We went to Ireland to visit my brother and his wife a couple weeks ago, we had a wonderful time seeing everything, our first day there we wandered downtown and saw Saint Patricks Cathedrial, it was gorgeous and the grounds and flower gardens were so wonderful, I wish my yard looked like they do.
Later that night we went to the Ocean wandered out to the lighthouse and then had dinner at the cutest little place. 
On our second day we went to the "casino" it is really a house that was built on an estate to entertain guests, we learned about the history of the house and the owner as well as the man who designed and built it, it was pretty interesting.
On our second day we went to the "casino" it is really a house that was built on an estate to entertain guests, we learned about the history of the house and the owner as well as the man who designed and built it, it was pretty interesting. 
From there we headed out the malachi castle, both Ty and I agreed the inside of this castle reminded us a lot of the Valley House (our Great Grandparents house), we were able to go inside as well as wander around the grounds.
Later we had lunch at a cute authentic Irish Pub.
On our way back to Dublin we stopped and spent a couple hours wandering through an old cemetary, I love to do that, I think old cemetaries are so peaceful and interesting.
Later we had lunch at a cute authentic Irish Pub.
On our way back to Dublin we stopped and spent a couple hours wandering through an old cemetary, I love to do that, I think old cemetaries are so peaceful and interesting.
we spent a lot of time in downtown Dublin, this street had all the great shops and street preformers, they were fun to stop and watch.We took a day and went to see the Guiness factory, of course Dublin is famous for Guiness beer, the factory actually takes up a whole block with several buildings including it's own church on the grounds.
After that is was off to see the old jail, that was pretty interesting, this is the new part, and considering it was a prison it was really very nice compaired to the old part.
This is one of the cells, in this part of the prison they tried to only have one person to a cell, but there were times when that did not work, I cannot imagine living in this small space by myself and to share it with someone would have been horrible.
After that is was off to see the old jail, that was pretty interesting, this is the new part, and considering it was a prison it was really very nice compaired to the old part.
This is one of the cells, in this part of the prison they tried to only have one person to a cell, but there were times when that did not work, I cannot imagine living in this small space by myself and to share it with someone would have been horrible.This same day we went to the museum and saw a lot of interesting things, among them the bog men, they were really neat, I had heard of them but had never seen one, it is amazing that they could stay so well preserved for 100's of years in those bogs.
We bought lunch at a little fish and chips vendor one afternoon and then ate it on the grass at Christs church, this is the other big cathedral in Dublin, Saint Patricks is cathlic and Christ Church is Prodestant, Ty told me the way to tell the differenece is the Catholic churchs have crosses on top and the Prodestant have roosters, still not sure why roosters but it was interesting.
We bought lunch at a little fish and chips vendor one afternoon and then ate it on the grass at Christs church, this is the other big cathedral in Dublin, Saint Patricks is cathlic and Christ Church is Prodestant, Ty told me the way to tell the differenece is the Catholic churchs have crosses on top and the Prodestant have roosters, still not sure why roosters but it was interesting.
We went to Dublin Castle, Beth had been here numerous times and since each tour guide tells you different things, she was able to fill in with extra facts she had learned, that made it really interesting and many of the people on the tour ended up staying with us so they could also hear her tell us extra things.
The castle is built over actual Vicking ruins and we were able to go down and see some of them as well as some of the original parts of the castle from medevil times.
This is an original stairwell that deliveries would have been made at.
This is on the grounds of the castle, overlooking the Queens gardens and the stables.
This shows the only remaining origianl tower of the castle (the castle burned down and was rebuilt many years ago) also this is the church on the castle grounds, this is also the church they use to film scenes in the series the Tudors.We went out to Bray to the ocean and had wanted to hike to the top of this hill that looks over the whole town and ocean, but it was so cold and windy we only made it half way, it was still a very pretty view.
Richard and I wandered back down town our last day there and found Temple bar, several of his soldiers had told him about it, it is a pretty cool place, very old built sometime in the 1800, they had live music, great irish coffees and were just very nice, they let us behind the bar to have a picture taken, it was a really fun.I should have all the rest of the pictures on our piccassa album by the end of the day if anyone wants to see the rest you can access that from here.
It looks like you guys had a blast. I have wanted to see that part of the world forever. I am sooooo jealous!!!! I am glad you had a good time. The moment I read Valley house I started singing the song. It doesn't look at all like it used to. Well parts of it do, but others don't. Oh well. The country is beautiful. Hopefully someday Shawn will have a job there so I can visit with him.
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