england and ireland 2006

Almost every postcard rack had pictures of sheep (Pipp would be in seventh heaven). Some captioned ” Rush Hour in Ireland” with a bunch of sheep going down a narrow road…

speaking of narrow roads… In Ireland the best highways are called Motorways and are nice, divided highways. The next best thing to a motorway is an “A” road. Well. A roads are wide enough for 2 cars, one going in each direction. There is no shoulder on the roads and the side of the roads tend to be either hedges, trees or stone walls. That wouldn’t be so bad, but the speed limit is 100 K per hour. Zoom. The roads tend to have lots of twists and turns too. I’m all for driving fast but holy smokes….

Speedy little Fiat Punto

Some of the historic tourist sites – like Dowth and Tara, had evidence of sheep visiting the areas. Also in open fields nearby were sheep, cows etc. I guess those postcards really are true. I wonder can the border collies get the sheep moving at 100 KPH down those highways?

These sheep are hanging out by the Hill of Tara

These cows were having lunch just below the Hill of Tara (more pics of some cows in the churchyard at Tara in my post about Tara)

These sheep were at Dowth

Closer up of the Dowth sheep…

Could I get away without talking about DOGS?
Hahahahhahahhahhahahah

Not bloody likely.

Saw lots of Border Collies in both England and Ireland. Gorgeous staffies, including one beautiful dark brindle gal in Belfast and some pitties in Dublin. In Slane, I met my good pal Rusty, a spaniel, who had been rescued by the Bed and Breakfast owners, when he was found running and dragging a big chain. Thankfully he no longer had to live with a chain on, and was a great friend to the B&B guests.

Here’s Rusty the Slane Spaniel

And of course, I cannot forget Georgie the Jack who was my London pal. What a sweetie and funny little jack 🙂

Northern Ireland is referred to as the “North”,and is a part of the United Kingdom. Belfast is the capital city of the North, and was also the city which built the Titanic. It has been also known for some of the violence associated with the “Troubles” of which some of the history can be explained here:

Wikipedia article

One thing I noticed in Ireland was that the majority of people were incredibly helpful and friendly. An example – lost in Dublin, the city where the streets have no names, I pulled out a road atlas, and no sooner did I open it than a woman crossed the street asking me where I needed to go and proceeded to help direct me there. A gas station employee called Air Berlin (long distance) on his ‘mobile’ to check our flight details – without accepting or expecting any reimbursement for the usage of his long distance and time.

Crossing into “the North”, was no exception to friendliness. My time in Belfast was limited by the fact that road construction delayed the normally fairly short travel from Slane to Belfast. It was also delayed because I stopped into a shop with a tourism desk, and spent a good hour talking to the staff. From them I learned about Belfast, Northern Ireland and they asked about Canada. It was great to talk to them and their friendliness and helpfulness was among the best I have ever seen.

In my discussions with the friendly people in Belfast, we discussed the Titanic. For those who didn’t know, she was built in Belfast:Titanic at Wikipedia

Of course the connection is that many of the bodies of those who lost their lives in the sinking of the Titanic, are buried here in Halifax at the Fairview Cemetary. There are also artifacts at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic.

With limited time, I went to the Falls Road area. During the Troubles, much of the fighting and violence was centred in the Falls and Shankhill Road areas. These areas are covered with beautiful murals which all have messages, some depict the history of conflicts and people associated with it. Some illustrate other conflicts and others are messages of peace, acceptance and non-violence. The murals are like nothing I have seen.

A section of the murals

A particularly good mural, if you ask me….

Another mural:

Also in Belfast is the Big Fish, a modern fish sculpture (the H&W on the crane behind the fish would be for Harland and Wolff, the shipyards which built the Titanic)

I couldn’t go to Ireland and the Boyne Valley without visiting Tara, the ancient capital of Ireland.

This pic kind of gives a sense of the shape of how these ‘hills’ are built into the ground. It’s pretty amazing to look at the landscape.

