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Welcome Friends! I hope you enjoy tasting these teaching and travel tidbits.
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Sunday, March 17, 2013

Luck of the Irish!




Ireland in Bloom


Lucky me, I got to spend St. Patrick's Day in Ireland!   I flew to the Emerald Isle with fellow Fulbrighter, Rebecca Smith, after school on Friday night.  Since we are both teachers on an international quest to add to our knowledge of important cultural traditions, it seemed only proper to begin our weekend at a museum.  So bright and early Saturday morning we headed off to the National Leprechaun Museum!  What other country has a national museum dedicated to the wee fairy folk!?!  Our storyteller/tour guide, Elenore, led us through the land of the little people, sharing traditional tales at every stop,but first we had to be shrunk down to leprechaun size.  

Teeny Tiny Me!

We walked through a magical land of rainbows, pots of gold, and wishing wells, learning the history and evolution of leprechauns in Ireland.  By the time we were done, we could have written a book about it, or at least appeared in a book about it....



With this bit of our education checked off the list, we were ready for college, so we stopped to watch the boat race between University College Dublin and Trinity College on the river Liffey.    




With our appetite whetted for more of Trinity College, we decided to pass through the campus.  We walked through Parliament Square and  the library, then noticed a queue of people waiting to see the Book of Kells.  We had both heard of this before, but neither of us knew exactly what it was, so we joined the line to check out the book.  We learned that it's an illuminated Latin copy of the gospels from about the year 800 a.d. written by Celtic monks and is considered to be Ireland's greatest treasure.  

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One of the illuminated pages of the Book of Kells

Campanile in Parliament Square at Trinity

In the Trinity College Library


 Next it was time to discover the man that this weekend is all about--St. Patrick.   We took a walking tour of Dublin called "In the Footsteps of St. Patrick" that took us to many of the places that St. Patrick visited or places associated with him.  This gave us a pretty good overview of the city and a chance to tour St. Patrick's Cathedral.  
St. Patrick's Cathedral
Site of St. Patrick's Well
Stone excavated from the site of St. Patrick's Well
St. Patrick's Cathedral Interior  


The Man of the Day!





















In honor of the holiday, there were street fairs and performers around the city.  We enjoyed these, as well as a nice meal at an Irish Pub.   





In the evening, we went on another walking tour, a haunted Dublin tour.  One of the most spectacular elements of  St. Patrick's Day in Dublin is that many of the most important buildings in the city turn green, which really added to the fun!  

Green City Hall

Green St. Patrick's Cathedral

Christchurch Cathedral--is it Dublin or Oz?
This is a shot of St. Audoen's Church from earlier n the day, but believe me,
when we were locked behind these gates at night,
it really was a scary ghost tour!
The next morning we awoke to the rain that keeps Ireland green.  We headed downtown to watch the People's Parade.  This parade was comprised of groups of Irish people who had moved abroad and returned to their homeland for the parade, as well as people from other countries that are currently living in Ireland.  It was freezing cold out and quite rainy, but that didn't dampen the spirit of the marchers!  













We had a chance to see the beginning of the second parade, the St. Patrick's Day Parade, before heading to the airport.  



St. Patrick giving his blessing to the frozen onlookers


Watching the Parade!

We raced to the airport where we thawed out and watched some the rest of the parade on the big screen  before boarding our plane back to London.  I'm so glad that Rebecca had the brilliant idea of celebrating St. Patrick's Day in Ireland!  I know that every year on March 17th I'll remember the year I was able to enjoy this special day in Dublin. 

3 comments:

  1. Cindy,
    I actually sat here one morning during Spring Break while the kids were thoroughly engrossed in a Phineas and Ferb fest. (Yes, I have succumbed!) And while I sat here, I ended up reading ALL THE WAY back to your very first post. It was such a grand escape for me! I probably should have started from the beginning instead, but that was how it worked out. I had read most of the posts already, but it was such a treat to sit undisturbed and read them all again, look at the photos, and be absolutely transported. And while we still miss you here, I am so glad you are THERE so that I can live a bit of the traveling life as well! We did go to Maui during the February break which was wonderful. The kids had a great time. JJ was in the water constantly, loving to snorkel whenever he could. He and J.R. saw sea turtles too. That day, though, I was hanging on to the back of the boat throwing up! Lovely. As Sarah was leaving the boat, she told the captain that she was sorry that her mom threw up on his boat. I guarantee you that this story will be talked about until the day I die and then some! Enjoy more travels! Have you seen Mother Mary anywhere?

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    Replies
    1. Dear Kim,
      Sorry, but I had to laugh about Sarah apologizing for you tossing it on the boat. JJ is ahead of me, I just snorkeled for my first time in Aqaba Jordan a few days ago, which was great fun. Have I seen Mother Mary!!!! Two days ago I was at the Church of the Dormition and also at Mary's Tomb, which are of course all about Mary. I'm not sure which of the 2 traditions are correct, it doesn't seem like they both can be, but both were lovely. If you want to see Mother Mary, however, I suggest going to the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth where I was about 2 weeks ago!! Nations around the world have contributed mosaics which are displayed inside and outside the Basilica. Check out this link> http://www.biblewalks.com/Sites/AnnunciationMosaics.html
      Of course Mary appears at all the sites in the Holy Land, and someday I will get around to writing several lengthy blog posts about my last 2 weeks in Israel and Jordan. When I got back to Heathrow yesterday my mum met me there, so the next couple weeks will be really busy teaching and trying to entertain her at the same time, so it may take a while for me to get around to blogging, but I have a lot to say!! Thanks for being my most faithful reader. Again, I would never have got this going without you. My love to all your family, cindy

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