My Ireland

Here is my map of all the places I have visited.

The Irish National Heritage Park

In the Irish National Heritage Park in County Wexford, you will get a true picture of the Irish history. 

In 6000 thousand years ago the Irish used to live in such kind of houses. The houses were all made of reed and chimneys were not used yet. 

Our nice tour guide doing her summer job. 

The reed roofs are a bit similar to Estonian reed roofs, but the shapes of the houses are totally different. No windows, no chimneys, just big roofs. 

On such kind of a ground, the Druids worshipped their gods and made sacrifices to them. If you were lucky enough to be chosen, then in the middle of the stone circle your head was chopped off and the gods were supposed to fulfil your wishes, or not :)

1500 years ago the people started to build Ringforts and all their life went on inside it. It was used for herding the animals, doing your everyday tasks and also for protecting you for the enemy

One Celtic Cross - beautiful with its colours. 
















From Viking's Age, which started from 795 Anno Domino 

Crannog - artificially created island, surrounded with wooden fence to keep away the enemies.

Inside Crannog - the houses still had roofs from reed. Crannogs were still used 400 years ago.

You can't avoid some wiskey

You never get too much of it

During the last year, I was lucky to travel around a bit. Some places I visited had been on my way before, some places had just been on my list, which is still really long and I hope that it will never get short.

I still haven't been in Cork, but I have been in lots of places around Cork. This time, I spent a day at marvellous Blarney Castle with all these beautiful gardens and walked all these mysterious paths and hidden grounds around it. It was a bit like a fairy world and I am pretty sure that if somewhere is the place where they live, then one of those has to be the Blarney Castle.

Of course, I couldn't miss kissing he famous Blarney stone, but I still cannot say if it has made me talk more or not. Maybe you have to be Irish for that. Or maybe I just don't want to admit that I have started to talk more than usual.

But even if you don't want to kiss the stone or the procedure makes you a bit dizzy, I will definitely suggest you climb up there and have that gorgeous view of the green Emerald Island that is spread beneath and could be enjoyed as far as your eye reaches.






And here are some places which don't exist in this world :)

Irish names

I thought that I can speak English without big problems, at least understand it quite well. Yes, that was before I went to Dublin and started to be a part of a big, loud, joyful and continuously talking Irish Family. It's not just their accent, that I have already started to figure out, it's more because they are always speaking about someone who met someone who had talked to someone whose granny had been in some unpronounceable place with someone who she met when she was travelling from one unpronounceable place to another, where she met her twelve cousins, whose names don't make any sense at all, who are now living in several other unpronounceable places with their wives and children whose names are also not quite understandable for me. It doesn't help too much if you look these names up on the map, because even if you could remember their pronunciation, you never find them, because they are written totally differently and without any sense.

That's why I like to look up all these pronunciations and names and read the stories behind them. The best illustration for that is Lee Mack talking about Irish names.

And now please tell me once more if you write your name Niamh, why do you tell that you are Niiv and if you really are, why don't you write just one v into your name. 

Until I don't get it I keep reading one of my favourite web-pages about the names and their stories IRISH BABY NAMES.

Meanwhile in Haapsalu

Easter time

Easter time was the time of computer nerds :) But a lot of work got done and a lot of pieces were fixed, just to the places where they were supposed to fit and they did. And the peace that was in my mind settled down there and started to feel itself like at home. I love that feeling.

Anyway I walked around here and there and for my surprise found the Big Easter Event just some steps from my home. OK, I knew that it was there, but somehow I had forgotten it, or just it didn't fit into the computer nerds' world.

I guess it was interesting, because it woke up a bit of historical Dublin and definitely I will go and see it on some other Easter, but this time I just got some pieces and a lot of crowds all around that.

Here are some pieces of Easter just some steps from my home.

Life is like a Merry-go-round - and we watched Mary Poppins just a day before

Besides being a computer nerd we also watched a lot of movies

An old steam engine on O'Connell Street 

Looks nice and red ;)

I had a good opportunity to meet some new cousins from England and we had a nice family dinner on Sunday. I think that there are so many cousins whom I have never met and I cannot even imagine if I can remember them all by name. But the best part was that I could understand them all quite well and after being shy for a while I even started to talk. Unfortunately every time when that happens and I feel that I am confident enough to talk, my time is done and I have to fly back. But one day it will change and I will skip this being shy period. 

Of course I couldn't leave without scrambled eggs, I never do that. Here are my personal scrambled eggs and I have never got anything better. And the asparagus was delicious.