Kilmainham Gaol! (Jail) & Visited Levis School!!

          Today, I had to get up very early because we were all going to go visit Levis school we think he would go to next year in August. We got up at 7:30 AM. We went to Levis school. We walked there because it was only 15 minutes away. On the way there, there was this cool painting of R2-D2 on a metal box on one street. It was really cool!

R2-D2 on a metal box!

         Levis school is called I.S.D. or the International School of Dublin. We got to his school too early, so we walked a block down the road and ate breakfast at a place called Sister Sadie's! The food was very good. Me and my mom got a dish with toast that had hummus on it, and 2 eggs on it. (with avocado) It was really good!

Delicious breakfast!!

          After we finished breakfast at Sister Sadies, we walked back to Levis school. We went in and the principle of the school gave us a tour of the school. The school was small, and it only had 50 students! It was very unique. They did use the International Baccalaureate approach. They had a reading area and a hall of classrooms.

Reading area

Hallway of classrooms

Library

          After we visited all of the class rooms, we left ISD. We got a cab, and we were going to go visit the Kilmainham Gaol! (Gaol, in Ireland, means Jail) We got to Kilmainham Jail, and there was a long line. We had to wait in line for about a half an hour, then we got in. It was 11:09, and we were booked for the next tour that was at 12:15. Luckily, there was a cafe, and a tea room, and a whole area for us to hang out until it was time for our tour. We went up to the cafe, where I got a chocolate croissant, and a  cappuccino. When it was 12:15, we went down and started our tour.

         The Jail was really cool! Our guide told us about the Irish Revolution in 1916. That was how easter sunday was created. The Irish were fighting for independence, and 14 people were asassinated because they led the revolution, and they did not have a trial. The jail held some important people that were part of the 1916 revolution. The jail was really cool looking. It was really old, and made of limestone, so it was colder than the outside. The cells had one tiny window, and the hallways were very scary. Here are some pictures of the Jail.

Cool Cell Door!

Easy access to all of the cells.

Spooky Hallway!!

Outside Exercise yard.

Outside of the Jail 

          There was a time where all of the potatoes that people were growing were dying in the ground, so people could commit a crime just to go to jail. It was an opportunity to have a roof over their head and food. A lot more people were committing crimes to get into jail, but the jail realized what was happening. To stop this, they made the conditions in the jail more hard, so people would rather stay out on the streets than go to jail. 

          After we visited the Kilmainham Gaol, we got a cab and started to head back to Fitzwilliam Square. On the way back, the cab driver dropped me off by St. Stephens Park so that I could walk to Waltons School of Music to practice piano. I rented a room for an hour again. This time I was in room #9, not room #2. Room #9 was up a lot of stairs, and had a really good view. I took pictures of the practice room and the view!

View from practice room #9

Waltons School of Music from outside

Practice room

Practice room again

           After I practiced for an hour, i walked down all of those stairs and paid 10 Euros for the room. I returned the key to the room and started to walk back to my house. I knew how to get back without a map so I walked back and it took about 20 Minutes. We had dinner at 5:45. We had spaghetti and meatballs. My Oma made some bread which was really cool! I had coconut water as usual. Tomorrow, I am going to St. Andrews College, which is going to be my new school next year.  Here are some pictures we got from the Jail!

Prison in Gaelic

Me in-front of a cell door!

Levi above creepy stairs

We got locked up......

                        -4/5/2016

Fitzwilliam Square Park!

          Today, was a fun day. In the morning, I tried to wake up earlier because I am still trying to adjust to the sleep schedule here in Ireland. After I had 2 bagels for breakfast, and some sausage, I had to go practice piano. Since our house does not have a playable piano, I have to walk to Waltons School of Music, and rent a room for one hour. My Oma, and my brother walked me over there today. I showed them how to get there. I rented room #2 and after I practiced for an hour, I walked home. (ill get a picture of the practice room) I know the area pretty well so I knew how to get home even though it was a 15 minute walk. On the way back to my house, I stopped at a Euro-store, (equivalent to a dollar store in Grand Rapids) and got an Emoji. Here is a picture.

Heart Emoji, but lifesize!

          It is a stuffed Emoji! I thought it was really cool, so I got it for 5 Euro. I also got some kinder eggs. I have seen Kinder eggs before in my travels, such as in China, and Israel and such, but they are not a thing in Grand Rapids. They are a chocolate egg, with a toy in the center of it. This is what they look like.

