Paddywagon Tour- West/South Ireland

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Dublin, Ireland

We got to spend a couple of days in Dublin and it was a big contrast obviously from Northern Ireland. I love how much spirit and pride that Irish people have. They know what their culture is and even embrace the parts of it that others my scrutinize about. We spent our first day in Dublin walking around a lot. We ate a picnic lunch at Stephen's Green, which was a really beautiful park. The weather was so nice that the park was fun of sun bathers, and students of all sorts soaking up the sun. 

We walked through Dublin, stopping at the places that offered free entertainment or something to see. It was a bit eerie to walk into Dublin Castle and see no one on one hold side of it, so we took advantage with some fun photo ops. Must admit...wasn't feeling the jumping but with some persuasion, I joined in. Sometimes its easier for me to stay behind the camera.

As part of our tours we got to go into the Guinness factory that was started way back in the early 1800's. It was really interesting, but I am NOT a fan of Guinness. I know people either love or hate it and I am a hater. We got a free pint, but I opted out for a soda.

I spent some time alone walking around at night taking pictures. I get weird looks, but I really like setting up my tripod and trying to capture the colors. This is a pedestrian bridge that was going to get torn down but the people of Dublin really loved it and fought for it to stay up so they restored it and put it back up.  

This is the very popular and famous Temple Bar. It's not just one bar, but is the whole area. It is full of lots of pubs and nightlife. We had plans to go to a pub, but the night that we were wanting to go happened to be Good Friday and the Catholics in Ireland were very serious about shutting the places that served alcohol. But they opened them again at midnight of the same day. 

Kilkenny and Glendalough

Because we stayed at Paddy's Palace we got to go on one of their tours for free. This tour took us to Glendalough, the sight where P.S. I love you was filmed and then to Kilkenny. On the way we passed the famous fields where Braveheart was filmed. We really enjoyed this glimpse into the beauty of Ireland. We went of a walk from this lake to the ruins of a monastery that used to be in the valley. 

This tower is what is left of the monastery that used to be in this valley. This was one of the first monasteries in Ireland and it was founded by Monk Kevin. This tower helped aid in saving people during the attacks by the Vikings.

We ate lunch at Kilkenny castle...no big deal!

The streets of Kilkenny. 

Northern Ireland- north of Belfast

We took a day tour trip north of Belfast to Giants Causeway and a few other places. It was nice to get out into the country of Northern Ireland and see it's beauty. Giant's Causeway was formed by multiple volcanos millions of years ago, but it is more fun to believe in the legends that they tell you. We were so lucky to have absolutely amazing, uncharacteristically sunny weather for the entire time we were in Northern Ireland.  We took a packed lunch and had a lovely picnic on the weird rock formations. Such a lovely day!

One of the Giant's Causeway legends:

Finn Mac Cool, an Irish Giant lived on an Antrim headland and one day when going about his daily business a Scottish Giant named Fingal began to shout insults and hurl abuse from across the channel. In anger Finn lifted a clod of earth and threw it at the giant as a challenge, the earth landed in the sea.
Fingal retaliated with a rock thrown back at Finn and shouted that Finn was lucky that he wasn't a strong swimmer or he would have made sure he could never fight again.
Finn was enraged and began lifting huge clumps of earth from the shore, throwing them so as to make a pathway for the Scottish giant to come and face him. However by the time he finished making the crossing he had not slept for a week and so instead devised a cunning plan to fool the Scot.
Finn diguised himself as a baby in a cot and when his adversary came to face him Finn's wife told the Giant that Finn was away but showed him his son sleeping in the cradle. The Scottish giant became apprehensive, for if the son was so huge, what size would the father be?
In his haste to escape Fingal sped back along the causeway Finn had built, tearing it up as he went. He is said to have fled to a cave on Staffa which is to this day named 'Fingal's Cave'.

This is one of Finn's boots. This is how they know how tall he was! :)

We had a photo stop for this castle. 13th century Dunluce Castle

I think that my favorite stop of the tour was the Carrick-a-rede Rope Bridge. This bridge was build many a moons ago by salmon fisherman. Apparently they needed to get over to the island to get the salmon. It hung about 25 meters above sea level and waved and bounced in the wind as you cross. The island really created a good view and I wish that we could have spent more time there exploring the area. 

This picture was taken on the island that you had to cross the bridge to get to. 

God's creation is absolutely amazing. It's fun to sit in wonder...

I guess I won't be bungy jumping over here, so I needed something a little daring to do!

