Day Two

So yesterday we were all over the place.  We went to the Battle of the Boyne, St. Peter's church to see Oliver Plunkett, Monasterboice, Mellifont Abbey, Hill of Slane, Trim Castle and then the Hill of Tara.  So, here we go:

Battle of the Boyne
The battle was mainly between William III and James II, James being William's uncle and father-in-law.  The battle was for the crown of England and William's army won, leaving James to retreat to France. 

St. Peter's Church - Oliver Plunkett
The inside of the church was super beautiful, except for this guy's head.  They literally had a shrine with his head in a box.  The story behind it was that he was hanged, then quartered, and then burned.  While his body was burning, some people saved his head and then preserved it and stuck it in this church.  Pretty gross.

Monasterboice
This was a fairly big graveyard, with the remains of two churches and a tall round tower.  There were also three big crosses that I guess are the main attraction.


Mellifont Abbey
This was the first Cisterian monastery that was built around 1160 I believe.  It was basically all the remains of it but it was still really, really interesting to see.

Hill of Slane
We stopped by this place, didn't leave the bus, but it was also a church, graveyard and miniature college I guess, all remains again.

We then ate lunch at a place called Poet's Rest I believe where we had soup and sandwiches.  The soup was incredibly good, the sandwiches were okay.  A lot of coleslaw.


Trim Castle
This place was sooo amazing!  We got to go inside and all over this place, even around the top perimeter.  I forget the history behind it since there was so much history going on yesterday.  But I have some really cool pictures of it.

Hill of Tara
This place was really beautiful as well (everywhere we go is beautiful hahah).  I guess what it's all about is it's these circular mounds, and on the top of one is this tall rock-thing and back in the day, it would roar if the future king of Ireland touched it.  I don't know about you guys, but it would've been cool to hear that thing roar hahaha.  We decided that our tour guide was this little dog that was playing with us the whole time.  He was so cute and made me miss my dog Jack.

After we left the Hill of Tara we went to a grocery store to get food for dinner.  I got spinach and ricotta tortellini with tomato sauce, and 6 apples for 1 euro that I'm splitting with another girl.  I tried to buy some hard pear cider, but since I'm not 21 I wasn't able to buy it as it was their store policy that anyone under 21 can't buy alcohol.  Super lame, but most of us went out to the pub last night which was really, really fun.  The walk from our hostel is about 20 minutes one way, on this tiny country road, but nobody got hurt!  When we got there, there was a live band which was really cool.  I ordered a Carlsburg beer which wasn't so bad.  Some of the girls were dancing with this one hardcore Irishman which was pretty funny to watch. This same Irishman told me I could take a glass that said Carlsburg on it so I did haha.  My one souvenier so far! 

Today we're off to Galway for four hours, and then Doolin for the weekend.  I guess Doolin isn't a very big town so I'm not sure if I'll be able to get on the internet so in case not, I love you all and I'll post as soon as I can!!