Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Weekend Adventure Trip
Now for this weekend. Since the two trips to Killarney seemed to blend together well, I went ahead and integrated them below. However, today was a totally different experience. Seven of us took a tour through Kerry, which included rock climbing, kayaking, and high speed boating!!! It was definitely the most taxing day I have had in a long time, but worth every moment.
We started the trip with rock climbing on actual rocks next to a beautiful mountain range. Although I did not get up as high as most people, it was a great experience. The weather was perfect- in the 50s and just breezy enough. That is actually a picture of me rock climbing. Do not expect to see it in too many places!
After rock climbing, we drove a little over an hour to a small town bordering the ocean called Portmagee (one word). We took a high speed boat that went between 40 and 50 miles per hour through the ocean and saw some great places! The boat was so fast that at points, the entire vehicle took off out of the water.
This is a picture of us in the uniforms they gave us to keep us dry. It felt a little like something Mike Rowe would wear in Dirty Jobs!
My favorite part about this particular segment was definitely seeing puffins!! There is a wildlife preserve on one of the islands there, and puffins go to the island two months a year to nest and hatch their young before disappearing again. They were everywhere!!!! We also saw some seal and cormorants, which were cute. Unfortunately, I am not going to post any pictures of these because the pictures I have don't really convey how adorable the animals were in reality. They moved so quickly that there aren't a lot of great shots, but they'll be posted on my Picasa account soon enough :-)
After that, we went back to Ross Castle and kayaked in the lake in front of the castle. Towards the end of the day and also because I had not kayaked since a disastrous experience in Florida, I was a little nervous, but when we got started, I LOVED it!!! We went right next to Inishfallen, the island with the old monastery, and got to see the islands and mountains from a completely different point of view.
This is our group in front of the castle. Incidentally, this is the same castle that we visited on Thursday with Professor Conner. It was great to see it from a different angle!
Monday, May 10, 2010
Killarney Trip!
OK, due to said technical difficulties, I am a few trips behind. No problem- we'll just start from Thursday. On Thursday, we went into the town of Killarney and then decided to go back on Saturday on our own volition, as well because there was so much to do.
We started in Killarney at Aghadoe Abbey, which used to be a famous pilgrimage point. The tower in this picture was once tall enough to be seen all over Kerry, and pilgrims looking for the chapel would stop here. It was a point of refuge, but also served as a a good point of reference when the opportunity availed itself.
This particular abbey is somewhat significant because it also has these markings on it, which
are very early markings of Christianity. Believe it or not, these are apostles with Jesus passing the Holy Grail. According to Michael, people could very well look at this site in return for a resting place for the grail. We’ll see I guess!
After Aghadoe Chapel, we went to Muckross House, which reminded me a lot of the mansions we went to in Rhode Island a few years ago. The difference here is that this mansion is the real thing. It was built in the 1843 by Henry and Mary Herbert, members of the Protestant Aristocracy. Queen Victoria later visited it because it was that cool. Ironically enough, because of Victoria’s two day stay and their own six year prep for it, the family went bankrupt and had to move out. They went bankrupt because they built the house before the Famine and then also because the same year that she visited, Victoria’s husband died, and she went into mourning without giving them a title (like endorsements in those days). Another family moved in, and when the beautiful young wife died, her family donated the entire 20,000 acre estate to Ireland, and it is now Ireland’s largest national park. We got to take a trip through the house, but they did not allow pictures. Guess you’ll have to visit it to find out. Or you could look through the park everywhere, which was really exquisite.
This is us in front of the house and Loche Leane (Lake of Learning), which is also in front of the house. It is called this because of Inishfallen, a monastic settlement once in the middle of the lake. At one time, this island contained the greatest learning institution in Ireland until Cromwell burned it down in 1650. Many of the ancient places we have seen are stripped down to the stone because of Cromwell. He made a march through the city burning Catholic and Irish markers. Think Sherman’s March to the Sea, but through the whole country.
Can you imagine having a view like this?!
We walked through the “gardens” on the estate, which had multiple trees this big! There were colors everywhere, and when you go through the trails, you see the most verdant green with sprigs of pink and purple also illuminating the way. Spectacular.
