The Ulster American Folk Park.

On Thursday we went to the Ulster American Folk Park in Omagh in Northern Ireland. Basically it is an open air museum which tells the story of the emigration from Ulster in Ireland to North America in the 18th and 19th centuries. It shows both the old world and the new and illustrates the various aspects of emigrant life on both sides of the Atlantic. The museum was really interesting and some of the houses from Ireland were the original houses of the emigrates that have been restored and others were replicates of what the originals looked like. They had people dressed up as people from that time who told you about each site that you walked into. Some where baking bread other showing us how they use to make medicine and others showing us how they printed papers.


Ulster street. The traditional Irish street. This was a recreation of the shops from the 19th century. The shops included a chemist, spirit grocers and a printers. The machines in the printers shop was an original from the 1700's. The man in this site printed us an exact replica of what a ticket would have looked like in the 18th century.

Weavers cottage - Inside a typical weavers house.

Mellon Homestead: A small part of the birthplace of Thomas Mellon, who emiograted at age 5 with his family in 1818. The house stands on its original site.

The meeting house - This was a replica of the Church in the town.

This was on the American side. The first house that one emigrate Thomas Mellon occupied when he first arrived in America with his family.

We took heaps of other photos but didn't want to over kill it with the museum stuff. Anyways Today Friday is our third last day with the family. As of Monday Gav and I are off on our own. Saturday we are heading back into Sligo for his Grandparents 50th wedding anniversary. Sunday we are heading up into County Mayo to see the Ceide Feilds then to his aunt Mary's for dinner and then Monday is D day. We head down to Galway first. Today (Friday) we had a pretty chilled out day, we were so tired (went out the night before and had a little too much to drink) so we walked into Donegal town and Gav sat in a nice little coffee shop while I went looking round some shops. Found a nice new dress. Then went out on Marie and Peter's boat in the Bay. Was a relaxing day but was needed.I will try and keep you all posted as much as possible but it may be a bit harder as we won't have a computer available to us all the time. Missing you all but at the same time having a fantastic time. The weather has been pretty good and touch wood we haven't had much rain.

Love to you all stay safe and will keep you updated

Bec and Gav

xoxox

The Donegal Castle and Slieve League Cliffs.

On Wednesday we walked around Donegal city centre which doesn't take long as it isn't that big. Then went to the Donegal Castle.

Outside the Castle.

The remaining walls of what was once the Kitchen and pantry area of the Castle.

The dining room area.

Gav and I inside the Castle.

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We then drove to the Largest Cliffs in Europe, Slieve League which is on the Coast of Donegal. The view from the top was amazing and the wind was a lot bettter then the day before so we weren't getting blown away.

Half way up.

We thought this was as high as we could go but we thought wrong.
Looking out over then cliffs.

Gav standing too close to the edge.

Our Day in Northern Ireland

Today we crossed the boarder into Northern Ireland. We went into Derry for a walk around the city. We walked along the wall that was built to protect Londonderry in the 1600's as it was a major trade route. The wall still remains today. Residents voted to knock it down as it causes traffice congection but it was rejected.

Me sitting on the wall in Derry.

The painting on the wall showing Derry constant struggle.

The view from the wall.

The canons that were used during the many seiges in Derry.

We then went to the Giant Causeway. These are giant cliffs that were formed from numerous volcanic erruptions. The view from the top was amazing but extremely windy and cold.

The view from half way around the cliffs.

Another part of the cliffs.

Standing on the viewing plateform looking down.

Looking down again.

Standing down on ground level. It feels alot safer down here.

Me trying to show you the size of the cliffs. But I actually look bigger.

The rocks around the botton of the cliffs have worn away into hexigon shapes from the water and make odd stepping stone formations.

Gav sitting out on the rocks with the water splashing up behind him.

Me driving the Tractor.
Gav and I half way up Knocknara. The moutain we climbed.

Newgrange. The neolithic temple in County Meath. Photos couldn't be taken inside because it would be unnatural light on the stone walls.

Gav and I on a Viking bus tour around Dublin city. We had to raw and yell out random things to people walking by.
The view from the back feild at Gav's Nan and Pop's Farm in Ballymote.

The mote around Trim Castle
The three of us In the Castle

The view from the top.

The sheep.
Trim Castle in County Meath. This is the set for the film Braveheart.

Parts of the General hall and outside wall at Trim

Temple Bar in Dublin. It is street full on bars, night clubs and restaurants. The street has a total of 28 bars.

One of the views from the top of Tara Hill in County Meath. You can see in total 5 County's from the top.

Another view from the top.

Gav pretending to be a prisoner.

Me in Gaol.

Gav, Tahnee and I on a pub crawl in Temple Br Dublin

Inside the Kilmainham Goal. It closed in 1924. U2 filmed a video clip here and a few movies were also filmed inside.

The Irish Government building.
Me and my friend Tahnee who can to visit us, and our first pint in Ireland.

Me ready to start Skiing. Isn't the outfit beautiful.

On the top floor of the Mall of Emirates shop. The shopping centre has 4 corridorrs that run about a km long anf then 3 levels of that. So as you can imagine it is huge.

Ski Dubai. The slope is about 450m long but its only for the professionals so we had to go into training first and our slope was about 10m. But we all have to start somewhere.

Becs in Europe

Hi all,

Set this up as an easier way for you all to view and comment on our photos from our trip.

Having a great time, and even though it may not look like it. I am missing you all