Ireland 2005
Left: Glassen Mews is a cluster of 8 self-contained cottages. We stayed in the one at the left. Adjacent to the cluster was a golf course and a large lake.
Right: This is our cottage. It has three bedrooms, kichen, and a nice living room. It was a very pleasant place to spend our evenings.
Left: Josh and Brooks are staning in front of an old stone building in which the Book of Kells was written and stored (at least that is what we were told). This building is in Kells, Ireland.
Right: Brooks is climbing through a hole that takes him from a small attic back down to the main floor. There was a long, metal ladder that was used to climb to the attic.
Left: Kathleen standing on a bridge over the River Boyne. This area contains ancient tombs such as Newgrange, a Megalithic Passage tomb.
Right: The Boyne Valley - the beatiful Irish countryside.
Left: Smaller tombs in the Knowth complex.
Right: Newgrange Passage Tomb. During excavation, three skeletons were found in the center of the tomb. On the Winter Solstice, the light from the sun lights up the central tomb.
Left: The entrance to the Newgrange Passage Tomb.
Right: The ruins of an early Christian abbey - Melifont Abbey.
Left: One our way to the far west of Ireland we passed a rather large area where peat was being removed. This photo shows a ledge where the peat has been removed and placed on top of the soil to dry.
Right: Brooks and Josh in the barren lands of western Ireland.
Left: The rugged terrain of western Ireland - rocks everywhere.
Right: Josh said this was one of the most beautiful places he had ever seen. This was a mansion later converted to an abbey for nuns.
Left: Rock fences were everywhere in the Connemara region of western Ireland.
Right: This is one of the courtyards of Trinity University in Dublin. We went here to see the Book of Kells - transcriptions of biblical books.
Left: One of the busy Dublin streets near Trinity University.
Right: Trim Castle. We had a lot of fun wandering around this castle in Trim, Ireland.
Left: Josh and Kathleen on Tara - one of the most sacred places in Ireland. A place for crowning kings and stuff like that.
Right: The castle at Cashel. This castle sits on top of a large rock outcrop. Legend has it that when St. Patrick kicked out the devil, that as the devil passed over this spot, he dropped material he had in his mouth taken from the Devil's Bite.
Left: A view of Cashel from on top of the rock outcrop.
Right: The Cahir castle in Cahir, Ireland.
Left: The most famous of all Irish castles - Blarney Castle just outside Cork, Ireland.
Right: Another view of Blarney Castle from near the base of the castle keep.
Left: Josh kissing the Blarney Stone at the top of the keep.
Right: Another view of Blarney Castle.
Left: In Armagh, Northern Ireland, there are two important churches, both named for St. Patrick. This is the Catholic version.
Right: This is the Protestant (Anglican) version.
Left: Bangor, Northern Ireland. I served her in late 1967 and early 1968 on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Right: Brooks is standing in front of the Bangor chapel where two LDS wards meet. I went to visit a person I taught in 1968, but he was on holiday so I didn't see him.
Left: A picturesque farmstead in Northern Ireland.
Right: The traditional burying site of St. Patrick. He kicked the devil out of Ireland and sent him to England where, according to legend, he still resides. It makes sense - there is no love lost between the Irish and the English.
Left: We left our cottage early one morning and drove to southwest Ireland to drive the Ring of Kerry - a drive along the shoreline of a peninsula. The scenery was dramatic.
Right: One of our stops along the Ring of Kerry.
Left: The coast along the Ring of Kerry.
Right: The coast along the Ring of Kerry.
Left: We took a ferry to the largest of the Aran Islands of the west coast of Ireland. We rode bikes to get from place-to-place. Here are Kathleen and Josh in a stone fortress on the south edge of the island.
Right: A 300-foot cliff on the south side of the island. The fortress encircled a portion of the cliff.
Left: The south side of the largest Aran Island. These islands are known for their wool and items made from wool.
Right: Kathleen and Brooks with the island scenery behind them.
Left: The River Shannon and the City of Athlone. Our cottage was just north of Athlone so we spent some evenings here exploring. It is a wonderful little city.
Right: An old bridge across the River Shannon in Athlone.
Left: After we left Ireland, we travel through southwest England, primary in the Cornwall region. This picture was taken on our way to Dartmoor National Park. A megalithic tomb in the middle of the pasture.
Right: Narrow lanes and road where always exciting. Driving on the left side of the road added to the excitement.
Left: As we traveled through Dartmoor National Park and through Cornwall, we frequently entered wonderful little villages. This is one of them.
Right: Dartmoor National Park was a treeless landscape containig the moors. It is remarkably different from most other areas of the British Isles.
Left: Another view of the moors of Dartmoor.
Right: These small ponies of Darmoor roam freely in the park.
Left: From Cornwall, we drove into London. We stayed near Paddington Station which gave us access to all places in London. One of the places we visited was the Tower of London. We had a great tour. This is Josh near one of the guards.
Right: A side trip from London was to Oxford. We went to see where parts of Harry Potter were filmed.
Left: This is the cafeteria at Christ Church College at Oxford University. This is where the cafeteria scenes in Harry Potter were filmed.
Right: Josh and Kathleen enjoying the train ride back to London.
Left: While in London, we went to three theater productions and on a Jack the Ripper tour. This fellow was our guide for the Jack the Ripper tour in the East End.
Right: An interesting part of our visit to London was the trip to Greenwich where we saw the Prime Meridian. I had my GPS receiver with me and determined that the line in this photo is not the actual location of the Prime Meridian. The guide said it was 40 meters or so to the east. This line divides the East and West Hemispheres.