From where the “jaunting car” dropped us off, we walked about a mile to the actual house. We walked along the lake and came upon some swans, as well as some huge trees and green forests. Upon getting to the estate, we then hiked three miles (ok…round trip…) to Torc Waterfall in the park, which was gorgeous. The waterfall was originally on the property of Muckross House, and when Queen Victoria went to visit, the family constructed a private path just for the queen to visit the waterfall at her leisure. I am going to put in pictures of our journey to demonstrate this three mile walk. It was breathtaking every step of the way. By the time of this blog is finished, you will either be sick of nature or just NEED to go to Ireland!
These are swans swimming in the lake in front of the mountain. There are swans everywhere here!
Passing through "The Gardens"
We made it to the waterfall!
Then, Dorothy and I went horseback riding for two hours (also in the park). My horse’s name was Pinto and had blue eyes. We even trotted through streams and pastures! It was great! Through the ride, we got to experience the beauty of the park the way that some of its original patrons enjoyed it :-)
Back to Thursday.
After going to Muckross House, we went to Muckross Abbey, which was built way before
the house. It was also built by the Cistercian Monks who lived simply and prayed fervently. The abbey was huge and filled with rooms and passage. It was three stories high, and each place was more interesting. The average age of a monk there was 22 when he died! Apparently, they worked so hard and prayed so fervently that it was the best they could muster. There was a tree in the middle of the abbey that was much taller. It was planted the year that the abbey was started. The abbey, like many Catholic sites in Ireland, was last used when Cromwell shut it down by outlawing Catholicism. Very sad. This is a picture of a room where the monks would live together in large numbers. It does not look very comfortable!
After the Abbey, we went to Ross Castle, which we also had a private tour of. The castle was built in the mid-1400s, and the tour went through each level of the castle which has been fully restored. It was restored in the 60s, after not having been used for hundreds of years. Another way to ruin a bunch of buildings is to put a roof tax on the country, meaning that you have to pay taxes per square foot on every building that has a roof. If you have a castle that is not in use, generally burning the roof so that you don’t have to pay sounds like a good idea. Unfortunately, its not great for preservation purposes. After the castle was donated to Ireland by a family, they put a lot of money into the restoration, and today, it is a great restoration. We went up 105 steps and four different levels. I have to say that castle life probably would not have been for me!!
I hope to post pictures of both places, but for now, my Internet is not competent to do so. Imagine large, beautiful stone buildings (again)!
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Medieval Castles in Ireland!
Yesterday, we had a great excursion through some Medieval castles!!
After an exciting three hour bus ride, we stopped in the town of Cashel to see the Rock of Cashel (outside pictured on the right). Unlike the Blarney Stone, the Rock of Cashel actually refers to a giant mound of limestone that one of the oldest powerhouses in Ireland still stands on today. The Rock of Cashel has a huge castle, cathedral, and many other religious sites. Most importantly, Cashel was originally the site of the Kings of Munster, who lived there in the 4th Century. St. Patrick walked up the mountain to where the kings were living in a giant stronghold, and it was here that he converted them to Catholicism. The cross of St. Patrick is still on site to this day. Apparently, if you hop around it nine times, you will be married within a year. If you can hug it, you’ll have good dental health. Cool. We had a pretty
bad tour guide, so I can’t give you the detailed history that I know you yearn for when reading about someone else’s pseudo-vacation (OK, “class.”) After St. Patrick converted the pagan kings, the Rock became a religious center, and they built a huge cathedral on site in the 11th Century. To this day, there is a fresco painting on the wall there. Our guide says it was the oldest fresco in Europe that still exists, but that is actually not true (think Italy…) Outside of the buildings, there is a beautiful cemetery, and you can see all around because the castle is situated so high up. The County Tipperary, where the castle is located, has the most fertile grounds in Ireland (pretty fertile). It was sooooo green and romantic! Also, you could an old castle still in good repair in the background, which made it feel very Medieval :-) You might notice that my face has a somewhat grim look on it. This is because it was soooo cold and windy up there! No wonder it was easy to convince people then that there were so many gods-- if I lived up there, I would be constantly scared of higher powers!
