide warned us a couple times before the simulation that if anyone thought they were going to be scared, they should leave 'now while you can see to get out'. I think he was trying to give me a strong hint to take the kids out since no one wanted to listen to three terrified children cry for a full 30 seconds. I was relieved that the kids responded as I had reasonably expected them to and didn't make a peep.

The tour guide mentioned a few of the many theories as to what the spiral carvings mean. Some think they represent the passage mounds, fields, and the Boyne River in the valley. Others think there is a spiritual meaning. Others, and equal credit was given to this theory since no one really has any way of knowing for sure, think these stone carvers were high on mushrooms and sat in trances for days carving out depictions of their hallucinations into stone.
One thing is known - that these patterns, now called "Celtic Art", are not Celtic. These mounds were built centuries before the Celts arrived in Ireland. The Celts adopted the cultural art from those here before them.

Leah, Jake, Aaron, and Moriah standing in front of it.

Silas wanted to come with me 'to help take the picture'. After taking these pictures, Silas said, "Now take a picture of that dandyland. Take two pictures of it."

Monasterboice monastery is close by, so we stopped to see the High Crosses from the 10th century.

Our day was winding down, and it was time to leave Jake and Leah in Dublin. They got checked in to their B&B in the Temple Bar district, and we tried to go to St. Stephen's Green.

I made my way through Dublin with much difficulty and many wrong turns (despite my British friend, Mr. GPS's help..."recalculating"..."recalculating"..."recalculating"...I wanted to cry). By the time we got to the Green, it was too late to stay and play a while.

So, we hugged and kissed 'good-bye' and left them to enjoy a peaceful evening in the park.

It was so much fun to have them here!

When we were growing up and fighting all the time, neither of us believed Mom when she'd tell us that someday we'd be friends. :)

I found my way out of Dublin after more "recalculating" then enjoyed the sunset and the moon the rest of the way home.

Leah and Jake toured Dublin on Tuesday and flew home on Wednesday. You'll have to ask them about what they did and saw and how much nicer it is to sightsee without three rugrats to drag along. ;)