If you're reading this in the distant future, and the Covid-19 pandemic is something that you only briefly learned about in school, lucky you. That means that the world is still around! Also, it hopefully means that vacations are a safe and fun thing that people get to do again. Right now, it seems like this memory of travel will be the final one I ever have. Good thing it was a fun one! (Edited to add that I first started writing this in fall 2020, had a slight breakdown that I will maybe write about later, and am now starting back up in summer 2021. Seems like vacation might soon be a thing again, although international travel is still iffy).
The day after Giant's Causeway and Carrick-a-Rede was our last full day in Ireland, so it was time to start heading back to Dublin. It's honestly been so long now that I don't remember how long of a drive it was, but a couple of hours, I think. We did have one thing planned for the afternoon in Dublin, but that still left us with time to kill, so on our way, we stopped at the Hill of Tara. The Hill of Tara is a very important and interesting historical site in Ireland, so I would suggest going at a time when an actual tour guide can take you. We didn't realize this, so we were both too early and too late for tours and had to self guide, which meant that we were confused but intrigued. There was a short introductory video shown in the church, but it didn't answer as many questions as we would have liked.
The church with the film! It was surrounded by this neat graveyard, and of course, also the much older graveyard of passage tombs.
So, here's what I know-traditionally the Hill of Tara was the inauguration place of the High Kings of Ireland, as well as their seat, or where they ruled from (High King almost certainly did not mean they had actual kingly authority over the whole island, but they were still definitely a big deal). The High Kings were supposedly sacred and gained their authority from some sort of relationship with Irish goddesses. The Lia Fail, or Stone of Destiny, would roar, or maybe yell the king's name when the true high king put his foot on it, which is very fun. No one really knows when the practice of having high kings started, but it seems like it went on until the 12th century AD.
The Lia Fail. Nothing happened when we touched it, but to be fair, legend says that it was broken by Cuchulainn when he got mad that it wouldn't yell for his protege who he thought should be the High King.
The Banqueting Hall, probably a ceremonial passageway that the kings would travel down on their way to be crowned.
The Hill of Tara was also supposedly the capital of the Tuatha de Danann, who are actual parts of Irish mythology, not just the magical people in Willow. In some stories, they brought the Lia Fail to Tara, which explains why it was cool and magical. Probably the Tuatha de Danann were gods in early myths, and in some of the later myths, they were depicted more as a race of people with supernatural powers. This change was most likely brought about by early Christianity, which, no matter what you want to say about it, used to be a lot better about incorporating the myths and legends of people as they converted rather than just wiping previous beliefs out totally.
A faerie tree on the edge of one of the large circles. Faerie trees are doorways between our world and the world of the faeries, so we were pretty wary around it!
There are also the remains of at least twenty ancient monuments visible, such as the Mound of Hostages, a large passage tomb that doesn't seem to have anything to do with hostages, and Rath Meave, which is a henge that is technically on someone's farm. Apparently modern technology has shown that there are the remnants of at least 3 times as many ancient monuments that are no longer visible to the naked eye as well. It's pretty unclear what all of the henges and mounds were for of why they were they were in this place specifically (perhaps an actual tour would have helped???), but it was clearly a very significant place in ancient Ireland. It also has a nice little cafe and a great gift shop attached, if you are as interested in those types of things as I am.
Some of the visible monuments. The whole area had these dips and mounds, many of which still are not excavated.
The Mound of Hostages. What's in a name? Heck if we know.
The opening to the actual passage into the tomb. Mostly the people and animals buried here where cremated, which is how they could fit so many in (estimated to be 250-500 altogether).
A closeup of the entrance. You can see that there are some carvings on the rock to the left, and also a random apple, obviously thrown in there by a dumb tourist.
One of the many random and beautiful roads we drove down on our way back to Dublin.
After we left the Hill of Tara, intrigued if not wholly educated, we went back to Dublin for our final tour of the trip-Butlers Chocolate Factory! This was a suggestion from my pen pal, Meredith, who you may recall us meeting in the early stages of our trip. It was a great suggestion. I recommend it totally. Alas, you can't take pictures in most of the tour, but I will tell you what I remember. First of all, Butlers Chocolate is very good. Apparently they have cafes in many parts of the world, like in airports and stuff, but alas, not in the US. I'm not sure you can even get their chocolates here except over the internet. Anyhow, it was started in the 1930s, and the first part of the tour was basically a little museum that talked about the history of chocolate in general and Butlers in specific. The second part of the tour was actually us viewing the factory with the chocolate being made. Maybe not as cool as Willy Wonka's chocolate factory, but not a single child was lost or turned into a blueberry as some sort of lesson, so it evened out. Another fun thing was that we were brought chocolate samples throughout the tour. At the end of the tour, everyone was given a chocolate elephant to decorate with even more chocolate, as well as a sample of their famous hot chocolate. That hot chocolate, you guys. I dream of it. My bro-in-law Dave actually bought me some off the internet for Christmas that year, because he is nice. Leah and I spent a lot of time choosing what chocolates were were going to buy to take home, and that was very hard! They were all really, really delicious, but a person only has so much $$ and so much luggage room.
