Beautiful Ireland!!

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Driving the back roads of Ireland, I do wonder how many shades of green this country has. It is a beautiful day, blue skies in the midst of some minor rain showers, which just makes the greens look even more vibrant. We have had a wonderful trip so far, this time sharing it with lots of family members.



The trip actually starts in Boston as we celebrate Ed's Dad's 94th birthday. It is a multi day occasion, beginning with a family picnic and ending with a delicious Italian dinner in the North End with Fred Balboni.



Then it is on to Ireland where we meet 5 of my brothers with spouses, and my cousin Rosemary for the first 4 days. Staying at Scholars in Drogheda, where three of my brothers have been frequent guests, we are warmly greeted as family by the owners, Martin and his lovely wife Trisha. Scholars, is is a former monastery for the Christian brothers and built in the mid 1800s. It is now an amazing bnb, remodeled by Martin in 2005 and filled with an amazing collection of family crests, portraits, and lots of misc knick knacks.



All of us thoroughly enjoy our stay there. The town is relatively small and easy to get around. We spend one day out in the countryside, seeing 'castles, bones and churches', as my brother Pat described it. Then it is down to Malahide, a lovely seaside resort about 30 minutes east of Dublin.



We continue to explore the countryside, including Newgrange, a UNESCO world heritage site, a 5000 yr old passage stone tomb with a winter solstice illumination. It is a large mound in the middle of rolling farmland where large engraved curbstones circle the outside of the mound. Inside they project a light out to show how at winter solstice, the light shines into the very center of the mound. The days consist of great sites, food and memories!



We then say goodbye to everyone, pick up Patti and Doug and drive North to Belfast, enjoying two days of gorgeous scenery including The Giants Causeway, the Rope Bridge and lots and lots of sheep. We are now in Dublin completing our Irish tour, as tomorrow we fly to Oslo for 10 days of exploring Norway.

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Photos

Mellifont Abbey
Ed, Pat, Pam Molly and Rosemary

Fred Balboni
Delicious Italian dinner in N End of Boston

Comments

[Connie O'Malley]

Tis True!
Thank you for the beautiful pictures! We'll be going next July! Can't wait! We were blessed and made it through Irma unscathed.