Week 6- Eyam and York

Last week my students and I went to the plague village of Eyam.  This village quarantined itself in the 1640s to prevent the spread of plague to surrounding villages.  Like much of the UK -- the village is still much like it was over 300 years ago.  The bummer was the cold and rain the day we went. 

 

There is a great museum about Eyam and we all enjoyed that!! (pictured here)

 

We also went to Chatsworth the same day.  It is a beautiful castle/manor where the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire reside (and the family has for about 500 years or so).

Absolutely beautiful place.  There was a flower show going on within the castle.  The paintings on the ceilings from many of the rooms were amazing.  Again the cold and rain prevented us viewing the gardens, stable and petting zoo.

 

Over the weekend, Jacob, Erica and I went on the school sponsored trip to York.  The kids loved the Jorvik viking centre.  A viking settlement from 1000 years ago has been uncovered in York and a large educational center was built over the dig site.  It was like Disneyworld meets the vikings.  There were "animatronic" vikings and a ride around a recreated viking city.  They even had terrible smells to demonstrate what it would have been like (I could have done without that part!!)

 

 

We also visited the National Railway museum and the York Minister -- the biggest gothic style cathedral in Europe.  The choir was practicing and the voices and organ were a great addition to our tour of the Minster.  In the lower area you could see the remains of the Roman columns that first marked the building site and then parts of the Norman church that was built. The modern cathedral (ha) from the 1400s was built over these previous walls.  York was a mix of Roman walls, vikings and cathedrals.  We also saw the street called the Shambles where the shop district scene from Harry Potter originated.

 

We really loved visiting York!!

Week 5 - Ireland

Cliffs on Moher in Ireland

I am behind in the blog again.

  Week 5 included going on a 4 day trip to Ireland.  My mother-in-law, Ann and her husband Dan traveled with us from Nottingham England to Dublin on Ryanain last Thursday.  We boarded a green tour bus called the "Paddywagon" on Friday morning and spent the next 3 days touring southwestern Ireland.  We stayed in Galway on the coast and went to Killarney and Cliffs of Moher.  That was the most beautiful site we saw. 
Prior to getting to the cliffs we stopped along the road and climbed up hills that were completely stone -- not the green grassy hills you expect.  The kids built their own mini standing stones and carved their names on a large rock to mark they had been there.  That was Jacob's favorite thing.

We also rode a horse and buggy around a national park in Killarney.  Erica was asked to drive the horse and sit with the driver.  She sat beaming a wide smile through rain and mist and didn't care one bit.  That is all she talked about for days.  She says it is her favorite thing we have done on this trip so far.  The horse was named Rosie -- I told her David would be pleased in honor of his Cincy Reds.

We finished our trip to Ireland by climbing up the very narrow and very tall spiral staircases up Blarney Castle and kissed the famous stone.  That is not easy to do.  Laying on your back with your head down into a hole in the rain is a bit unnerving.  But we did it.  Erica was so brave didn't question doing it one bit. 

This is another castle we stopped at -- Bunratty Castle.  Near Cliffs of Moher in the O-Brien lands

 Behind the cliffs of Moher. It was sunny and beautiful but very windy!!

 

Heading to York for the day on Saturday Oct. 6.  Planning to see the Viking "city" that has been uncovered -- Jorvik Center and the city walls and gates.  Also have to go to the National Railroad museum -- it is free and full of steam engines for Jacob to enjoy.  Also the largest gothic style cathedral in Europe.