Keeping It Ancient on a Tour with Mary Gibbons.

Another day; another tour.

Today’s lucky tour that I went on was called Mary Gibbons. We went to Newgrange, Slane and the Hill of Tara. Oh, and the best part was that I went alone again. But, like the other time, I met someone interesting.

This tour was packed with very historical places. Because of this, this tour is going to have multiple blog entries to make sure you, the reader, get every detail, picture and it doesn’t seem over whelming. Let’s be real; it is going to be over whelming. This entry is an over view of the tour.

To start off, I really wanted to go to Newgrange because it is an ancient tomb site in Ireland. And tombs are awesome. I guess ever since working at the Ancient Egyptian museum back home, I have become interested in ancient history and definitely ancient burial practices. These practices can tell us so much about ancient societies. From the website of Newgrange, it recommended Mary Gibbon’s tour. If it is recommended by the official site, it has to be a legitimate tour.

I booked the tour with excitement. Of course it was on a Saturday, early.

I had to meet at the famous Shelbourne Hotel at 8 am. For once the bus was on time and I was able to get there with plenty of time to spare.

Now, it was the awkward part. Other people were standing in front of the hotel. So, you have to choose where to stand so you are not too close to the others, but are still able to know what is going on. Not only that, but how would I know when the tour got here?

A gentleman who worked at the hotel helped me. I knew he worked for the hotel because he was wearing a top hat like the others. He said that the tour bus pulls up at the next corner and that is where we can get on. If that is the case, why was I told to stand in front of the hotel?

Anywho, the bus came and I got on it. I paid in cash and took my seat. Mary Gibbson herself was taking the money and conducting the tour. I found it a little sketch that you had to pay in cash on the bus.

During the tour, I began to talk to this Italian guy. I was sitting near the front of the bus was I was able to hear Mary talking to all the people. The Italian guy checked in and they started to talk about Italy and it seemed that he was alone.

Starting at Newgrange I started to talk to him and I found him very interesting. He looked very similar to my friend, Tim, in Germany. Maybe it was his familiarity that made me want to talk to him. He was doing an internship in Dublin as well. He was working for Coca Cola as a marketing intern.

I then told him that I had actually been to Italy. I told him that I took a tour all over Italy and then two years ago I went to Turino. He then began to laugh uncontrollably. Was it my pronunciation of the city he was making fun of? Apparently he was flabbergasted as to why I would go there. He told me that most people in Italy don’t like Turino because the people there seem stuck up. I told him that my friends went to a concert and I just walked around and that it was a lovely place. He told me that he would never forget me because of this conversation. He then sat by me the entire tour. It was so cute.

Another tour by myself, and another interesting person met. Maybe most people are good and they are just hard to find. Also, if a person is taking a tour, chances are that they are interesting in learning and are interesting people themselves; just like the sites you are going to.

My favorite locations that we went to were Newgrange and the Hill of Tara. These are important sites in ancient Irish history. I was so excited that I was able to go to these very important sites and learn more about the history.

Overall, the tour was good. Mary as a tour guide was good. She was very knowledgeable and got us to our appointments on time and gave the perfect amount of free time at each location. The tour guides at each location were very knowledgeable as well. I would highly recommend the tour to anyone interested in seeing Newgrange and the Hill of Tara.

Now, to cover the trip in more detail….