The Hill of Tara was once a political and spiritual capital. Similar to Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth, Tara dates from Neolithic times. Burial chambers and ritual sites were found in Tara, including the Mound of the Hostages which contains a chamber which similarly to Newgrange, is aligned to the sun, except instead of the winter solstice, as at Newgrange, the Mound of the Hostages is aligned with the sunset on the ancient celtic festivals of Samhain and Imbolc.

Mound of the Hostages:

On the Hill of Tara is the Stone of Destiny, which according to legend, roared when a king was chosen.

Maybe the Stone of Destiny was speaking to Harry Potter’s Sorting Hat?

More history of Tara can be found at these sites. The amazing pics are the aerial ones which show the remains of the structures at Tara. I couldn’t capture that from the ground.

Knowth
Mythical Ireland

Tara was also the site of an uprising against British Rule in the late 1700s.

Also, according to legend, in the 400s, St Patrick lit a fire on the Hill of Slane (in the town of Slane) disobeying an order by the pagan king, for anyone else to light a fire on the night of a celebration.

From the Hill of Tara, facing Slane, look closely on the horizon and you will see the ruins on the Hill of Slane in the centre of the photo.

I guess I needed a pic of St Patrick 😉 This is the one at Tara

The cathedral at Tara (and some cows)

Stained glass window in the cathedral at Tara

This is a “Sheela na gig” found on a stone in the church yard at Tara
(info on Sheela na gig @ Wikipedia)

A proposed motorway will threaten the Hill of Tara. Many individuals and groups oppose this development.

Tara Watch
Save Tara

Trim Castle is a Norman castle, built by the de Lacey family starting in the 1100s. Now a ruin, Trim is what is left of the first castle in Ireland and the largest castle in Europe.

Aside from it’s history as a functional castle, Trim was the location for Mel Gibson’s movie Braveheart. Inside the castle keep

was the remains of some of the castle rooms. One room, a ‘bedroom’ contained a small hole in the flooring by the window. According to our tour guide, this was the bathroom. Yes, up on the third floor of the castle, was a toilet. These were the days before indoor plumbing, so the contents of the toilet travelled outside, along the wall of the castle’s keep into a cesspool below. Yuck.

The small hole under the window was the “toilet”

The ruined abbey behind Trim Castle

The cathedral across the street from the castle

Around Trim Castle

We got to go to the top of the Keep – This pic is the area around the castle, taken from the top

This pic is a window from inside the Keep

As a U2 fan since the early 80s, I did not go to Ireland specifically to stalk U2 or related sites. (Don’t know whether anyone will believe that, but it’s true….) But I did add some U2 related sights to the agenda. Really, I couldn’t go all the way to Ireland and NOT…..

The Clarence Hotel, Dublin

The Clarence is owned by Bono and the Edge, and is a beautiful hotel. I contemplated staying there a night but lets just leave it that 5 Star wasn’t in my budget….

Windmill Lane Studios, Dublin

Windmill Lane Studios is part of the “Rock and Stroll” trail, which is a rock related walking tour of Dublin. You buy the book and do it yourself. The first three U2 albums (Boy, October, War) were recorded at Windmill Lane and some work for later albums was also done there.

Now the buildings are covered in graffitti (I love graffiti)

Some of the graffiti is U2 related, other is not. Since I like graffiti anyway, I took a few pics:

Slane Castle

Slane Castle is a privately owned castle. U2’s Unforgettable Fire, released in 1984, was recorded here. In 1991 it suffered from a serious fire and was restored with work completed in 2001. Slane is the site of an annual rock concert, and has had headlining acts from U2, to Madonna (Karma would be happy), to Guns and Roses, The Rolling Stones, Bryan Adams, Thin Lizzy and more. I stayed one night in the beautiful village of Slane. The population of Slane is less than 900 people. I can’t imagine this little town with tens of thousands of rock fans coming to town.

Slane Castle front gates

Martello Tower @ Slane Castle

This sign isn’t in real miles, it’s in “Irish” miles. So Dublin was a bit further from this sign than it might appear.

Killiney Bay

If you don’t know why I am posting Killiney Bay, you don’t deserve to know….

The Temple Bar is Dublin’s cultural quarter. Rich in history, with brightly painted pubs and cobblestone streets, the Temple Bar has traditional pubs, musicians playing on the streets and a wonderful atmosphere. Many Irish artists, musicians, film makers and more got their start in the Temple Bar. The Temple Bar is also where Handel’s Messiah got it’s world premiere.

