The Goat: May 2009

Sunday, May 31, 2009

May Links

Here are all of the links to my posts for May, 2009

The Head of Kinsale

Yesterday I talked about the Kinsale walking tour. It was because of that tour and the man shown below, who sent us on our adventure.

Walking tour guide - Don

Don told the walking tour group about Fort Charles, that I talked about yesterday and he told us about the Old Head of Kinsale. I'm so glad that we took his advice and saw these two places.

Image from Google Earth

Here's a map of where we went on our little driving tour.

This is one of the tidal areas. The Island is very high in some places and as you can see here, very low. The wind was blowing like mad and it was quite chilly. I had on a long sleeved shirt, a thin thermal shirt and a heavy sweater. I had a scarf and gloves in the car with me, too.

Just some more pretty views on our drive.

I can't remember where we found this - it might have been near the tower house - but it was definitely on our way to the Old Head. I was feeling quite smug that I'd heard of that pirate before :)

This is where we had to park on the one lane road, while a whole group of cars going the opposite direction had the right of way. This grass was truly gorgeous and was so bright in the sunshine.

I didn't realize how crooked this photo was until I got it on the page. Ooops. This is a tower house of some description . I actually walked into it and looked around. It's quite small, but very tall.

I really liked the window ledge with the natural windowbox of flowers. I think the structure above the window is a balcony - probably to see if anyone was coming :)

This tower also is the home to the Lusitania Memorial. The Lusitania was torpedoed by a German Submarine and sank right here, the Old Head Kinsale, May 7th, 1915.

Lusitania Memorial found here at Webshots travel

Postcard of the Lusitania from Maritime Quest.

If you click on this photo to see the larger version, you might be able to imagine seeing a lighthouse way off in the distance. It's off to the right. This is the official Old Head. It's now a private golf course, so we weren't able to get any closer than this.

This is an overhead view of the old Head. I got it from Google Images.

I know, I've just bombarded this blog with my travel photos. We've just got a few more days -- the next stop is the Isle of Man. Ooooh, I can't wait to talk about it.

Hope your weekend is going just swimmingly :)
Kristin

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Fort Charles Ireland

Fort Charles, Ireland.
Located just on the outskirts of Kinsale, Ireland.

This is a star fort - which means that it was built in the shape of a star in order to effectively defend the surrounding area. I think it's a really neat design - and shows up well in the aerial photograph, below. I'm sure that's the reason for it's design - to look neat in an aerial photo LOL

Fort Charles (construction started in the late 1670s) was in use until 1922, after the end of World War I. I was quite surprised to hear that, as it seems like the fort has deteriorated quite a bit more than just 80 years of neglect. Some of the castles I've seen look better than this fort.

I do have to say though, I think the place is beautiful.

I enjoyed photographing it.

Aerial Photo from Live Search Maps

One half of the giant doors that lead into the fort.

I have no idea what these are. They are right next to the entrance to the fort. I though they were for water, but I don't think that's right. I haven't done much digging to find out what they are. I'm sure I will someday :)

Walking down into the fort.

another view of the interior of the fort. In the distance you can see the Kinsale Marina. It's a private boat yard.

An old fort, the ocean inlet, boats and waterfront homes.

The exterior of the fort is in very good condition. I love the little grassy tops of the walls.

I have no idea what this is, but I liked the shape.

A chimney and fireplace. I wonder what was covering that brick to keep all of the mortar intact like it is.

I thought this was such a cool view. Chimneys, stairs, and walls and windows.

This was a small dormitory of sorts I do believe. I think it was a newer addition to the original fort because of the smooth concrete walls.

I really liked the vines covering the roof...well, the rafters that used to hold up the roof.

I have absolutely no idea what these were. There were actually 4 of these, but three looked better in the frame :)

As we were leaving I went around to the exterior of the fort to see the ocean. I couldn't help it, I had to take one more shot of those incredible stone walls.

Thanks for joining me on the brief tour of Fort Charles, Ireland.
Kristin

More Kinsale, Ireland

Here we are, still in Kinsale, Ireland. My Father, Sister (Alison), Tom and I all went on a walking tour of Kinsale. It was an organized tour and when we started I realized that the tour was actually a history tour with very little walking. I enjoyed it quite a bit, even if it was SO windy! A very very cold wind.

Here are some sights I saw along the way.

I liked the name, the font and the colors.

Homes on the water.

Another harbor picture.

