Leprechaun Museum

This stop in Dublin was a request from Skye. Who wouldn't want to go to a Leprechaun museum?! Interestingly, the museum isn't so much about leprechauns as it is about Irish folklore and legend. They do talk a bit about the leprechaun and how America stole the idea, repackaged it and sold it back to the Irish in the form of Lucky Charms and little men running around hiding pots of gold. As an interesting note, out guide was a young man in his early 30's about 5 feet tall and had a nice beard - not a red though - he also seemed to have a bit of a chip on his shoulder about being called a leprechaun on more than one occasion. I am getting off topic.
So, you enter the museum through a hallway built to look as if you are walking under the Giants Causeway (you can read about that in a later blog). The hallway leads you into a room with giant furniture that guests are encouraged to climb on. It gives you an idea of the size of a leprechaun. I can't lie, it is always fun taking pictures that make you look smaller then you really are. You exit the giant furniture room through the fireplace and walk into a dark room with a large round table in the middle. It had a map of the island on it. It was very quiet, cool and peaceful in this room . There was a womans voice playing over a sound system telling the mythological history of the island in a soft, lilting brouge. I could have stayed and listened all day. From the map room, you moved through a simulated rain storm to a room with rainbow tassles hanging down (ok - both of those were hokey) to a room with a pot of gold in the center of a circle surronded by a three foot high wall. This was actually kinda cool because the museum guide had everyone sit on the wall while he told a story. After the story, you walk through a dark forest and come to a gathering place by a well. This is where the guide told us a little more about how to protect ourselves from the Fae (because in Ireland, faries weren't sweet little creatures. They were dark and scarey beings that would steal your babies.) It was an interesting 10 minutes. All in all it was a really great museum to visit. I know I haven't gone in to great detail on the stories here and that was pretty much to save time and space on the blog. If you want more details, email me OR better yet, stop in to the Leprachaun Museum in Dublin. It is worth your time!

New Grange

This was one of Josh's obscure finds on the "things to see" list and was pretty interesting. New Grange is a prehistorice monument located in County Meath, on the eastern side of Ireland. It was built around 3200 BC in the Neolithic period, making it older than the Giza pyramids and Stonehenge. No one can agree why New Grange was built, but it is believed to have been built for religious purposes since it is in direct alingment with the rising sun of the winter solstice, which floods the inner chamber with light. For the rest of the year, the chamber is in complete darkness. When I say complete, I mean complete! They turned off the lights and it was not possible to see you hand inches from your face.
The Newgrange monument primarily consists of one large mound, built of alternating layers of stone and dirt and has grass growing on top. It has a reconstructed facade of white quartz interspaced with roundish cobbles. The mound is 250 feet across, 40 feet high and covers about 1 acre of land. Inside the mound is a very narrow passage that angles uphill for about 60 feet and ends in a main chamber with three smaller chambers on the sides and a corbelled roof. It is thought each of the smaller chambers were for the remains of deceased, though no remains have been documented.
Even though no one had figured out the exact purpose of the New Grange monument, it has played a part in Irish Legend. It was long believed (during medieval times) to be the home to the Tuatha De Danan - the supernatural Fae Folk of the island. It was also considered the burial place to the ancient kings of Tara. I have long been interested in Fairy Mythology so it was exciting to visit such an enigma. It did have a magical feel to it and I like to think that it may have been an entrance to a mythical land. To be very honest, the kids weren't that impressed with this visit, but Josh and I thought that it was cool to see.

I did poach the pictures here from the internet (knoweth.com) and my historical information came from Wikipedia because my memory isn't always the best. Thanks for bearing with me as I do love to share what we see on our travels.

The Giants Causeway

The Giants Causeway is located on the Northeast coast of Ireland above Belfast an is considered the fourth greatest wonder in the United Kingdom. Legend states that Finn McCool built the causeway to walk to Scotland to fight his Scottish counterpart Benandonner. One version of the legend says Finn fell asleep before he got to Scotland. When he did not arrive, a much larger Benandonner crossed the bridge looking for Finn. To protect Finn, his wife Oonaugh laid a blanket over him so he could pretend to be their baby son. When Benanadonner saw the size of the "infant", he assumed the size of the father - Finn - would be gigantic. Benandonner fled back to Scotland ripping up the causeway as he went. In reality, the Giants Causeway is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns that were the result of volcanic eruptions. the tops of the columns form stepping stones from the cliff foot and disappear under the sea. Wether you choose to believe legend or science, it is truly a breathtaking sight.

Our Apartment in Edinburgh- LOVED IT

Edinburgh Photos

This pretty park used to be the sewer
for Auld Reekie.......

This guy was amazing! He used spray
paint to make amazing pictures and sold them on the side walk.

Yeah I will say, Skye wasn't happy to be forced to stand next to the kilted stranger with bag pipes. Jax didn't care so much. We had only been in town about 2 hours. SO COOL!!!!!!

Pretty Pictures in Scotland

Dunkeld Scotland
Skye and Jax Dunkeld Scotland April 2011

Dunkeld Kirk

Dunkeld Kirk

Dunkeld Kirk

Skye and Jax Dunkeld Kirk April 2011

The Famous Grouse Experience

Our first tour was the Famous Grouse Experience where the Glenfiddich brand of single malt whisky is made. Scotch wiskey is a huge part of Scottish heritage dating back to ancient Celtic times. The process used in modern distillary is the same that was used way back when. We thought taking the kids on a learning expidetion when it involves a "wee nip of the water of life" would be not only educational but also tasty. The process is pretty straight forward.
1. Steep barley in water until the point of germination occurs. This releases enzymes that help break down the starches in the grain and helps convert them into sugar.
2.Dry the malted barley using heated air. Sometimes peat is used which gives a VERY distinct flavor to the scotch!
3.The dried grain is ground into a fine powder called grist and put into a vat with a lot of hot water. There it is left to steep. More breaking down of starches occurs and the mixture ends up something called wort.
4.The wort is poured into another vat so it can cool. Yeast is added and the mixture is allowed to ferment.
5.The mixture is then sent through the still
6.The scotch is then diluted a little bit before it is put into casks to age.
7.The scotch is put into oak sherry barrels to age for a minimum of 3 years before sale.
8.The scotch can be diluted a second time for a "bottling strength" of 40% to 46% or it can be sold as "cask strength" at 50-60%.
At the end of the tour, we tasted a few of the Grouse brand beverages - Snow Grouse, and Black Grouse. Snow Grouse is ment to be kept in the freezer and has hints of vanilla. Black Grouse has a very strong smokey flavor. Both are awful and taste like paint thinner.
While we were at the Famous Grouse Experience, we decided to jump into Scottish heritage with both feet and ordered some haggis for all of us to try. You will see in the photo below how haggis is served. The haggis is in the middle and on either side are "neeps and tatties" or mashed turnips and mashed potatos. You are supposed to load your fork with a little veg then haggis then veg, take a bite and sip your whisky. We all tried it. Haggis isn't really that bad. The thought of it is what makes many people say "NO WAY". (remember it is the heart, lungs and liver of a sheep mixed with spices, oatmeal, suet, onion, salt and stock then placed in the stomach and simmered for about 3 hours.) The texture is a little like corned beef with the flavor a little more spiced. The part I found tasted the worst was the turnips. They are just too strong in flavor for me. Like I said, we all tried it, even the kids and we all decided it wasn't horrible.
We all liked this tour. It was really informative and it gave the kids and us a chance to to try some new things.