The Temple Bar Cultural Trust website is here:
Temple Bar website

Also in the Temple Bar is the Hard Rock Cafe, Dublin

Like all Hard Rock Cafes, this one is full of rock & roll memorabilia. It was packed and there wasn’t room for me to be a complete Hard Rock tourist and gawk at all the good shite up close… but some of the memorabilia includes:

– a pair of Paul Mccartney’s boots (hope they aren’t made of seal skin)
– Bono’s sunglasses from the Beautiful Day video
– Madonna’s jacket from the “Girlie Show” tour (Karma my Madonna loving pit bull x will be jealous)
– Ringo Starr’s drumsticks
– Richie Sambora’s guitar (from hot Jon Bon Jovi’s band, for anyone who didn’t know)

I also gawked up close at
Paul Stanley’s from KISS’s guitar
Nikki Sixx from Motley Crue’s guitar
and one of the Trabant cars used in U2’s ZOO TV tour (headlight can be seen in the door way of the pic above)

The Hard Rock Cafe also has an interesting (but good advice) sign, which I had to take a pic of:

All I can say is that I can’t wait to go back to Dublin….

Dublin Castle:

Europe has many beautiful castles, with fascinating histories. Dublin castle was the base of British rule of Ireland, until 1922. In some form, a castle has existed at the site since the 1100s. Most of the Castle today is from the 18th Century.

The castle has a beautiful cathedral:

Christ Church
Dublin is also home to Christ Church. A Medieval cathedral built by the Vikings in the 1030s. In 1742, the Christ Church choir, along with the choir of the nearby St Patrick’s Cathedral, were the first to sing Handel’s Messiah in a nearby street.

While I may pretend to be an expert on many things, I’m not an expert on the history of the church. These sites explain more about Christ Church in Dublin:

A Brief History of Christ Church
Wikipedia’s page on Christ Church

Tourism:
And the tourist bureau is in an old church in Dublin

This stained glass window is in the tourist bureau

Trinity College and the Book of Kells

I visited the campus of Trinity College (maybe when I go to Law School I should go here??) Trinity was founded in the 1500s by Queen Elizabeth the first. With older and newer buildings, it is still a thriving campus, in the centre of Dublin. Held within the college is the Book of Kells, which I saw, but seeing as it’s an ancient manuscript, couldn’t take my own pics of. Wikipedia has some info on the Book of Kells along with sample pages.

The library also contains a plethora of old manuscripts. What was amazing was the atmosphere of the library – floor to high ceilings with rows of old books and old ladders reaching up sky high to the top shelves. One of my university degrees was in English lit, and Trinity’s library was amazing for an english lit grad.

And on about english lit:
Ulysses

James Joyce’s Ulysses takes place in Dublin. It’s a classic novel 😉 but not light reading…. I thought the cigarette butt complemented the plaque nicely.

Going Postal:

A post office box! Green… one of my favorite colors.

Dublin Post office. One of the buildings taken in the 1916 Easter Rising

The Victorian Wing of Kilmainham Gaol:

The Kilmainham Gaol (jail) in Dublin might look familiar to movie buffs. It was the setting for “In the Name of the Father”, “The Italian Job” and other movies.

The gaol was also the location for an early U2 video – A Celebration – from the 80s (I love this song BTW…. ) Click on the play arrow and watch the video on You Tube. If you can get past the tight red pants 😉 there are many shots inside the gaol, obviously the Victorian wing, but also the older parts and out in the yard.

Aside from it’s artistic uses, it was once a functional gaol, having been closed in 1924 by the government of the new “Republic of Ireland”. During the Irish famine, it was packed with prisoners. According to our tour guide, some people enjoyed coming to gaol because they actually got a regular meal, which wasn’t the case in public at the time. The gaol housed men, women and children criminals. Part of the gaol was built in the 1700s and are dark, dungeon like cells. After prison reforms in the 1800s, the newer Victorian Wing was built.

