Thursday

I Love Northern Ireland - Travel



I was born in Northern Ireland.


I have lived there for most of my life with a break from 1992-95 when we lived in Delaware, USA and another one from 2004 -2010 when we lived in Tervuren, Belgium.








First I lived in Londonderry in the North West of Northern Ireland and then after I got married we lived in Drumahoe which is a village just outside Londonderry.



When we returned from The US we went back to our house in Drumahoe but when we returned from Belgium it was time to move to a location from which it was easier for my husband to get to the airports to travel for his work so we chose a house in Banbridge, a town just off the A1 which is the road from Belfast to Dublin.










 Northern Ireland is part of the UK 







though many people throughout the world get confused and think that all of Ireland is one country because it is one island.







It is rather like Spain and Portugal which are two different countries sharing the one large Peninsula of land in Europe.


Or maybe think of The US and Canada?




The people of Northern Ireland are some of the friendliest people in the world and are definitely known for their hospitality.




Northern Ireland has so many beautiful places to experience.



Northern Ireland is the home of one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World:


The Giants Causeway



Wikipedia.org



Other great features are:



The Historical Walls of Londonderry


My home city for many years.


Wikipedia.org




The Carrick-a-rede Rope Bridge

Along the beautiful North Coast


Wikipedia.org



The Mountains of Mourne

The beautiful scenery close to where we now live.



Wikipedia.org



The Lakes in Fermanagh

In the South West of Northern Ireland.


Wikipedia.org




I have always loved Northern Ireland and will claim (rightly) that we have fantastic large beaches of fine sand, even though we do not have the warm weather for others to come and visit and fully appreciate them.


DiscoverNorthernIreland.com



If you have never been to Northern Ireland it is well worth a visit of much more than a couple of days.

Yes I have met people who decide to visit "Ireland" so travel from the US or Europe or Canada to Dublin in Eire / Republic of Ireland and spend almost 2 weeks there and then think they can go "up north" for a couple of days (or for one day as one family of 4 expressed this desire to me after a late breakfast in a hotel in the south end of Eire - I still shake my head at this one) and take in the beautiful places we have here but then are surprised that there is too much to do in just so little time.










Other Posts about Northern Ireland can be found at 









Monday

Psalm 34 v 1-4 Free Word Search Puzzles - Coffee & Conversation








The Theme for this Word Search is

The Bible Verses
Psalm 34 v 1-4






I'm offering these Word Search Puzzles as one of my assortment of free printables which can be found in my Resource Library


Yes not just 1 Word Search Puzzle in this post but 4 of them 
one for each of the first four verses of 
Psalm 34



Psalm 34 v 1  Word Search


Can you find these 10 words (or groups of words)  
from the verse
Psalm 34 v 1 
in this Word Search Puzzle?









Psalm 34 v 2  Word Search


Can you find these 11 words (or groups of words)  
from the verse
Psalm 34 v 2 
in this Word Search Puzzle?









Psalm 34 v 3  Word Search


Can you find these 9 words (or pairs of words)  
from the verse
Psalm 34 v 3 
in this Word Search Puzzle?









Psalm 34 v 4  Word Search


Can you find these 11 words (or pairs of words)  
from the verse
Psalm 34 v 4 
in this Word Search Puzzle?








The Word Search Puzzles are available to download in both A4 and Letter size and of course they each come with an answer sheet.


If you are interested in other Word Search Printables or any of our Free Printables you can find a list of all of them in our



Have you downloaded our Free Psalm 34 v 1-4 Word Search Puzzles yet?










Other Posts about Psalm 34
can be found at






Other Word Search Puzzles can be found at 






BUT
don't forget to




Or pin this pic below to come back later










Thursday

St. Patrick's Burial Site








A frequently asked question regarding St. Patrick is 

"Where is the Burial Place of St. Patrick?"


The answer is in the beautiful country of Northern Ireland



I want to take you to County Down where there is a town called Downpatrick and there you will find a quiet cemetery, the graveyard of the local Cathedral.







As we approached the church from the town we parked and walked up a short road which gives a great view of the entrance of the cathedral.


The day we went there was a lovely mild weather day but it was late in the afternoon hence the duller photo.







As you walk on around the left side of the cathedral you come to the tall tower at the end.








Here we saw the wooden sign telling us it is the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity but more commonly called Down Cathedral as the web page address shows








I remembered having been there many many years ago but had forgotten how struck I would be by the simple grave which was covered by a large memorial stone in 1900








We wondered around a little but mostly stood beside the grave.

It seemed rather surreal that this could be the burial place of such a famous person from so long ago.








In 1985 a plaque was added which gave a little information about St. Patrick but more importantly explained that this gravesite also fulfilled a specific prophecy because it held 2 other Saints from many years before - St Brigid and St Columba  








Anyone who has read my about me page or some of my family story posts will know that I was born in Londonderry so this information about the burial site was very interesting to me as St. Columb's Cathedral is well known there.

 




In the first picture of the grave stone and plaque you would not really notice that there is a symbol and a name marked out in the stone.

You will be able to see them in this picture below - a cross and part of the name Patrick.






We took some more time to wander around and admire the church building from the outside.   

Lots of little spire adornments on the roof.







  I think this last picture of the side of the cathedral helps to show you the calmness and quietness of the site during our visit as the sun was starting to get much lower in the sky.







The town of Downpatrick is also not a large significant place and not a city like Londonderry and Armagh (also in Northern Ireland) which have beautiful well-known cathedrals. 







The last time we had been in Downpatrick was for the 
St Patrick's Day Parade in 2015 but we had not taken time to stay on after the parade to do any sightseeing.



Other Posts related to St. Patrick and Northern Ireland can be found on our