Kinder Egg

Inside the egg, is a yellow capsule with a toy inside!

          After I returned home, I chilled for a while and made some Ramen (actually here it is called "Koka") Here is a picture of it. Its pretty much the same thing as Ramen noodles.

          In Fitzwilliam Square, there is a park that is really pretty, and only people who live in Fitzwilliam square are allowed to enter the park. Its called Fitzwilliam Square Park. Everyone in the square gets their own key. It is kind of like our own private park since nobody can go inside of it except our neighborhood. Its really pretty! There were a lot of flowers, and a lot of trees to climb! We took a LOT of pictures, but I will try to limit them.

About to enter the park!!

The park is beautiful

Chillin in the trees!

Im a monkey!

Monkey Twins!

         The park was fun! There was a lot of free space to run around in. After we were done climbing trees in the park, we went back to the house. At 6:30 PM, we were suppose to be at someones house to check out a piano to see if we wanted to buy it. My mom said that we were going to walk and that it was a 40 Minute walk, and Levi did not want to walk. We left at about 5:50 PM. It was about 2 miles, and we walked and it was a nice walk. We got to see a lot more of Dublin. There are a lot of buses. We got to the house, and we checked out her piano. The piano was nice, and old, and I played a song for everyone there. The piano was kind of out of tune, but I liked playing for the owner of the piano. She was very nice! We walked back to our house. About 30 minutes later, we got home. By that time it was the end of the day.

          Tomorrow, we have to get up at 7:30 AM, so that we can all go to visit Levis school that he is going to go to while he is living here. I go to see my school Wednesday morning.

                                     -4/4/2016

Adventure to Merrion Square!

          Today is Sunday. I got up at about 11 AM. We are still not on the time schedule. We had breakfast. After breakfast, we walked over to another park that was about a 10 minute walk away from our house. The area was called Merrion Square. It was a park just like St. Stephens Green, but it was a bit smaller. It had a lot of open space and a lot of trees! It was more beautiful than the other one. There was a play-set in the park! It had a playground that was shaped like a giant man!!!

Picture of the Playground!!!

        The park had a cool center with small flower beds in the middle organized by color. Some of them were shaped like a circle, some were curved rectangles. They were very pretty! It was another rainy day and it was drizzling pretty much the whole day. Near the end of our journey, it was pretty windy, and I had no sweatshirt so my hands were very cold! Here are some pictures of the park!

Pretty Trees!

Flower Beds!

More Trees!

Cool Tree with white background!! 

       While walking on the streets by Merrion Square, there are these really awesome lamp-posts that were very beautiful. They are way better than the ones that we have in Grand Rapids!

Pretty Lamp Posts!

         There was this weird guy at the park. It was not a human, it was more of like a statue. It looked like it was a giant, buried in the ground half way, and had some random body parts sticking out of the ground. We got a picture of Levi sitting on its head.

The weird, half buried, Giant!!!

        We went to visit the home of Oscar Wilde! He is a very famous play-write, and poet. He was born in Dublin, Ireland! He was one of London's most famous play-writes. We went to visit his childhood home. It was big and very pretty! He lived there 22 years of his life. There was a statue built for him right across from his house in Dublin, in Merrion Square. 

Statue of Oscar Wilde.

Oscar Wildes Childhood home!!!

       There was a memorial in Merrion Square built for the members of the Defence Forces who died in service to the State. The memorial was shaped like a pyramid. The plaque says "of the public can reflect on the contribution and sacrifice made by members of the Defence Forces who died in service to the state." The Pyramid is said to represent the figure of a military tent. In the center of the pyramid is a flame that is always going to signify the ongoing remembrance of the members in the Defence Forces.

You can see the flame in the center

        We had a lot of fun at Merrion Square. Every Sunday, artists come to bring their artwork to show on the outside of the square. The artists are very good, and have unique styles added to each of their ways of making art! We then walked back to our house, but not before stopping at a Tesco. We got a lot of food and brought it back to the House. The favorite thing that I got from the store was more Tea! I now have a collection of tea, about 7 kinds that I like to drink, including Cinnamon, Green tea, and Licorice.

