Newseum & Chinese New Year

I had a rare day to myself (Superbowl Sunday) and decided to visit the Newseum in DC. I spent over 3 hours looking at everything on the six floors. Well worth the $20 admission.



This is a guard tower from the Berlin Wall

A section of the Berlin WallView from the 6th floor deck

An exhibit on the DC Sniper. I was really scared during the sniper spree in 2002.

Exhibit on the UnaBomberHis actual cabin. It was bigger than I had imagined.

Exhibit on the Lindbergh baby kidnapping with the ladder used to climb in the window to get the baby and the electric chair used for Bruno (who kidnapped the baby)

The Food Court featured food by Wolfgang Puck. There was a 4-D theater and news "studios" where kids could record news or weather and then buy the tape. George Stephanopolus broadcasts his Sunday show from a studio in the Newseum, as well as other newscasters with the Capitol in the background.

After finishing there, I walked a few blocks up to Chinatown for the Chinese New Year Parade. I missed the parade, but saw some of the Chinese dignitaries and DC Council members giving speeches. Even the lying, cheating, tax evading, cocaine using, former Mayor of DC, Marion (The "B***h" Set Me Up") Barry. I tried to get through the crowd to get back to the metro, but had to backtrack because the street was blocked. I got back to the subway just at the Capitals hockey game let out. Great--20,000 people flocking to the trains! Crowded, but not that bad.

All in all, a great day. I'll have to do it again soon. Next visit - the International Spy Museum.

PRICELESS

Ten rolls of toilet paper. . .

two dogs. . .

one door left open. . . .

New Addition to our Family

Candy chose to join our family on 12/20 after visiting with us at the Baltimore Animal Rescue league. She's about a year and a half old, a German Shepherd mix and is very gentle, although she can get rough when J.D. gets too close.

An actual email from my boss

Darlene,
Someone bled all over some of the documents in this file. Could you recopy them and get rid of the icky part?

Thanks!
Shellie

Ten Days in Ireland - Part 3

It rained on our trip to Blarney Castle, but it didn't dampen my spirit. Glenn and I climbed the 120 narrow, spiral, stone, wet steps with just a vertical rope to hold onto. Once at the top, I was laid on my back and shoved upside down to kiss the Blarney Stone.

Our guide, Dominick, told us this story of the Blarney Stone. The King of Blarney was walking along the river one day and saw a woman fall in. He jumped in and saved her from drowning. She was so grateful that, being a witch, she told the King about a special rock down by the river that would cure his stutter if he kissed the rock. With the description she gave him, he was able to find the rock. Once he kissed it, his stutter disappeared and he was given the gift of eloquence. Being a selfish king and not wanting his enemies to have access to the rock, he had his men move it to the very top of his castle and place it so it would not be accessible to anyone else.

Glenn next to a plant (don't know it's name) that grows wild by streams. We were told that it is poisonous.

In a cathedral we stopped in, there was a tomb of a rotting corpse. He has a frog sitting on his stomach.

Ten Days in Ireland - Part 2

These pictures may not be in the order of our trip, but they are close.

After leaving Dublin, we went to Waterford and toured the crystal factory. The "masters" were excellent in showing us how they blow and cut the crystal. The cutters have memorized over 40 patterns that they cut into the crystal pieces. Waterford makes the trophies for basketball, golf, football, etc. They made the crystal bat given to Derick Jeter at the final game in Yankee Stadium. When they make a trophy for a tournament, they make three identical ones. Two go to the ceremony (the extra they call the "oops" replacement) and one is kept at Waterford. Here are a blower, finisher (he was putting the lip and handle on a pitcher) and a six-foot tall crystal grandfather clock. The crystal ball is their extra of the new year's ball used in New York. They wouldn't let us take pictures of the cutters.

Then on we went to Glennalough (pronounced Glenda-lock). We toured the remnants of St. Kevin's Monastery. One of the better preserved round towers was on the grounds of the monastery. It is thought that it was used for a bell tower, but no bells were even found. Another theory is that they climbed to the top of the tower and rang hand bells. Because the round towers were so tall, they were beacons of safe haven for christian travellers. It also served as a lookout tower and a place to store valuables from the invading Vikings. The door of the round tower is about 12 feet above ground level. The monks would put a ladder up to it, climb in and pull the ladder in behind them.

Most of the older stone grave markers were in the shape of the Celtic cross. This one must have been about 10 feet tall.
This is what is left of the alter area of St. Kevin's church.

Did I mention it was cold and rainy on our visit to St. Kevin's? That's probably why I didn't get a lot of pictures.

TEN DAYS IN IRELAND

Just a few highlights of our first day in Dublin. I'll post more highlights over the next few days.

After ten days in Ireland, it is good to be back in the USA. Ireland is really the emerald isle. Everything is so green. That's probably because it rains 4 days out of 7 and the tropical climate. I didn't know Ireland was tropical. There are palm trees and some exotic plants and flowers.
Our Guide, Dominick, was fantatic. He filled us in on so much Irish history, and utlimately, US history. One story he told was how the Catholic church would not let miscarried or stillborn babies be buried in a Catholic cemetary because they had not been baptised. These babies were considered to be in limbo and could not enter Heaven. (Not a great story to start out with, but follow along.) These babies were relegated to unmarked graves out in the country. Because the families did not want to forget their babies, they planted a blackthorne tree to mark the area of the graves. Legend has it that the fairies come out at night and dance around the tree to entertain the babies. I saw this tree on our visit to a farmhouse for tea and scones. I can just imagine the fairies dancing around it for the babies.

We visited Dublin Castle--Ireland's version of our White House. Much of the original castle was burned down during some rebellion, but the stone perimeter survived and the interior was absolutely stunning.

In Dublin, Ireland's capital, we saw the Ha'penny Bridge (so named for the fare it cost to cross it). We also went on a tour of Guinnes and to Trinity College where the Book of Kells is stored. We couldn't take pictures in the library where the book is housed. The Book of Kells is the books of Matthew, Luke, Mark and John written by monks in an elaborate script.