Stop 2: Cahir Castle
Our next stop was a younger castle about thirty minutes away. Cahir Castle (pronounced “care”) was built in the Thirteenth Century, and used as a family home until the last member of the Butler family (who originally owned the castle) died in 1961. This tour was highly interesting, as we went through it as if we were trying to attack it. There were soooo many different precautions that the owners put on the castles at the time to prevent it from attack! We, of course, felt that it was necessary to demonstrate all of them.
One of my first favorite parts of this castle is the moat! Although it is not fully there anymore, the castle was once surrounded by the river as the first line of attack. To get to it, a person would have to take a small bridge to enter.
VERY OLD DEER ANTLERS
Although not a flattering picture of our tour guide, this room was redone to look the way that the room would have originally looked in its Medieval heyday. The antlers above the tour guide belong to the Irish Deer, the largest species of deer known, and which became extinct after the Thirteenth Century. These antlers were found in a bog, completely preserved after all of those years.
This is the courtyard, complete with canons, from the top of one of the towers :-) And Dorothy saying hello in Irish.
This is me, scouting out the area from the top of a tower. They let us go into all the passages and up to all of the towers. It was sooo cool! However, I can definitely see how they built the castles to guard against enemies, because the stairs were all extremely uneven and steep. It was very hard to get up down-- we were literally taking our lives into our hands :-)
This is me, defending the castle from Kimber. Dorothy took these action shots, which will probably be recorded as part of the castle's history in the years to come. Thanks, Dorothy.
After said power trip, I almost fell to my death- clearly didn't see the warning for the "Unprotected Stairs!!!!"
Porticullis- never know when it will fall on you!!! Dorothy and I would have gotten it up, though. This portcullis is actually the one that the crew from Braveheart went to when they filmed the sound of a portcullis for the movie.
One more look at the castle before leaving... What an adventure! Some coole tidbits I forgot to mention before: There is still a canon ball stuck into one of the walls of the castle from a battle in the 15th Century. There is also a hole in the ceiling going out from the Banquet Hall, called the "Murdering Hole" in which people in the house could pour hot oil/ canon balls from above on impending attackers.
Stop 3: Swiss Cottage
No, unfortunately we did not go to Switzerland. But! We went further down on the castle's property to what the Irish peasants used to refer to as the Swiss cottage. It was built by the Butler family in 1810 as a playhouse for the rich. The family never actually spent the night there, but it was used for garden parties. The house is actually supposed to look asymmetrical and imperfect because it mimics nature, which is always imperfect. Similarly, the windows, floorboards, walls, and everything else were uneven- even if you can't tell! We couldn't take any pictures of the rooms, but the outside of the house is gorgeous. The
tree that we are pictured in is actually a 900 year old Yew tree, planted by monks to keep animals off of the cemetery. The tree is poisonous, and if animals eat it, they will die. I'm glad we stood all over it, ha ha :-)
Back Home
After such an exhausting day, we of course felt the need to go out afterwards! We went to a pub that specialized in Irish music, and sat down amidst a huge crowd of people that could even be as old as my parents... Yikes! But the music was great. I am posting some Irish tunes that he did (not very clear, but you'll get the gist), although I did not record the Garth Brooks and Killers music that he occasionally decided to play. The pub culture, although somewhat overwhelming at times, is really great for music like this. I have really enjoyed being a part of such an energized, easy-going setting.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Some Coole Notes on Ireland
Today, we actually had class (ha ha), and so this post seemed like a good one to catch you up on some interesting tidbits we have noticed about Ireland. I of course have not told you about the people running the trip, all of whom are pretty funny. Dorothy Todd, who is also on the trip, actually just wrote about them in her blog, and you should definitely read over the characters so that you can fully understand what is going on! (Mom: click on Dorothy's name to see her post) So anyway, notes on today:
- Today, Kimber and I were walking out past the town and saw two swans. I have been waiting my whole trip to see swans, and they were beautiful!
- For our second class, we watched the movie The Crying Game, which was very confusing and I'm sure not entirely sure what it had to do with Irish history.
Notes on Ireland as a whole:
- All of their brand names are different! For instance, Ruffles potato chips are called Walkers! Weird! Also, most of the food somehow tastes different. Maybe because it is more pure air out here in the country :-)
- I can hear birds almost all times of the day. Sitting in any room at any time generally results in hearing some type of happy Irish bird- again probably something to do with the purity factor.
