A note on a second trip to St. Patrick's Cathedral

I have a fondness for Jonathan Swift.  On this visit to the Cathedral with Jewel, Collin, and Joel, I saw this monument to his servant, Alexander McGee.  As I noted before, it never hurts to revisit a place as there is always something you didn't notice the first time! I also purchased another book by Jonathan Swift entitled "Directions to Servants."  It is of course, satire, and  it makes some keen observations of the master-servant relationship and  I found myself laughing in the church as I read the first page!

Newgrange Revisited

Second leg of the tour was Newgrange.  Steve and I put our names in for the winter solstice lottery.  We will know in September!  If you recall from my first post about the mounds when we toured them in July 2013, you can enter the tomb through the doorway, and walk back to about the middle of the mound.  There you see three chambers which they believe were used for burial rights.  Without the electric lighting, the path would be pitch dark.  When you walk in the entryway, the path actually starts to go down a bit, and then ends at a spot where the floor would be about even with the upper window.  On the winter solstice, the sun comes in through that window and lights up the floor and pathway, and as it continues to rise it lights up the whole chamber.  (Assuming it's not a cloudy day!)  Then the days start getting longer again - woohoo!

My Leinster Rugby Fan!

So we don't mind revisiting some of the various sites we have seen, and there is always something new to us.  In Knowth it was crawling through the cave, and in Newgrange, it was a snail!

I was surprised Jewel picked it up!  Collin worked to get in the picture and looks rather hungry!  I said something to Steve about the cute antennae, and Steve pointed out that his eyes are the bulbs on the end.  I should have remembered that from seeing Gary on Spongebob Squarepants!

Spelunking at Knowth

Above is the entrance to a short cave that you can crawl through.  It is a little damp, so we actually walked through in a crouched position using our hands as well.

Above is the exit to the short cave, and below is Haley coming out!

Then it was my turn...

As you can see, I extracted myself much more slowly than Haley...

Then I had to wipe the dirt off my hands!

Knowth Revisited

They got to our place on Thursday afternoon, and then Friday morning we set off for Knowth and Newgrange.  We were a motley crew!  Though we have been there before, it is always interesting to see the mounds and to think about people being there in 3500 BC.  It is truly an interesting place to see.

These shots are at the top of the largest mound.

I didn't see this until after I was uploading the pictures, but apparently Steve is escaping!

That is the River Boyne running through the countryside. 

May Travelers Arrive!

Joel, Jewel, and Collin trekked overseas to visit us and to see The Emerald Isle.  We met them at the airport on the morning of Saturday, May 24th. They picked up a rental car and we stopped by their B&B to drop off the cars and their luggage.  It was a lovely place they had booked, and it was right across the street from the Lansdowne Hotel where we had stayed for the Rugby match in March.  

After this pit stop, we ventured forth to show them some of the finer things in Dublin.  The goal was to keep them awake long enough to get them on track with the Irish time zone.   We had to take 2 cabs, and Steve and I had to change over when the one we were in had a flat...

First stop was of course, the Guinness Storehouse!

As we have noted before, Steve and I are always willing to come here to the Gravity Bar for a pint!  

In posting these, I can see that I did not take Steve and Joel's photo very well, as I cut off the ad!  And this was BEFORE I had any Guinness!

After the Guinness Storehouse we went to The Brazenhead for lunch.  It is the oldest pub in Dublin.   From there we walked to St. Patricks so they could tour the Cathedral and see Jonathan Swift's grave.  We left there and Steve was climbing the walls!  

So we moved on to the Jameson's Distillery.  Surprisingly, Steve and I had never been there!  The crew was starting to fade, so we helped it along with a whiskey beverage - I had Irish coffee and it was GRAND!  From there we took them back to their B&B for a good rest and Steve and I headed home.  Our mission was accomplished!

They had traveling to do for the next several days and we were staying home as Haley had finals and Steve had to work.  We would see them again on Thursday after they had found the Crowley Castle ruins, toured through Cork, Limerick, the Ring of Kerry and the Cliffs of Moher!

Gaelic Football Longford v. Offaly

In contrast to the hurling match, you can see that the terrace is packed with fans.  We had to park the car on the grass just off the roundabout and we did have to pay to get in.

 It was an awesome game.  Longford was behind the whole irst half and a goal scored to get ahead was discounted as they found the goalkeeper had his hand on the ball when it was kicked.  Longford was 2 points behind at the half and then played a spectacular second half to win the game against Offaly 0-19 to 0-15!   My running joke was that Longford played Offaly well!!!  

The start of the match was brought in with the Longford Pipe Band.  It was grand!

First Hurling Match!

This was the first hurling match we went to see in person.  It was at the Longford GAA field, Pearse Parc.  There was not a big crowd, and the parking lot was almost empty.  We didn't even have to pay to get in.  At first I thought we had the wrong day or time!  The football brings in a much larger crowd here in Longford.  Hurling may be bigger in the southern counties, but I don't know.  They certainly draw big crowds for the big games in Dublin, so there is clearly a passion for the sport.  

It was fun to watch, but I don't know how they even see the ball!  It is about the size of a baseball, and they have to bounce it on the stick if they are running with the ball.  To pass or score, they smack the ball with the stick.  Over the post is one point, and in the net/goal is 3 points.  

They keep score in two digits the same as for football.  Thus, a team that has one goal and five over the bar has a score of 1-5 which is a total of 8 points, since the one goal (the first number) is worth 3 points.  

This game we watched was in May.  It was a lovely day and it was a good game.  Longford lost, but it was close and very exciting as they were pretty far behind at the half and then closed the gap and the final few minutes were nail-bighters!  

The hurling stick is a serious piece of equipment!  They wear helmets but I would want hand and arm protection as well.  They do get clocked with those sticks and it seems a little scary!