Visiting the Emerald Isle

So I could make excuses for this taking too long- I moved countries(twice), didn't have internet connection(and still sometimes it cuts out now that I do have it), and I have been busy working.... but the simple truth is I forgot!

In August I went to Ireland for a week. Ireland is a country I have wanted to visit for a long time. As luck would have it- my friend was getting married there and I was invited.

I spent the first 2 nights in Dublin as well as the last two nights and the 2 nights in between were spent in County Clare near Dromoland Castle.

Ireland I discovered, is a friendly country. It is also very green... and as my luck would have it- very wet.

I arrived in the evening and so didn't see much the first day. I found my hostel with some help from the locals, and I have to say it was probably the best hostel I have stayed in. It's called Jacobs Inn. The staff were great, the rooms have their own ensuite bathrooms(so no need to worry about running around the halls with just a towel around you and being locked out of your room because you forgot your key), and I was lucky enough to get a room that almost shared a wall with the reception area so I didn't need to go to the lobby to get internet.

But enough about the hotel.

The first full day we actually had some sun in the morning, and I did a free walking tour of Dublin with a lovely guide whose name(if I remember correctly) was Ashley. I can't for the life of me remember the name of the company that runs the walking tours, but it was a good tour. The guide straight up told us that she liked history, and if people were looking for a tour guide who would talk about architecture, then it wasn't her. It was great to get to learn a bit about the history of Dublin and Ireland in general including conflict with England. The tour started at the hostel and we got to visit the Temple Bar district, the Town Hall, Dublin Castle and gardens, St Andrew's Cathedral and Trinity College. I realised that I knew more than I thought and less than I would like about Ireland. Unfortunately it did start raining on us about halfway through the tour but we persevered and made it to the end... albeit a bit soggier than when we started.

That evening I did a pub crawl run by the same company. We visited 5 pubs and one club I think it was. I was unfortunate enough to encounter the one unfriendly person I can recall from my trip, in the form of a taxi driver who when it started raining wouldn't take me to the pub where it started. Luckily I also met one of the nicest people in the form of a elderly gentleman who offered to show me what direction I needed to go and then walked with me through the rain to the pub itself. Wherever you are, sir, I can only hope that good fortune comes your way!

The second day was a bit more boring. I didn't do much except catch a train cross-country to Limerick to get to where I was staying the next two nights.

The hotel I stayed at is located on the Dromoland Estate in County Clare, which is also home to Dromoland Castle. I did a bit of walking around both the estate and the castle where my friend's wedding reception was also held. It is exactly what I imagined castles to be when I was a child. It was grey stone with crenellations and towers and corridors inside that were more than a little confusing without someone to guide you. It is GORGEOUS! The grounds were amazing too. They have a very nice walled garden as well as some fabulous views if you are willing to go for a little bit of a walk. It is somewhere I would love to visit again, and hopefully next time I visit I can stay in the castle instead of the inn.

Back in Dublin for the last two days and nights I had an amazing time. After making friends with some other hostel guests, I did my own exploration of Dublin that involved touring St Andrew's Cathedral and the crypts beneath.

I also visited the Dublinia museum which covers Viking and Medieval Dublin. Here I was in my element. I am fascinated by certain parts of history- Vikings and medieval history is something I cannot get enough of. The museum starts off with a section covering the founding of Dublin as a settlement by the vikings as well as a bit of general viking history. We had a very friendly guide for a free tour of that section, but the whole museum is amazing.

 The exhibits are excellent. Often when you visit a museum, everything is behind glass and very boring. Dublinia uses bright colours realistic and/or lifesize reconstructions- want to see a privy(toilet) or a viking burial? They have it. You can walk inside a room made to look like the inside of a viking round house or even down a street of medieval Dublin and past a busy dock scene. The best thing of all is that it is really interactive. There are little games and tests set up through the exhibits so you can test yourself after you read the information- or before if you are like me. There are flaps to flip to explain exhibits. What's this shoe about? Flip it to the side and you can read about it underneath.

There is also a section right at the top of the museum called the History Hunters Exhibition which is about archaeology and how it, history and science are working together to uncover Dublin's past. As I had just finished an online archaeology course it was very interesting for me. I understood a lot of the information included and could guess what things were in exhibits without needing an explanation- like why archaeologists use toothbrushes.

Overall I would highly recommend Dublinia museum to people who love history and are travelling with kids- I think it is hard to be bored when you can get a bit hands on with things.

In the afternoon we also managed to get over to Trinity College and have a bit of a look around when it wasn't raining. Unfortunately we were unable to see the Book of Kells as the library was closed already, but in our wandering around, we encountered a fox. That's right. A fox! In broad daylight in Dublin it was just casually wandering around areas where people were sitting and enjoying the view. It was my first encounter with a live fox and it was pretty awesome.

