Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry!

Some of the many trees that have been brought into Coole Park.

So as I am getting ready for a weekend trip to Northern Ireland with our the UP-WU group, I figured it was about time to  update the blog from our last trip, which was two weeks ago.

On our way down to the Dingle Peninsula, we stopped at Coole Park and Bunratty Castle. Coole Park is an estate that was once owned by this woman named Lady Gregory who married into the estate. Once her husband passed she used the place to house poets and playwrights and other artists. While she was of British she was very invested in the Irish language and trying to preserve the culture and history. She invested a lot of time in the arts. Her estate is now owned by Ireland and it is set up as a cultural center where you can walk the grounds, which are very beautiful.

One of the most famous things about Coole Park is the Autograph Tree. In the tree there are the carvings of the names of everyone who visited Lady Gregory including W.B. Yeats. 

The initials of W.B. Yeats and Sean O'Casey

Name Carving Guide

We had a really nice walk around the grounds before we headed out to Bunratty Castle. Here is a picture of my roommate Kathleen! She is great, but she was a little grumpy about the rain. When I took this picture and looked at it afterward I laughed out loud during our tour, oops.

 One last picture of Coole before we head over to the castle.

So our next stop was Bunratty Castle. It is very unique in that it has been fixed up so that people can tour the castle and the grounds around it, but all of the furniture is the original Medieval furniture. We got to explore the castle after and introduction from a great tour guide.

I sat in the throne, I could not help myself.

















And wedged myself up into a hole in the wall.















We climbed to the top of the castle and out of the towers to see this view.

 And this view as well, the picture gives me a bit of vertigo though.

Stuck!

And we all took the obligatory dungeon picture. But it was a lot of fun!
















Also while we were at the Castle, Ian and I discovered that we were dressed suspiciously similar to one another. So of course we took a picture to prove it.

We were both wearing the same style of shoes, brown pants, and an Aran Islands Sweater. So of course this came into our heads. 

And a beautiful idea was born. We are now cross-armed opposites.

This guy!

SO, then we arrived in Dingle finally and got to spend the weekend hanging out in the town and looking at local historical sites and beaches. We got lucky and had some very pretty sun, even if it was a little windy. 

Great Blasket Island

 We went to visit the Blasket Island historical center. This island was once the home to a small fishing village. However, too many people moved off of the island, leaving only the elderly and it was evacuated by the government because the community could not be sustained any longer. The center we visited has the history of the island and the people who lived on it.

 On our way to the beach! We stopped to take a look at the view.

 We visited this beach as one of our stops. It was the nicest beach we have been to so far.

As we were there the tide was beginning to come in and the waves got pretty big. There were surfers out in the water even though it was freezing cold. It was so nice to be able to walk around in the water though. Here are some more pictures of the beach.

The next day on our way back to Galway we made a few more stops to visit historic sites and see more of Dingle.

By the time we got to the last church we visited, we were all pretty tired and it was beginning to get cold. While going through my camera I realized I forgot to take a picture of the entire church, so here is my shadow on the church, :) I hope that is enough. 

Well my next post is coming shortly. It is going to be one about Galway and the places I go and the things I do in the city that I will be living in for the next three months. I can't believe 2 months have already gone by, it seems to be going by way too quickly. Well until next time, here is a parting picture that I hope will make you laugh!

not again!

Upcoming posts:
Galway!
Northern Ireland
A Cappella Soc!