If I ever know what I am doing for work, it would be a miracle.
I was told that today I was going to be giving a tour of the Hill of Tara to some Italian students. Since I had gone to the Hill of Tara yesterday, I felt very confident about giving a tour today.
Pride is the down fall of heroes.
I walk into work with confidence, just to be shattered.
My new boss, Andrew, tells me that I have to give a tour of Slane and Skerries. At the Hill of Tara we have a tour guide. Of course the only place I feel confident in talking about I don’t have to give a tour. I have to give tours of places I have never even been too! Not only that, I didn’t have any material to study beforehand.
To top everything off, our bus driver didn't know how to get to these places. That was great. The blind leading the blind.
After waiting for our group to get together, we piled into the bus and I hoped for the best.
I was nervous to begin with and then one of the Italian teachers asks me if we can go to church so he can go to mass. Really? Of course I am not against going to church, but how could I find him a church in a town I had never been to? Furthermore, was I expected to stop the whole tour to make sure he went to mass? I told him that we would play it by ear.
An hour or so later, we arrived in Slane. The whole bus ride I was studying for the tour of Slane.
Our drop off point was at the Hill of Slane. This is where St. Patrick lite a parcel fire that challenged the power of the king of Ireland and started his spread of Christianity in Ireland.
I brought the group to the hill and told him them about it and then gave them time to take some pictures. We were on a tight deadline because we left late and we had an appointment at Hill of Tara for our tour.
Even though I was stressed by time, I did take a moment to take some pictures and to actually think that St. Patrick had been here and spread Christianity. I was amazed that I was at the location where St. Patrick had been! And I could see why he would start here. On top of the hill has a beautiful view!
Because of the religious significance of the place, in later years a monastery was built there. One of the Italian teachers said that it was a Jewish church. After he said that he walked away and I was left leaving him a confused look. Of course Ireland is Catholic.
I asked my group to get together so we could leave, but of course nothing could be easy. One group wanted a second to take a picture. I said fine. They took their picture and then proceeded to go around the place and take more!
I was furious! I storm over to them and told them straight that we were leaving. Finally they got the hint. I don't understand why it was so hard to comprehend before.
We had to walk from the hill into the center of the town and along the way I had to point out certain "landmarks". The problem always with these tours that I have to give for my job is that the items we have to talk about are really random and in reality, no one cares. The other problem is that the Italian groups walk so slow, so you don't have time to say everything on the tour and you are always short on time.
I only pointed out some of the highlights on the the tour. Most of the tour was me waiting for the group and chatting with the students who were able to keep up with me. And I wasn't walking that fast to begin with.
The next stop was to Slane Castle. For more on Slane and Slane Castle, read my blog entry "Mary Gibbon's Adventure in Slane". I saw a tourist sign to the castle and I followed it and prayed that it was the right way. Since I had gone there the day before, I was looking for familiar landmarks and luckily I was finding them!
We passed our bus and continued to walk. Then I realized that it was going to be a good walk and I didn't know if there was going to be a walk way the entire way. I told the teachers that it was going to be a good walk and that I believe we should get into the bus and we can stop to take a photo.
As everyone gets on the bus, the teacher who wanted to go to mass and another student went to the bathroom in a bush. Great. They didn't let me know and we had to wait for them.
On my tour yesterday the bus stopped along the street, in front of the castle, so we could take a picture from the bus. I tried to tell the bus driver this, but the plan did not go as well as it did yesterday. We then tried to go into the castle grounds, but that proved to be a fail as well. In the end, we went back to the original place to have a quick photo opportunity.
This had wasted a good amount of time and I was worried that we would miss our tour appointment at the Hill of Tara. I called Andrew to ask if he could call Hill of Tara and see if we could get a later tour time.
By the grace of God we actually arrived in time for our tour!
Our tour started in the church with a video presentation about the history of Hill of Tara. For more on the history of the place, read my blog entry "Crown Me the King of Ireland".
After the video presentation we headed out to the Hill of Tara.
Once our tour concluded, I gave the group some free time before we had to go to the town of Skerries. One boy in the group ask if he could take a picture with me. I was hestitant at first. Why? I said maybe later, but then he came over to pose with me. Immidaitaly after the picture was taken, the person who took the picture and the boy started to laugh. Oh great. That will probably end up on Facebook with the caption of the worst guide ever! haha!
Beside the Hill of Tara, there is not much to do in the town. There is a single road with only a couple sourvinor shops and a restaruant. I took my time and looked through all the shops.
The next location was to Skerries. I was happy that this tour was almost over. It had turned out better than I had imagined.
This tour started at the top of a hill with a windmill. I looked to see if we could go inside the mill grounds, but we had to pay. Instead, we just walked around. At one point the Itialian teachers were leading the way while I was talking with some of the students. It didn't matter who led, no one knew really where they were going.
From the mill we walked to the center of town, passing St. Patrick's Cathedral and a monument to a famous person of the town. We then walked by the water until we reached the main part of the harbor.
I gave them free time and with my free time I had to find where the bus was and I wanted to take some pictures of things we had past.
The bus driver texted me where the bus was and I found it. I felt horrible because I realized that I had taken the group the wrong way! One of the directions I had not understood. Apparently it was a house I was looking for and not a street name.
I explored this area by myself and it was so beautiful! It was a nice beach area. It was nice getting away from the group and having some alone time.
Skerries is a very, very small town. The whole town centers around the sea. Apparently, in the second century Skerries was the landing point for an invasion. This makes sense because it is on the sea.
There are some islands off of the coast, the Red Island, St. Patrick's Island and Church Island, and in 797 AD the Danes did a raid of Church Island.
In recent times, during the 1916 Rising, the British landed in Skerries to send supplies into Dublin to stop the uprising.
Soon it was time to go on to the bus and head back to Dublin. I met the students and then took them by the beach so they could see the stuff they were suppose to see.
I was so happy when the day was done! The day did go way better then I had thought, but it was still stressful. I am so happy that I was able to pull today off and that nothing major happened.
I know this entry has been a novel. Tomorrow I will post the pictures from this trip :)
Confidence is a must.
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