My final day in Dublin involved what could possibly be the most history laden and awe-inspiring moment I have had ever. Maybe I overstate it, but it really was amazing. I did the Mary Gibbons tour of Newgrange and Hill of Tara. With the aforementioned Mary Gibbons as our tour guide I learned a lot about both sites and the history of the area.

Hill of Tara is the ancient Royal seat of the Irish high kings. 142 kings were crowned here. It is said that on a clear day you can see half of the Irish counties from atop the hill. walking on the hill, you can easily see evidence of structures that would have stood on the hill in the mounds, ditches and other earthworks that cover the area.

Newgrange is a neolithic passage tomb. It is older than both the Stonehenge and the Great Pyramids of Giza in England. It is particularly well known for the winter solstice, during which time as the sun rises it shines down the passage of the tomb to illuminate the chamber inside for about 17 minutes. I was lucky enough to go inside the tomb which only limited numbers are permitted to do each day, and although it wasn't the winter solstice, it was still awe-inspiring. To think that people 5000 years ago somehow managed to move these stones and build this structure that still exists to day is mind blowing. It may not have the spectacular look of the pyramids or Stonehenge, but in it's own right, it deserves to be experienced

All in all, I can say Ireland is a country that I truly did not have enough time in. I will definitely be visiting again to see all the things I missed.

Sláinte!

~~Random Logic~~

Books, Travel, Study and Planning a Move.

So I have been planning to update recently with some book reviews but I keep getting distracted by starting to read other good books- I highly recommend the Divergent books by Veronia Roth and the Newsflesh Trilogy by Mira Grant- so those posts will come when I hit a wall in the book reading. I have also been very busy on another note.

I started looking for jobs for when I finished being an au pair, and I was looking all over Europe, not just in Finland to find as many opportunities as possible. I ended up applying for a job in Rhodes, Greece, and I got it! So I will be moving to Greece as of the 29th of August... that gives me just under 3 weeks until I move.

I also travel to Ireland next week for a friends wedding! YAY! Weddings! YAY! Travel! I am there for a week and then when I come back, I think I will have two days here in Vaasa before I travel south and visit friends in Turku for a few days and then a day or so in Helsinki. I am tempted to try get in a day trip to Tallinn just for the hell of it before I leave as well. I love Tallinn and I don't know when I will get a chance to visit again. This also means that I have to do most of my packing for the move before I even go to Ireland, so that I just have to really worry about packing what I take to Ireland with me when I get back to Finland.

On top of all that planning, I have been doing the Archaeology MOOC that I talked about a few posts ago. The final exercise was due last week and the results were given this morning. I got full marks for everything! YAY! I'm happy with that because, apart from my language classes which have often been fairly informal in terms of any kind of homework, it is the first study I have really done on anything since high school. It was really fun and interesting too. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in history. It is run through the Coursera website and is called Archaeology's Dirty Little Secrets. I will probably also post some more of the stuff I wrote for exercises here at some point. One of the other students had the idea to start a blog for the students to post to with different archaeological themed things and I am going to be a contributor to that as well.

So basically to sum up my life I have been busy. Things are going to get fun and exciting over the next few weeks. I am excited to go to Greece and sad to be leaving Finland. Also I have never been to Greece so I can't wait to see some of the historical sites. At least the history geek inside of me will have fun!

Well that's all for now folks! I will try to post something up between Ireland and Greece at the very least.


~~Random Logic~~

Archaeology's Dirty Little Secrets

So I have been planning on writing a new post recently. I even have ideas for it and kind of know what I want to write, but the last few weeks have been pretty crazy. I started a Finnish course at the end of May, the children I look after started holidays the next week, and I also started an online course or MOOC about archaeology. Needless to say with that and also making new friends and spending time with them I haven't been left with much time to write... plus I would feel incredibly guilty if I wrote a blog post without having done my archaeology course homework.

So anyway.... the course I started is through a website called Coursera. I came across it thanks to the Time Team Facebook page where they recommended the course that I signed up for. The course is called Archaeology's Dirty Little Secrets and into the third week now I am loving it! I have always enjoyed history and especially archaeology- I wanted to be an archaeologist for many years, and I am not really sure I've given up on that possibility yet, so it's fun. The course itself is through Brown University in the USA and the Joukowsky Institute which is situated at Brown.

So the course itself consists of video lectures, some required reading, weekly quizzes and weekly exercises or assessments if you want to call them that. The exercises are all peer assessed as with the sheer number of people who enrol in the course as well as the free nature of the course, there is no way that the staff could mark everyones exercises.

I just got the results of my week 1 exercise today and I was very happy. I got a 3- which is the top mark, and some really nice comments. As a result, I thought I would share what I wrote here. I will first post the requirements, then my response, then the comments I recieved.


