The first raindrops this holiday (and a way to use depth-of-focus with the most simple camera that has no optics at all...)
The spot I spend the night, to the right you can see the grand channel.
Today I got more experience(d) in driving around in Ireland... I also saw the first raindrops (thankfully only in the morning and evening, during the day the weather was perfect! I tried to visit the steam museum, but it was not open. Apperently it is not a real museum (yet) but more a number of enthousiasts that save and store the machines so they don't get lost. The machines are in good shape, during the weekend they even have a narrow gauge steam locomotive in action (when there are enough visitors). It would have been possible to get the keys to see the machines, I asked a women and see happened to have been the secretary of the organisation.
But since I didn't feel the need to wake up half the town just to show their machines to me, I decided to leave town (I will try to visit the museum in Straffan, they should have a number of steam engines working...oops I try to find it again in the lonely planet. They mention working steam engines that only means of course that they can operate. Not that they are in operation...).
Not exactly the same road as I intended, altough in the correct direction. But this minor road was better for views and there were no trailing cars :)
After leaving town I went to visit the castle-demesne in Birr (The castle itself was still lived in and not open to the public). At first I went for two things: The castle and the telescope. The family that lived in the castle had great interest in technical stuff and gardening. The castle itself could only be viewed from the outside, but in the old stable-house there was a small museum showing the history of the property. Most catching was of course the telescope that was immense for it's time (it was the largest in the world from 1845 to 1915). This place was also the first to have electricity. The place also played a major role in the development of photography in Ireland.
A colour slide projector. Three lenses are used for the colours Red, Green and Blue. The same principle as current TV's and PC-monitors are using.
Hard to see, but the white suspension bridge in the back is the first (iron) suspension bridge in Ireland. Just another thing that shows their interest in technical novelties.
After bringing a visit to the museum, the telescope and bridge, I had 'nothing left to do' so I also went into the 'garden'. I am not really a 'garden person' but slowly but surely I got really impressed. 3 generations of earls have been working on this garden. It is huge. Plants and trees (and those trees are enourmous) have been gathered from all over the world. Once you start looking you see that the number of different plants and trees is immense. The layout is also impressive, my personal favorite was the Fernery (a dark forest, very humid with a stream running trough). This included a man-made waterfall.
And just as if this was not enough, they added a bonus this year (it will remain on the site as well): A national Birds of Prey Centre. Of course the birds are not in a cage, they are in the open (on a leash) and two times a day (at 10:00 and 16:00) they have a 'show'. The garden and the telescope in the back make it even better to go and see this!
Some shots of the show. I also had my film camera with me so better shots will be availble when I get back (I did not have my 70-200mm lens, I had to improvise with the 28-70)
If you visit central Ireland you really must visit this place! (www.birrcastle.com)
After leaving Birr I went to a superstore and bought a ready-prepared meal. More easy and very good quality. Afterwards I went to Shannon-Harbour. I expected to see a lively marina but instead I did find a sleepy harbour. The best thing to see were some nicely aged warehouse that were not in use for a long-long time.
I even saw an 'Amsterdam' beer. This beer does not exist in the Netherlands and is not even made in Amsterdam but in Enschede...
At this moment I am on the parking of another attraction, a railway into the bog. They are still harvesting peat here. One thing it is used for is to power an electrity-plant close to here. Tommorow I will try to be on the first tour at 10:00.
