Finding our way around Armagh...or not.

  Armagh, United Kingdom
Sunday, April 27, 2008

Today was pretty uneventful.  We have no good maps of the city so we spent what seemed like hours driving around in circles looking for the Armagh Ancestry / Tourist Info Centre.  We never did find what we were looking for.  We found out that everything shuts down on Sundays here except for filling stations and a very few restaurants so it wouldn't have helped to find it anyway.  The town just lacks the charm we found in Republic of Ireland.  I don't know if it is because of the political unrest of the area or due to it being a larger city.  It has a definite English influence that you don't find in the South.   I don't think they get many tourists here.
 
We did see St Patrick's Cathedral (catholic) and St Patrick's Church (originally catholic but taken over by the protestants).  We were driving around on Sunday morning so we got to see everyone dressed up and going to Mass/Service.  Armagh was St Patrick's home base in Ireland.  It has great historical/religious significance.  It was the base of the pagan religion before Patrick and then the base of the Protestants after they took over.   We also visited a ruin that was a Fransiscan Friary.  Not sure how old, though.  One thing is for sure, we can tell you where the public toilets are located in town because we looped around by them about 20 times!  The roads are narrow, curvy and some are one way.  Very confusing!

 
Because we were having such a frustrating time driving around town, we decided to drive into the countryside in the direction we suspect our ancestors lived.  It is beautiful rolling country with green hills, shrub hedges outlining the fields where sheep and cattle graze.  Very pretty. 

 
Most a good part of the day we just relaxed at the hotel.   It is very busy!  There is a convention center attached and there is a Jehovah's Witness convention this weekend.  Those people dress nice!!  Later today there was a big party for a bunch of kids who had their first communion.  The girls looked like little brides in their beautiful white gowns.  That party went on and on and on!  Must be a very big deal around here!!
 
Tomorrow is Dad's 75th Birthday!  Feel free to e-mail Patrick and wish him Happy Birthday!! Or post a comment to this blog.

That's a long post for no more than we did today!  Hopefully tomorrow will bring more excitement and a better sense of direction!