Giants and Faeries and Vikings, Oh My!
Hello, friends! It’s Scottie with news from our final stop on the European trip, Ireland. Above you can see me with one of the giant friends we came across. He was intimidating and scary at first but we became friends when I assured him I didn’t want to eat his snack. But then this guy was around the corner…
Yikes! And imagine how terrifying it must have been for Gràineag when she ran into this hedgehog a few minutes later…
However. When we found out that even the butterflies were HUGE, we started to get really nervous.
We decided it was time to get out of there. We headed over to a beautiful and interesting walk where we learned a lot about the local faeries.
Aah. That was exactly what we needed before entering the dangerous Viking encampment. According to history, the Vikings were a very mean bunch of people. They liked to take things from others and do something called “plundering”. However, we think they were just trying to find food and a place to call their own.
The parade was impressive. And they did have an awful lot of weaponry for a small group of people if they were just looking for dinner…
There was quite a lot of shouting and some swordplay.
They sounded pretty fierce, so I decided it was time to take cover.
And just when I thought it was safe to come out, we were confronted with these huge, hairy beasts. We were a little worried about these guys taking a bite out of us.
It was definitely time to head to the nearby castle for protection.
It had some amazing racks from big deer they hunted for food and furs to keep warm.
They also had several fireplaces to cook and to keep warm during the cold winter and wet seasons. It looked like they got to eat a delicious meal but they didn’t save any for us. We were not happy.
There were also some pretty cool handwoven tapestries to look at. We didn’t know if they were to wear or to keep warm, but they sure were colorful.
Outside the castle were some huts. We saw more sheepskin stools and furs, but still no snacks. Again, we think the Vikings were fierce because they were hungry…
One of our favorite discoveries was a replica of the boat from Brendan's voyage to North America. It was a very famous exploration that proved someone could travel to a new world in a pretty small ship. We understood he stopped in Iceland and Greenland before arriving in Canada. He must have been a great navigator!
That inspired us to do some exploration of our own. We headed to one of Katie’s favorite wild spaces, the Burren.
You can see how rugged and beautiful it is there. We were happy to see signs of civilization and furry friends nearby.
Seeing them happily munch away on the grass reminded us that it was way past time for us to get fed.
Until next time!
-Scottie and Friends