Sick, but nothing is going to stop me from seeing Ireland!

I am sick of being sick. I guess the weather has finally caught up with me. Despite fighting a migraine ALL day, I still enjoyed myself.

After searching for a route to the Boyne and pushing through inches of water (everything was flooded!!!), we finally made it to our first destination. I learned (for the fourth time) about the most important battle in Irish history,...the Battle of the Boyne.

The next site, the temple passage in New Grange, was more my stride. The passage way we walked through was 5,000 years old. It is 1,000 years older than Stoneheadge and 500 years older than the pyramids. Everything about this site was mystical. One of my posted pictures shows the outside of the passage (no pictures could be taken inside, however). Back when there was no means of transportation (not even horses were domesticated yet), people moved HUGE rock over 400 miles. The site was build with no plaster....literally all that is holding up the passage is rock against rock. Scary but AMAZING. Even cooler,...check out the rock in front of the passage. Can you see the carvings? So cool, right? It gets better I promise! The reason this site is so impressive is because of what happens during the solstice. For only 7 minutes over a five day period, the sun perfectly aligns and illuminates the inside of the passage. The construction of the passage is so genius and precise, that it is said that the stone age humans that created this structure were light years more intelligent than our scientists today. What mystified me even more is that fact that no one can be sure why this passage was created. There are many conjectures, but no real answers. Some believe the passage was used by sun worshipers for religious ceremonies. Some believe the passage was used for burial purposes. Some believe the passage created as art for arts sake. Who knows? Honestly, I am happy not knowing...

The last site we visited was Trim castle. The other two pictures are from this area. Can you guess what famous movie star walked these grounds not too many years ago? Probably not...Mel Gibson! This is where they filmed Brave Heart. Very fun.