Mystery tour

Get ready for a long post. But it's mostly pictures. It's called a Mysery Tour because it visits ancient sites that we can only guess about some of the meanings behind what's been found.


Three small buses took us to five historical/sacred sites within a short distance of Dublin today. Isn't this bus cute?


Aeman drove my bus, and he was an excellent guide with lots of interesting historical facts and stories to tell. He and another one of the drivers speak Irish/Gaelic. It's so beautiful when they speak it, quite poetic. No, we couldn't understand it, but they just recited some lovely song lyrics.




We stopped first at Fourknocks, where we took a group photo (photo after next) on top of the burial mound, which happens to be 5,000 years old. See the lady in the back row, third from the left, the one Glen is pointing at? She's not in our program. We're calling her the mystery lady.



Yes, that's me in the group photo with the only runaway hair of the bunch. What's up with that? Local magnetism? No one else's seems to be blowing in the wind.



We were all able to fit inside the burial chamber, where stones with designs, like this one by Inge, still puzzle scholars. This site is older than Stonehenge.



Aeman and the other two drivers took turns explaining the sites throughout the day.

Second we drove to Mellifont Abbey, a Cistercian monastery built in the 12th century.






By this second stop I had managed to calm my hair down, plus it was raining.

Third was Monasterboice, known for its amazing collection of Celtic crosses.

And some non-Celtic ones too.


Fourth, it was the Hill of Slane with its panoramic view, statue of St. Patrick, and climb-able ruins. It was here that St. Patrick lit the first paschal fires to defy the nearby Celtic kings at Tara.

The fifth and final destination was Tara, my favorite. This place is so special to me, I had to be quiet, away from the students. I let them play and run on the hengiform while I greeted the beech trees in the churchyard. Man, I hate that I can only visit them for 45 minutes once a year. By the way, I mistakenly thought the trees were yews until this year.

I love beech trees' smooth bark.

It was hard to leave my tree parents today.