Edinburgh and the Fringe Festival

The Fringe Festival in Edinburgh draws people from all over the world, but mainly northern Europeans. With hundreds of venues and thousands of performances of all different types, there are plenty choices to keep everyone entertained. These scenes are along the Royal Mile, running from the castle to the palace. 

Here are some views from and of Calton Hill.

Other than walking all around the city and going to festival events, the main touristy thing we did was our visit to Edinburgh Castle.

The castle palace - home of the royal jewels

This is St. Margaret's Chapel - capacity 20 people.

Robert the Bruce

Highlights of Ireland

The Ballytarsna-Hackett Castle - our home for four days/nights

Our bedroom was the entire top floor.

Dinner in the Great Hall

The views from our bedroom

Driving a stick shift on the left side of the road turned out to be no problem. I did have a tendency to want to shift the door handle on my right, but that went away eventually. Luckily, the brake, clutch, and accelerator were in the same position as I'm used to. Irish freeways/tollways are great - little traffic, excellent condition. Irish country roads are rather narrow and windy - with the occasional, slow-moving farm tractor. Driving was slower, but the scenery was quite enjoyable. Throughout the country, directional signs were plentiful and well positioned. I'm a big fan of the roundabout! What a time-saver!

Our day trips included sites from a wide range of history - from the natural beauty of the Kilarney national park and a Victorian country mansion, to the seaside towns of Kinsale and Kenmare, to the 5000-year-old passage tombs of Knowth and Newgrange with its wealth of neolithic art, to the 1500-year-old religious site of Clonmacnoise, to an English fort, to the medieval towns of Cashel, Cahir, Cork, Galway, Limerick, and Tipperary. I took more pictures than anyone would want to see, but here is a selection of them. 

Muckross House at Kilarney - the wedding present that William Bourn and his wife gave their daughter, Maud. William later built a house in California patterned on Muckross House and named it Filoli! You can read more of the story at http://www.filoli.org/explore-filoli/history/the-bourns-build-filoli.html

Kinsale and Charles Fort

Stone Circle at Kenmare

Clonmacnoise

Howth and Newgrange

Greetings from Dublin!

We had an uneventful, although rather lengthy, trip to get here. We arrived early Friday morning and have really enjoyed the city since then. We took a half-day bike tour around the city.

Then after an afternoon nap, we visited the Guinness brewery where I took this picture of a plaque that commemorated William Gosset, who developed some of the statistics that I teach. We got a great overview of the city from the Guinness Gravity bar on the seventh floor.

On Saturday, we took a half-day walking tour of the city. The weather was perfect both days – sunny when we were outside and drizzly when we were inside. Saturday night we went to a special dinner with an Irish storyteller and some Irish musicians.

Medieval Tower at Dublin Castle, picture taken from the site of Dubh Linn, which means Black Pool and is the basis for the name, Dublin.

On Sunday, we visited Trinity College, saw the Book of Kells in the Old Library, and then visited churches, including both St. Patrick’s and Christchurch cathedrals.

St. Patrick’s Cathedral – according to legend, St. Patrick baptized people by a well at this location.

Stained Glass in St. Patrick’s Cathedral

We stopped in a pub to use the restroom and while I was looking around, I saw this picture. Is that Aunt Arline behind the bar?