Ireland

Our Trip To Ireland May 2007
These are photos from our awesome trip to Ireland in May. We spent over two weeks, basically doing a clockwise route around the island, including both the Republic and Northern Ireland. We went with a Rick Steves tour, and had a great group of people to travel with. Our friend Marin signed up for the same tour, and flew out of LA and met us in Dublin. Since we don't get to see each other often, this was a great way to have a super vacation and spend time with a good friend. A map of our route. Stephen, our tour guide, is an Irish citizen and a resident of Northern Ireland. So beyond the sights, the music, the tourbooks, we learned Irish history, economics and politics from from one of the island's own. We sang songs in the pubs, learned to hurl, and got advice on the best places for live music. It was an experience we won't soon forget.		Us at the Cliffs of Mohr


Bob and his grandfather's namesake, the patriot and hero Robert Emmet. Right: The plaque in the sidewalk on Thomas Street in Dublin, where Robert Emmet was executed.		Bob's heritage is partly Irish, and he was named after his two grandfathers, Robert and John. But he always thought his maternal grandfather's middle name was unusual. (He was Robert Emmet McKeever.) Reading up on Irish history before our trip, we discovered an important hero of Irish Independence named Robert Emmet (1778-1803). He was a patriot and a great orator, and his famous discourse, Speech from the Dock, was given after his capture and sentence. On September 20, 1803, Robert Emmet was hung and beheaded in Dublin. Our first stop on our arrival in Dublin was St. Stephen's Green, a large park in the city where there is a statue of this Irish patriot.


Sculpture in Dublin: a memorial to the victims of the Great Famine, which decimated the population between 1845 and 1852.		The amazingly preserved Gallus Oratory---a 1300 year old church. The walls are fitted drystone, with no mortar, yet the small building is water tight. We know...we were inside during a brief downpour.

Celtic crosses can be seen throughout Ireland.

Another sight found throughout Ireland: Guinness. Here is Bob in front of the storehouse in Dublin, where there is also a Guinness "museum". We were disappointed to find that you cannot take a brewery tour, but we found out later that the company doesn't want you to know how much Budwiser they brew there! (Yes, most pubs had Bud on tap. And all the Bud in Ireland is brewed by Guinness.)


Diane and Marin at a large astronomical sculpture in Dublin. The planet they're pointing to is Betelgeuse.		Bob standing next to lines of peat logs, laid out to dry. Peat is still a popular source of fuel for heating homes.		Bob and Diane, on a stormy day on the Dingle penninsula.

On to Dublin -->