On to England

Posted by Joe Benning

After spending some time in Ireland doing some sightseeing and visiting family, we made our way over to England to visit (and stay with) with our good friends Michael and Sally Oxlade who live in the country side. They were kind enough to take us on a 2-day whirlwind tour that included Winchester Cathedral, Highclere Castle (where Downton Abbey is filmed) and the Winchester Museum that, among other things, includes a re-creation of King Arthur’s Round Table. These are just a few of the spots we visited. Perhaps most importantly we all went to the village pub to relax and share some memories before having one of Sally’s delicious dinners.

Thanks, Sally and Michael (and your son Charley) for a wonderful time.  Here are a couple of photos of places we visited on the too short visit.

JFB

 

The Highclere Castle–where Downton Abbey is filmed
Winchester Cathedral
The Winchester Museum
Inside Winchester Cathedral
The Town of Winchester
Street Musician in Winchester
Sally and Mary Anne

Ireland in Summer

Posted by Joe Benning

We are just back from a short trip to Ireland and England to visit family and friends. While in Ireland we spent several days in Dublin and then headed west to the Atlantic Coast and Westport in County Mayo. There is an interesting and stark difference between the two.

Dublin has become a wee bit less distinctively Irish and more like other large cities in Western Europe. There are lots of nationalities represented in the city as well as lots of different languages. The government is still trying to encourage the use of Gaelic, but that looks like a lost cause.

The coastal area around Westport on the other hand seems to have retained much, if not most, of its traditional Irish character.  It remains mostly rural and has kept its stunning views of mountains and ocean.  There are lots of farms and sheep stations and large expanses of green hills and valleys.

 

Here (below) are a few shots taken in Dublin and around the coast on our recent trip.

Shops and stores in Dublin
Bicycle Tourists look over the River Liffey in Dublin
A sheep station on County Mayo near the Atlantic
An old abandoned row boat near a dried up river in County Mayo

Joe Benning