Not sure what I'm doing with my face. Maybe I'm just excited to be decorating a chocolate elephant.
My Masterpiece! I do not think I have a future in this industry.
That was basically it for our vacation! We checked into our final Airbnb, a house with a very old lady dog living in it, which is always fun. We tried to get food from a pub, but gave up and went to Dominoes since there were no vegetarian options. We watched a little Netflix. But then we went to bed early, because we had to be up and at the airport first thing.
The rest of this blog will be dedicated to Meredith's adventures at the airports in Dublin, New York, and finally Baltimore. It was too much, y'all. First of all, Leah's flight was much earlier than mine, but I went with her to the airport at about 6 AM anyway to return the rental car, say goodbye, and also not have to figure out how to get myself to the airport 4 hours later. That part went well, but as soon as Leah was off to her section of the airport, I realized that the check-in counter for my airline didn't even open for 2 and a half more hours! So I had to keep my heavy suitcase with me. Luckily I was able to get breakfast and then sit and read for a long while. When my counter finally opened and I checked my bag, I found out that my flight, which was already not for 4 hours, was actually delayed by a couple of hours! Oh noes! Luckily, my layover in NY was long enough that it wouldn't make me miss my connection. I spent a lot of time in the Dublin Airport, friends. Enough time to take care of my tax free shopping stuff, which was good. Enough time to go through all of the actual shops, which was enjoyable even though I was broke at this point and couldn't buy anything else. Enough time to read my entire book. Enough time to eat 2 Kinder Buenos and a bag of chips that I got from the vending machine. Enough time to start getting really nervous about that connecting flight.
Finally though, we were on the plane, ready to go! I was at this point very tired and very hungry. I decided not to sleep, since I would be arriving in Baltimore in the evening, basically in time to go to bed, and I figured this would be the easiest way to adjust to the time change. I did want to eat, but alas, the meal was delayed several times because of turbulence. I do remember that we finally got it, and I was so happy, but no idea what it was anymore. Also no idea what I read, if anything, since I finished my book in the airport, or what I watched, with one notable exception. As you recall, I was very tired. I wanted to watch something that would keep me awake but wouldn't require me to spend much if any brain power keeping track of the plot. I settled on 9-1-1, a show that I had seen commercials for that looked both very silly and very exciting. The first 3 episodes were available to watch on my flight, and you guys, I was instantly hooked. It is very silly, and it is very exciting, and it is now my favorite show. Season 4 just ended, and I am already looking forward to season 5 in the fall. The only problem was that after episode 3, I wanted to keep watching, but no more episodes were available. I did watch them all later back in Baltimore, but here's a fun fact-episode 4 features a giant and fatal plane crash. Not totally sure if that's why it wasn't available on my flight, but it seems like a pretty good reason.
Once in New York, I was pleased to see that I had about 30 minutes to get to my connecting flight. Perfect timing! When I got to my gate, the plane was there waiting for us. But they didn't board, didn't board, didn't board. We waited for a couple of hours with varying degrees of patience. Turns out, we had a plane, but there was no pilot! Once we finally got a pilot and were on the plane, an intense thunderstorm arrived, so we sat on the runway in our plane for another hour or so. I was convinced every moment that we would be taken back to the airport and told to get off the plane, but thankfully we eventually took off and were not struck by any lightning. It is not a long flight, maybe an hour, but when we finally got to Baltimore, we had to sit on the plane for about 45 more minutes, I think because there was no gate.All in all, we were on that hour long flight for at least 3 hours, after an already horribly long day. I have never been so glad to get out of a plane. My wonderful sister picked me up at the airport, and that truly was the end of vacation.
So much has happened since then. One of my sisters unexpectedly passed away. My old roommate and first friend I made in Maryland passed away. A global pandemic happened, forcing me and most of the world into extreme isolation. My sweet old dog got cancer and also passed away. I got a sweet new dog. Fungie the Dolphin disappeared, probably also passing away after swimming in the waters around Dingle since the year I was born. I finally got my Covid vaccine and hope that the pandemic would end and travel would be a possibility again. I hope this isn't the last time I get to see a new place and have amazing adventures, but if it is, what a trip to go out on. Sorry to end on such a somber note, but it has been an extremely strange and serious time, and if you don't feel at least a little introspective about your life and your blessings after all that, you're doing things wrong. See you again soon, XOXO, The Black Lung.
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