Scotland

                                               Scotland

Scotland was Established in the early middle ages. The National flag of Scotland, known as the Saltire or St. Andrew's Cross, dates from the 9th century, and is the oldest national flag still in use. Since 1606 the Saltire has also formed part of the design of the Union Jack, the flag of the United Kingdom.


Scotland has been a part of the United Kingdom since 1707. Scotland occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. It shares a border with England to the south. The capital of Scotland is Edinburgh.  Glasgow is Scotland’s largest city with a population of about 589,900 people. The official language of Scotland is English. They a constitutional monarchy, the monarch being Elizabeth II.  

The Wallace Monument commemorates
 William Wallace the 13th-century Scottish hero.

An interesting character from Scotland's history is Sir William Wallace. William Wallace was born in Elderslie, Renfrewshire, Scotland. He was a Scottish patriot who led  a revolt against king Edward I of England. He has been a Big Hero of the Scots for more than 600 years. In 1296 Kind Edward booted The king of Scotland and stationed English soldiers in his place to rule the country. Wallace stepped up and became a leader and led bands of Scottish patriots who carried out a harsh war against the invading army. The English army advanced against Wallace and his troops and the English army was defeated at the battle of Sterling Bridge.  King Edward hurried back from France and led another set of heavily armed troops against the rebels and defeated them at Falkirk, Wallace escaped and carried on the fight in the mountains. Seven years later Wallace was captured and executed for Treason.  

Sir William Wallace

The later Sterling Bridge

Scottish Music is a significant aspect of the nation's culture with both traditional and modern influences. A famous traditional Scottish instrument is the Great Highland Bagpipe, a wind instrument consisting of three drones and a melody pipe called the chanter, which are fed continuously by a reservoir of air in a bag.  

Scottish Bagpipe Man

Highland Bagpipe

 Here is a video that shows some bagpipers playing "Scotland The Brave"

The Emerald Isle

What comes to your mind when you think of Ireland? I think of Shamrocks, The movie “Leap Year” and green beauty. Let me tell you some basic facts about Ireland. Ireland is the 3^rd largest Island in Europe and  approximately 6 million people live in Ireland.The Vikings founded Dublin as the capital of Ireland in 988.  The Republic of Ireland gained it's Independence from the United Kingdom on April 24th 1916. Then in 1973 Ireland joined the European Union. Ireland is divided between the republic of Ireland, which is one country and Northern Ireland  which is part of the United Kingdom. I'll be talking about the Republic of Ireland but I'll refer to it as Ireland.

Irish people enjoy futbol (soccer), rugby, horse racing and golf. Rugby in Ireland has become increasingly intense and competitive. Ireland has played in every Rugby World Cup game and made it to the quarter finals in four of them. The Irish rugby league team is made up mostly of players from Ireland, England and Australia Ireland is also known for breeding and training of race horses and is also a large training ground for racing dogs. Golf is very popular and golf tourism is a major industry attracting more than 240,000 people a year.

Golf

Rugby

Horse Racing

Like America, Ireland is very ethnically diverse.  As a result these ethnic groups have shaped the culture of Ireland today. The Celts long ago brought in the development of Christianity in Ireland and Britain brought an early medieval renaissance of Celtic art between 390 and 1200 AD.  Many of the styles of music and art now thought of as typically "Celtic" developed in this period, and are found throughout much of Ireland and Britain.

Ireland is a dynamic and lively modern country with a young population. It is a country where music, conversation, culture, traditions, time to relax and listen and to make friends is important.  Irish society is friendly and chatty. Irish people won’t mind if you talk to them even if they don’t know you, but they might not start a conversation with you first. In the Republic of Ireland people often touch each other’s arms while talking and there’s lots of hugging.

Extended family remains the basis of social structure. Even when family members emigrate they keep strong ties to their family and return for regular visits. Many customs and traditions, for example, names, recipes or holiday celebrations are handed down from generation to generation. Sometimes so far back no one really remembers where or how they came from.

Extended Irish Family 

Irish Home

Traditional Irish Breakfast

 Religion has played a huge role in Irish cultural life since ancient times. Ireland’s pre-Christian heritage was made up of the Celtic church following the work of Saint Columba an Irish missionary (521-596 AD).
Saint Columba's goal was to spread Christianity to pagan places like England and the Frankish empire. This brought written language to the illiterate population of Europe during the “Dark ages” that came after the fall of Rome. Because of this Ireland was known as “the island of saints and scholars”.

Romans Catholics have played a major role in Irish social life. Almost every town has a catholic church. 95% of Irish people are Roman Catholics. The Republic of Ireland is Roman Catholic and Northern Ireland which is part of the United Kingdom is more protestant. This has caused much conflict and strife between the republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. During the 1800s the Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland grew farther apart due to economic differences. In the North life flourished and in the South unequal distribution of land and resources was an issue. Anglican Protestants owned most of the land as a result the standard of living was lower for  the large catholic population. The Protestants and Catholics divided into two republics. