Irish Film & Television Awards 2008

 

 

 

 

The History of St. Patrick

St Patrick’s Day is celebrated all around the world. However, for many it is simply a party, rather than a chance to celebrate Ireland’s patron saint. This is strange, because Saint Patrick had a dramatic life.
As a young lad of sixteen years he was captured by a band of raiders near Bologne in Gaul and taken with many others to slavery in Ireland. He was first brought to Mayo, but later sold to an Antrim farmer and he spent six years in captivity as a shepherd on Slemish Mountain.
One cold winter’s night, while Patrick slept, he heard a voice telling him “it is well that you fast, soon you will go to your own country” and a short time later the voice said to him “Look, your ship is ready”.
The spirit guided Patrick to the south of Ireland near Wicklow where he boarded a ship with a cargo of dogs bound for Gaul.
At this time an invasion of Gaul had left much of it desolate. Patrick and the crew of the boat wandered for 28 days until all food had run out. Patrick said to the crew “turn to God and he will provide” and suddenly a herd of pigs appeared and they had food once more. Patrick had performed his first miracle.
For a number of years Patrick wandered through Gaul. Conscious of his lack of formal training in theology and law he spent his time talking to and learning from the wise deacons and Bishops and soon he was made a Bishop in Rome.
He was lonely in Gaul so he went to visit his relations in Britain. While he was there he had another vision in which a man arrived from Ireland with many letters, including one for himself. The letter said “We ask you boy to come and walk once more among us”. Patrick was delighted and went to Ireland immediately.
The people of Ireland at this time were pagans under the influence of the Druids. Patrick had first to rid the country of these “magicians”. This is symbolised by the banishing of the snakes forever from Ireland.
He now set about converting the people to Christianity. His deep faith and belief in the Blessed Trinity made this doctrine a centre piece of his instruction. To help explain the mystery he used the simple 3 leaf shamrock to illustrate 3 persons in one God.
St Patrick died in 461. By this time he had created an established structured church throughout the country. His converts were across the entire social classes from Princes to slaves and many of his priests and deacons were from the youth of Ireland. He is still to this day the most famous figure in Irish history and is one of the best known figures throughout the Christian world.

Skiing in Ireland?

Well, the people wore skis and boots, but it is the strangest type of skiing we've ever seen! The slopes are made up of metal grids covered with about an inch of astro-turf. It looks like it would really hurt to fall!

Ski Club of Ireland

Visitors from Afar

Jeff and Corin came from Hawaii to visit. It is a very, very long ways to come and a 12 hour time difference. They arrived in amazing shape and even made it out for a walk to a pub on their first day! Amazing travellers!

Visiting the Sights

Bru na Boinne

The Boyne Valley, Bru na Boinne, was the cradle of Irish civilization. There are monuments, ring forts, passage graves and sacred enclosures from Neolithic times. Newgrange and Knowth are two monuments that predate the Egyptian pyramids and that can be only visited by tours run by Bru na Boinne Interpretive Centre. Newgrange was built around 3200 BC and the grave was left untouched by all invaders until it was rediscovered in 1699. It was first excavated in the 1960's.

Ireland Driving Trip

Mom and Dad came back for a second visit to Ireland. This time we decided to explore the south and southwest of Ireland by car. We had a wonderful time seeing all the little towns along the way (and all the little pubs in all the little towns!) The weather was surprisingly clear and sunny, so the views of the coast were spectacular. The driving was quite an experience...very narrow, windy roads often occupied by wandering sheep and cows!

Stone Mad?

 

Kinsale, County Cork

Towns along the Way

We drove south from Dublin past Wexford, Waterford, Cork, and Kinsale. The next day we drove through Clonakilty, Skibbereen, and stayed in Schull. If you look at a map of Ireland you will see this is a little town on the Mizen Head Peninsula. We then headed north toward Bantry Bay and the Beara Peninsula. We stayed for two nights in the town of Kenmare. We started out to explore the peninsula and when we got to the end at Dursey Head, we realized that we had spent six hours just getting halfway on our journey. The views were so amazing that we kept stopping to take pictures. We took a cable car across to Dursey Island. The cable car is the only way to get to the island, and they allow either 6 people or 2 cows on each trip across! We skipped the Iveragh Peninsula and Killarney National Park so that we could investigate the more rural Dingle Peninsula. We stayed in the town of Dingle. Despite it's funny name, it is an adorable town! We spent several days exploring this area before heading back across the midlands of Ireland to go back to Dublin. What a fabulous trip!! The pictures will hardly do justice to the absolute beauty of the area.

Schull (prounounce "Skull")

Kristen, Dan and Ava visit Ireland and Italy

Kristen, Dan and Ava came to visit us in Dublin. Ava is an exceptional traveler!! She had fun playing in the airport playrooms and then slept a lot on the plane. We had a great time seeing the sights of Dublin. We saw Trinity College, Grafton Street, St. Stephen's Green, and the new Imaginosity Children's Museum. Ava especially liked playing at St. Stephen's Green. (In fact we went there every day!)We spent the second week of the vacation in Italy. A friend let us use her apartments in Cortona for a week. We flew into Rome, and rented a car to drive the two hours north to the little hillside Tuscan town of Cortona. Every morning we went into town for coffee and croissants and every evening we went into town for dinner and gelato. Italy has the very best gelato in the world! We took the train from Cortona into Rome for a few days. We walked everywhere and had a fabulous time! Rome is even more amazing than any of us anticipated. The people were friendly, the food was fantastic, the Vatican and the Parthenon were beautiful and the ruins were absolutely stunning.

Cortona, Italy

Rome

Ava Touring the Sistine Chapel

Croatia

Our friends Bob and Barb came to visit and we took a trip to Croatia. We flew from Dublin to Budapest, Hungary and then onto Split, Croatia. The first 3 days we stayed in a small town called Trogir. We then chartered a sailboat and sailed for 7 days in the Kornati National Park. There are over 1185 islands off the coast of Croatia, about 50 of which are inhabited. There is 5,835 km (3,625 miles) of coastline; 4,058 (2,522 miles) of which is on islands. We found the Croatian people very friendly and welcoming to tourists. The Croatians are working hard to rebuild their country after declaring their independence from Yugoslavia in 1991 and then ending the war with Serbia in 1995.

Trogir

Trogir was founded by Greek settlers in the 3rd century BC on an island separated from the mainland by a narrow channel and connected by small bridges. It is a fascinating little town with narrow streets and cobbled lanes. There are little shops, cafes, and homes all along the lanes. In the courtyards there are churches, palaces and cathedrals.

Trogir

Trogir