- There are yellow flowers everywhere that the Irish think are weeds, but cover the landscape and make it beautiful. They are called gorse, and Kimber, another Ireland blogger, has written about them here.
- There are sheep dotting the landscape everywhere. I have longed to get a good picture of them, but so far, they are very elusive.
I of course planned more and attempted memorialize a lot of cuter, more interesting facts in my head. Fail. Expect this post to be edited soon!
Weekend Trip, Days 2-3
On Friday, we got up somewhat early so that we could continue our adventures. We ate at the same pub, and I noticed this mural on the wall of the town we were in from 1935. It is funny because the town looks exactly the same now that it is 2010! We waited forty-five minutes to get breakfast, but the food was delicious! Irish sausages are different than American ones. They have a different consistency, and also taste less filler-y. Also, their pancakes were really thin, but much sweeter—almost like crepes.
On the way to our big sites, we passed Leenaugh Castle (pronounced “Lena.” This was a great example of how people used to put slitted windows in their castle so that in battle, one could pour hot oil or other awful things on the enemy without worrying about it coming back at them.
Poll na Bron
We went to Poulnabrone (Poll na Bron in Irish) after the castle, which is located in the Burren, the area we
saw the movie about the day before. The monument was originally erected by ancient Irish nobles to erect a memorial for the dead. It is a “portal tomb,” which is not the same as a place where people are buried. In this
specific model, the dead person was placed on top of the large rock and burned. The idea was that they were aligned with cosmos, interred the body, and then their souls were shot into the stars. Originally, the people who were burned on Poulnabrone were only royalty (read: men), and were actually pre-ancient Celtic culture. It is so old that they cannot fully date the rocks, but they think that it was built between 3 and 4,000 B.C.
Corcomroe Abbey
After we left Poulnabrone, we visited Corcomroe Abbey (c. 1194), or “Mainistir Chorca Mrua” in Irish. This is a site of the first Cissertion (?) monks who looked for the most remote places as possible to build
their monasteries. These monks used the least amount of decoration for their places because they believed that things like curves in arches were promiscuous, but this abbey had a little more elaboration than usual. It also was extremely large for its purpose because of all of the richer people who wanted private chapels for themselves. Essentially, they would pay the church a yearly fee for the monks to pray for their souls for all
of eternity. Unfortunately for them, the abbey has been decrepit for a long time. There are some pretty old people at the abbey, including a knight and an abbot buried there. The closer to the Eastern side of the church a person was buried, the faster a person would get to Heaven. That being said, the important people were buried all over the Eastern part of the church. W.B. Yeats wrote a play called The Dreaming of the Bones in 1916 about spirits of the abbey, and we actually read it within the walls of the church. Unfortunately, it was sunny at that point, so not too spooky, but it is really exciting to get to read the literature in places that it was inspired.
Cuckoo Festival
Later that day, we settled in at a hostel called Duras House, which is actually the house that the Irish National Theatre—the Abbey Theatre—was designed in. It was a nice, old house on gorgeous grounds across from a large lake and swans. That night, we went to the annual Cuckoo Festival in Kinvara. The festival celebrates the legend of the cuckoo on May 1st because in Ireland May 1st is the day that the cuckoo sings his first song of the year. There was traditional music playing in most of the pubs all around the town, an we had a great time. Everywhere we went was crowded, the ambiance was boisterous and fun. It was probably one of my favorite nights :-) I have tried to upload a video that I took of the music- you should be able to click on it!
Saturday: The Kiltartan-Gregory Museum, Thoor Ballylee, and Coole Park
If you have not read W.B. Yeats, this post will mean almost nothing to you. However, it was a really magical day! People you should know: Lady Augusta Gregory was a Protestant woman who lived in Coole Park and aided Yeats in his poetry. She wrote some of the most popular plays of the Abbey Theatre, and although her status of noblewoman separated her from everyone else in the area, she was very loved by the Irish people because of her strong Irish pride and desire to spread their culture. W.B. Yeats is the most famous Irish modernist poet, and quite possibly the best poet of all time. He was also an Irish senator and nationalist, although he never fought in the civil wars. Yeats would come to Gregory’s estate on Coole Park in order to write and relax, and Coole Park was the setting for many of his poetry.
