Friday into Saturday Aug 22 - My second full day in Ireland

 
After our visit to Knowth on Friday,  Eugene drove us to my first experience seeing a round tower and some old high Irish Crosses here at Monasterboice in County Louth just north of the River Boyne



 
Here is the high cross, remarkable in that it tells of the stories of Jesus in carvings in a monastery of the 8th or 9th century.
 
A description of the round tower found on the tower itself. 

 

A recent burial in the cemetery and well adorned with flowers, Shane Whalen with  soccer balls died young. 8 Aug 1994 - 27 Oct 2013.

 

Many well attended gravesights, with the round tower in the background  

 The pastoral area here with the cows that produce Irish Butter and Milk, with a remembrance of the 1845-50 years of the potato famine in rural Ireland.

I have enjoyed butter most of my life, and here in Ireland, no exception!  Thanks for the cows in Ireland who eat the green green grass!!

 
We stopped in Navan on the Boyne, to drop off Scott who wanted to have his medical issue checked out,  Eugene and David (on the right of this panorama) are seen here on the top of the Hill of Tara , likely occupied from 3500 BC to 400 AD and much in the lore of the Irish people.
 
From the car park we walked through what some have called the "Banquet Hall" and being some 200 m of parallel low banks, more likely is the entrance aligned with the Mound of Hostages.

 The Farrad here is said to be a bronze age burial complex.
 
Here are David and Eugene on the Forrad area looking more like part of Mary Poppins. 

Eugene Curran on the right of an Irishman leaning on the Stone of Destiny, the lia fail , in Gaelic, at the summit of the Hill.

 View to the west from Hill of Tara.

 Another view with a rain shower in the distance.

Two Hawthorn trees with prayer ties on them, together said to create and energy vortex. 

  
As we pulled into the parking lot of the Bellinter House, a manor house with grounds overlooking the Boyne, a rainbow appeared before we headed inside for a fine dinner. Completing our day, before picking up Scott and returning to Dublin-

On Saturday, I decided to attend the performances from 1 - 4 PM or so, of the students and the 3 teachers at All Hallows, as part of the ALBA program. Adult Learning Bachelor of Arts....

 

One of the female performers. 

 One of the male performers.

 

The teachers,David(from Chicago and the The Acorn Theater in Michigan),  Scott (standing from Chicago) and Eugene Curran from the staff at All Hallows Dublin