Glendalough, Co. Wicklow

So it seems like last week was an unintentional week off from blogging as well as an intentional holiday from my day job. I've been wanting to write posts all week but to be honest I just didn't get around to it. My time was really well spent though, I caught up with my friends, went out for some lovely lunches and breakfasts, went shopping with my best friend and with my sister, visited my parents and grandparents and did some spring cleaning (including selling some of my old clothes, not old really just rarely worn stuff that I want to get a bit of money for to put towards Kate's wedding). Donnacha came home very early on Tuesday morning and has been jet-lagged ever since, but he had a great and very busy time in Austin. I also finally spent time with my grandmother looking at old photos and taking some to scan and copy for myself. There was loads of really cute ones of my dad and aunts and uncles when they were kids and of my granny when she was my age in the 50s. I'm going to go through them properly and hopefully share some with you all at some stage.

Last Monday my parents, my brother and I drove to Glendalough in county Wicklow for a picnic and a walk around the lake and the ruins of the monastic city. Glendalough is Gleann Dá Loch (pronouced Glan-daw-lock) in Irish (Gaeilge) and means Valley of the Two Lakes which is pretty self explanatory. The Monastic City at Glendalough was founded by St. Kevin in the 6th century and I think most of the buildings there are from c. 11th and 12th century. I always found that part of early Irish history really interesting. It's crazy to think how old the buildings are considering how well they still look. There is also a graveyard surrounding the round tower and church that has graves hundreds of years old, the oldest one we found that was still legible was from the early 1700s. I love old graveyards! There are so many in Ireland and when we were kids we used to stop off at the really old ones when we were on holidays in the countryside. Having said that I want to be cremated instead of buried, I think visiting a grave is a little pointless and doesn't at all commemorate who the person was because all that's there is bones and dust. Well, that's my personal opinion anyway, I think there are better ways to remember those who are no longer with us and I wouldn't want anyone visiting my grave, I'd much prefer people to talk about me and watch my favourite movies or listen to my favourite music.

Okay that's all the death talk over with! Here are some photos we took on Monday, I love visiting places like this because it really makes me appreciate what a beautiful country Ireland can be and what a rich history it has. Hope you enjoy!

How creepy are some of the photos? My brother sprained his ankle as we were walking to the lake from jumping around the trees and he had to stay in the car and listen to his ipod while we walked around, needless to say he felt pretty silly! But he's only 13 so I suppose it's to be expected!

We've been having lovely weather here all week, it was 17 Celsius one day last week, here's hoping it stays like this!

I'm back at work now, I'm already thinking about when I want to book my next holidays, we're thinking about going to Scotland for a weekend in May to visit Donnacha's brother and his girlfriend because they got us a voucher for plane tickets for Christmas and I've never been to Scotland so I'd love to go and see a bit it.

Hope you had a great start to your week!

Emma x