My Mom has Arrived

You probably have guessed that my mom had arrived by the silence.  We have been having a wonderful time showing her around.  It is fun to see something new but it is more fun to share it with someone.  I wonder if she is really seeing it all, as the kids want to rush her here and there to see their favorite things.

On Tuesday we took the airport shuttle to the Belfast International Airport to meet mom.  That was a little tricky gauging times to arrive on buses is still not that easy for me.  And there is always the added question of will the bus I am waiting for mysteriously be cancelled.  We did it though got to the airport with 10 minutes to spare.  The flight was of course delayed but only by 30 minutes. 

Ireland was showing her temperamental side.  For the 24 hrs before mom landed we were scheduled to receive the total amount of Septembers rain fall, 30 mm.  It was wet.  Thank goodness things were starting to taper off as we walked to the bus or we would have been soaked.

The return bus trip dropped us off in town a ways from our apartment.  When the rain started to pick up a bit I suggested we pop in and visit the beautiful St. Anne's Cathedral.  The kids and I had visited it early on  in our trip.  We were excited to hear the pipe organ being played on this tour.

St Anne's Pipe Organ

Holywood

Holywood is a little town that sits to the east of Belfast.  They almost merge.  We take a train  through it every time we go to Bangor.  When we got to Tesco for groceries it is just a few minutes away.  Yet we have never visited it.  So that has now been corrected.  On Friday the kids and I got off the train in Holywood.  I am so glad we did.

Holywood has the only surviving Maypole in Ireland.  And early maps show it has sat on the same site since 1620's.  I had read all this in the guide book and was determined to see it while visiting Holywood.  But after walking the few streets for a while I just could not find it.  I had made the mistake of leaving my map at home.  I finally decided to do the girl thing and ask someone.  The kids and I entered a Boots Drug Store and asked the kind lady at the till if she could point out the direction of the Maypole to us.

"The Maypole?" she asked "you don't mean the pub?"

"No," I assured her we just wanted to see the Maypole.

She said, "Come with me to the door and I will point it out to you." 

Imagine my embarrassment when she pointed to what seemed to be a flag pole in the middle of the intersection right outside the store.

"There it is love", she said.

Oh my, it was funny.  The whole thing gave the kids and I a good laugh.  I got a picture of the Maypole just to show I found it, with some help. =)

Holywood Maypole

Johnny the Jig

Holywood Priory

The Priory sits on the site of a monestary founded in the early 7th century.  The ruins visible today are of a 12the century  Anglo Norman Augustinian Abbey.  Henrey VIII dissolved the Priory in 1541 the land passed into the hands of the O'Neil family and then to Sir James Hamilton, First Viscount Clandeboye.  Hamilton laid out the town of Holywood, with a maypole at the crossroads and most of the early buildings are clustered around the priory.  The tower however dates from 1809 when this was the site of the town's church.

Holywood Priory

Old and New Priory

inside of the priory, graves

view of the Priory from the graveyard

 St Colmcille's Church

This church dates back to 1872 when the congregation moved from St Patrick's.  It had to be rebuilt following a fire in the 1990's.  The original tower survived and still forms part of the church campus.

original tower of St Colmcille's Church

new addition

inside the stained glass was so pretty

Original tower - amazing details

Ards Peninsula

Yesterday we took a bus down the Ards Peninsula.  We have been told how beautiful it was and it most certainly is.  The sad part is fro the first time my pictures leave a lot to be desired.  Reason one - the bus windows were dirty, reason two - we were going 50 miles an hour on a bumpy winding road.  So I will share some of the better dirty, with reflection, zooming by supper fast pictures. lol

Newtownards

 Lies at the top of the Strangford Lough.  It is a larger town, but not nearly the size of Belfast.  On the hill over looking the city you can see the Scrabo Tower.  "The tower is 41 metres high, and was erected as a memorial to Charles Stewart, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry, in recognition of his concern for the plight of his tenants during the great potato famine."

roundabout in Newtownards

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Scrabo Tower

Strangford Lough

"The Strangford Lough is a large sea loch or inlet in County Down, North Ireland.  It is seperated from the Irish Sea by the Ards Peninsula.  The island studded sea lough is the largest inlet in the British Isles, covering 150 km². Almost totally landlocked, the lough is approached from the Irish Sea through the eight kilometre long fast-running tidal narrows, which open out into more gentle waters where there are 70 islands. Countless tidal rocky outcrops called pladdies litter the lough and mudflats, along with marshes, rocks, bays and headlands."

It was low tide on the trip down so there were lots of mud flats.

road along the Lough

Ballywalter

Ballywalter Presbyterian Church

Irish Sea

Ivy covered house

farm fields

Portaferry

Our destination was the Exploris Aquarium in Portaferry.  It is a small aquarium, but nicely laid out.  Our favorite part was the touch tank.  We were able to touch and pet some very cool sea animals.  To our amazement two dogfish sharks were like a puppies.  They would swim towards people around the tank wanting you to pet them.  They are little about a foot long and maybe 3 inches in diameter, but they swim towards you like a snake in the water head just above the surface of the water, with their mouth wide open.  They could bite so you had to be careful not to get near their teeth.  It was funny to see they eagerly sneak up on people.  We also got to touch a ray they are really rough like velcro loops.  Holding a starfish was also neat they need to be held very carefully so they don't feel threatened and drop a leg.  The leg will grow back but it was better not to cause that to happen. 

Ray

Dogfish Shark

Starfish

The aquarium also rehabilitates seals.  Their is lots of opportunities for them to be hurt with all the ship traffic around Ireland.  This little guy was quiet intrigued with the kids.

Portaferry Castle is not much to see most of what remains standing is the tower.  It was probably built in the 1600's for the Savage family.  In WWII it was used by the RAF air sea rescue unit.

Portaferry castle

Old Corn Mill

Portaferry waterfront

Tullyboard Windmill

The Rock Bakery

ferry between Portaferry and Strangford

Wednesday

Sarah and Samuel are suffering with bad colds.  And they shared I can feel the start of a head cold coming on.  So today is a low key day rest and healthy eating are the order of the day. 

I will leave you with a beautiful rainbow picture while I go have a nap. =)

Cannonball Run 150 cars in 2 minutes 30 seconds

School Days

It is that time of year again.  Back to the books, even though being out sight seeing would be more fun we are trying to make sure and get some school work accomplished.  Being in a different city offers new opportunities for learning though.

Yesterday we took our learning to the W5.  Wow, it is a science center and it is so fun.  We will have to visit again as there was just so much to see and do.  The kids had a one on three microscope lesson as we were the only family with older kids there.   They showed several slides of things under a microscope and got the kids to guess what they were.  Things like onion skin, snowflakes, computer components, and one that looked like a tangle of wire or thread.  It was bellybutton lint, ewww.

The W5 is in the Odyssey building on 5 floors so their view of our area is pretty amazing too.

creating bubbles in the tubes of paraffin, water and glycerine

This stone is really heavy it would be impossible to move but when it is floating on a bed of water even a little child can spin it.

Samuel and Sarah having a tug of war

Sabrina and Samuel playing the harp with no strings

Sarah adjusting the waves

Samuel practicing graffiti in a safe environment

Sarah sorting garbage and recycling on the blue screen

Samuel creating a dust storm

a propeller under the water used to create energy from the tides.

Samuel flying an airplane

looking up the River Lagan towards town and the Victoria Square shopping Center

looking down the River Lagan towards Bangor and Carrickfergus.  There is a small rainbow in the sky.

rainbow over the Titanic Museum.