Visit to Glenstal Abbey

I went to stay at Glenstal Abbey near Limerick.  It is a beautiful place in a woodland, with a monastery and a guest house built in the grounds of a house built by the Barrrington family.  The main building looks like a castle but was actually built in 1845, and it is now a school.  It has a peaceful feeling as you drive in.

In the evening my dad went to a talk in the village but I stayed behind and listened to the monks sing in  Latin.  Then I ate dinner with the monks which we did without talking which was peaceful.  It took about twenty  minutes.

In the morning after breakfast  we looked at the goldfish in the pond

 ...and then went for a long walk in the woods where I took these pictures.

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Before we left we joined a group who went down into a vault under a chapel where a collection of Russian icons is kept.  One of the monks explained the symbols in the pictures, which are about god and saints and people.

Afterwards we went to Limerick and had an interesting time visiting the Hunt museum of archaeology and art, started by a man who used to be at Glenstal school.  Then we looked around the medieval St John's Castle which was the scene of several sieges in the 17th century.  Later we walked along the river and saw Ireland's largest bird, the mute swan.