We got to Kells in time for our scheduled tour, though it always seems to take longer to get to places than we expect. The speed limit on these little country roads is usually 80 kmh (50 mph), and when it gets curvy, which is often, there's no one you can safely go 80. Sometimes it's 80 through very residential areas. Crazy. Regardless, Waze/Google maps calculates the travel time based on the posted speed limit, so we never make it at the time they say we should.
Kells is the town where monks illustrated the Book of Kells, which is an illustrated version of the four Gospels, completed around 800 AD. The actual copy is housed at Trinity College in Dublin, but they charge a lot to see it behind a glass case. So we opted to go to Kells and see a copy of the book (also under a glass case) for almost nothing. And we got a tour of the town as well.
 |
| Replica of the Book of Kells |
Our guide was...not Simon. We got spoiled on Simon's enthusiasm and storytelling. Libby was nice enough, but she wasn't a regular tour guide. She was filling in for others and consequently seemed a bit under-prepared to explain the things she was showing us, and she even admitted so. She showed us the high crosses in the town, as well as some old buildings and a well. She carried a cheat sheet with her. But it was fine, and she didn't even charge us. We gave a tip.
Next, we drove to the Hill of Tara. You could say the Hill of Tara is the counterpart to the Hill of Uisneach. It's the inauguration place and seat of the High Kings of Ireland; it also appears in Irish mythology. Tara consists of numerous monuments and earthworks—dating from the Neolithic to the Iron Age—including a passage tomb (the "Mound of the Hostages") whose alignment allows for the rising sun to shine down the passageway at only two times of the year, illuminating the chamber within. There are also burial mounds, round enclosures, and standing stones (believed to be the Lia Fáil or "Stone of Destiny").
But first, lunch. There's not a lot at Hill of Tara, but compared to Uisneach, there's a lot: several gift shops, a book store, a pizza place, and coffee shop that also had full-service food. We got a table at the coffee shop and ordered lunch. I had vegetable soup with brown bread and a cappuccino. It hit the spot.
Cristina had been told that we couldn't book tours in advance, you just signed up for them when you arrived. But when we got there, the church where the tours are paid for was padlocked. Kind of deflated, we resigned to just walking around the hill on our own. We spotted a guy giving a family a tour, and Cristina asked him if he was with the Hill of Tara. Derek was a private hire tour guide that the family had booked, but he invited us to tag along. And he knew Simon! That was a good sign. Cristina asked the family if they wouldn't mind, and they seemed fine with us listening in.
 |
| Tying "ribbons" made of grass around a Hawthorne tree |
The tour was okay, but didn't have as much of the storytelling as Uisneach. Derek seemed knowledgeable and was friendly. But it just felt kind of weird and a little awkward to be intruding in on their tour. We tried to tip him, but he refused. Buy yourself a drink with that, he said.
Derek had showed us a stone that if you sat on it a certain way would give you a jolt of energy. We all tried it but didn't feel anything. Cristina leaned back too far and fell off, so I guess she felt something!
After the tour, Cristina wanted some time to walk around the Hill of Tara. It's got a lot of that mystical juju, and being there on the summer solstice, she wanted to soak it in. But knowing that we were all tired and just patiently letting her do her thing, she didn't enjoy it as much as she hoped. Dinner at Jackie's was set for 5:30, so we hung out till it was time to head towards Maynooth for dinner with Jackie.
We stopped at the Maynooth Supervalu for drinks and flowers to bring to dinner.
After crisps and cheese and crackers as a starter, Jackie served salmon, quinoa salad, and a lentil and beet dish. A homecooked meal like that was just what I needed. Jackie's friend, Catrina, came as well, and she was lovely. She's an acupuncturist and business coach, so right up Cristina's alley. Dessert was a chocolate cake baked by Jackie's son Brian who works as a pastry chef at a swanky restaurant. As if that wasn't enough, there were also strawberry coconut parfaits and chocolates. And Irish tea. We were all stuffed.
Jackie asked Jacoby and Jeremy to build a fire in her backyard firepit, and after dessert we learned why. Caitriona led us through a fire ritual, where we wrote down something we wanted to let go of and something that we wanted to bring into our lives. Then one a time, we dropped the slips of paper into the flames. It was a nice summer solstice moment and brought some redemption to the Hill of Tara disappointment. Well done, Jackie and Caitriona!
Jackie is a girl scout leader, and knowing the Hines involvement in scouts, she had planned for us to come to a cub scout meeting so that Jeremy and Jacoby could share their experiences with the little Irish scouts. But when we got to the Scout lodge, no one was there. After a call from Jackie, Johnny, a local scout leader, came by to chat with the Hines. Cristina and Jackie chatted, and Bella and I walked around the adjacent park which was full of high schoolers. At one point we counted about 30 of them. We walked along the canal and looked at the swans and ducks, but it was more entertaining to watch the youth.
We said our goodbyes to Jackie and headed back to Duleek. Before bed we had a video chat with Sofia and Alex. It was nice to catch up with them.
Tomorrow was our Dublin day, but I had already been considering not going into Dublin. I really felt like I needed a day to rest and recharge (and work on my blog). By the time we went to bed, Cristina and I had decided to sleep in and let Bella and the Hines go into Dublin without us. I would drive Cristina to the botanical gardens if she decided she wanted to do that.
Got to bed at 1 am.
No comments:
Post a Comment