John F. Kennedy Memorial

There is a memorial to President John F. Kennedy in New Ross, Ireland.  It is at a place where President Kennedy gave a speech in Ireland in 1963. He was assassinated in Texas a little bit later.  His grandfather was from Ireland and he was the first Irish-Catholic president of the United States.   He also has the same birthday as me!

This is a photo from when President Kennedy gave his speech.

The statue is of President Kennedy ready to shake hands.

Kinder Surprise Egg

I forgot I was going to do a blog on Kinder Eggs.  Thanks 5A and 5B for reminding me!

Kinder Surprise Eggs are a chocolate egg that have a plastic container inside with a pretty nice toy.  The toys usually do something and you sometimes have to put them together.  They are made of nice heavy plastic.









My favorite Kinder Egg toy is a cow who rides a 3 wheeled motorcycle that goes REALLY fast and far across the floor.  He was in one of my giant Easter eggs.  My Aunt doesn't like it because she thinks the noise of his motorcycle is too loud.   Some of my other toys are an alligator who lifts weights above his head, a ninja monkey parachuter, and a fox that jumps high into the air.My other giant egg toy is a real paint set with a sheep that holds the paint brush when you are not using it.

I would bring a Kinder Surprise Egg home for everyone but they are actually illegal in the United States.  If I got caught bringing them home, customs would take them and charge me $2,500 fine per egg!  I think they are illegal because there is the plastic inside the chocolate.  They are worried that babies will accidentally eat the toy part.

Famine Ship

In the 1840s, there was a big problem in Ireland.  Basically, most of the people only ate potatoes that they grew on their farms.  In 1845 the potatoes got a disease that made it so they would not grow.  Over a million Irish people starved to death.  A million others left Ireland to move to other countries.

I went to a museum that is on a famine ship like the ones that carried the starving people from Ireland.  There was about 40 people on the ship with me but there would have been 400 during the famine.  I can't imagine having that many people on the ship.  It seemed crowded with just 40.

There were a couple people who dressed up like they were in the 1800's and told us about life on the ship.  They played real people who had been on the ship.  This lady had 4 kids.  Both her and her husband died on the ship.  Her 4 kids made it to New York but there is no record of what happened to them after that.  One of them was a little baby.

Waterford Crystal Factory

I went with the students to tour the Waterford Crystal factory.  They make crystal stuff, like chandeliers and wine glasses.  They also make a bunch of famous trophies like the NCAA Football Championship Trophy and the Players Championship golf trophy.

This is a video of the blowers.  They pull a red ball of burning crystal out of an oven.  They put it in a wood mold and then blow through a tube.  The crystal takes the shape of the mold.  Then they have to cool the crystal.  The guys in the video are making a vase.

There were a lot of trophies being made while I was there.

This is the plans for the NCAA Football Championship trophy.  It is the crystal football given to the winner of the National Championship game.

This is the model for the trophy.  You can see how the wood gets burnt by the lava hot crystal.

This is me actually holding the almost finished replica trophy.  I had to be really careful not to drop it.

This is an etching station.  When the crystal comes out of the hot mold and cools it is smooth and plain.  Then it goes to other parts of the factory to be decorated.  This is me at a etching station.

I took this pic of a piano for Mrs. Verity.

The factory was one of my favorite things in Ireland.  It was really interesting to see them make all the crystal.  It looked like a hard job!

Waterford Festival of Food

On Sunday, there was a big fair for the last day of the Waterford County Festival of Food.  Lucky for me, the festival is held in Dungarvan so I walked right from my home.  It was so crowded!  My Aunt had to use me a bowling ball to push through the crowds.

The weather was crazy!  It was soooooooo windy.  Ireland actually had a tornado warning for the day.  The sellers had to hang onto their tents and their hundred pound weights on the tent legs were being lifted up into the air!  But, at least in was sunny.

Most of the stands were food.  I ate a tasty wood fired pizza and some ice cream.  "Yum yum"

There was also whole pigs on a spit.  The head was gross.  This is a pic of me with a pig that hadn't been roasted....yet.

I also rode on a mechanical bull.  It was fun but a little scary.

Blessed Virgin Mary Statue

I visited a place where there is a statute of Virgin Mary up a hill in Cappoquin, Ireland.  This statue is special because in 1985 the statue moved and talked to some people.

The statue said "My message is peace and prayer. Tell the people that the water is blessed." She also said "I want the people of Ireland to convey my message to the world."

People come and pray here.  There are a lot of candles and I said a prayer for my Uncle Bob.

 I drank some of the water from the spring (water spot).

Different Names for Things

 

Even when the Irish speak English and not Irish they have somethings that have different names.  Here's a list of some things that have different names.

French Fries = Chips

Chips = Crisps

Elevator = Lift

Mom = Mum

Car Truck = Boot

Car Hood = Bonnent

Windshield = Windscreen

Flashlight = Torch

Police = Garda

Parking Lot = Car Park

Rent a Car = Hire a Car
Trash Can = Rubbish Bin
Rain Boots = Wellies

There are also some other differences. 

When I was at the library, I told the librarian "Can I please check this book in".  She had no idea what I was talking about . She said  "check in, do you mean check out?"  I had to tell her that I wanted to return it. 

