Wednesday, April 17 (Conor)

Today I took the train in to school like most other days. After arriving at school we went straight to a history class with Mr Altman who was full of energy. He talked to us  about the main characteristics of Ireland and some historical events that made it what it is today. Then we hopped straight on   bus and headed north. Our first stop was the hill of Tara which was an ancient inauguration site for ancient kings of Ireland. Then we drove over to where newgrange is but the bus first took us to knowth which I think is one of the coolest places we’ve been to. It is similar to newgrange, which was where we went to next, as it is an ancient burial site used for megalithic passage. There was over 200 people found at knowth and around 6 people found at newgrange because of its open door since its discovery the 1600s. The difference between the two other than the 18 smaller satellite mounds at knowth and the overall design of them is one thing. At newgrange during the morning of the winter solstice light comes through to the center of the cross shaped room inside of it. At Knowth there is a more complicated theory with a rock outside the entrance lining up with the doorway on the spring and autumn equinoxes but it is a lot more complicated than that. The coolest part about these sites in my opinion is the engravings on rocks inside and outside. Knowth has 127 rocks that still have or once had engravings on them while newgrange a small amount outside and some engravings inside. These sites are around 1000 years older than the pyramids of Egypt and 500 years older than Stonehenge.