Going to the Zoo Zoo Zoo

Last weekend Mom and Dad came for a visit to Ireland. After showing them around Dublin city Sunday they went off on their own and explored the land of saints and scholars. The next weekend they came back to Dublin and I showed them another good time (because that's what I do). And where else did we go but the zoo! Apperantly Dublin Zoo is a Victorian zoo. I'm not sure what that means, but the monkies were darn cute.

These orangutans were really friendly.

The sign reads: Gorilla - gentle giant. Notice the cracks in the glass.

Gorillas have big hands

The cute widdle cuddly lions are sweepy!

The rhinos were absurdly cool. And they really liked their log.

Now of course the few days I spent with my parents weren't all at the zoo. But I didn't take too many pictures with my camera because 1) the screen is broken, and 2) Dad took plenty of pictures. Unfortunately Dad's pictures can't be uploaded to blogger, so you're stuck with my zoo pictures for now.

While Mom and Dad were here we also saw the Book of Kells, which is a sweet illuminated text that some monks spent a lot of time coloring. We also saw the Long Room in Trinity which is a library with about 250,000 books, all of them old. That was really cool. The Long Room also had the oldest Irish Harp and one of the few remaining Proclaimations of Independence. I was in nerdy Irish history heaven.

We also wandered around Dublin and saw the General Post Office, Temple Bar, Trinity, O'Connell Street, University College Dublin (where I go to school), and some shady streets. It was good fun! We did a bus tour as well and got to see the National Gallery, Pheonix Park, Museum of Modern Art, St. Patrick's Cathedral and Christ Church Cathedral.

Mom also bought me some pancake mix and maple syrup (from Vermont) and I made pancackes yesterday. They were absolutely delicious and I'm probably going to be making absurd amounts of pancakes from now on.

Yesterday I also was at a ceile (pronounced kay-lee) which is where people get together and dance Irishly to Irish music. I made a fool of myself but it was really fun. There was a guy there who played the Uilleann pipes (pronounced ill-um) and they were really cool to learn about. Absolutely brutal to learn how to play, but they were really cool to hear. So now when I get back to Minnesota I can pretend to Irish dance with all of you!

Wicklow Mountains in the Rain

This past Friday I travelled with the usual group of Americans to the Wicklow Mountains which was described as a 'walk.' It actually turned out to be more like a stairmaster climb through the rain and 80 kph winds. I had a good time!

Today we went to Kilmainham Jail, which wasn't exactly the happiest thing I've done here. This is the jail where 14 people were executed after the Easter Rising. Last weekend I went to Kilkenny, but my camera died so I didn't get many pictures. I'll post some here though and get more later and post to the pictures website. There are more from the Wicklow Mountains there now.

Starting from the last week, Kilkenny Castle:

This is my favorite castle so far, of the three I've seen. Originally it had four walls, but one was knocked down during a war of sorts. It wasn't rebuilt because the family quite liked the view. So now from here we can see the court yard and just a small portion of the surrounding field.


I don't really like this picture of me. But you can see how the castle is on the river. It makes for a pretty view. No need for moat building here!

On to this past weekend in the Wicklow Mountains. These are just south of Dublin in County Wicklow in a place called Glendalough. Which in Irish means 'glen of two lakes.' And true to form, there are two lakes there! It was really beautiful after it stopped raining and we didn't have to climb more stairs.

Me, Molly and Hayley hanging out by a small waterfall in the pouring rain. Notice how wet our pants are. Thank goodness I have a nice raincoat and it kept the top of me dry and mostly warm!

Thankfully it stopped raining. Julia and I got real tired climbing up the stairs. All the lazy Americans complained until we got to the top.

The view was spectacular. At the far end of the lake down there is close to where we started. So the walk through the mountains turned out to be a bit more like a hike. But it was worth it. The other lake is to the left more. We walked along the ridge with massive gusts of wind to see more of the view. It got a bit dangerous, so our guide made us go back to safety. Just in time to avoid even more rain.

This is the far side of the lake you can see in the picture above. Hayley and I revisited it when it wasn't blowing rain in our eyes and we could actually see the valley. Ireland is so pretty! I've decided this is the area I want to retire to and raise sheep.

At Glendalough there is also a Monastery with a cathedral, tower and graveyard. Most of the monastery is in ruins, but the tower still stands. Monks built these towers during the Viking invasions to protect themselves and the Church's valuables. The would climb up a rope ladder into a door high in the tower, then pull up the rope so the invaders couldn't reach them. Unfortunately the insides were made of wood and the Vikings caught on that they could just burn the tower.

Here we have another not good picture of me. But it is a good picture of the round tower.

Kilmainham jail was built in the late 1700s and was just a regular jail for County Dublin until 1910. They used to hold whole families here, and just children who stole bread. Right along with the murderers. During the famine, people wanted to go to this jail because they were able to get food regularly. It was reopened in 1916 for political prisoners, and also held prisoners from the revolution in the 1920s as well.

The main entrance to the jail. They used to do public hangings right above the door here until about 1860. The detail above the door is of serpents or dragons that are chained down.

A bit of grafitti from the 1920s. It reads "Beware of the risen people, that have harried and held, ye that have bullied and bribed." It is a quote from Patrick Pearse who was executed here after the Easter Rising.

The newer wing of the jail here, built in the 1800s sometime I think. It has actually been filmed in some movies, so it might look familiar. The skylight on top makes the room look strangely grand and beautiful.