A Day of Exploring Things of Old

Okay...can I just say...OH MY GOODNESS! Today has been incredibly amazing as we have been out and about exploring things of old here in Ireland.   Today we got to see the ruins of Trim Castle...which is just a couple minute walk from our B&B. This castle was built in the 16th century. And it was used in the film "Braveheart". Incredible ruins to walk thru...beautiful!   We did some shopping in Trim (on a whim we popped into a wee kind of everything shop run by a real friendly old Irish man who had the gift of gab...we chatted with him for awhile and we got some great deals on some stuff and then had our pictures taken with him...it was one of those moments when you were just really warmed inside knowing that you've connected with one of the locals).   We set out in the afternoon driving to the ancient round burial grounds of Knowth and NewGrange. Dad is enjoying driving in Ireland...he seems to have a handle on zipping really fast on the 2 lane roads that curve and meander thru sleepy country villages and past pastures of sheep.   Like I said we got to explore the ancient round burial grounds of Knowth and NewGrange. They were made 5000 years ago in the Neolithic period by peoples unknown...they are huge round stone tombs that are covered with earth. They are surrounded by standing stones that have beautiful pattern carvings on them (we all seem to attribute the carvings to celtic or druidic designs...but actually they were made even before those peoples). It was so....breathtaking to be standing inside these ancient tombs touching these ancient rocks...I just don't even have appropriate words to describe how I felt today. WOW! They think the tombs might have been used to bury the dead, or to do some sort of ceremony around death...they also think they may have been used as some sort of special sun worship place (Newgrange has a very accurate chamber where on the Winter Solstice the sunlight shines thru a hole that lights up the center chamber (kind of like in Indiana Jones!). There's lots of theories...no one really knows. The artwork on the stones are amazing and I just...well, how do I describe it...I loved it!It's just so incredible to think about what we experienced today.   After, we had dinner at a pub in the town of Navan on the way back to Trim...tomorrow we'll set out south to explore Glendalough. More emailing to come!   Ireland is so cool! Can you see the huge grin on my face after such a day as this?!!! Bless you my friends...I send my love to you. Cheers, Lisa