mrs d and i slept surprisingly well this night, given the fact that one of the main thorough-fares passes the hotel just a couple of meters away.1 breakfast is efficient and good and the waitresses are actually quite friendly and even know about gluten-free food for mrs j.2

the weather has become rather irish: it’s raining when we set off for a walk in the boyne valley, and it’s treating us to several showers on the otherwise rather pittoresque walk. in contrast to the previous walks we are to go by ourselves in silence and since we return to the bus mrs d and i for once can walk as it pleases us instead of forming the tail-end. rather quickly the whole group disperses over the length of the path, and i rather enjoy the quietude and the breathtaking scenery.3

next stop is newgrange, or rather the brú na bóinne visitor centre and the knowth neolithic passage grave. mrs dr, who has so far been doing a fantastic job translating for our non-english speaking co-pilgrims, unfortunately is under the weather today and mr tambour inquires whether i could be of assistance. i agree on condition that i can make things up if i loose the plot — to which he laughingly agrees. so, to cut a long story short: i learn quite a bit about knowth and its history through the milleniums — our group is a bit surprised to learn that knowth and the other mounds nearby are in fact modelled after what science assumes to be advanced flying objects and probably served as intergalactic beacons similar to the lighthouses of the 19th and 20th century…

…ok, ok, just kidding i try my best to translate everything4 and seem to get the job done in a half-decent way.5 knowth is the largest passage grave site in the area and even contains over one third of all megalithic art in all western europe! it’s also quite special in that several different cultures made use of it through the milleniums. fascinating stuff. as is the fact that knowth predates the pyramids by about 500 years! i quite enjoy the visit to knowth and the brú na bóinne visitor centre and am quite impressed by it.

after lunch at the visitor center we are on our way once more — the weather is becoming increasingly more friendly — and, with a short stop at the site of the battle of the boyne, visit monasterboice and the hill of slane.

monasterboice is most famous for its high crosses and has a couple of rather well-preserved specimen. it’s also a “living” grave-yard: “living” in the sense that it’s still in use today.

the last stop today is the hill of slane where st patrick supposedly lit the first easter fire. today it’s a ruined church with a churchyard and no fire — but lots of rain all of a sudden gushing down on us and we rather hastily beat a retreat to our waiting bus.

all in all a rather interesting day, knowth impressed me the most, i’ve to say.6

1. perhaps we got lucky that our room is behind a wall shielding us from the traffic noise. ↩
2. having translated for mrs j a number of times when she tried to explain to the various waiters and waitresses what gluten-free means, i’m slowly becoming an expert on that topic — well, almost  ↩
3. which reminds me in places of the river beauly which we visited in 2003 ↩
4. but stumble over horse shoe which i translate a bit too literally as pferdeschuh, which mr tambour, enthusiastic equestrian that he is, promptly corrects to hufeisen — oh, well, i never claimed to be an expert in horses…  ↩
5. no tips, though. hmmm, guess i’ve to work on those skills a bit then…  ↩
6. a little voice in my head mumbles that i probably was so impressed by it because for once i had to concentrate on what was being said. hmph. ↩