A door from the older wing (Victorian wing is pictured above):

In more recent history, Kilmainham also housed the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising, including Joseph Plunkett, who married Grace Gifford in the prison chapel, and was executed the next morning. Gifford also briefly spent time in the gaol. The leaders of the Easter Rising were executed in one of the prison yards.

Gifford’s cell is marked by a painting she did with smuggled in paints:

This is the yard @ the gaol – men and women shared the same outdoor area for exercise, while jailed children were free to play behind the wall area. No one was allowed to speak or make noises.

Above a cell

This is from the older wing, and the leaders of the Easter Rising were imprisoned in cells along this corridor

A plaque with the names of the Easter Rising leaders

The area where the Easter Rising leaders were executed

Another view of the Victorian wing

Gaol graffiti

This is where public executions were done when they were legal.

Wikipedia can explain more details of the history for anyone interested:
Wikipedia

The first stops in Ireland were along the River Boyne Valley.

Dowth, Knowth and Newgrange. These are sites of ancient ceremony, of pre-christian ireland. Some sites show evidence of being passage graves. They date from before the Egyptian Pyraminds, and appear as mounds in the landscape. Archeologists discovered passage ways, marked stones and other artifacts in these sites. Stone structures, and “kerb stones” – large carved stones marked the entrances and bases to these sites. Having been made in approx 3000 years BCE, there were no trucks to haul these massive stones to the Boyne Valley, some weighing several tonnes.

Newgrange:

Newgrange

Entrance Stone at Newgrange with famous spirals

Stones at Newgrange

Across the street from Newgrange is a satellite passage grave which is unexcavated

The entrance stone at Newgrange close up

Newgrange is the only one tourists are allowed to enter, and it is by guided tour. Inside the chamber it is small and you have to maneuver through narrow passages of rock to get in. Not for the claustrophobic – as our tour guide warned us before he brought us inside. Inside are beautifully carved stones with spiral patterns and other carved shapes.

Newgrange was excavated in the 1800s and was apparently left open so that people could wander in. So, because of that, it is marked by graffitti from the 1800’s, where visitors chose to leave their names and date carved into the stones. Our (incredibly attractive) tour guide told us that anything we could ‘read’ was not old. Some San Francisco tourists exclaimed that in San Francisco, 1800’s graffitti would likely be declared a historic site. At Newgrange the white stones were brought from County Wicklow, about 100 KMS away. On the Winter Solstice, the light enters Newgrange through a ‘window’ above it’s entrance and illuminates the inner chamber.

Knowth:

While you cannot enter the main passage at Knowth (which is a very long one) it too has splendid carvings on the kerb stones outside. Knowth is also surrounded by several smaller mounds.

View of main mound at Knowth

Main passage at Knowth and attached satellite

Carved kerb stone at Knowth

Entrance Stone at Knowth

The passage at Knowth is LONG

A henge at Knowth

This is a facsimile of a Mace Head that was found at Knowth

Dowth

Dowth is the least developed and is in the condition some of the other sites were found in. Some kerb stones can be seen around the base of the mound, but it is in somewhat of a state of disrepair.

These sites have an amazing power – as does much of Ireland. There is the feeling of an incredible connection between the earth and sky and even between other worlds.

I’m not going to try and explain these sites in detail, and risk doing them injustice – there are great sites which do a wonderful job of expressing the history and archeological significance of these sites. Some that I recommend:

Knowth
Megalitic Ireland
Irish Megaliths
Mythical Ireland

Achtung, baby….

This sign is at the road where you leave the interpretive centre for Newgrange, Knowth & Dowth. Tours leave from this area, and there is a shopping area, films, and other info on artifacts found. I guess it must really blow tourist’s minds because it is the only place in England and Ireland that I saw which reminded people what side of the road to drive on.

Boarding Air Berlin at London’s Stansted airport at 7:00 AM, I was on my way to the emerald isle. Ireland. Erin. The land of James Joyce, Seamus Heany, Oscar Wilde, William Butler Yeats, U2, Guinness. Arriving in Belfast, Northern Ireland at around 9:30 AM. After Heathrow and Stansted, Belfast City Airport was small and made Halifax International look MASSIVE.