I suppose that along with flowers and mountains and rain, I am also partial to waterfalls.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Newgrange
Newgrange. A megalithic passage tomb. It rather reminds me of a giant hobbit hole. From the outside at least.
Inside it's a bit different. It's cool and feels like the cave that it is. On the winter solstice the sun shines through an opening above the door and illuminates a beam through the passageway.
The light only lasts seventeen minutes. I wonder how the ancient builders figured out how to place the stones in exactly the right place.
The building of the tomb must've taken more than a generation. Do people now - in these days of instant gratification - have the patience to embark on a project like that?
Oh and by the way, that was the most yellow flowers in one place that I've ever seen in my life. And take note of the little hobbit hole in the middle of the field.
Cable? How quaint.
The only internet access I had in Ireland was through this broadband cable in the hotel room. I think I am spoiled with wireless for a cable seems quite quaint and I wasn't sure where to stick it into the laptop.
I should be happy there was a cable in the hotel though. Internet cafes seemed to close around six and most of my websurfing was done after ten.
No running!
It seemed that the Muckross gardens were very precise and well kept. Everything in its place.
Thus they shudder at the thought of soccer balls bouncing around their perfectly manicured lawns.
Shame. The lawns were perfect, absolutely perfect for capture the flag. But I have the feeling running people are looked upon with the same favor as soccer players.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Just keep climbing
On the way over Sally Gap in the Wicklow Mountains, we saw a bunch of cars parked by the side of the road next to a trail. So we got out and decided to climb the mountain. (strangely enough, one of the cars was a taxi, I have no idea what a taxi was doing in the middle of the mountains.)
We climbed to the top and found a bog. A bog on top of a mountain.
Then we climbed back down again. We never saw any other people even though there were at least four cars. We think there was the possibility of a bog monster.
We drove on and in the parking lot of the Gelndalough visitor's center we looked up at the mountainside. Picked the highest place we could see and joked that we weren't going to climb up to there. (observe the scattering of trees on the high hillside)
So we explored the ruins of the monk's habitations . . .
and stayed on the civilized paths down in the valley. (observe the high up trees again)
We walked on a paved trail and took pictures of the lake.
But somehow we were lured away from the lake shore. We ended up climbing again. We couldn't help it when the mystical forest path presented itself (click link to see pictures). We saw deer. We climbed above the lake and took more pictures.
And do those trees look familiar? We didn't climb to the spot we had joked about, but we climbed just as high and possibly a bit further.
Where we said we wouldn't climb.
Where we ended up.
What can I say? Hiking up mountains is just so much fun.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