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Option #2: Archaeological expressions

Find one form of artistic expression (poetry, film, literature, trash fiction, music) that draws on archaeology and archaeological uses of the past*. Write a reaction piece in which you:

1. Identify and describe the artistic work you have chosen.
2. If it could be helpful to your classmates, provide a link (URL) to any relevant online content (e.g., YouTube clip, SoundCloud sample, IMDB page, etc.).
3. Explain why you chose this particular piece.
4. Critique the piece. Does it convey an accurate impression of archaeology? Is it significant, either artistically or archaeologically? Do you like it? Would you recommend it to others, and if so, who?

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The work chosen for this archaeological comparison is called "The Curse", and it is episode thirteen of season four of the television series Stargate SG-1.

In this episode, one of the team members - Dr Daniel Jackson of SG-1, discovers that his archaeology professor from college - Dr David Jordan was killed in a lab explosion that has been attributed to the Curse of Osiris as he was working with artefacts recovered from a shipwreck of an expedition carried out in 1931. He attends the funeral and catches up with former colleagues he has not seen in five years. He stays behind after the funeral and discovers that items from the collection have either been stolen or misplaced, and works to help discover what has happened to them.

I chose this piece because it shows some of the issues that archaeologists and institutions face with regards to artefacts and ownership once recovered as well as the storage, testing and treatment of artefacts. It also addresses the beliefs of many people in curses being placed on items from tombs especially those of Egyptian mummies.

The episode starts with the characters of Dr Jordan and Dr Steven Rayner discussing some artefacts that had been recovered from a shipwreck of an expedition known as the Stewart Expedition undertaken in 1931. Dr Jordan lets Dr Rayner know that the opportunity has come up to have scans done on a canopic jar. Dr Rayner suggests that they just crack open the canopic jar to which he is told that the Egyptian government expects the items to be returned intact. He expresses some disagreement with this pronouncement stating that it is the find of a lifetime and they are "just handing it over".

This reflects on an issue that is facing the archaeological community and institutions around the world more and more often these days. Many artefacts were taken at times in the past when countries were either colonised, under occupation or before there were laws regarding what could be taken or even what could be excavated. As a result more and more countries are trying to recover items that they consider to have been looted from their past causing much controversy amongst those who believe they have a right to the items who make arguments on both sides of the divide as is the case with the Parthenon Marbles.

When Dr Jackson discovers the report of the death of Dr Jordan, the article states that the Curse of Osiris has returned. This alludes to the belief that curses will afflict those who disturb the tombs and holy places of ancient civilisations- in this case those of ancient Egypt. Later in the episode when Dr Sarah Gardner is showing Dr Jackson the artefacts, she says that they are supposedly cursed and that all the members of the original expedition died within a year of the discovery and Dr Jackson says that it had been attributed to mould spores. Her response states that mould spores do not make front page news.

These instances as well as later deaths of two more people show the pervasiveness of beliefs in "Mummy curses" which started in the 19th century with very little truth behind them as well as their common use as a trope in television and movies to make a plot more interesting or entertaining.

When Dr Jackson goes to find the museum curator in the storage area for the artefacts, she blames the state of the storage area on budget cuts. She also states that the crate in which another item was stored, was mislabelled and, that she had therefore only discovered the item a few days prior. She appears to be the sole person working in the department possibly due to the budget cuts she has stated and has a large number of items to catalogue. The sheer number of items shown to be in storage show the fate of many archaeological finds today with many artefacts remaining in storage for long periods of time after discovery and initial study, if study commences at all.

On a whole I believe this piece to show a somewhat accurate depiction of archaeology. It shows that not all archaeologists work in the field and that there is more to archaeology than digging up treasures and, that there are issues faced by those who work in the field of archaeology. I enjoyed it and would recommend this piece to people who like history and science fiction as well as people who like to see fictional archaeologists on film and not blowing up temples.

Gateworld: The Curse - http://www.gateworld.net/sg1/s4/413.shtml - Last accessed 9 June 2013

Wiki: The Curse - http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/The_Curse – Last accessed 9 June 2013

National Geographic: Curse of the Mummy - http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/archaeology/curse-of-the-mummy/ - Last accessed 9 June 2013
 

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Peer 1 → You completed and clearly expressed your response. Very well done.

 

Peer 2 → Having watched a few episodes of SG-1 in the past I was familiar with it's format and the the origins of some of its ideas in ancient Egypt. I found the piece both interesting and well researched. Although fictional representations of archaeology and archaeologists are often ridiculous you have pointed out that this does not necessarily always occur and that they can sometimes put forward ideas and concepts that are very representative of the truth.

 

Peer 4 → Good use of an excellent episode from SG1 to illustrate the required topic. Certainly original and clearly expressed. Do you watch the Abydos videos with the same slant as I do? Thanks.

