The Gods III

Our week in Dublin started with more flight problems.  Five of our 20 students did not make it home directly and had to have an overnight somewhere (in some cases, 2 overnights).  In the middle of the 3 days of flying, we realized that we'd made a mistake.  Clearly Hermes, Zeus, and Athena were not enough.  It was time to go full-out Roman, and cover every base we could.

I had bought some extra little things in Athens -- evil eyes and bracelets.  While our stranded Dublin students were being relocated to a hotel, we visited the archaeological museum and learned about the local Irish gods (maybe goddesses) who seemed to demand human sacrifice on borders to ensure fertility.  So we visited a park and left an offering at the gate.  

One of the Irish boundary markers

Evil eye bracelet tied on a gate

But the real problem, we thought, might have been St. Christopher. I'd lit a few candles in his honor, but maybe that was not enough given that we were acknowledging so many pagan gods.  We found a canal, and helped a boat get through the lock.

Opening the gates

Closing the sluice

 Then we spotted a small plastic boat-shaped object filled with something like tar, and decided that because St. Christopher carried Christ over a river, this was the right spot.  We attached an evil eye to the tar and set the boat afloat.

Evil eye pinned to our makeshift boat

Over the waterfall

 It went down the canal to a lock, where it tumbled down a waterfall.  We watched to see if it would emerge, but no sign.  Did that mean the offering had been accepted, and was taken, or that it had been rejected, and no longer floated?  We could only wait and see.

24 hours later all our students and their luggage finally made it safely home, after 3 days of travel.

The rest of the week was fun.  I spent a day in Copenhagen picking Ellie up from CISV.

At the top of the Round tower in Copenhagen

My charming AirBnB

Ellie and the gang arrive on the train to the airport

The three of us spent 3 days in Dublin exploring its history and landscape.  We made it to many museums but also a hike outside the city in Howth.  We did some geocaching, lots of walking around, heard traditional music, and enjoyed being tourists together as a family.

Oscar Wilde's house

We happened upon a pigeon coop in Dublin.

The best beer of the trip.

Howth

Cliff walk

Heather and Gorse

Ruined abbey in Howth

Geocaching

Christchurch

Dublinia museum

Labyrinth from the Archaeological Museum

EPIC museum (Every Person is Connected)

Now in the airport, we await the final test of our ability to manage the gods...