3. Ireland Day 2, Part 1...

My Second day began with a trip to Castlebar to go to the pet store to buy Erynne's snake Darwin a rat for his dinner. Sadly Darwin has been a little under the weather and has not wanted to eat since October. On our way back David took us to the National Museum of Ireland-Country Life. All museums in Ireland are free, imagine that. I always try to take pictures of signs so I can remember where I was. That's my shadow for proof that I was there in person and didn't just steal this picture!

Here is a picture of The Moylough Belt Shrine. It was found by a local man in the 1940's while he was out in the field cutting turf. Follow the link I've provided here to read more about it. Imagine, I was right there standing infront of it! What a privilage.

I love this chair. It's a three legged chair so that people could use it on the uneven floors of their houses. I think it would be great to put kids in time-out in the corner, what do you think?

Here is a look at one of the main rooms in the museum. The boat hanging on the wall with the wire man next to it was really neat. We sat and watched a video on how they made them. What a ton of work and skill went into those boats.

This fascinated me, see what looks like a clear plastic light shade hanging from the ceiling infront of the display? It's called a SoundTube. You stand under it and there is a speaker inside that projects sound down in a specific area so you can listen without disturbing the whole museum. How fun!

When we left the Museum we walked around the gardens and Erynne was soooo excited to show me a "Monkey Puzzle". It's so weird looking, and prickly. This is a really small one but I did see some very large one's in some people's yards while touring the countryside. Try to say Monkey Puzzle 3 times fast. Yeah that's what I thought. Does it come out something like Punkey Muzzle? David, that still makes me giggle :)

I am sorry to report that my only picture of a Thatch is of this model on the grounds of the Museum. I saw a few actual Thatch houses but as in Ireland there is no such thing as "pull over so I can take a picture" I didn't capture them on film (or memory card). I'll explain the small road conditions later in another post. But isn't it so cute? I totally want to live in one.

This is the Turlough Round Tower. Now before you see the rest of the pictures here is going to be a great example of the Irish weather. The time frame from this picture to the last is only about 15 minutes. The sun was out for this picture, it was really cold, but sunny. When you get to the last picture note the weather!

Click on any of my pictures to see them larger like this picture so that you can read it. I save myself lots of typing but doing this! It's interactive!

I love gates. Here is the gate we had to walk around. On the far side of the gate is a little turn style type device that you have to walk through. Keeps the animals out, or in depending.

I love the cemetaries in Ireland. The crosses are beautiful. The way the graves are laid out sort of reminds me of Nevada, don't you think mom? Now, see the clouds rolling in and how the sun is gone? Only a few minutes have passed. Fingers are numb and Erynne had a great time watching me literally running around trying to get as many pictures as I could before they froze and fell off.

Now here is the last picture to show you the weather. Full snow storm blowin in. Cool eh? I LOVE this picture. I was standing there by the round tower, in a cemetary, over looking local fields of sheep, can't get better than that! Well, if I could have felt my fingers, that would have helped.

I snuck a picture of inside by hanging my arm through a window. I love the texture, the shapes, the history. Really makes you humble.

After this we drove home to Kiltimagh to regroup and figure out what was for dinner. We were all very hungry. So my next post will cover dinner and then perhaps some Poetry? You betcha. Stay tuned for the next installment of The Adventures of the Traveling Bean!