Hello from IRELAND!

We are starting our second week in Ireland and are having such a great time!  Gary is busy working away while I am touring the city...doing it alone isn't my ideal way of seeing the country but it's my only option so I'll take it :o).  Here are a few of the pics I've taken so far.  I've gone all over Dublin, up the North Coast and we made it to London this past weekend.  So busy in the first week but we are just getting started!  There will be more to follow so keep checking back.



Some of the beautiful country of Ireland




This is my best friend while in Dublin...The Hop on Hop off Bus is directly across the street from our hotel which is VERY nice!



This is Merrion Square which is about a block away from our hotel...they have beautiful parks.  They are all gated and close 30 minutes before dark.



I couldn't help but take a picture of this tree.  What an amazing looking tree.  It is in Merrion Square and that is the true color of the tree.  Amazing!



Merrion Square

Yep me in Merrion Square.  This is how all my days are spent...alone.  Until about 5:30pm then Gary is back from work are we wander around the city at night!

THE St Patrick's Cathedral.  Beautiful!

Christ's Church

Definitely a tour to do if you are ever in Dublin.  This is Kilmainham Gaol (Jail).  The history is amazing and the building is FREEZING!  It was built out of limestone which does not retain heat.  It was about 36 degrees outside and inside the Gaol(jail) it was easily 10 degrees lower.  Back in the 1800's when the jail was in use, the prisoners only had the rags they wore and a thin blanket.  I was freezing and was layered up pretty good.  Years later they installed gas heat but only ran it one hour a day. They were also given a candle that was to last them 2 weeks.  If it ran out then they were just out of luck.  And the sad part is, they had prisoner's as young as 5 yrs old in there (for stealing a metal rod).  They meant business back then!  Also there was so much poverty that people would purposely do wrong to be thrown in jail because they were guaranteed 3 meals a day there.  Outside in the city they were starving.  Such sad history but very interesting!

This is the stone yard.  The prisoners weren't allowed to speak and were confined to their cells 22 hours a day.  The other 2 hours were spent here in the stone yard where they broke apart stone - in silence of course.

The stone yard was also the location of multiple hangings.  They weren't very good at hanging since they couldn't get the ropes right.  Some were too short and would slowly strangle the prisoner and some were too long which would cut their heads clean off!  They also did firing squads out here as well.

St. Stephens Green.  This is a large park directly across the street from our hotel.  Even with the cold weather there are always numerous people sitting and walking in the park.

Here is the President of Ireland's home.  Unlike our president, he doesn't get involved in politically affairs.  Only matters pertaining to the state.  So he basically has it pretty easy :o)

I did a tour of North Dublin County...the drive was just beautiful!  Here is a castle we stopped it.  It is called Malahide Castle.  The family lived in this particular castle for more then 700 years.  That's amazing to be able to keep it in the family that long!  It has since been donated as a monument.

Some of the grounds of Malahide Castle

North Coast of Ireland

In the distance you can see "hills", they call them mountains...but that is where you can find homes of Bono from U2, Enya and etc...VERY expensive area.  Of course I want to go over there but they don't permit tour buses out there.  I wonder why?  Probably because of people like me :o)

North Coast

I was so excited when I saw a glimpse of the SUN!  It is rare to see it in Ireland (well at least this time of year).  It lasted maybe 2 minutes...oh well.

More amazing scenery  

The homes in the city of Dublin look nothing like this.  They are all attached to at least one other home and are not as nice looking as this one.  The tour guide said that this home back in 2008 would go for a price around $1 million Euro (which equals $1.37million dollars).  Since the economy crashed this house would go for around $700,000 Euro (that comes out to be about $959,095 US dollars.)  I think I'll stick with a house in The States thank you!

That was all from my first week in Ireland...Now on the weekend we were lucky enough to hop on over the London, England.  It was only an hour flight but we were only able to really tour the city on Saturday since our flight was so late on Friday and so early on Sunday.  But here is what we were able to see...

We made it to LONDON!

Trafalgar Square

The entrance to Buckingham Palace

This is MINI BEN

BIG BEN!

Westminster Abbey

Driving on London Bridge

Behind us is the lawn where they beheaded Anne Boleyn (and others) at The Tower of London

A view from The Tower of London of London Bridge

Just a few guardsmen at The Tower of London

The Tower of London

Crazy that they beheaded people here...this is in The Tower of London.

We were exhausted Saturday night and it was bitterly cold in London (colder then Ireland) the entire day but it was well worth it!  London is an amazing city and we were only able to squeeze in one day.  We could easily spend a week there just checking it all out!  Oh well, until next time!