A Wet Day in Trim

Everyone we meet complains about the weather--this is the wettest summer on record in Ireland, or so "everyone" says.

We spent the morning in the medieval castle, and by far the most interesting part was the guided tour of the keep with a fellow who grew up here in Trim.  Once again, he was a guide who verged on the political.  This is an "Anglo-Norman" castle, that is it was built by the Norman conquerors in the 12th Century and added onto for the next several hundred years until it was severely damaged (as was most of the town) by Cromwell's forces in the mid 1600's.  Even as a ruin, however, this castle continued to be owned by an absentee English family until sometime in the 20th Century thus representing English Protestant power in Ireland.  Our guide said that as a boy he didn't dare climb over the walls to explore.

Walking up to the main gate of the castle at Trim.

The Norman keep

Inside one of the gates of the castle wall.

We took a break from the rain back at our hostel.

The view from our room

This is a view of the hostel from the bridge--our room is the large 3-paned window on the left.
The kitchen window is the little one below.  The lounge window is blocked by the shrubbery.

Knitting in the lounge watching the river...waiting for it to stop raining.

Hey, it stopped raining for just a bit, so out we went again.

Wrought iron gate handle.

And then we got caught in the rain again and this time we were soaked!  Finally found refuge
in the ruins of St Peter and Paul Cathedral. 

The tomb of the "jealous" man and woman, so-called because the stone figures don't
touch each other.

We also paid a visit to the archeological dig happening just up the hill.  There are several students staying here at the hostel who are excited about all the bones they've found in the last couple of weeks.  They are excavating a site of a Blackfriars' monastery that existed just outside the old town walls for probably 400 or more years.  It was dissolved by Henry VIII and since then has crumbled to bits.  They think they are now excavating the crypt but because the site was vandalized, used as a quarry for building materials, and then as a garbage/dumping ground for a few hundred years, it's a little challenging to work out just what was where.  Understandably the students are sure getting tired of the rain!  It's a very muddy site.