Ireland: Day 3

I described each day in Ireland as a "two sweater day" or a "three sweater day" or the dreaded "four sweater day". Happily, day three was a one sweater day! (Alas, it was my only one sweater day, but I'm totally ok with that.)

It was a beautiful day. We spent the morning exploring the idyllic Trim Castle. The beautiful weather, the castle ruins and the sheep grazing in nearby pastures made the setting like something out of a fairytale.

From there, we returned to the nearby Hill of Tara for a little more exploring.

We spent the main part of the day at Newgrange, an ancient stone-age burial and ceremonial site 1,000 years older than Stonehenge and 500 years older than the pyramids at Giza. Why had I never heard of this place before?

It has an opening above the doorway that perfectly aligns with the rising sun for 17 minutes on the winter solstice. The stones used to docorate the exterior of Newgrange come from dozens of kilometers away, which is quite a feat considering it was built before the invention of the wheel!

It was amazing. I don't even have words for it. We stayed until closing when they kicked us out.

(This was not the lake. It was just a little pond near Newgrange.)

Then we headed to a grocery store and bought bread and fancy Irish cheese for dinner, which we ate on the banks of a gorgeous lake while we watched the sunset. Intentionally, neither of us took any pictures. Some experiences are best preserved in the memory, because a photograph will never be able to capture it.