The United Kingdom and Ireland

I just finished posting a series of blogs about our family vacation. If you want to read them sequentially, start at the post labeled "Europe" and read them backwards. We had a great trip so if you are interested in what we did--read on.

Dublin Day 11-12

Reagan started the day off tired so the best brother in the whole world, Geoffrey, carried her yet again. She said this was her favorite way of being carried.

Below is a shot of Geoffrey carrying Reagan in London. My favorite though was in the National Gallery where I couldn't take a photo. Geoffrey had put her on his shoulders and she had fallen asleep. Her head was draped on his head and her hair had fallen over Geoffrey's face so he couldn't see. Both older kids were a huge help on this trip. Lilly was also very helpful.
I chose our Dublin bed and breakfast based on proximity to the train station. It wasn't terrible but it won't win any prizes. Our rooms were up several flights of stairs and the hallway smelled of smoke. Thankfully the rooms were clean and we had plenty of room. The view out our window was not exactly picturesque. But we didn't have to go very far to hear some drunken Irishmen singing at the hotel nearby. I will say that the traditional Irish breakfast with eggs, sausage, toast, baked beans and ham was good.

Our first visit of the day was to The Book of Kells. The museum and the book were fabulous. Because we had watched a movie about The Book of Kells before we left the kids were fascinated by the exhibit.

Next we toured Christchurch Cathedral.

We tried to get through this alleyway but it was mobbed with teenage girls chanting outside of this theatre. The guy in the window is Jedward, or rather 1/2 of Jedward, a musical twins duo named John and Edward--hence, Jedward. They were on a show that seems similar to American Idol. We went around the mob after checking out what was happening.

We saw a few more street performers in Dublin.

This is The Spire of Dublin, or The Monument of Light.

It had been a long vacation so most of today was spent slowly strolling the streets, checking out the people and the sights, and doing a little bit of last minute shopping.

We also got to spend a few minutes looking for Reagan who got lost again. She was holding Rachael's hand, we all stopped to look at an old church so Rachael let go for a second and Reagan just wandered off. Again, I realized it fairly soon, I was constantly counting heads on this trip, it was really hard to keep track of eight people. I asked some folks sitting outside a pub if they'd seen her and they said they had just seen a little Blondie walking back and forth. Mike found her a half a block away trying to convince someone to help her cross the street. I guess she knew she couldn't cross the street by herself. So we had ANOTHER talk about staying with the group, staying where you are if you do get lost, and this time added a punishment to help her remember. For the rest of the trip she had to hold a grown ups hand AT ALL TIMES and she didn't get to pick which grown up. Why was she NOT traumatized by this? Why do I have such slippery kids?! I happen to know that not all kids wander like mine do.

That evening we enjoyed a very nice dinner with Kimberly and Drew Taylor, some friends of ours that used to live in the Boston area. It was great to spend some time visiting with them.

The last full day of our trip was Easter Sunday. In Dublin, this day marks the anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising with the aim of ending British rule. We had decided to skip the parade and make our way over to St. Patrick's Cathedral for Easter Sunday. This proved to be a bit difficult because we found ourselves smack dab in the middle of the parade.

But after several blocks of detours we found our way over to the Cathedral where we could hear the bells ringing.

Although very different than our church services, this Easter Festival Eucharist service was lovely. The choir treated us to Schubert, Handel and many other beautiful hymns. I especially enjoyed the Easter Anthems.

Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more: death hath no more dominion over him.

For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.

Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin: but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

After the service we were able to take some time and quietly walk around.

We decided that an appropriate Sunday activity would be to go to the park so we took a leisurely stroll over to Phoenix Park. It was a long walk and certainly looked a lot closer on the map. Once we got to the park we took a break, ate what was left of our snacks, and watched some cricket.

We had heard that there was a food market happening at the park, we just didn't know where in the park. This is a very large park. Twice the size of Central Park. I was ready to skip the food market and head back to town but Mike was determined to make it to the market. So on we went. Now the story that I will tell my grandkids is that Mike walked us soooo long and sooo far that we ran into deer herds in the park.

Actually, these deer are tagged and live in the park. They must be fairly used to people since they didn't run when we approached them.

I will say that it was almost worth the walk. Of course, our walk didn't end there, we continued to traverse the whole length of the park and when we got to the market at 5 pm it had just closed. Clearly it was time to go home to Boston.

After dinner at an Italian restaurant we took the train over to our friends, The Taylors where after a short little Easter Egg hunt for the kids, we crashed on extra mattresses and couches and got a few hours of sleep. By 4 am we were at the airport and headed to Paris where we switched planes and headed back home.

So, was it worth it?
Absolutely!
Would I do it again?
Well, not tomorrow or the next day, but give me a few years and I'm sure the answer will be, Yes!

Northern Ireland Day 10

Belfast was. . . interesting. It is very easy to see which neighborhood you are in by looking at the flags hung on the homes or the art and graffiti on the walls. They are at least geographically very divided based on religions and political views. Given the huge walls around each neighborhood, tall enough to keep a Molotov cocktail out, the divisions are not just geographical.

The nine seater vehicle that we had reserved had some engine trouble so Mike got to drive a 15 passenger van. The kids thought it was a blast and loved having the extra room.

It even had a logo on the side. It did mean that we were now classified as a coach and had to park the vehicle a little further away from some of the attractions. Just what we needed, a little more walking.

This is the sight we saw headed to the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge.

Here's one of our first glimpses of the bridge that we are about to cross to get to the small island on the other side.

