Thursday, March 24, 2016

IHS in Wales and Pictures!

First the photos:

Ring of Kerry

Emma and Hannah in Killarney--chocolate!

Killarney is adorable!

The group enjoying time together in Killarney

"Don't go down dark alleys."  "What about light ones?"

So Irish

Alley in Killarney

This is the hostel

The church in Killarney

Heading out on the Ring of Kerry

Dingle Bay and Dingle Peninsula on the far side

Enjoying the view

Seth and Noah show their distinctive smiles

Trevor and Gabe share a laugh

Seth and Erika

Enjoying the beach

Waterville

Learning to skip rocks

Molly found a crab!

That white house WAY in the back?  Charlie Chaplain's family still owns that.

Callista, Crystal, and Molly

Gus, Seth, Jacob



The town is so cute!


If you zoom in a LOT and look for the island that is hiding in the mist, you will see Skellig Michael.  This is where the final scenes of the new Star Wars was filmed.  Yep, Luke has been hiding in Ireland.

You can see it a bit better here


Audrey, Callista, Crystal, Victoria, Jacob, Hannah, Jaci, Noah, Emma, Molly, Seth, Gabe, Benjamin, Trevor



This became a game

Lambs!

Gabe and Jacob ran up the hill

This is where we had lunch.  You should see the view from inside!

The town of Sneem

The creek/waterfall in Sneem



The map of our route

Side of the cute church with the old graveyard

Celtic cross



The church in Sneem

Seth, Trevor, Jacob

Hannah learns to play her flute while Jacob enjoys his ice cream.  Emma plays the game.

Callista in Sneem

On the coach:  Callista, Noah, Molly, Jaci, Erika

I realized I completely left the bog museum off the trip report from the other day!  Well, it's not huge, but it has tons of recreated homes--blacksmith, fisherman, farmer who died in the potato famine, etc.  They explain how the chunks of peat bog were cut, dried, and used as fuel.  Additionally, we saw Irish Wolfhounds, the world's tallest dog, and Kerry Bog ponies, which are incredibly rare ponies.  Our kids knew how to avoid getting bitten, but apparently not everyone did!

Irish Wolfhound at the Bog Museum

Bog

Piles of peat at the Bog Museum

Gabe, Benjamin, and Hannah inspect the peat

Jacob looks at farm equipment.  Benjamin, Trevor, and Gabe laugh in the background.


Jaci plays the game.
The Kerry Bog pony is incredibly rare, but Erika found one.

The Red Fox Inn at the Bog Museum

Traveler's wagon


Okay, back to the photos from that trip:
Kilmare

Stone circle

Seth, Jacob, Jaci, Audrey, Victoria, Callista, Molly, Hannah, Emma

Victoria prevents Jaci from playing the game

Enjoying the stone circle up close

Erika, Gus, Crystal

Kilmare

The Kennedy sisters in the center of the circle (after we reenacted the human sacrifice--I somehow survived in spite of playing the victim)

Kilmare

Blarney
Callista, Crystal, Erin (from the Connecticut group) and Molly have just kissed the stone

The courtyard from the top of Blarney Castle




The top of Blarney

Hannah comes up from kissing the stone

Emma leans down

Gus kisses the stone

Victoria and Audrey wait their turn

Victoria has the gift of gab

Audrey comes up

From the top of Blarney Castle

Two happy gabbers

Noah and Jaci come up the castle

Jaci

One of the fun parts of the castles is learning about stuff like this

Erika waits for us


A garden full of poisonous plants!

Don't touch or eat

Emma and Hannah

The Blarney Stone from below.  The guy in the picture is the staff guy who helps you lean down and come back up.  The bars ensure you don't fall!

Blarney Castle

Stable Yard

Romany wagons

Blarney Castle on the way to the Badger Hole and dungeons!

Erika made a friend at the Rock of Cashel

Crystal and Callista

Exploring!


At the Rock of Cashel

Hannah plays hide and seek



Make a face, girls

Tired

Dublin

Georgian architecture

The doors were painted.  This was an act of defiance because they were supposed to be painted black to mourn Queen Victoria, so the Irish painted them bright colors.  This also helped them find the right home after a night at the pub.


Even the lampposts were pretty.

The best door in Dublin

Such pretty architecture

St. Patrick's cathedral


The lovely stained glass

Tile floors

We loved the floors!

The cathedral

Oh, no.  Too late.  Gus bought the tie.


The Pepper Pot church (as locals call it) along the Liffey

The Papal Cross in Phoenix Park

The Irish president's residence.  The light is on in the window between the far left and second column on the second floor

The Long Room at Trinity College (no photos allowed inside at the Book of Kells)

Books!

Brian Boru harp, pictured on the Irish Euro coins

Lunch at an Irish pub:  Victoria, Emma, Hannah, Jacob, Callista, Audrey. . . 

. . . Jaci, Noah, Seth, and Gus (yes, adults were there)

Grafton Street

The shopping area

Umbrellas?

