Sunday, May 29th, 2011: Kilkenny

We started today at the Kilkenny castle. The Butlers owned the castle and were very close to the English crown throughout the generations. Charles II gave the title and area to the Butlers to begin with. One of the grand-daughters was Anne Bolin- King Henry the VIII’s beheaded wife. The Butlers gave the castle to the city for 50 Pounds Stirling. Rumor was that Mick Jagger wanted to by it but that the Butlers felt that it should be returned to the city. Prior to that the Butlers had a huge auction in 1935 so that they could go into exile with some money and the goods would not be left behind to be destroyed during the civil war.  We had a lovely visit in the castle then walked the high street, had lunch and visited a church before seeing the cathedral at 2 pm.

The cathedral was very pretty but most of it was reproduction because Cromwell ruined it when he tried to corner the area. The most intersesting thing about the catheral was that it was not right next to the castle as most English fortresses were set up but a mile or so away. It had a 101 foot tower that was used by the monks to keep a watch on the town and the river for fear of Vikings invading the area.

After the cathedral we drove over to the Dunway Caves. We climbed at least 732 steps by the time we were done with the tour. It was formed during the ice age by an underground river. Eventually the earth top fell in and the cave was found but the river was blocked up in both directions. It was very neat.

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From there, we were directed to the St. Augustine’s Monastery ruins in Kells (not of the Book of Kells). It was great except we know nothing about it. So I will have to learn more another day.

Sat. May 28th, 2011: Travel to Ireland

Off to Ireland.   We forgot our rail pass so we had to return home. Then it was standing room only on the train for 3 hours. The ferry ride was uneventful. We had difficulties at the rental car counter (not to mention getting there was a difficulty in itself). They charged us an additional 230 euros because you MUST by their insurance. We fought with them but were told by others it was a loosing battle. They did upgrade us for free.  Through all of this the kids were AMAZING!!! We finally made it to the hotel in Kilkenny around 10 pm.

 

Tuesday May 24th, Silverdale & Keele

After dropping Alexandra off at school, I decided to walk home to Keele. Here are some pictures that I took along the way. 

Tribute to the coal miners of Silverdale

view from public footpath of Silverdale

The Big Pit- an active coal mine

Modern Art on Keele Campus

Sunday May 22, 2011: Peak District

After Durham, we drove through the Peak District. It was beautiful drive. We stopped off in Bakewell for a walk around town, some ice-cream and buy the “Bakewell Tart” for “pudding” tomorrow night.

Throughout the day we saw different 3 rainbows. It was a pretty good rainbow sighting day if I do say so myself.

Sunday May 22, 2011: Durham

Today we headed into the city limits Durham. It was a lovely city but like all cities in Europe, nothing opens early on a Sunday. The earliest we could tour the cathedral was 12:30 and the castle was not open for tours until 2 pm. Brian and Alexandra were not keen on waiting around. So we walked up to see the outside. Fortunately the cathedral was not entirely closed. We could go in and see it but we couldn’t approach the alter but we could still enjoy the choir while taking in the view. Then we walked over to the castle. It turns out the castle is currently owned by the University of Durham and houses students as dormitory. Alexandra and I managed to go into pee but Adam got really in. He said it looked like Hogwarts inside.

 

 

Saturday May 21: Hadrian's Wall

• Hadrian's Wall was ordered to be created by the Roman Emperor Hadrian in teh 2nd century AD  (around 117) to establish the northern England frontier and to keep the "caledionans" (Scots/Picks) from invading.  It travels  the width (84 miles) of England from Tyne in the east to Soloway Firth in the west.  We did not walk the whole thing.

We hiked out of the Steel Rigg car park in the Crag Lough near Vindolanda. It was a beautiful hike.  But I will admit to needing a little encouragement from Alexandra- "Come on mom."

This is a picture of what is left of a Milecastle.  Milecastles were used to as fortified gateways to the north & south and to communicate with other parts of the wall as to what was happening in either direrection.

Saturday May 21, 2011: Vindolanda- Roman Ruins

 

Vindolanda is a roman fort/ruins.  The Roman army appears to have occupied the site of Vindolanda around AD 85. Additionally to the historical site they are an active archival site. It was very interesting.  They have a good musuem with lots of artifacts especially shoes, coins and letters.  They even have 12 tablets that record different aspects of life during that time. 

Sun. May 15 2011: Trentham Gardens, The Donna Louise Children's Hospice 5K run

 This morning (after a day of drinking) I signed Adam tup to dun a 5K charity race at Trentham Gardens.  I did this for 2 reasons:  it was for charity and the whole family got into Trentham Gardens for free. 


The charity is the Donna Louise Children's Hospice for terminally ill children that my friend Sophia works for.  Many peopld run the race in "fancy dress" (costume).  So we took a few pictures of some of these "superheros". 

The gardens were beautiful!  I wish we had better weather so that we could have done a few more of the gardens, speficically the Barefoot walk.  But we certainly did enjoy ourselves in the maze and the Italian garden. We enjoyed  the

sand pits, playgrounds and other gardens.
 

May 10th, 2011: Alexandra at Wedgwood- forgot to post these

Alexnadra and I went to Wedgwood so that she could 'throw her own pot"!  She was vey excited about it and we enjoyed the experience tremendously.  Our county, Staffordshire is known as the Potteries because of the many different pottery kilns that were produced here.  Many of the production jobs have moved overseas but you can still see a few potteries around.  Wedgwood is one of the few that have left some jobs over here. Here are the pictures from the day: