Friday, August 7, 2009

Ireland Part 3

On the last day I was in Ireland I went to the Blarney Castle

From Ireland


This is the bottom of the castle and the dungeons
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I dont know if the gate was supposed to be opened. I walked in a little ways, but it gets real small and I didn't want to crawl through the mud inside and there was no light
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A view from the base
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The entrance
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Thats the blarney stone in the middle that has the pipes around it for safety. By kissing the stone you get the gift of eloquence. And yes I did kiss is.
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The stairs to the top were very steep and the only think to hold onto was this rope
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Looking down from the top
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There was a line at the top to kiss the stone. They also take your picture which you can pay 25$ to keep.
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Another view of the castle
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Some plant with big leaves
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A cool looking tree that had a lot of smaller branches and no real main trunk.
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The blarney house which they don't allow people to view anymore, unless you have a wedding there.
From Ireland


From Ireland

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Ireland Part 2

The Jamison Irish Wiskey Distillery is located in the town I stayed at. Midleton. I toured their factory. They actually have an old factory and shut it down and replaced it with an upgraded factory next to it. We toured the old factory.

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The waterwheel generated all of the power for the distillery.

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I think these were for show and not filled
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This shows the color of the whiskey as it ages. The left barrel is aged 2-3 years and the right is aged 18 years. You can see how some of the whiskey evaporates each year also
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Swan Lake
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The largest blackberries I have ever seen...although we recently found a plant at our house that had blackberries about the same size
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The countryside
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This is Drombeg. It is similar to stonehenge but much smaller. You can go right up to them and touch them. There were a bunch of groups there so this was the least people I could get in a picture
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From Ireland


Another driving picture
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This is Kinsale. It is a larger fishing village. They had the best fish and chips I've ever had at a local shop next to the harbor.
From Ireland


From Ireland

Monday, August 3, 2009

Ireland Part 1

The other week I went to Ireland for a short assignment. I had to make sure some new parts were installed correctly and make sure the engine worked as it was supposed to. It was a fairly easy job as luckily we had no major issues.

It was my first time in Ireland and I enjoyed it. The country is not too different from NY/PA and there was not a major culture differences so not too much of a shock being there. The major changes was cost. Everything is a lot more expensive. My house would cost at least half a million if it was in Ireland.

This is from the town I stayed at. Midleton, County Cork, Ireland. There are several buildings with attached houses all different colors.
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Another building. The doors are so small I would need to duck to get inside. The two houses are shorter than most in the area.
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A corner house
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A church in the town
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I went to McDonalds. They don't have drivethroughs...they have McDrives. My meal cost about $12.00 Their value menu has items that are only $3.00.
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This is a little fishing villiage near the refinery I worked at. The group of houses is about half of the village.
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Looking across the harbor
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This house has a nice flower bed in front of it.
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This is driving somewhere. This is not the main highway, but a more major road. I drove a VW golf and It took up about the full lane. They have to trim the sides and even the top at places so Big trucks aren't hitting branches. Also on my car there was a little sticker that reflected on the windshield to tell you to drive on the left hand side.
From Ireland