Wales and Ireland

 We started off at the port in Liverpool, England but our excursion took us to Wales.  We saw lovely countryside on our way to Conwy Castle.  We had a lot of free time on this excursion – we stopped for a pastry and coffee, walked around the town wall and had a peek in some shops.


The seagulls were huge….


This is Llewellyn at Griffin.  I cannot remember why he is interesting.  The tour guide we had said 1,000,000 words but it was all too much and I could not focus.  I will have to rely on Wikipedia to figure it out later. LOL

Lots of great Castle shots.



The Welch flag~



We had a very nice lunch at Betws-y-Coed and walked around a bit.  It was nice to stretch the legs after quite some time on the bus.  We saw an old church and cemetery - don't know where the pictures ended up ... oh well!

The next day was Dublin.  We again went by coach on a quick tour of Dublin – I don’t have many pictures because looking out the bus is not great for pictures.  My impression is that Dublin is a great town to visit and walk around in.  There is a lot of history and some beautiful buildings.  We have plans for Ireland/Scotland on our “list”.

The stop on this tour was Glendalough monastic site.  It was founded by St. Kellen prior to 1200.  The Cathedral was built around 1200.

Here are some pictures….

This is a Celtic "high cross". It would have had carvings to tell the story of Jesus Christ.  Basically this is the fore-runner of stained glass windows, which tell the story of Christianity.

Yesterday was Cork, Ireland.  If you believe Ancestry.com I have 42% of my DNA from that area of the world. This ends up being a bit backwards so bear with me....

 Back in Cobh (the port town) we walked around a bit and saw the Cathedral.

This is a statue of a girl named Mary and her two younger brothers.  They left Ireland for the US during the famine.  She was the first person to immigrate through Ellis Island in NYC.

The memorial to those lost in the torpedoing of the Lusitania – if you remember your history, this is the passenger ship that was torpedoed by a German U-boat (after leaving Cobh) that brought the US into WW1.


We actually started with a tour to Blarney Castle.



Of course, I got into trouble... it cost me MANY kisses to be freed!


I found the library!

The grounds around the castle were gorgeous; super-lush and green.

Blarney home


Today we go to Portland, England.  Carsten and I have a tour to a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  It involves a bit of walking … that will be nice!

Take care – see you in Texas soon!

 

Sheri & Carsten











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