13TH DAY-DROGHEDA

October 10, 2018

After leaving the tombs, we went to Drogheda.  That means another beautiful church, St Peters. Inside, it has St Peter's mummified head and a sliver of the cross that Jesus was crucified on.  I won't show the picture of the head, it's kind of gross looking and the sliver is so small, you can't really see it in a picture. Allister, our guide, said there are many, many churches that claim to have a sliver,  so who knows if it's true or not. 

We also went to Old Mollies Beer Garden. If you order a Guinness,  you have to pour it yourself. This was for the tour only, I doubt regular customers do. We both did and got certificates that we poured the perfect Guinness. It is a real art, but the bartender was with us the whole time. 

After you let it sit for a few minutes, you then top it off.

Saw these picnic tables while sipping our Guinness in the beer garden. Had never seen any where the seats fold up. Would be great to keep them dry in the rain

Allister, our guide, is on the left. Oliver, our driver, is on the right.  They were great, making our trip so enjoyable and over the top. Allister is from Derry in Northern Ireland, Oliver is from Limerick, in the Republic of Ireland

13TH DAY-NEOLITHIC TOMBS

October 10, 2018

 On our way back to Dublin, we stopped at the Bru na Boinne area of  prehistoric tombs. We saw Newgrange, the best known of the 40 mounds, This is a World Heritage Site on the merits that this is one of the best possible examples of cultural or natural heritage.  Other World heritage sites  include are The Pyramids of Giza and Stonehenge. These tombs are over 5000 years old. The large mound only holds one tomb. The entrance was built in such a way that light only shines thru and from the top 20 minutes  each year at the Winter Solstice. People  make reservations well in advance to see it. The sun has to be in an exact position for this to happen. 

The next 2 pictures are postcards so I could show you an overhead view

This is a postcard of the interior, standing on the floor and looking up. It is hard to picture looking at this, but they built up all of these stones without anything holding them together. Amazing it is still this way after 5000 years. The  slim hole at the top is where the sin shines thru. The guide turned off her flashlight and we were in complete darkness. She then pointed her flashlight to the entrance to show us the thin beam that comes in once a year. We couldn't take any pictures inside. it is such a small area that only 10 people could go in at one time.

Entrance. The open space on top of the horizontal stone is where the slim beam of light shines in.

Outer edges, these stones are all original