Today we learned about Irish hares. We saw some at the “dead zoo” (National Museum of Ireland – Natural History) so today I’m sharing pictures of the first couple days we spent in Dublin.

We took the train to get there on March 26th. The free wifi on board came in handy once everyone got bored of looking out the windows and just seeing fields full of sheep.

We randomly ran into a bunch of huge decorated eggs set up in a little mall.

On March 27th, we toured Kilmainham Gaol. That morning it was snowing (mostly a cross between snow and hail… ice pellets covered in fluffy snow).

Later on the 27th, we went to the National Museum of Ireland – Natural History. It is full of very old animal specimens. Some of them are from the 1800s!

A security guard saw me taking lots of pictures and pulled me over to see this little hedgehog. The guard said it is his very favorite animal in the whole museum because it looks like it’s smiling.

As we were walking back to the Luas (tram) to get back to our hotel, we noticed a news van across the street from one of the government buildings. A couple minutes later my mother-in-law called to say she had just seen us on TV! She happened to be watching the news at that exact moment we were walking by and we happened to be on camera for several seconds while the field reporter talked. Talk about incredible random timing!

Today we learned about Carrauntoohil and Galway sheep. When we went on the Ring of Kerry tour on March 22nd we saw that mountain and lots of sheep. So today I’m sharing pictures of that tour.

We boarded a bus with a very jolly and funny fellow as our guide.

We stopped at the Kerry Bog Village.

We saw a random Charlie Chaplin statue. Adrian really wanted his picture taken with Charlie.

The boys took turns pretending to be the driver of our bus (we didn’t get a picture of Fritz in the driver’s seat).

Cameron even wore the driver’s hat.

The views around the Ring are amazing.

Today the boys are learning about the Blarney Stone and Blarney Castle, so here are some pictures I took when we went there on April 3rd.

The benches behind the castle are way cool.

You can go pretty much anywhere in the castle. They expect you to be smart and not fall out.

The little guys are dancing because isn’t that what you do in the Great Hall of a real 15th century castle?

At the end of that line you can be hung upside down and kiss the Blarney Stone (it’s perfectly safe nowadays since they put a grate there so if you fall you only fall a few inches onto your head). Fritz was the only one of us even remotely interested in kissing it, but he was too young (they recommend 8+). I’m sure they would’ve let him anyway because it was so quiet that day, but kissing it is really unhygienic. So we just looked at the Stone and moved on.

Going down was way scarier than climbing up because I could see where I was going.

Right next to the castle is the Poison Garden. Some of the plants are specially covered to keep people and animals out. Others are just out in the open. There’s a sign that says not to touch, eat, or smell anything in the garden because everything is truly poisonous (but many are also useful) in one way or another. It was interesting how many of the plants are mentioned in the Harry Potter books.

Fritz took the warnings very seriously. He didn’t want to die from walking through the garden.

There was a random small cave near the castle that we got to explore.

Adrian wanted me to take this picture. He is, apparently, the king of this cave.

Last spring we spent a month in Ireland. This week the boys and I are doing the Download N Go Expedition Ireland (Fritz’s choice). It’s so fun to learn about places and things we saw while we were over there. As we were looking at pictures this morning it occurred to me that I never posted pictures of our trip on our blog. So here are a few in The Burren in County Clare (since that’s what we learned about today). We went there April 8th.

On our way there we happened upon the ruins of O’Dea Castle. It was built in 1480.

The grounds around it were fascinating. It’s on the edge of The Burren so there are the rocks, but instead of bare rocks they have mossy grass growing over them.

This is a very old church on the inside edge of The Burren. You can see more exposed rock. The church is typical missing its roof. Many of the old churches, abbeys, and monasteries were converted into burial grounds. I’m not sure if this one had any graves inside because it was roped off so we couldn’t get very close to it.

Further on we happened upon Caherconnell Fort. Forts like that one were built and used in the early medieval period between the 5th and 10th centuries. It was quite fascinating to wander around and touch it and see the excavating they are doing.

About a kilometer past Caherconnell was what we were really wanting to see. Poulnabrone Dolmen. These amazing stone slabs marked the tomb of about two dozen people, both adults and children, along with other artifacts. The tomb is dated to about 3600 BC.

The amazing thing about The Burren is the rocks. There’s a saying that in The Burren there is no tree on which to hang a man, no water in which to drown a man, and when he finally dies, it’s too rocky to bury a man. The exposed limestone has been worn away by rain and wind (the wind in The Burren literally howls, but it’s a beautiful sound) and so has ended up in some incredible shapes.