Buskers on Grafton Street

Colors!

Impressions of Dublin

Gus with his kindred spirits

O'Neill's pub, the most famous in town

Jacob, Gus, and Callista enjoy street performers

Seth is skeptical

Callista at the House of Lords

Gus thought he was an earl.  Now he thinks he belongs in the House of Lords.

Tapestry

Free Hugs!

Seth likes the Temple Bar district

It is pretty!

Seth, Gus, and Jacob enjoy hot chocolate

Jacob, James Joyce, and Seth

Frank and Joe, the bus drivers in Ireland.  Frank drove the other coach--Joe was our guy!  Thanks, Joe!

Wales

Well, you made it this far!  We used the ferry ride to relax and sleep, write limericks, draw, journal, play cards, and just hang out.  You see, tomorrow we have a longer bus ride, so there is a limerick competition.  David (our tour guide) has even purchased prizes.  It was fun watching the kids work together on this form of poetry.  The lit teacher has her own entries, of course . . . .

First, a note about the weather.  We have been exceptionally lucky up until now.  Other than a few droplets, we haven't had any rain.  Well, this morning it rained a bit, and though it wasn't raining in Wales when we arrived, it was VERY windy.  After having our passports checked--we did, after all, cross into a new country--and claiming our luggage, we met a creepy Easter bunny, then headed out to meet our new driver, Gary.  Wales is home to 3 million people and 11 million sheep as well as a lot of rain and wind (today, anyway).

The Welsh have their own language, and much like in Ireland, the signs appear in both.  However, unlike the Irish, who mostly learn it in school and speak very little, the Welsh actually speak the language.  Well, mostly.  However, it is difficult to read!


At the ferry terminal--Gus liked the kid area.

Breakfast at the ferry terminal



On board the ferry

Writing limericks for tomorrow's competition (yes, really!)

Benjamin laughs as Trevor gets some sleep

Gabe is resting his eyes

Almost to Wales

Gus and Trevor look at his passport


Benjamin and Gabe at the ferry terminal

The creepy Easter bunny greeted us

Wild Wales

We started our journey at the ferry terminal in Holyhead, then crossed onto Anglesey, an island separated from the rest of Wales by a narrow strait.  We headed over to Beaumaris castle.  A few folks weren't feeling great or were cold, so they opted to go to a tea house out of the rain with Gus.  Seth tried to order in Welsh and encountered probably the only people in the country who did NOT speak the language.  Bummer!  Meanwhile I heard it spoken a few times.  The rest of us went into the castle, which was built in the 1200s but never completed because they ran out of money.  It would have been magnificent, though, and as it is, Beaumaris is both beautiful and fun!  The whole place was like a funhouse, and indeed a game of hide and seek developed.  It was hard to get clear pics in the rain as my lens cover kept getting wet, but I will share the pictures anyway.  We headed next to a place commonly known as Llanfair PG (pronounced Clan-vair PG).  This place actually has the longest place name in the world.  On the way there, we listened to a song that was about how to pronounce it.  David gave us printouts of the name so we could follow along.  Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch is where we went.

We are actually on the island of Anglesey


Roadside dragon

Headed to Beaumaris

The castle moat

On the wall

Gabe, Jacob, Benjamin, Trevor, and Emma in the courtyard

The courtyard

Tunnels perfect for games

Romping in the castle yard

Noah on the wall

Running through the rain

The village

The castle from the outside--David said this was the bowling green for lawn bowling, but Gus thinks it is the dragon landing pad.  After all, the red dragon on the green and white background is the Welsh flag.

Our new bus

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.  Yes, that's it.

Llanfair PG, like I said.


This link is the song that helped us learn how to say it.  But not really.

In Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch we did a bit of shopping before heading on.  We did have one more stop in Wales, after all.  We left Llanfairpwllgwyngyll-gogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (yes, I am having fun with the copy and paste feature!) and the island of Anglesey, which now at least has a bridge.  We drove via Snowdonia to St. Margaret's church in Bodelwyddan.  While the church is lovely, it is remarkable for its graveyard.  Here a group of over 80 Canadian soldiers died of the Spanish Flu in 1918-1919 while waiting to return home after surviving the first World War.  It was incredibly sad.  Then it was on to our hotel outside of Liverpool in England.

The train station.  It's hard to tell that the sign on the front and on the side both have the full station name.

The station platform with pronunciation guide

Old customs house from the bridge

Snowdonia National Park

Sheep

Welsh farms on the left, Snowdonia in the front and to the side

Wales

Snowdonia

Stunning beaches

St. Margaret's

The kids loved that IHS was represented in this church

The roof was wood and beautiful

Faces along the side door

Canadian soldiers


Canadian soldiers buried alongside local Welsh people

Castle beyond the church.

Everyone is now asleep after the rain, wind, the early morning, and the singing . . . . tomorrow we go on to Scotland!


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