This is a cemetery right in th eheart of Kinsale. This wasn't part of the walking tour, I just slipped these two photos in here :)

I really like looking at these old stones and burial grounds.

This was right near the harbor - what a great name - The Fishy Fishy Shop.

This was the topper to a gated entrance. It reminded me of a child's mobile.

This vine covered house was very unusual - for all of the greenery all over the place, you didn't see too many homes covered in vines. Well, not homes that were occupied.

The window detail was so interesting. You can see the old red paint of the shutters under the green.

This photo of the green door is one of my favorites. Click on the photo to make it larger - for some reason it's just powerful somehow.

Ok, this is back on the walking tour. :) The vine is only at the top of the building - isn't that interesting? The curve of the row of buildings is due to the curve of the former coastline of Kinsale in Medieval times.

This purple building was the end of the ancient town. A few feet away from this building was the stone wall that contained the city. (only a few small sections still remain of the wall)

This was main street of the old city.

After the walking tour we went to the Tuesday Market. It's one day a week and boy oh boy was there a lot of good looking food. I expected this to be like a farmers market with produce and flowers and such.

But it was mostly little vendors that sold desserts! Oh and other assorted wonderful foods. Tons of homemade goodies were sold here. This is where we ate lunch.

Yummy Cheese and Olives. Tom bought a hunk of cheese here as a part of his lunch.

The Irish bacon is sooooo good. It's that package down front - the one that is quite large and wide. That's their bacon. This was all from this one farm. They package it all up and sell it at the market each Tuesday. They also had some smoked meats at the end of the display. Tom bought a piece of the smoked sausage and then some bread from another vendor to round out his lunch of bread, meat and cheese.

This is Black and White Pudding -- or blood sausage.

This was a tray of sprouted grains. They were selling the grains by the scoop, so this was the tasting tray. It was so unsual, I'd never seen anything like it before.

I've never seen gingerbread men outside of Christmas displays - and I saw them several times when we were in Ireland.

This was my lunch - the whole thing :) I had one of the parmesan quiches. It was ice cold and totally delicious!

I have to admit, I really wanted some pastries. I wanted them so badly that I just kept snapping photos of them. These were muffins that had fresh fruit dropped into the tops just before they were finished cooking. That's why they have those holes in the top. My mom had a muffin I think. She didn't complain :)

These were some of the largest brownies I'd ever seen. The plate was completely empty by the time I was done with my lunch. I'm glad I took these photos early in the day.

My next post (in a few hours) I'll take you through Fort Charles and show you some more landscape shots. I thought this was plenty of eye candy for one post :)

Have a fabulous weekend!
Kristin

Friday, May 29, 2009

Fragmented Thoughts

I joined in Friday Fragments last week over at Half-Past Kissin' Time and wouldn't you know it, I won a prize! One of my funny favorites from our Ireland trip must have made quite an impression because I tied for the Funny Favorite for last week.

It's a major award!

(well, that's from a Christmas Story, but it fits, don't ya think?)

Thank you Mrs. 4444

Here are my fragmented ideas, things I thought were funny/unusual and other random thoughts. To see more, please go to Half-Past Kissin' Time and see what other Friday Fragments have been written.

My Mom got home Monday night from her extended trip. She was with us in Ireland and the Isle of Man, but she stayed several more days on the Isle of Man, then went to Scotland and England. It's a relief to have everyone back in the United States again.

Oooh goodness this looks awful and fun all at the same time. Would you make this and serve it? I think I probably would, but just to a bunch of kids. Spaghetti Dogs

I wrote my name in the dust on my coffeetable today. Why is that fun? and why haven't I dusted in so long?

I finished all of the Twilight Saga books that have been written so far. I really enjoyed them - far more than I ever imagined. I'm glad I am finally finished reading them all. Now maybe I can get to some of that dusting!

Here's a great DIY - Turn an old TV cabinet into a Dog Bed. Seriously, this is good. The blog - Erin Rages.

As I was driving out of my condo complex yesterday I saw some movement in the bushes, next to the curb. All of a sudden 4 kitties tumbled out of the bushes and on to the pavement, their mother suddenly appearing as well. The kitties didn't stay still for long as they were in full-tilt play mode, jumping with their paws wide open and their mouths, too. How fun!

I was all excited about the newest reality show "Fashion Show" but it isn't very good. I hope that they get a second season and that they make it better! I want to like it.

Have a fabulous Friday!
Kristin