Now that I’ve been to different parts of Ireland – geographically speaking – our trip to the Bunratty Castle, which is near Shannon, has seemed the most like Michigan, home :) Aside from the actual castle, and the folk park which had thatched roofed homes and 19th century buildings and houses I felt most at home today. Riding on the bus and taking in the country side around the Shannon and Galway area I noticed it’s more developed here, yet there are still huge sections of land that remain wide open divided with rock walls and shrubbery.
In the Bunratty Castle they burned wood for heat verses turf or peat which is what we use in our cottages and what people in Ireland still use today. Our guide mentioned that Ireland used to be covered in forest, but the people of Bunratty Castle were not the only ones using wood so now there is not nearly as much forest covering the land. That really surprised me because the Ireland I have come to know is mostly bog land, open fields, or a city. Then within the castle in The Great Hall large tapestries covered the walls keeping the heat within the banquet hall. The tapestries are French, Belgium, and Flemish - and interestingly enough while I was on spring break I spotted very similar tapestries in Rome within the Vatican museum and in a couple castles in Germany, the Neuschwanstein castle and the Oberschleissheim castle.
We also went to Coole Park today and that is probably my favorite place in Ireland. I could easily get lost in my thoughts there. Although we did not stay there long, I was enthralled with the park as a whole but especially the trees. It reminded me of a forest I went to in Sweden, very cool stuff.
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