This video shows what Lilly thought of our intent to cross this bridge made of not much more than rope.

This is a close up of the bridge as I prepare to cross first. You can see right through the floor. Nothing but net and a bit of plank.

You can see by this video of Reagan crossing the bridge that it was really windy. The wind continued to increase while we were on the other side so our return trip was even windier. Plus it was blowing the other way. Lilly walked half the way back blind because her hair had blown so that it completely covered her face.

We all made it across just fine and enjoyed the scenery on the other side. Today was the most breathtaking day of the whole trip. The scenery we saw on this day was without rival.

This view really shows the power of water, strong and persistent enough to cut through stone.

When were in the early planning stages of our trip, Mike had told me that he really wanted to see Giant's Causeway. It just wasn't going to work with our current plan which was to see Wales after seeing London and Southern England and then take an overnight ferry from Swansea to Cork. Following our crossing we would have then spent most of our time seeing either The Ring of Kerry or the Dingle Peninsula before driving up to Dublin. Giant's Causeway (and the fact that both Charles and I really wanted to see Scotland) was one of the main reasons I reorganized our whole trip.



Giant's Causeway was created due to a volcanic eruption. The rock crystallized as a result of rapid cooling which in turn caused the cracking into the remarkable hexagonal basalt columns that we saw at the Causeway. Of course, many have even more sides than six.

The legend of the Causeway explains a different genesis. The giant, Finn MacCool actually built the Causeway so he could walk to Scotland and fight his enemy, Benandonner. There are several versions of this legend but the story ends with a trick played on Benandonner. Finn dressed himself as a baby and when Benandonner came over the bridge to fight Finn his wife told him that he was away and then showed him her baby (Finn) sleeping in the cradle. When he saw how large the baby was he was scared because if the baby was that huge, How big must his father be? He ran back to Scotland, tearing the Causeway up as he went.

This rock is called the Giant's Boot.

Just down the road is Dunluce Castle. This castle also has a legend, this one may have a bit of truth to it.

A wedding party gathered for a celebration at the castle. A storm raged outside the thick walls of the castle. Suddenly, part of the castle falls into the ocean, taking the kitchen and some of the wedding guests into the sea.

What is documented is that in 1639, the Dunluce castle kitchen and many of the kitchen staff plunged into the sea. I guess it is just more entertaining to think that it happened during a wedding.

We took a detour for the trip home so we could drive home the scenic route. After we stopped to get dinner to-go in a cute little town we had to really rush to get back to Belfast so we could catch our train to Dublin. It's not easy to rush while driving since they have speed cameras everywhere. But we made it, again with a few minutes (~15 minutes) to spare.

And dinner, yet again, was yummy. After I ate my spicy hot meatball sandwich I got to be romantic and feed Mike his fish and chips while he sped down the narrow roads to Belfast.

Scotland Day 9

We began the day in Princes Street Garden as we headed up the hill to Edinburgh Castle.

A Celtic Cross

Once we made it up the hill to Edinburgh Castle we were surprised to see members of the Royal Regiment of Scotland out in force. Although the Queen doesn't celebrate her birthday until June her actual birthday was today, April 21st. So there was a bit more activity than usual at the castle. She chooses to celebrate in June because the weather is usually so much nicer. This year, however, April 21st was a beautiful day.






You can hear the band playing in this video as they exit into the castle. If you are Mormon you may recognize the tune as "Praise to the Man" which was a melody based on "Scotland the Brave." I especially love the cymbal player's stripey fur he wears in front of his uniform.

This well actually was the cause of the Scott's defeat by English troops in 1573 when a piece of debris fell in the well and ruined the water supply.






Yes! I was looking forward to hearing bagpipes in Scotland.

Here is the 21 gun salute for the Queen's birthday.

Lilly was less than thrilled. She has never liked loud noises. She still gets nervous every Independence Day and today was no exception. But she plugged her ears and made it through the ordeal.





We spent a few hours strolling down the Royal Mile, seeing the sites and doing a little bit of shopping.


Here are the kilts we bought at one of the local shops. We wore them to church last Sunday.

Another bagpiper. This one was playing for spare change.

We ended at Holyrood House. This has been the official residence of kings and queens in Scotland since the 15th century. Queen Elizabeth spends a week here every summer. Just to the left, towards the back is the remains of an old Abbey that was founded in 1128.



After this we rushed back to our hotel, grabbed our luggage and headed to the bus station. Rushing with luggage and children is never fun but we made to the bus station with at least a few minutes to spare. The bus ride was beautiful as we were driven from Edinburgh through Glasgow, and down the coast to the ferry in Stranraer.

Old ruins, small towns, and beautiful Scottish countryside.


The route along the coast was especially beautiful. I also found it interesting that on one side of the road the farmers had sheep grazing and on the coast side they had cows grazing, right next to the water.



We caught the ferry in Stranraer that would take us across the Irish Sea to Belfast in 2 1/2 hours. Everyone in our group was amazed at how nice this ferry was. I've been on ferries before, none of them looked anything like this. This one had an observation deck, a quiet lounge, a teen room with video games, a kids room with computer games and Tom and Jerry cartoons, a movie area showing Megamind, tables and chairs for eating, comfy chairs for relaxing, and a couple of places to get some food.
Lilly running by one of three movie viewing areas.

The kids room.






More places to relax.

We had brought our dinner so after a nice relaxing dinner the kids went off to play and the grownups watched the sun go down over the Irish Sea.