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I hope you enjoyed, let me know what you think.

~~Random Logic~~

London Calling....

Hyperactive blog post here we come!

Last weekend I went to London to visit my cousin and see the sights. It was amazing. I have never really put England high on my list of countries I want to visit. I'm not sure why really, maybe because I knew it is full of tourists.

Anyway putting all that behind me I visited last weekend. I arrived late Friday night and flew out early Monday morning.

I hadn't planned to visit a lot of places when I was in London primarily because I know that I like to spend a lot of time in museums. As a result of that the places I ended up going to were Westminster Abbey, and the Tower of London on Saturday.

Westminster Abbey is stunning. While I couldn't take photos inside I did do the self guided audio tour which takes about an hour or so. It has about 20 stops and you listen to a bit of information about each part of the Abbey. I think one of the highlights for me here was seeing the tombs of Elizabeth I and Mary I. All in all it's definitely somewhere I would recommend anyone who loves history, old buildings/Gothic architecture and has any interest in the history of England and the various rulers to visit.

The Tower of London was fantastic. I don't exactly know how old I was when I decided that when I went to London I would NOT be missing out on visiting this place, but I am pretty sure I was still primary school aged. I loved it! It is not anything as I think I had imagined but it was so much better. It fits those kind of fairytale imaginings of what a castle should look like with crenellations and towers. There is such a dark history I guess to the place with the many, many people who were imprisoned here, not to mention the three queens who were beheaded here. One of the most well known prisoners to have been beheaded here was Anne Boleyn who was charged with adultery and being a traitor to the crown. I guess the most controversial story of prisoners here is that of the princes in the tower. The two sons of Kind Edward IV were kept prisoner there and declared illegitimate by their uncle who went on to become King Richard III. The fate of the children however is unknown as they disappeared sometime after arriving and nothing was seen or heard from them again. The most popular belief is that Richard III ordered them killed. The major attraction within the Tower itself is the Crown Jewels which are on display. They are amazing. I guess it's hard to describe anything like that unless you see it up close. They also have other things on display along with the crowns including some of the tableware used at the coronation feast. I honestly have no idea how anyone would be able to lift up the tankards they have, let alone drink from them. They also have a enormous punch bowl which can hold 144 bottles of wine... I want that bowl for my parties!

I also went to something called the London Bridge Experience which is some kind of 'scare' attraction. It was a bit historical and the scare bit was a bit like a haunted house attraction at a carnival. Saturday evening my cousin and I went to watch Phantom of the Opera. It was awesome and I loved it. I had previously seen a recording of the 25th Anniversary Royal Albert Hall stage performance and that was amazing but still nothing can beat seeing a performance live. Definitely something I would be willing to repeat!

On Sunday I went to the British Museum. I think this is one of the few things that could equal the experience of finally seeing the Tower of London for me, if not surpass it. Love is not a strong enough word to describe how much I enjoyed the museum. The two most famous displays within the museum would without a doubt have to be The Rosetta Stone and the Elgin Marbles. As a history geek I have been dying to see these for as long as I have known about them. The first thing I did when I got inside after getting myself a guide was to go visit the Rosetta Stone. As with any display that is as well known as the Rosetta Stone there are always crowds of people around it. Luckily I was able to get through them pretty quickly to see the stone. Thus started the high that lasted until after I had left the museum. One other thing I saw that I hadn't realised was on display was the Lindow Man. If you don't know who or what the Lindow Man is, it is a bog body that was discovered I think about 50 years ago or something. At first the man who discovered it thought it was a recent body but it was quickly realised that it was a lot older than that. I managed to see most of the displays I think but there were still some areas I missed out and I didn't read every little info thing for every display because I wanted to see as much as possible.  As it was I think I spent at least 5 hours there and I am pretty sure I could spend at least that many more.

My advice for people going to the museum:

- If you don't have time to see everything decide what has priority.
- Don't plan to be in and out in an hour or two. You don't do the museum justice by doing that.
- WEAR COMFORTABLE WALKING SHOES. Whilst there are plenty of spots where you can sit down around the different halls you are still going to be spending most of the day on your feet.

Sunday afternoon we ended up doing a bit of a walk around london. We walked to Trafalgar Square where I got a few photos of things then ended up walking past the Tower of London and over the Tower Bridge. I think next time I am in London I will have to plan to do the Tower Bridge experience as part of my trip.

All in all it was an amazing trip. I loved every bit of it and it definitely left me wanting to go back and see more.

Two of the entrances to Westminster Abbey.

Tower of London... Can you tell I'm excited?

The Rosetta Stone!!!

The Tower Bridge.

The Tower of London from the opposite bank of the River Thames.

~~ Random Logic ~~