First Days in Ireland! (Huge Update)

       This is the night of the second night that I have been in Dublin, and IT IS AWESOME!!! There is a lot of stuff that I have to blog about today. The house that we have is a great house! In Dublin, people are more concerned about staying safe and things like that. When we leave, we turn on our alarm system for the house. Also, we have 2 locks that we lock the door with whenever it is closed no-matter what. The first one, locks automatically when you shut it, the other one, you use a key. This house has a Dumbwaiter, it is like a mini elevator in the house for food. Its awesome and we use it a lot! There is a kitchen on the 5th floor, along with 3 bedrooms. Me, Omas and Levis.


      The first day I came here, we walked down to the main street that had a lot of shops and restaurants on it. The street was called Grafton. It had a lot of cool stores, but it does not have a Taco Bell. There are stores here that are the equivalent to Meier and they are called Tesco, and there is a store called spar, but they are both more little than Meijer. They both have the things that Meier would have but in Ireland.

      We walked to a park called St. Stephens Green. It was very green and was in-between our house and Grafton street. The park was very beautiful! It had a playground in the center of it! There was a pond with an island and lots of green plants and colorful flowers! Everything in Ireland closes early like at 8 PM so you cant go out at night to a lot of places because they will all be closed. I have some pictures of St. Stevens Green!!

Pretty flowers along the pathway!!

Awesome Island in the middle of the pond!!

Cool center of the park! 

     It was kind of rainy that day, but it was still awesome!!! In the house, there is a Dumbwaiter, which transports food from the basement to the 3rd floor. It is hidden in the walls of the house, and the secret doors are really cool! They are hidden well! You wouldn't know that this house had a Dumbwaiter unless you figured it out or someone had told you! Here are some before and after pictures of the wall to get to the Dumbwaiter!

Before (bathroom)

After! (secret door!)

Before (1st Floor)

After (Secret door #2)

There is also a secret door on one of the in-between floors. It has a whole other room behind there and another bathroom!!!

After..

Before..

       On Grafton street, there is a Burger King, and also a McDonalds, but there is no Taco Bell..... Since we don't have a playable piano in our house, I went to practice at a place where I rented a room, its called Waltons Music School, and I rented a room and practiced for an hour. After that, we walked towards St. Stephens Green shopping center (which is pretty much a mall in Dublin) We went in the mall, and it was very cool! There was a lot of shops and restaurants. My mom went in to a store, then I couldn't find her so i waited like a half an hour then she was done shopping. The mall had wifi so it was okay. Here is a picture of the inside and the outside of the mall.

Inside view of the mall

Outside view of the mall

I have some pictures of Grafton street. It is very crowded, and the shops are kind of small looking from the outside, but when you walk in, some of them go back really far.

Next to St. Stephens Green Mall.

View of one of the streets

Awesome castle thing

View of Waltons School of Music where I practice 2 hour a day,

       The last part of this blog will be some pictures that I happen to have. They are pictures of the inside of the house, views from the house, and a picture of us in-front of our door!

Picture of the AGA

Dining table

44 Fitzwilliam Square (our house)

View from my room!

Going to Dublin for Spring Break!

Tomarrow, I am going to be going to Dublin my first time for spring break. I will be there 10 days. We got our house in Dublin and we are going to live in it for 10 days during spring break. I am excited! I am going to take a LOT of pictures so that I can post them on Facebook or something. I will try to blog every day while I am there!!!

Oma and Levis first trip to Ireland!!!

     This week, it was the first time that my brother Levi, and my Oma went to Ireland with my mom! They all stayed at an apartment by my moms work so she could get there easier. They looked at some houses to see where we were going to live. They got to ride the Dart for the first time in Dublin. The Dart stands for Dublin Area Rapid Transit. It is an electric rail system that makes it easy to get around Dublin. It comes every 15 minutes to any station so you dont have to wait that long, and it goes all over Dublin.

     My mom, Oma and Levi rode the dart all the way down to Bray Seaside Town and they went to an aquarium. Then, they went to go look at houses at Trafalgar Tarace, which is in Monkstown, Dublin.

   OTHER THINGS THAT THEY DID:
Rode on the dart
Dublin Area Rapid Transit
All to bray seaside town
Went to an aquarium
Dulkey and had soup at the tramyard cafe
rode the dart back to Trafalgar tarace (connected houses) in monks-town
monks-town.