Next up on our day tour was Loughcrew (loff-crew) and the Hill of Tara. Loughcrew is essentially a smaller Newgrange. Both are monolithic tombs positioned to let the light in only on certain solstices. I found a stone that fit my butt perfectly. We decided that this must mean that some kind of ancient prophecy was fulfilled when I visited.
Occasionally, on the weekends, we would have time to go out on excursions. One weekend, we went on an abbreviated tour of the Boyne Valley. On the drive, we made a brief stop at an abbey. Bective Abbey was without a doubt one of my top three most favorite places I visited in Ireland. I could've spent an entire day there. In one of the pictures below, you can see what used to be a carved portrait. Now it looks like a smiley face! And the photo below that is of a claustrophobically narrow staircase that has almost completely fallen apart.
As a second part to our trip to Glendalough, we visited the fancy Russborough (pronounced russ-burrow) house. Although the to die for libraries and secret doors were awesome, I fell in love with the ornate ceilings. It's just not something you really see anymore. After our tour of the house, we saw the grounds. A deceivingly small hedge maze kept us occupied for a while, and then we got to the best part: the sheep herder! He showed us how it all works, and then I GOT TO HOLD A BABY! Definitely on the list of highlights of my life so far. We ended the trip with a *fabulous* picture with our bus driver, D.
One of the college trips we went on was a group venture to Dublinia, a museum about old Dublin. As interesting as it was, the mannequins were CREEPY. Just take a gander at the pictures below and you'll understand. They even had digital talking faces in some of them. You'll also find a stunning image of Sara wearing chainmail. What a babe! It took about 4 people to life it off of her after.
One of my favorite trips was our day trip to Glendalough (pronounced Glenda-lock). It was originally a sanctuary, and you could really feel the peace of the place. Everything was so lush and calm. And as someone who loves old cemeteries with so much history, this was the perfect place to be.
This weekend trip was probably the craziest of all. We spent two nights in Doolin, right next to the famous Cliffs of Moher. The cliffs are famous for their stunning views and their role as the Cliffs of Insanity in my favorite movie EVER!
After a long, 3 month wait, Killian came to visit me in Washington!
A lot of people don't realize that while I was in Ireland over the summer, I was actually working 9-5 Monday -Thursday. I worked at the Bank of Ireland in their marketing department.
Our first day trip by ourselves was the Bray to Greystones cliffwalk. I went with Emily, and my roommates Sara and Lewis. We took the train down to Bray along the coast. We were amazed by how beautiful the view was coming in. It was only a short walk through the town to the start of the cliff walk.
Our first weekend excursion was to Belfast. This trip was with UCD, so there were a decent number of people. We all loaded onto two big tour buses early in the morning for the several hour drive up north. Luckily, the back of the bus had a section with three seats, so we could all sit together. And be weird.