This is actually an ancient structure in Ireland about an hour or two drive outside of Dublin. It is called Newgrange, because that was the name of the area when it was discovered/made known to the general public, or something like that. It is actually older than the pyramids, by about 500 years! (It is 5,000 years old) I took a day trip early in the morning and we drove out there on a bus to see it. With the tour we were able go inside it too! It is made of large stones which range anywhere from 1-10 tons, so like the pyramids, they can only guess how they built it. (There is a river at the bottom of the hill, but it is a fairly large hill, and the wheel had not been invented, but they think they log rolled them up the hill.) Anyways the most interesting thing about this huge round structure is that light only comes through the narrow passage when the sun rises on the winter solstice! This small passage way is narrow and leads to a small opening about a third of the way into it, where about 15 people can stand. Only one at a time can pass through, even having to turn sideways at the last part before the small area. Inside there are three side niches (one on each side and one in front.) I guess 5,000 years ago when the light would show through on the winter solstice it would light up the furthest niche, but now it barely makes it to the niche because of the slight change in the earths axis over 5,000 years. Talk about having to be precise!
There were also these large rocks spread around the circular structure, also aligned in a circle for some reason and here is a photo of one of them. This place seemed like it might be similar to Stonehenge, but I will let you know when I see Stonehenge in a couple months.
And here is a photo of me in front of Newgrange!
Here is another structure that was outside, but very close to Newgrange. Looked interesting to me, but I do not know the significance. I just thought it looked neat too.
On the same day trip we also went to this ancient monastery. It had Celtic high crosses dating back to 800 AD that I thought were quite impressive. Here is an example of the main one, most famous. They have just been outside in the graveyard since they were placed there in 800, so it is impressive they are still as detailed as they are. The tour guide said that the engravings were originally extremely deep and that is why we can still make out most of the symbols and designs. Below I also have a picture of the other really famous Celtic high cross at this ancient monastery and a kind of small building type structure that may have housed a monk or two or maybe it was used as a chapel. Don't know though because the tour guide was unsure what it was used for since it is so old. The tower next to it was used as a look out though to know when the vikings were coming, so they could hide their things of value and try to prepare for the invasion. You can see the base of the tower behind the structure.
These were some friends I also met during the day trip. Three of them were Norwegian and one of them was Latvian. If you can't already tell who is Latvian, she is the one with the really dark hair. They were very nice and I hung out with them during pretty much the whole day. We took photos for each other, walked through the sites together and talked during the bus rides. I enjoyed their company. They made me excited for Norway!
