Hey! I am a post ahead of you. The last one convinced me.
Did you get to see the whole glorious castle? As you say, just walking up would be awesome. Fricking unreal. How did they do this in 1860!?
Glad the renovations are tasteful.
Thanks again for the additional pics.
Has your wife done much research on her heritage?
Yes, we did see the whole castle. Beautiful place. After that first view of the top of the castle, I was expecting someone to step out with a sword to see if I should be allowed to pass. It was "fricking unreal".
I think she has done some and has an idea of where she is from. But, as an engineer and very analytical person, I want her to be sure. Can't think of much worse than going to someplace looking for far distant cousins and being in a place where her family was not welcome. Ireland is a lot like the south, friendly to visitors unless you have unpopular family there.
Really? There could be hard feeling or are you being facetious?
We are considering the DNA testing for fun. Want to do the kids and grandchildren because Ron's maternal grandfather was full blooded American Indian, Cherokee, so we feel it would be nice to have that doocumented for them.
Mostly facetious but the Irish can have deep emotions towards others that can bring out violence. For a good example, read some about the Northern Ireland Conflict.
I would imagine it did put family against family, similar to our Civil War. Hostilities among family probably existed for some time after the Civil War as well.
For Ireland I hope in time their strong emotions will fade.
Will see what I can find on the conflict. If the hotel and pub were both bombed several times that is an indication of the fequency of the violence..
More like neighborhood against neighborhood with Protestants in one neighborhood and Catholics in another. It was a political war rather than a religious war but that's how the lines got drawn. Drug sales to fund the war, terrorism, assassinations....ugly time for Northern Ireland.
And everyone felt they were right.
Ugly, confusing, sad.