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All of the pages are narrated by Liz (me) and the narration will vary in
size—when I have more pictures, there'll be less text (in theory). Most
photos will have text if you place the cursor over the image. If you click the smaller
images, a larger version will open in a new window.
The collection on this site is only part of the hundreds of photos we
took in Ireland. If you want to see all of them, you need to stop by.
It was time to leave for our final stop—Dublin. We decided to slow the trip down and stay in one location
for the last three days. We checked into a B&B in Donore recommended by one of Josh's coworkers. This B&B was the best
of the bunch and we highly recommend it to anyone staying in the area.
Once we checked in, we drove down to Kildare to visit the
Irish National Stud and
Japanese Garden. The trip was only about an
hour and we drove on the M1 (the blue lines in the map) around Dublin.
Japanese Gardens
The gardens were laid out following the path of man. You begin as he is born from the other world, or whatever, and follow
through his life. You are able to choose paths (i.e. bachelorhood or marriage) and each one has symbolism to reflect that
aspect. In many ways it was like a game with Josh and I trying to find the sign to take us to the next path. The signs within
the gardens included: "The Birth Cave," "The Honeymoon Path," "Chair of Old Age," and "Well of Wisdom."
At the end was a zen garden called the "Garden of Eternity". According to my photo of the related text, the garden was designed in
the Karesansui (dry landscape) style. The photos, for better or worse, are not in order.
Black Abbey
St. Fiachras Garden
St. Fiachras Garden was a second garden on grounds and a completely different style compared to the Japanese garden. There was
no set path to follow, just beautiful gardens.
Irish National Stud
First, a hello to people who googled stud and found this page. Sorry, it was a little off from your search.
We opted out of taking the tour of the stud, but everything was set up so you could wander around looking at
horses.
Once done, we drove back to Donore and had dinner in Drogheda. I chose the lasagna, which came with
french fries (I decided that was just wrong and went for veggies instead). I finished dinner with a Bailey's in
hot cocco. Yum.... Josh had something, but neither of us can remember what he ate. |
 "Garden entrance")
 "Liz being artistic.")
 "One of the bridges you had to cross")
 "Anther shot.")
 "The engagement bridge.")
 "The marriage bridge leading us to the honeymoon path.")
 "Lilly pads. Please someone correct me if I'm wrong.")
 "A river, er stream, runs through it.")
 "I believe this is on the way out.")
 "This is up because my sister liked it.")
 "The left side of the zen garden.")
 "The rest of the zen garden with the tree representing the joining in the eternal bond of the two elements of man (the crane and the turtle) symbolized elsewhere in the garden.")
 "The second Black Abbey we visited.")
)
)
)
 "Duck! Quack!")
 "The Ancient Sunken Oak Forest. A reminder of Ireland's oak forests.")
 "The monastic cells with Waterford Crystal inside.")
 "A shot of the creek running through the garden.")
)
 "A picture of people taking a picture.")
 "St. Fiachras")
 "Somehow during the trip, I would call out 'Cow! Moo!' and 'Sheep! Baaa!' but a horse was just 'Horsey!' Yes, I am a dork. Why?")
 "For whatever reason, the horses would only give me their backside. Exhibit A")
 "Exhibit B")
 "Exhibit C")
 "I have no idea what this is. A shetland pony, maybe?")
 "Awwwwww...")
 "A little girl makes a break for the horse/pony.")
 "Josh contemplates taming the beast.")
 "They become fast friends.")
 "Hey! Where you goin'!")
