Dublin and London for Business

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Sunday, 25 September 2011 - Took it easy in the morning with a nice Irish breakfast, strolled around downtown Dublin including the Trinity College campus and Campanile, then met Sean Sheehan's family for a scenic drive into the Wicklow Mountains National Park and hiked to Upper Lake of Glendalough through the glacial valley and early medieval monastic ruins.

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We took it easy in the morning - nice Irish breakfast. The pudding was not what we expected - black or white. After breakfast we strolled around downtown Dublin and ended up on the campus of Trinity College.

This is the Campanile in the main courtyard.
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We met Sean Sheehan and family for a ride south of Dublin into the Wicklow Mountains National Park. We headed to the Town of Glendalough for a hike to Upper Lake.

Glendalough is Irish meaning "glen of two lakes" is a glacial valley in County Wicklow, Ireland. It is renowned for its Early Medieval monastic settlement founded in the 6th century by St Kevin, a hermit priest, and partly destroyed in 1398 by English troops.
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The weather had been great up to the time we were to begin our hike. It began to rain so we went next door to a hotel next to the park building for lunch - a very crowded lunch. The rain moved on.

This tower is the focal point - built of mica-slate interspersed with granite is about 60 feet high, with an entrance 15 feet from the ground. The high door was so they could pull up the ladder when there was trouble.
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The cemetery had ancient tombstones. I tried to compose a picture using the cemetery, but it was difficult.
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One of the homes in ruins with the ever present sheep grazing in the yard. Beginning around 600 AD, these are pretty old structures - even in Europe.
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Cal and Virginia Ann in front of the tower - in the background you can see the door to the tower - way off the ground.
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The tower originally had six wooden floors, connected by ladders. The four stories above the entrance are lit by a small window, while the top story has four windows facing the four points of the compass. The conical roof was rebuilt in 1876 using the original stones.
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The tower of Glendalough from a distance.
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The story of Glendalough begins with St. Kevin, a descendant of one of the ruling families of Leinster. As a boy he studied under three holy men and as a young man he went to live at Glendalough 'in the hollow of a tree.' This site on Upper Lake is where his cabin was situated.
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The hikers - Cal, Virginia Ann, and the children Beth, Kara, Katie Shehan.
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After leaving Glendalough we drove through a high pass in the mountains. From the top of the pass you look over Lough Tay a small but scenic lake set in the Wicklow Mountains. We stopped so Cal could run out and snap a few pictures.
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The northern coastline forms part of an estate belonging to the Guinness family; it is edged with a beach of startlingly white sand, the dark water and the white sand create a striking similarity to a pint of Guinness.

And of course after a Guinness landscape we went back to The Duke for a pint or two. A great day - exercise and beer.
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