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Background: Celtic tribes arrived on the island between 600-150 B.C. Invasions by Norsemen that began in the late 8th century were finally ended when King Brian BORU defeated the Danes in 1014. English invasions began in the 12th century and set off more than seven centuries of Anglo-Irish struggle marked by fierce rebellions and harsh repressions. A failed 1916 Easter Monday Rebellion touched off several years of guerrilla warfare that in 1921 resulted in independence from the UK for 26 southern counties; six northern (Ulster) counties remained part of the United Kingdom. In 1948 Ireland withdrew from the British Commonwealth; it joined the European Community in 1973. Irish governments have sought the peaceful unification of Ireland and have cooperated with Britain against terrorist groups. A peace settlement for Northern Ireland, known as the Good Friday Agreement and approved in 1998, is being implemented with some difficulties.

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By jstk2008
August 10th 2008

Ireland 2008

Europe » Ireland » County Dublin » Dublin

Blarney Castle
Easily the tallest castle we saw

Thursday we went to Mitchelstown Caves, a cave system discovered in 1883. There are some incredible formations down there. Unfortunately, it's a private system and they don't allow any photographs. Following that we went on to see Cahir Castle, it was also pretty impressive. Certainly the largest castle we have seen. Then, on the way home we stopped at "The Rock of Cashel", which is a huge church built on the top of this rock mound. The oldest structure on site is a round tower built in 1101. Yesterday, Taelyr and I went down to see the Blarney Castle and to [View Full Entry]

By Dr Jon
August 6th 2008

Bloom in Night-Town

Europe » Ireland » County Dublin » Dublin

Stalag 17
I snapped this photo of my hostel room in Dublin after the girls left.

Rescued! Things were looking up for me. I had arrived in Dublin the night before. The cheapest sleeping arrangement I could find—at $50 per night-- was to share a long narrow room in a hostel with four girls my daughter's age. The bathroom was so tiny that it was necessary to step out of the shower to turn around. The next morning I left before the girls woke up so as to avoid any "awkward moments." Due to an unforeseen bank holiday, everything was closed, so I ended up sitting on a park bench contemplating the difference between being homeless and [View Full Entry]

By NicoleMo
August 2nd 2008

Other things I've been up to

Europe » Ireland » County Dublin » Dublin

While drinking pints and wandering around lost have been two of my top pasttimes while in Dublin this trip, there's been quite a lot else going on as well. More than anything else, I've spent a lot of quality time at home and in the city with Lynnsie, Cara, and Donal, as well as with Kiri and Brian. I have to say, it is quite a pleasure to have a real home to go to every night-actually, two homes-I've been splitting my time between Lynns's and Kiri's. It makes a foreign country a lot less foreign, and I'm sooo thankful to [View Full Entry]

By NicoleMo
August 2nd 2008

Lessons for this week...

Europe » Ireland » County Dublin » Dublin

Everytime you travel somewhere new, there's a certain settling in period where you figure out the quirks of getting around the city. Since I didn't make it off Grafton Street for the first 5 days, I of course spent most of the 6th day wandering around lost (not a big surprise to those of you who know me well). Now, if you are planning to head over to Ireland, there are a couple of things that you'll find useful knowing ahead of time. First off, Dublin is not a friendly place for directionally challenged people who don't have an inner compass [View Full Entry]

By NicoleMo
July 26th 2008

Land of Leprechauns

Europe » Ireland » County Dublin » Dublin

Over the past 5 days, I participated in a creativity workshop- read: 3 hours a day of lying on the floor with 23 other adults, color pencils, glue sticks, scissors and a variety of objects flying as we visualized, wrote, drew, made up stories, and, in short, tapped into aspects of play and imagination that we abandoned after about 8 years of age. While there were a couple oversights (poor teaching practice on the part of the instructors- probably only really bothering the 15 or so educators in the room), the course was mentally invigorating and well worth the time [View Full Entry]

By pintobean97
July 25th 2008

Runs in with the Law

Europe » Ireland » County Dublin » Dublin

Protestant Side of Belfast

After a night filled with the sounds of street noise and drunks, we got ourselves up and ready. At this point, I think we need to address a common issue that we have seen in Ireland. Leprechaun showers! Most of the B&B’s that we have stayed in have had these types of showers. A leprechaun shower in very small and typically does not allow you to turn around or bend once inside. This takes a little practice, and I think we have all mastered the technique at this point in the trip. The only problem is if you drop the soap…basically [View Full Entry]

By londoncallingleah
July 24th 2008

The Rocky Road to Dublin

Europe » Ireland » County Dublin » Dublin

Travel Mates
YAY! My awesome travel mates, Jessica and Hayley. Here we are on a bridge over the Liffey River

As soon as we arrived in London and got the program schedule, everyone quickly scanned the packet to see when our free weekends were. Turns out we had three full free weekends, right in a row, all in July. Groups formed, maps were looked at, hostels were booked, plane and train tickets were purchased. My flat mates Jessica, Hayley and I decided to spend our first free weekend in Dublin, Ireland. I had never been before and was really keen on setting forth to explore some more new territory. Prior to this trip, the most Irish experience I'd ever had was [View Full Entry]

By Mmirag
July 22nd 2008

Dublin

Europe » Ireland » County Dublin » Dublin

Wow, never thought I would like Dublin so much, but it may have moved to the top of my favorite cities list. The Temple Bar District at least is so much fun. Of course I love the pub culture with the great food and good beer. We have been to Trinity College today and St. Stephen's Green and off to the Guinness Sorehouse in a bit, but such culture here. . .anyway, short time on the computer, but just wanted to send an update. Staying at Barnacles Temple Bar House and it is great too. Met lots of poeple night one [View Full Entry]

By lizzyk1987
July 20th 2008

Wow, it's been a long time since I put in an entry

Europe » Ireland » County Dublin » Dublin

Well, out week in London was busy and relatively fun-filled other than the stanky bathrooms in the hostel. I had to pay $2.00 per half-hour for internet, so that's why I haven't updated in so long. So here we are in inner city Dublin. We're all staying in one large 24-person room with 12 bunk beds. Yesterday we did a walking tour of the area around the place we're staying. Lots of cool shopping, pubs, and other things. We went pout last night to a pub and heard some live Irish music...it was loud and had quite a lack of melody [View Full Entry]

By Jay and Alex
July 19th 2008

Last Day In Ireland

Europe » Ireland » County Dublin » Dublin

Limerick
This is all I remember about Limerick. Not our favourite town that's for sure!

Well we just said goodbye to Chris and Jim yesterday in Dublin. Today we are going to head out to the Isle of Man. While they were here we went to the Guinness tour. It was great to see the source of such a fine pint of glory! (Alex's words exactly) (Jay thought it was a bit cheesy). But apparently Guinness is good for you so we had it for breakfast. We've decided we are done with Ireland for now. The ferry ride over isn't cheap so we won't exactly be island hopping. We plan on meeting up with Chris and [View Full Entry]

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