Belfast was the stop today (Tuesday). The picture of the white building with "Giveaway sign" is Stormont "The White House" of Northern Ireland. Notice the Giveaway sign is the same as our yield sign. The Killyleagh Castle is where the Hamilton family currently resides and its a private residence. Down Cathedral is where St. Patrick is buried. The cross is a duplicate of the St. Patrick Cross. The cathedral was originally part of a Benedictan Abbey. Saul Church was orginally a barn given to St. Patrick to build the first church. It was donated by one of his first converts. The Irish countryside is just beautiful. We took a ferry across to Strangford to the Grey Abbey ruins. There was the most fabulous and interesting ancient herb gardens used for medicinal purposes. I'll include those pictures later. I enjoyed speaking with the ladies and see a project in my future! We were exhausted by the end of the day!
This morning (Wednesday), we tendered to Dublin (Dun Laoghaire). The weather is bad. It's cold and rainy with lots of waves. We almost stayed on the ship, but glad we dealt with the weather. We took the hop on and off bus. The driver gave very good explanations of the sites with lots of "Irish humor".
Our first stop was Dublin Castle. Only self-guided tours and they were out of English brochures. It was a grand site though! Enjoy the shots below. We then went to Christ Church of Dublin and St. Patrick Cathedral (dates to 1220). St. Patrick's is the National Cathedral of the Church of Ireland a member church of the Anglican Communion. There were many memorial areas for war heroes.
We were then on to the Guinness storehouse and museum. The building was huge at 7 stories tall. Great explanations and displays, but for a non beer drinker the 7th floor was a spectacular 360 view of the city. Henry enjoyed the beer and the views. It was very foggy that day, but you can see in the pictures the view. A bit of a photo dump for Ireland....
(Thursday) Below is Blarney Castle. It was a ruin with the stones at the top and no I didn't climb 120 steps up an old staircase to wait 2 hours to kiss it. I enjoyed the gardens though! They were quite interesting. Friday will be an at sea day. Hoping to rest and get Henry feeling better, so he can enjoy the next stop.
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