The Black Pool

Yesterday was an extremely long but fun day in Dublin!! We started off our day going to the Leprechaun Museum! It was actually very interesting and informative. At the beginning of the tour, the storyteller explains how leprechaun came about and how they have changed throughout the years. Leprechauns are a part of the fairies and they make fairy shoes in exchange for gold. They are very sneaky fellows but alway stay true to their word and promises. Although they enjoy the company of others, leprechauns enjoy their time to themselves too.  In Ireland, leprechauns wore brown colored clothing with red nome like hats so that they blended into the environment. Our version of leprechauns wear all green, you can thank Walt Disney for that! He produced Darby O'Gill and the Little people where the king of the leprechauns wears all green. even though the other leprechauns are dressed in the traditional garb, the green seemed to stick. 

Tale of the fairies

Modern Leprechauns  

Map of the Irish counties based on the mythical stories.

Magical tunnel as you enter into the Giants room

Giant's room!!

I'm Leprechaun sized :)

Walking through the rainbow

Found the Leprechaun's Pot of Golld

Wishing Well

After the Leprechaun Museum, we did some souvenir shopping and visited the Book of Kells. The Book of Kells is a pictorial book of the Bible that Irish Monks created after the fall of the Roman Empire to bring back the importance of Christianity in society. The book is full of elaborate pictures with amazing colors from all over the world. many of these books still exist, but the Book of Kells is said to be in the best condition. 

We then meet up for a quick tour of Dublin.

Roman soldier "protecting" the people-- the Irish are represented by the lion-- small, weak, and insignificant

Lady Liberty-- facing the rulers with a tipped scale

Entrance to Dublin Castle 

Tower-- oldest part of the castle dates back to the 1000s

"In Dublin we just add random eras of architecture together"

Coach House

Helicopter pad/ where the Liffey and Dodder meet and created a black pool (under the now helicopter pad). 

The back of the buildings were painted bright colors to remind people that Dublin is a seaside town, despite they are continually trying to push the water back.

Dublin Castle

Christ Church-- Protestant Church

Outline of what an old Viking Village looked like The two rectangles on the edges are beds where 10+ people would sleep. The small rectangle is where the fire would be

Better View of Christ Church

Temple Bar-- named after the term Sandbar. This area was originally a sandbar before the water was pushed back. It is now a cultural and Creative Quarter. A law was made that does not allow chain restaurants, stores, or merchandise to take part in the square

Rory Gallagher's Guitar-- according to Jimi Hendrix he is the best guitarist in the world

The statue in the back is Daniel O'Connell. He was a lawyer who fought for Catholic rights. He is most known for his creation of the filibuster!

The flag of Dublin. The top is three castles and the bottom is the national symbol of Ireland. This happens to be a harp which is also the logo for Guinness. When Ireland became a country they had to ask Guinness to use the symbol. They agreed that they would both use it and have them face opposite directions. 

Trinity College

Luck of the Irish

Today we took a day long tour to the Cliffs of Moher. We started off our journey at Paddy's Palace where we met our coach and driver, Matt. Matt was super nice and entertaining, he even claimed to speak many languages. His main one being sarcasm. We hopped on the bus and after a quick coffee stop we were on our way to our first destination. Before arriving Matt gave us a brief history of Ireland. "First their were dinosaurs, then an Ice Age, next came the squirrels looking for nuts, and that is how Ireland came about." Matt later went into more detail and to explain about the Celtics and eventually the Vikings invading before the British gained rule (and lost it). He also briefly went over the Irish famine as we passed many "famine sites" where stone graves and ruins still stand. 

Our first stop was Belfast, a quaint fishing town with a beautiful view. 

My first of many pictures living on the edge :)

Our next stop were the baby cliffs. From these cliffs you can see the Cliffs of Moher. Though it was much more fun climbing up the rocks further to see the incredible and beautiful blue water. 

We made it to lunch before all the other tour buses which was wonderful because the town we stopped in right before the cliffs had a total of like 5 restaurants and a souvenir shop. I'm pretty sure that their entire industry is tourism and no one actually lives there. We did however finally get to try some Irish potatoes, in crisp form, which were quite delectable!! We also got to see some awesome sheep which of course were my favorite :)

We finally made it to the cliffs which were amazing! During the summer over 10,000  people a day visit the cliffs. In the off season like today that number is much lower at around 2,000. You can walk for what seems like miles in each direction. After a while it becomes private property but you are still able to keep walking there is just no longer a nice path. We walked about half a mile in each direction before having to head back down to the coach for our last stop!

Our last stop was Bunratty Castle and drum roll please...... The ORIGINAL Durty Nelly's. This may not mean much to anyone outside my family but it is our favorite place to go before dinner the day after Thanksgiving and Easter! I got super excited and may have scared all the people we were sitting near!! 

On our way back to Dublin we passed President Obama's ancestral village where he met his 8th cousin when he came to visit. The town if 200 then named like half the buildings and landmarks after him. He is also picture on many signs along the highway, one being for Guinness beer which he drank on his visit.

Once we got back to Dublin we headed out to find a good meal for dinner. We ended up caving and going to Hard Rock Cafe since we were craving not only American food but something edible and filling too. We are off to bed after a wonderful day in Ireland and prepping for our last day here tomorrow!