Also, people call me "Pet".  It is like when people at the store call you "buddy" or "pal".  But, here they call the kids "pet".

They also call groups of young people 'lads'.  They even call groups of girls lads.  There are 30 girl Mercyhurst students but the Irish people call them "lads."

Another funny thing happen with my Uncle Colin.  We were at a restaurant and the waitress brought the food to the table.  She asked him if he wanted more water but he didn't hear it so he said "what's that?"  She looked at him funny and then said "it's the potato and leek soup." Here, they don't say 'what's that?" when they don't hear or understand something.  So, the waitress thought he was asking what the food was.   

The Irish also say "your welcome" or "your very welcome" a lot.  But, they don't mean it like when we say your welcome after someone says thanks.   They say it when you go into a store or someplace.  It means they are happy to have you there.
 

Kilkenny Castle

The day that the students came to Ireland, we picked them up at the airport.  On the way to Dungarvan, the bus stopped at Kilkenny Castle.

Kilkenny Castle is different then all the other castles I've seen because it has no ruins.  All the rooms are in good condition and they have furniture and painting and stuff inside.   The castle is more than 800 years old.  But the last family to live in it lived in the castle for 600 years.  They left the castle in the 1940's and gave it to the people.  It's a museum now. 

Your not allowed to take pics inside the castle but I found this one on the internet.  It is of a long room with a lot of paintings on the walls.

There was a lot of neat stuff around and inside the castle.  Here is a picture of a coat of arms above the gate.

A funny thing happened at the castle.  After the tour, we all lined up to use the bathroom before getting on the bus.  The girl's bathroom was working but the boy's was closed for cleaning.  So, we had to use the disabled one.  My Uncle went first into the disabled one.  It was a very old bathroom and there was a pull cord above the toilet.  My Uncle thought that was how you flushed the old toilet.  But,when he pulled it a really loud alarm started going off.  The cord was for calling help if a disabled person gets hurt in the bathroom.  My Uncle ran out of the bathroom and found the cleaning person to turn off the alarm.  I would not use that bathroom after that!

Picture of me and the students in from of the castle. I am right in the middle.

Cahir Castle and Extinct Giant Bog Deer

I went on a day trip with the students and saw 2 more castles.   One was the least ruined of the big castles I've seen.  It seemed like all the rooms had a roof.  It was owned by a family that owned a lot of castles, the Butler family.  It is right on top of a river, like a lot of the other castles.

I'm standing on the other side of the river in this pic.  The wall is right on the other shore of the river.

In a lot of the castle, they have big holes above the doors and gates so they could poor tar and boiling water on the intruders or attackers.

Those two big holes above the gate let the people inside the castle dump boiling water on the people trying to get in.

At Cahir Castle, they have some old cannons still by the wall.  There is also a cannonball still stuck in one wall of the castle.

Trying to load my head into the cannon.

One of the coolest things inside the castle was the skull of a GIANT deer.  The deer was called the Irish Elk and was the largest deer that ever lived. It is extinct now.  The deer weighed up to 1,500 pounds and their antlers alone weighed 100 pounds.  A lot of the skeletons of the giant deer have been found in Ireland because they are preserved in the bogs.

Because this was found in the bogs it is shiny and black like bog wood.

I am a leprechaun!

This was taken on Grafton Street in Dublin.  A street performer had a both for people to turn themselves into leprechauns.

The Blarney Stone

The Blarney Stone is really high up in the ruins of an old castle.  People all over the world come to Ireland to kiss it (yuck).  The castle and the grounds are really neat.  It is my favorite castle (and I've seen a lot of castles)!

To get to the Blarney Stone you have to climb what seems like 3,000 steps up an old castle ruins.  You get very high up!

To kiss the Blarney Stone, you have to lie down on your back and then slide back over a hole that goes all the way down.  A guy helps hold you up while you slide your head down backwards to kiss the stone.  I thought I was going to die (and not from all the kissing germs on the stone)! 

Me kissing the Blarney Stone.

My Aunt kissing it.  But in her pic you can see the ground through the hole.

At the Blarney Castle, there is a lot of other cool stuff to see.  I went in some caves that the people living in the castle used to escape from people who were attacking it.  I also saw a witch's well and a magic garden.  It was all really neat!

Easter in Ireland

One thing that is different in Ireland is that the Easter Bunny brings all the kids giant chocolate eggs.  They are usually filled with something like a toy or more candy.

This is my biggest egg.

I had to leave for Dublin early on Easter morning so I didn't eat my eggs.

The big one!

These are two more of my eggs.  They are giant Kinder Surprise eggs.  I will tell you more about Kinder Eggs later.

No Internet in George Bernard Shaw's House (or The Harcourt Hotel)!

I haven't been able to post to my blog because I had no internet in the hotel I stayed in in Dublin for the last 4 days.  The hotel was built into an old giant house right by the St. Steven's Green Park in Dublin.  The house used to belong to another famous Irish writer George Bernard Shaw.  I saw some of his books for sale in book stores. 

Picture of George Bernard Shaw in the Hotel

One of the doors to the hotel.

This is a pic of the ceiling in my hotel room.  It had a lot of neat plaster work.