Worcester

On the Wednesday before Christmas, with mom at work, dad and I went to Worcester to continue his sushi education. We got there a little early and went to the Cathedral for a wonder around. It is a beautiful place and really interesting.

I did geek out a little at a couple of the tombs (which is an odd thing to say). The first was of Prince Arthur, who was Henry VIII's older brother. He was married to Katherine of Aragon, but died shortly after the wedding and apparently before they consummated the marriage. Henry VIII then went on to marry her and used the fact that she had been married to his brother as the main reason to annul the marriage 26 yrs later so he could marry Ann Boleyn. If this kid had lived and become King of England, the world may have been a very different place these days.

Prince Arthurs tomb.

The second was that of King John. He was the youngest son of Henry II, brother to King Richard the Lion Heart and the King John from the stories of Robin Hood. This guy was a nasty little man and resulted the Magna Carta, a list of rights the King and the people, signed in 1215. This was the first time a king was held reasonable his actions and to his people. (He really annoyed his lords, doing things like giving away their lands when he wanted to,  in one case stealing and marrying on of their fiancés, as well as forcing many of the wives to sleep with him and upping taxes to pay for his fun. So he had it coming.) 

He died of dissentry and broke as he lost all his money and the crown jewels in a river he was trying to cross running from his enemies. As far as I know it was the only time the French actually successfully invaded England - they were invited by the English who asked the French prince to take the English throne and get rid of John. They really didn't like him!

As soon as he died, the English stood behind his infant son as King and sent the French back home.

King John's tomb

Around the cloisters of the cathedral, there was a Christmas competition of local businesses and schools. We wondered around and cast our vote before heading for Sushi.

My favourite.

From egg boxes.

Second favourite - a rubber duck tree.

We went to Yo! Sushi for lunch and Dad continued his sushi education. I like I have him hooked!

Last day in Florence

On our last morning in Florence, I finally got some photos of our room.

Our view

Ceiling of the breakfast room

The weather was rubbish on the last day but we didn't need to get the taxi to the airport until about 11am so wondered over to Santa Maria Novella, which was about 2 minute walk from our hotel.

Inside

Court yard.

I have never seen so many church with skulls and skeletons and cross bones.

The church was much larger than we expected with a small museum and a serious of passages for an underground graveyard. 

The underground graveyard.

But with a view of the stars

Coy devils.

In the museum they had a series of reliquaries, containers usually holding relics, often parts of saints.

From St. Sebastian.

Hi of St. Ptolemy.

We flew back that afternoon. :( I miss it already.

Cliffs of Mohr and Doolin

The weather Sunday morning was less than inspiring. I had a tour to the cliffs and the first bus driver did not seem convinced we would see anything.  :(

When we got to the bus station, Mick D, the driver from the tour on Friday came on board, spotted and got me put on his bus. And I got the best seat in the bus - the one at the very front next to the driver, usually used by the tour guide! The view from the front window was great. (I was also first off the bus but unfortunately had to be the last on. It was a very cold day!) It did lead to some confusion at the beginning as people thought I was the guide. And I knew nothing! 

The first stop was Dunguaire Castle. The fog made for some very mysterious and dramatic photos.

Through the fog

Dunguaire castle

Frosty

Castle up close

fog on the water

Irish cottage

Susie the sheep, bus mascot

Thankfully the weather cleared up and for the rest of the day we had clear skies. The temperature didn't improve much but at least it was sunny.

Fog clearing.

The next stop was Poulnabrone Dolmen, a portal tomb. This was is over 5000 years old (old than the pyramids). It was the final resting place of the bones  of the people in the area. They found the bones of 33 people in there when they excavated.

Dolmen

We also stopped at Kilfenora Cathedral and the 7 high crosses. Most of these have been lost (mainly due to weather erosion) but these have been saved and are stored under a perspex roof. They are from around the sixth century I think.

In Ireland, if a woman got to 25 and was still unmarried, her parents would turn to a match-maker to get her gone. There is still a match match-maker here and in September they have a month long (well 6 weeks which apparently a month in Ireland) festival of love, where singles from all over come in the hope of finding love.

We stopped off at Doolan for lunch. The pub and food was very nice but a bit busy. There wasn't much to see there but there is a fabulous chocolate shop. I brought some amazing rocky road and some orange and dark chocolate fudge. None of it survived to leave Ireland. 

The main stop of the day was the Cliffs of Mohr. They have been used in the Princess Bride and one of the Harry Potter films. They are all very dramatic. 

These were everywhere and made it more dramatic!

The cliffs

You can walk along the cliffs in either direction. To the right is O'Brien's Tower on Hag's Head. You can pay to go up but the view is pretty good from the ground so I didn't bother. 

Looking to O'Brien's Tower

The tower.

View from in front of the tower

The stack

Sunset

The last stop was at the Mini-cliffs (it's real name) just in time to catch the last of the sunset.

Mick dropped me back at my hotel (which was on the way to the station anyway). I had some time to relax and warm up again before back out and into town for a meal at a lovely little restaurant called Tosnu. If anyone is in the area, it is worth it and will be hard to get a reservation at before long. The meal was lovely.