By Dan O Rourke
13th April 2015
My family and I went on an overnight break to the historic town of Maynooth over the Easter holidays. The children in the family were excited about the hotel, especially the swimming pool and the “all you can eat” buffet breakfast! On the second day of our trip we walked around the University in Maynooth and saw all the churches and castle before setting out in the car around the Boyne Valley.
I was interested in the Battle of the Boyne. But my Mom said we would visit Newgrange first. When we arrived at the interpretive centre the lady told us we would have to wait two hours before a bus would bring us to the site. I thought that was a long time but it wasn’t really. By the time we had read all about pre-historic times and seen the replicas it was time to catch the bus. I sat beside my brother on the bus. It was full of tourists. When we got off there were two red-haired boys playing the fiddle. We gave them some money and headed up the hill.
We sat on a seat and waited for our tour guide. She told us all about the area though it was hard to hear her because there were two men cutting the grass. She explained all about rocks and designs outside; and about the archaeologist, Professor Kelly. He dug out the site and renewed the outside white walls in the 70’s. We walked around the outside for 15 minutes while half our group went inside. Then it was our turn.
The lady warned us to keep away from the walls and keep our bags beside our knees. I ignored her and kept rubbing off the walls. The passage was narrow and got colder and colder. When we got to the middle we could see the way the roof was built. In the inside I thought it looked like a Lego stairs. The tour guide warned us that she was going to turn off the lights and asked if anyone was scared of the dark. A little boy said he was but we all just laughed and carried on. The guide explained what it would be like when the sun rises on the 21st of December and the light shines through the box at top of the entrance. She used a torch to demonstrate this. It looked really cool and I was sad when it was over and we had to go back outside. I am going to enter the raffle to visit again for the Winter solstice when I grow up.
THE END
13th April 2015
My family and I went on an overnight break to the historic town of Maynooth over the Easter holidays. The children in the family were excited about the hotel, especially the swimming pool and the “all you can eat” buffet breakfast! On the second day of our trip we walked around the University in Maynooth and saw all the churches and castle before setting out in the car around the Boyne Valley.
I was interested in the Battle of the Boyne. But my Mom said we would visit Newgrange first. When we arrived at the interpretive centre the lady told us we would have to wait two hours before a bus would bring us to the site. I thought that was a long time but it wasn’t really. By the time we had read all about pre-historic times and seen the replicas it was time to catch the bus. I sat beside my brother on the bus. It was full of tourists. When we got off there were two red-haired boys playing the fiddle. We gave them some money and headed up the hill.
We sat on a seat and waited for our tour guide. She told us all about the area though it was hard to hear her because there were two men cutting the grass. She explained all about rocks and designs outside; and about the archaeologist, Professor Kelly. He dug out the site and renewed the outside white walls in the 70’s. We walked around the outside for 15 minutes while half our group went inside. Then it was our turn.
The lady warned us to keep away from the walls and keep our bags beside our knees. I ignored her and kept rubbing off the walls. The passage was narrow and got colder and colder. When we got to the middle we could see the way the roof was built. In the inside I thought it looked like a Lego stairs. The tour guide warned us that she was going to turn off the lights and asked if anyone was scared of the dark. A little boy said he was but we all just laughed and carried on. The guide explained what it would be like when the sun rises on the 21st of December and the light shines through the box at top of the entrance. She used a torch to demonstrate this. It looked really cool and I was sad when it was over and we had to go back outside. I am going to enter the raffle to visit again for the Winter solstice when I grow up.
THE END