Belfast, Northern Ireland

Our Ireland adventure has begun...First stop- Belfast, Northern Ireland. Tim, our MMN guy (not sure what his title is to us) who is absolutely amazing helpful, picked us up at the airport- even with his sore neck! He took us back into Belfast and gave us a quick driving tour and took us over to Peter and Jenna's house. Peter and Jenna are Mennonites serving in Belfast, but unlike our 1 year commitment, they are serving there for 2 years. 

Belfast is a really interesting city and in fact all of Northern Ireland hit me by surprise. I was not aware of all of the problems that were there. There is a history there that isn't that old of a lot of violence between the Catholics and the Protestants. There is still a lot of division there, but we heard that it has changed and there is an effort there to be peaceful. It was interesting when Tim told us on the drive in that there would be a bomb go off while we were in the country. That was a bit intimidating to hear. He also drove us by the police station, which was an incredible sight. It looked like a fortified prison because the police are often the targets... 

This was on the building close to where we were staying. It is basically showing whose "turf" your entering... Messages of intimidation. There were lots of ways to mark territory...

In a short explanation of what I understand, England (Queen Elizabeth 1) planted a lot of protestants into the north of Ireland, which started the 400 year conflict. This created the two sides, Irish Catholics and Anglo Protestants. When Irish was fighting for its independence and was granted freedom, the top four counties of Ireland (Northern Ireland) were not released because that is where most of the Protestants were still living generations later. So, 40% of the population were Irish Catholics that still wanted freedom and the rest were people very much O.K. with being part of the United Kingdom. 

In the 60's and 70's there were a lot of protests, shootings, and bombs around town. The neighborhoods are still split Catholic and Protestant and the kids still go to either a Catholic private school or a Protestant school. We learned the the United Kingdom is spending a lot of money supporting this division by busing kids to the appropriate school. 40 foot walls have been build through neighborhoods to separate the two groups, and checkpoints used to function. 

 Peter and Jenna took us on a 7 mile walk around Belfast that took us through the residential areas. We got to go on both sides of the wall and kind of look at the differences between the two.

Standing at the base of the wall on the Protestant side.
We got to write our own message of peace on it. 

This was another mural that they had. I found this one very creepy because the gun follows you where ever you go.  Alot of the murals that were once violent like this one have been covered up with different things that promote the unity of Belfast and the pride that they have. 

This is a "bleeding heart". We found it in the Botanical gardens in Belfast. I thought that it was fitting for a white (peace) bleeding heart to be growing there with all of the violence that has happened and the innocent lives lost.

Poem found of the "peace wall":

Belfast is really fun

No more killing

No more guns

We're loud, we're proud

A generous crowd

Of motorbikes at traffic lights

Cars outside bars

Cleaners and cops,

And sweetie shops

Building sites, lamppost lights

Churches and trees

Dogs with fleas

On the Shankill Road

You'll find a friend

We hope the peace will never end. 

25 things I learned before turning 25...

Today is my birthday and yes, it is the big 2-5! I guess now that I am old, I need to share some wisdom that I have learned along the way. I know I have sooooo much more to learn and look forward to it, but here are 25 things that I have figured out...

1) God is love, and love is of God.
2) Real friend stick around in my life...
3) High school WAS cool and it CAN be missed!
4) Kansas does have some advantages...
5) You may have a plan, but if it's not God's plan, it ain't happening...
6) Ain't ain't a word and you ain't suppose to say it!
7) The tooth fairy isn't real...but fairies in Ireland- ARE
8) You can't always get what you want...
9) Life is like a box of chocolates- you never know what you're gonna get...
10) I tend to surgically keyloid scar in life.
11) Crumpets are the bomb diggity!
12) Home is where the heart is.
13) Standing up in a canoe gives you the possibility of capsizing...
14) Learned how to play "Don't drop your pants"- not as bad as it sounds...
15) My grandma makes my favorite zweiback.
16) Don't eat yellow snow...
17) traveling will hopefully always be part of my life!
18) never brush your teeth and then drink orange juice.
19) The Ball Drop in New York only needs to be done once...
20) As much as I try, I will never like cucumbers.
21) I will always look forward to my yearly verenika.
22) You can make playdough with clotted cream. (or at least a mixture that is fun to play with)
23) The sun can really help make you happy.
24) Fingernail polish will never get to stay on my nails because my nails suffocate and are way to heavy...
25) Turning 25 is not that bad! I've really enjoyed the first 25 years of my life. I've learned heaps and loved how I've spent my time immensly. I look forward to the adventures of the next 25 years!