Fun Facts about Ireland

- If something went wrong it was probably from fairies

- Ireland never went through an industrial revolution, in the 1970s, 90% of industry was agriculture

- Hookers are actually small fishing boats

- Irish Coffee and Duty Free stores were both created at the Shannon Airport outside Limerick

- It is very hard to understand the Irish accent, all of their t's and th's sound like f's

- Grass grows 365 days a year so all meat is grass feed, not only is it healthier for the animals, but according to our guide it tastes better (I would not know)

- Ireland use to be under water, the extreme tides and erosion create huge cliffs along the now rocky country-- natives refer to the island as the rock

- The national language is Irish

- There is lots of rock all over the country, most being beautiful limestone

- The tallest building in Dublin is the second tallest building in Ireland standing at 15 stories. According to our driver it is being taken down as it is too tall.

More picture to come when we get back to Oxford and I can plug in my camera!!

Life is Better Living on the Edge

Okay so life is not actually that much better living on the edge for Sally and I. At least not when you are trying to make your flight to Dublin. And you arrive at the airport promptly 10 minutes before you you flight is suppose to board.

Boarding from both sides of the plane so efficient!! 

We hit some bad luck today as it took us over 2 hours to get to London and another 40 minutes to get to the train that goes to the airport. But we made it! Thankfully security is a breeze here and our flight was delayed due to rain. Not to mention we are both former track athletes and ran to our gate (which happened to be the furthest one). But we are here!!!!

Obviously a sign we were supposed to go to Ireland

Dublin is a bit different than we expected so far. I expected it to be more like London with a lot to do at night but it seems to be the opposite, at least the part we are in. It is much more like Oxford in that it is a touristy area where the shops close early. We did find a pub and grabbed some food before deciding to head back to the hostel to read and get some rest before the Cliffs of Moher.

Come with me and you'll be In a world of pure imagination

Another wonderful, beautiful day in London! Today was yet another adventure exploring the hidden beauty of London. We started the day walking from Victoria Station and through Buckingham Palace, St. James Park, and up to Leicester Square.

The Royal flag is flying!!!

No more guys in furry black hats!

We almost got attacked by geese, ducks, swans, pigeons, crow, and squirrels. Why you should never feed the wild animals.

After finding a Pub for some food and stumbling upon the Haagen-dazs Cafe we were off to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory!

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was stupendous! It was very close to the remake movie and the book. It was so captivating watching the amazing technological effects that they were able to pull off, I also really loved the Oompa Loompas. I still cannot figure out how they pulled off the normal sized people playing the Oompa Loompas in some of the scenes!! If you ever find yourself in London, I definitely recommend going to see it! Although it may be aimed towards younger ages, it is even funnier if you are older and understand some of the jokes!

Have No Fear We Are Actually Learning Something Here!

Today I was able to go to one of the British Primary Schools to observe a Year 5 (4th grade) class. In many ways the school was very similar to schools in the US but it was also very different. The school we were out is the school that my American professor's kids are attending for the term. The school is supposedly a lower income school. It very much like a Title 1 school in that the teachers are mostly very young, they also spend a lot of time and effort into making sure the students have a good experience with school. 

The school is a newer building full of colorful furniture, pictures, and bulletin boards. It is split up into wings by age much like American Elementary Schools. There are however many small alcoves, including a library, throughout the hallways that are much more open than you would see in American Schools.

We got to school around the time it started and the students had begun independent reading for a short amount of time before switching classrooms for spelling. Spelling is very different here than in the US. The students were not practicing words off a list, they were learning about split digraphs. For those of you who are like me and have no idea what they are, they are a series of vowel, consonant, e where the vowel sound changes. For example, maze, cave, trombone... Instead of studying words and learning the spellings, the students had to come up with words by using the walls, Roald Dahl books, and dictionaries. 

Next was Literature time. During literature the class was learning about Mt. Vesuvius and the short timeline. The students were to make up "steps" or moves to remember the facts about Vesuvius with a partner and memorize them before presenting them in front of the class. This is very different than American Schools. The students were constantly moving around and putting motions to what they learned. I definitely think I will take some of these ideas for my future classroom!

After the students were given a 20 minute outside break it was time for math. It surprised me that the students were working on times tables still. Many of the students were still working on 2s or 3s which was weird since in the US students learn these much early. It was very obvious that there was a much bigger emphasis on literature and arts in the English School and a much bigger emphasis on Math and factual information in the US.

While I was helping out with math one of the students finally worked up the courage to ask me if I was American. When I replied with yes they all got extremely excited! They had lots of opinions to tell me and it was very entertaining. On boy told me that he did not like America because a lot of people die... from sharks. (Even though I told him this was not true he would not believe me). Another boy told me that Americans were weird because they have different accents. Though the boy I was sitting next to told me that he liked Americans! The two girls at the table were probably the most entertaining; one informed me that her family was from "a city called Idaho in America." The other was arguing with one of the boys on whether or not I sounded American (she thought I did not). The best though was probably when I informed them I was from DC (and explained that it was the capital of the US where the President lives) was the best reaction! They all got so excited that I lived where Obama lived! It was also very cute that they kept saying America and got confused if I said the US or United States! 

All in all it was an amazing experience and I can't wait to go back!!