Well I suppose I'll just go ahead and jump in!
Monday rolled around and we had a breakfast around 9, and then had a class meeting! We discussed the book Surprised by Joy, and spent some time discussing his life before we had a pretty chill lunch and then headed off to High Tea at one of the oldest Inn's in all of Ireland. This particular Inn was a favorite of Lewis' and was where he spent his honeymoon. The atmosphere felt as though we had stepped into a storybook. Fire places, suits of armor, gold and silver dishes, and all sorts of other decorations adorned the walls. Old, thick red carpet with coat-of-arms designs covered the floors. We were given large silver 3-tiered platters covered with all sorts of amazing finger foods, from sandwiches to scones to strange pink puffballs that tasted exactly like large Captain Crunch berries. I've found myself enjoying tea more and more since I've been here and this tea was probably the best I've had. It was absolutely amazing. We then took off through the town and arrived back at the house in time for dinner at 7, despite all of us being rather full. We spent the night hanging out and playing a game called Bohnanza, which I'm not sure I can describe adequately. It's a lot of fun despite the appearance and sound of the game.
Tuesday was an amazing day, completely jam-packed with activity. We began by driving to a place called Saul which had an old church building, and a very old cemetery and round tower. This was the very hill, we found out, where St. Patrick in 432 began the first church in all of Ireland. We met inside of the very small church and had a devotional and sang the doxology. It was a great time had by all. We then drove to a place called Inch Abbey. It is an old ruin of the abbey which was established a long time ago and then destroyed by the Vikings. We spent a little while exploring and of course everyone had to take a million and one pictures.. story of this trip! :) I'm actually grateful for that because I haven't had to take many. But anyways, I climbed about 20 feet into the remains of an old tower... I would have gone higher but wasn't sure if I would want to die so soon in Ireland. Anyways we wrapped that up and headed to the Church which is dedicated to St. Patrick and has the place where he is (supposedly, though not definitely) buried. We were given a (not-so) brief history of the church and spent some time looking around and at the tombstone of Patrick. From there we headed to Dunmore Castle, again another ruin. It was a spectacular place and had a great view. My inner child was jumping for joy, and obviously I climbed the ruins as much as I could. I could practically hear the castle being under siege by the Vikings. It was at Dunmore castle that we were introduced to fish and chips, and had dinner outside by the castle. It was a great meal and I decided that my digestive system is especially suited to this sort of meal since I am of Irish ancestry. Anyways we then took off to the town of Newcastle where we spent a bit of time walking around. This town was set directly between the Mourne Mountains and the Irish sea, and was a beautiful place. We wandered around for a bit before jumping into the van and heading to the Tolleymore forest which was a lot of fun. We explored a bit of the forest and walked along paths which followed a few streams and such. We then jumped in the van and headed back the manor. However, before we made it back we stopped by a place called the Giants Ring where the ancient druids used to hold religious ceremonies, and in the center was an alter where they would do sacrifices. The ring was massive, probably a mile around. It rose about 20 feet above the surface of the center and was dug by hand centuries ago. It was a bit creepy, but interesting to walk around. We then jumped in the van and headed home, safe and sound.
Wednesday we heard the story of Billy, our leader and then saw some of the places he grew up here in Belfast. It was a very unique story, but to make a long story short, he grew up as the son of a head IRA terrorist and was converted to Christianity at the age of 6. He for the next few years prayed for his father who converted to Christianity at the age of about 12. We spent some time walking around the neighborhood he grew up in, and it reminded me of a more militarized version of some areas in Woodlawn. We then walked along the peace wall which separates the Protestant and Catholic neighborhoods. It was a really unique experience. We then hung out and watched a movie called as Mickybo and I, which described the Troubles and was a really great story.
Thursday was mostly a day to ourselves, but we went to a Museum near Queens University and spent about an hour and a half walking around. It was a cool, though. We came back to the manor for lunch and then went downtown Belfast and hung out, did alot of shopping and then went to a place called the Kitchen bar. I again had fish and chips, and they were incredible. There were only 3 of us who went, and so trying to navigate the social restaurant setting was really interesting, and we were often left feeling really ignorant of even really simple things, like tipping the waitress, getting the bill, etc... Side note, if you decide to come to Ireland and go out to eat, it's not customary to tip the waitstaff, free tip ;)
Today we left the Manor at about 10am, and drove up to the North Coast of Ireland. The drive up was one of the most scenic routes I've ever been on; the views were incredible. We made it up through a few towns and finally to the North Coast where we walked a path for roughly a mile and then walked across a rope bridge to a nearby island, checked out the view, took pictures and then went back. It was clear enough that we were able to see Scotland in the distance (about 30 miles away). We then drove up to the Giants Causeway, and again walked a bit over a mile down to the Causeway itself, and then walked out to the edge of the rocks in the Sea. It was incredibly slippery until we discovered that the barnacles on the rocks were incredibly grip-able. We spent some time just messing around on the rocks and then headed back to the van. We next went to visit the ruin of another castle, though the castle itself was closed we explored around the outside and did a bit of climbing up to the walls of this castle which were basically on a cliffs edge. This particular castle was once throwing a banquet when the kitchen fell into the sea, though no one noticed until they went to get the food.. Imagine the surprise... That awkward moment when you have to go tell the king that the kitchen is gone...
Moving along..
We then went to a restaurant where we ate and chilled for roughly two and a half hours. I had another lovely meal of fish and chips, and then had a chocolate fudge cake for dessert. It was phenomenal.
That has been the outline of the extent of our trip thus far! We have about 4 more days before we head back to the G-Rap. This is a fair brief outline of the trip so far and I'll be able to explain a lot more in person!
Thanks for reading, and I'll probably post a final blog the day before we leave.
-Jared
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