The Kiltartan-Gregory Museum
Before visitng any of the sites in person, we went to the Kiltartan-Gregory Museum, which was built in an
old school house from 1892 and used as a place for Kiltartan’s (the town’s) history. The museum is actually located on Kiltartan Cross (which I found out means intersection), which is the place that Yeats uses as his hometown in “An Irish Airman Foresees His Death.” Yeats wrote the poem originally to commemorate the character of Sir R
obert Gregory, Lady Gregory’s son, as he died as a fighter pilot in World War I. Anyway, the museum was run by a nun—Sister Mary de Lourdes Fahy—who was in her seventies or eighties and is a beautiful collection of articles of Lady Gregory’s estate, as it was demolished in 1942. She was also very close the Gregory family because her uncle drove around Lady Gregory’s husband and Yeats when he came into town. We got to see letters, documents, posters from the Abbey Theatre, and more at the museum, as well as hear personal testimony about Lady Gregory and Yeats as people. Beforehand, we read Me and Nu, which is an autobiography of Lady Gregory’s granddaughter, Ann, and a great recollection of memories from living on Coole Park.
Lady Gregory’s own life was a very sad one. Although she herself did a lot of writing and even started the Irish National Theatre, Lady Gregory’s personal life was pretty rough. Her husband died after twelve years of marriage, her son died in WWI, and because she had no legal rights to property, she lost her house (at Coole) after her daughter-in-law decided to sell it. Eventually, Lady Gregory herself died of cancer, and her house was demolished (a tragedy) ten years after her own death. The thought process was that after the state took the house, it was too expensive to refurbish once they started to recognize Lady Gregory's importance. It was also considered a house of "the enemy" because, although she herself was benevolent, her family came from the oppressive Protestant Ascendancy of Ireland. The photo to the left is all that is left of her manner- the house itself is gone completely. Now, the museum dedicated to Coole is actually in the stables, which were not demolished.
Thoor Ballylee
Thoor Ballylee is the tower that Yeats actually bought from Lady Gregory’s estate in 1917. It is a 14th Century tower connected to an old farmhouse.
Yeats bought the tower for its noble background, and also
because he was somewhat obsessed with its irony—a noble tower connected to a lower class peasant’s house. Upon buying the tower, Yeats renovated it in and lived in the two as a house. In 1928, his most famous book of poetry, The Tower, came out, but soon after he never used it again. When Lady Gregory died of cancer in 1932, Yeats never really came back to Galway (the county of Thor Ballylee and Coole).
Coole Park
After going to Thoor Ballylee, we visited Coole Park. It was an amazing experience. Except for
the house, The estate has been completely restored, and is a beautiful place. I couldn't believe that one person owned all
of the land; it reminded us of Pemberley!! I can definitely see how Yeats would have been inspired. Many of his poems are about swans at Coole- and at some points, there were at least fifty swans on the lake. My favorite part about visiting Coole was the weather. When we were studying Lady Gregory, the weather was warm and sunny, which seems like it would have been perfect for her. She was a very loving and giving woman, and the sunny weather felt like she was smiling down on us and asking us to enjoy her home.
However, when we visited the forest and Coole Lake, it rained almost endlessly. This is a perfect symbol for Yeats because he was into mysticism and spirituality. He loved the Irish rain and weather, and the rain seemed like he was hoping we could experience his own unique sense of mysticism. The photo of the tree on the left is Lady Gregory's famous "autograph tree," which
she asked people to carve their initials into. Yeats, George Bernard Shaw, and other famous writers of the time have carved their initials into the tree at Lady Gregory's request. She also had a fan that she asked people to sign when she went abroad, and had signatures from Teddy Roosevelt, Alfred Lord Tennyson, and more. The picture of me is in front of Coole Lake in the rain. I am holding my Yeats book up as a testimony to his inspiration. I also thought it would be really cool to have a Yeats book covered in Irish rain. The rest of the pictures are from around the estate. It was soooo gorgeous- the trees were huge, and the grounds felt like a movie set.
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