Blogs from County Wicklow, Ireland, Europe - page 3

Thur 24 April 2014, Wicklow Mountian's and Blackrock We decide to give Dublin a miss today and head out the country. We headed south to Glendalough, in the Wicklow mountain’s, a small historic village with twin lakes. Glendalough is home to one of the most important monastic sites in Ireland. This early Christian monastic settlement was founded by St. Kevin in the 6th century and from this developed a “Monastic City”. Within the historic ruin’s is the cemetery where some of the grave stones date back to 600AD and common grave stones from the 1600’s. We walked to the twin lakes and then headed back to the cars. Sean was then very keen to show us where he went to boarding school, Blackrock College is well known private school and as Sean was an “old boy” ... read more

Had a quick breakfast with Geoff & Dawn and then off to Carrick convention for the morning meeting. Geoff escorted us out of town and up the motorway to our exit. Arrived about 9:30 in time for tea before meeting. Many came up to Trev and recognized him right off after 37 years and others he recognized and once they heard his name burst into a smile and said ack sure I remember you. We sat at lunch with Earl Delaney. He and his brother John came to Canada in 1990's and stayed so it was nice to get a chin wag in with him and his mother Mary. Left Carrick and headed to Dublin to Edgar and Georgie's. Transferred to their vehicle and headed to cousin Janice & Raymond in Moira, just outside of Belfast. ... read more

Welcome to Ireland! "Why are you going to Ireland for Christmas?" "You're going by yourself?" "Ireland is pretty dangerous isn't it?" "You should be careful... isn't it going to be freezing this time of year?" - Yes, I heard all these questions and concerns and threw caution to the wind as I decided I couldn't pass up a great deal to travel to the land of faerie folk and Guinness. Anyone who questions to inadequacy of Groupon has clearly never used it in any capacity. $1200 for a 7 night stay at the Ritz Carlton, the roundtrip airfare and a rental car included is the most incredible steal. I truly was worth it in every sense of the word. Enniskerry is where the Ritz Carlton is located. Old, grandfatherly trees surround little rivers and trails on ... read more

And we are back to traveling! We headed over to the Wicklow Mountains of Interior Ireland! Those are great rolling green mountains with lakes in between them. The color of the lakes is almost a deep black due to the peat in them. They almost look like lakes of Guinness beer, which I am sure some of you wouldn't mind swimming in. My favorite lake was one in which the mountains proudly stood over with the lake deep down below. Our main stop were the lakes and ruins at Glendalough. We strolled the monastery ruins of St. Kevin's church and it's crumbling tower. The green and mist dominated everything from the mountains to the trees and ruins. The tombstones of the cemetery also had a white sheet to them making them look really ancient and worn. ... read more

Well after a hectic few weeks, my birthday appeared out of nowhere which seemed a bit scary, yet another birthday!!! The first half of the day was spent doing things like buying train tickets to Gatwick Airport (positive moves towards my great weekend ahead) and having every oddball come up to me and tell me all about their problems, their missed anniversaries and lost loved ones. They were all rather sad stories, so felt obliged to listen. I hope I helped a bit but in any case, good to know my oddball magnet was still alive and well! Making me look forward all the more to the weekend! The rest of the day was spent working, kids going a wee bit mad! Was it a full moon as well as my birthday, must check!!! Came home ... read more