Dundrum Castle

On the way back from Belfast we also stopped at the ruin of Dundrum Castle.  It was very pretty and an amazing site. John climbed all the way to the top of the tower but I stayed on the ground!  He said the stairs up were not easy - steep, spiral and a narrow passageway...

John was quite a long way up!

The view from the top

The steps up to the top...

Saint Patrick

On our way back to Dublin from Belfast we stopped at Downpatrick to see Down Cathedral and St Patrick's grave.

Down Cathedral

Pipe organ inside Down Cathedral

Beautiful stained glass inside Down Cathedral

St Patrick's grave

Northern Ireland

On Thursday July 10th we took a day trip/tour up to Belfast Northern Ireland.  It was very interesting and informative.  Our tour guide spent a lot of time explaining the history of the country and of the developments over time.  We stopped at a museum and saw a lot of interesting items.

We also saw many of the murals that are all over the town.  Each of the murals tell a story and our driver spent some time explaining several of them for us.  

A mural with the images of several of the leaders involved in the troubles.

The Peace Wall - facing one direction

The Peace Wall facing the other direction.

There are so many comments added all along the wall - this is encouraged - our driver "happened" to have two markers for us to use

We were here two days before the July 12th celebrations and parades.  This commemorates the victory of the Protestant King over the Catholic King in the 18th century Ireland.  The night before there are huge bonfires lit.  The one below is over 100 feet tall and is built with wooden pallets.  This thing was HUGE!!!  

Close up - layers and layers of wooden pallets!

The fence around the gigantic bonfire prep!

Belfast is also where the Titanic was built - there is a new museum there all about the Titanic - we stopped there briefly but did not stay long enough to do a tour fo teh center/museum.  We also went to see downtwon Belfast and had some lunch there.

Here are some more mural pictures:

Cliffs of Moher tour

On Wednesday (July 9th) we went on a bus tour to the Cliffs of Moher and several other places.  We left at 6:45am and got back to Dublin about 7:30pm  It was a fantastic time!!  The tour guide was excellent and we had an amazing time.

Our first stop was in Limerick to see King John's Castle and the River Shannon (which separates the astern and western parts of the country.  Also there is the Treaty Stone.

King John's Castle

Treaty Stone

Sheep :)

Next up we went to see the Cliffs of Moher - WOW this was quite the amazing view!  The cliffs are so majestic. 

The Cliffs of Moher

Dublin Center

On Tuesday we walked all over the center of Dublin.  I wish we had a pedometer to see just how much we walked!  We started the day on the Trinity campus to see the Book of Kells and the Long Room in the Old Library.  There was a line up before they opened but the lines moved quickly.  This was a really neat exhibit!!  There are two pages of the Book of Kells open for viewing.  The detail was amazing!!  We were not allowed to take pictures there...

The Long Room was amazing as well!  There were so many old, old books!

We also walked around the Temple Bar section of town - we didn't really stop anywhere - just looked around.  The area has a lot of pubs and gift shops.

We next went to the National Museum of Archaeology - very nice!!  They had a lot of wonderful displays!!

Lastly we went to see the Riverdance 20th Anniversary show!  It was so amazing!!  I have a couple pictures - two from outside and one of the curtain on the stage.  We were not allowed to take pictures during the show so I have none from that.

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On the way to Ireland and Day 1!

We have made it safely to Dublin.  We had a quick nap in the early afternoon and will power through the rest of the day so we can adjust to the time change more easily.

Our little plane from Harrisburg to Boston

Aer Lingus to Dublin!

Our first view of Ireland!!  Love the shamrock on the tip of the wing!

Arriving at the Dublin Airport

Timmies in Dublin??

Garden of Remembrance

Jonhn's Irish Stew for supper

Guinness and beef pie for my supper

Ireland bound!

Finally time to get this poor neglected blog back in use!!  We are heading to Dublin Ireland for a conference (International Health Economics Association).  I will be presenting a paper at the conference.  We are going a week early so that we can do some exploring around Dublin and Ireland.  Getting so excited!!  Our flight leaves this evening and we will arrive tomorrow morning.  I will be seriously jet-lagged and short on sleep.  The plan is to do some exploring during the day on Monday and then get to sleep early Monday evening - that should hopefully get our internal clocks reset some!

We plan to post pictures and descriptions of our Irish adventure here (and on Facebook...)!!

Not a bad amount of luggage for two weeks!!  We manage to pack as light as we can!