What happened on Tuesday in Ireland??

We repacked our suitcases and placed them outside our door at the Trident Hotel and after breakfast we boarded the bus. 

We headed to the Rock of Cashel - or St. Patrick's Rock.

The Rock of Cashel has over 1000 years

of history.

According to old legends, the Rock of Cashel originated in the Devil's Bit, a high mountain located

20 miles from Cashel. The legend says that St. Patrick banished Satan from a cave. Satan was furious and took a bite from the high mountain and spit it where the Rock of Cashel now stands. 

It was originally built in the 5th century but most of the buildings that remain were built in

the 12th and 13th centuries.

The photos are so cool that very few words are needed.

 

The tower is the oldest structure
still standing. It dates from
12th century.

We stopped for lunch at one of those locations where there were several different food courts. I know that we were in Ireland but Mark and I ended up eating Chinese food. This normally wouldn't require any words BUT you chose the size of your "box" (medium) and then you picked your base. The choices were fried rice, noodles, or CHIPS . . .which are french fries. The locals in front of me ordered chips as their base and I decided to give it a try. So there were chips (fries) on the bottom and then I chose sesame chicken and mixed vegetables. I don't plan on making this to serve at home but it was a neat thing to try!!

After lunch, we headed to the Dublin airport because Mark and I, along with two of our new friends, had to get covid tests so that we could fly home on Thursday. This was the first covid test I've had!! The four of us were separated and put into separate "rooms." The employees administering the tests were in full hazmat gear. We were thrilled to get our results a few hour later - negative for covid.

After our tests, we drove through Phoenix Park. Phoenix Park is one of the largest enclosed parks in any capital city in Europe. It was originally formed as a hunting park in the 1600's. There are still fallow deer in the park and some of the deer are descendents of the original deer. We saw some but were unable to get any good shots. Mark was excited to see the deer. The park is 1750 acres!!!

 

This is the papal cross and it is 116 feet tall. On September 29, 1979 Pope John Paul II celebrated mass in the park and there were a million people there. The cross was built just for that occasion.

The leaves were beginning to turn! There is a zoo there and I would have loved to go to the zoo. There are 700 animals from all around the world. 

We then headed into Dublin.

Downtown Dublin is full of people. The European headquarters for Facebook, Microsoft, and many other companies are located in Dublin. The price of gas is over $7 a gallon so there are tons of bicycles.

We arrived at our hotel - the Academy Plaza and walked over to Carroll's to do a little more shopping. Then we had dinner in the hotel restaurant.

Elaine, John, Brian, Michelle, Des, Peggy

Jim, Gail, and Lisa

Our room in this hotel was so tiny. We literally couldn't open both of our suitcases at the same time!! The bathroom was also tiny - you couldn't open the door wide enough to get to the toilet . . .so you opened the door, slipped inside, closed the door, and THEN you could get to the toilet. We decided that we were on an adventure and had a good chuckle about the room.