21 July Tuesday
Suzanne and her family were nowhere to be seen as we left her home about 10:00 a.m. The entire Air B&B system amazes me still. Strangers in your home when the owner isn't home. Wierd. But, the owner does have the right to refuse people. And, as an Air B&B traveler, we not only give reviews about our hosts, but they review us as well. So far we've fooled them all and have gotten great reviews!
Our first stop, again, Caffè Nero, for our latte and our mocha, paired today with porridge for me and yogurt for Mackenzie. Okay, okay, we did split a chocolate croissant. And, now it was time to head for Dublin with only one stop in mind...The Boyne Valley in County Meath Ireland, where we were to visit #Newgrange and #Knowth.
Newgrange is a Stone Age monument in the Boyne Valley, County Meath, Ireland. Newgrange was constructed over 5,000 years ago (about 3,200 B.C.) during the Neolithic period, which makes it older than Stonehenge and Great Pyramids of Giza. Newgrange is a large circular mound with a stone passageway and chambers inside. The mound is ringed by 97 large kerbstones.
Source: http://www.newgrange.com
Newgrange and Knowth...also an ancient mound were high on my list...another Pompeii dream. Just think, I would get to stand in an underground mound that was build with huge boulders, much like the Navajo Hogans are built with wood...but with BOUDLERS! And, I haven't been to the Giza Pryamids, but these mounds were EVEN OLDER! Mackenzie was just as excited as I!
We got to the Bru na Boinne visitor center around 12:45. The only way to gain access to these mounds are through the visitor center and via a bus and then a tour. The next tour for Knowth was at 3:15 and then for Newgrange at 4:45! We didn't care, we really wanted to visit so we toured the exhibition to gain a little more knowledge and then sat down for a salad. That's where we lost our minds and totally forgot that a 'salad' in Ireland doesn't involve lettuce. Our 'salad' consisted of peas, potatoes, beets, and couscous. We were so dissapointed and literally our bodies were saying "Stop putting all of this meat, potatoes, bread and butter into me!" I'm getting my bloodwork done on Friday and I am going to have to apologize to my onocologist in advance! Good thing we are grabbing healthy foods during the day from the grocery stores!
Our bellies full of salad and coffee, we set out on the bus for our tours...first Knowth and then Newgrange. Going through that small area to the center of the mound was mind blowing and I felt like a 10 year old...I think all of the adults did. All I could think was...my nephews Nate and Josh would LOVE this and Madeleine would want to draw it! The carvings and art work on the stones were fascinating. Look it up if you want to know more. But seriously, they are older than the pyramids by 500 years and older than Stonehenge by 1000 years...and I thought Stonehenge was amazing! At Newgrange there is the famous triple circular symbol that is found only at Newgrange and only in two places...one outside the dome and one inside, behind a rock...Mackenzie touched that one...there was no sign that said not to! This dome is famous because in December for 6 days, at sunrise, the light reaches into the darkest recesses for the interior! But, in the year 2000...the light did not shine! Creepy!
Time to move on. The weather had been good, just a little drizzly, but good. We made it to our Dublin B&B, The College House, that sits right across from St. Patrick's Cathedral and we headed out to Fagan's for a salad (honestly we did). We ordered Caesar Salads, the only salad on the menu, one with Salmon and one with Chicken. We sipped on an O'Hara's pale ale while we waited, and waited, for our salads...50 minutes! And, they looked like piles of chicken and salmon with about 10 romaine leaves underneath. In truth, they were delicious!
We were craving chocolate after all of that healthy food so we we went into the local grocery store that was infested with the local college kids choosing their midnight snacks and then headed back to our B&B. Then, we discovered that we could download the BACHELORETTE! So we did and watched to episodes while overdosing on chocolate...and with only 4 miles walking today!
Time for bed...ready for our last day in Ireland.
Peace from Dublin,
The Traveling Women
Tip of the Day: As your holiday comes to an end...thoughts of all the stuff you have to do at home begin to invade your consciousness...don't let it!!!!
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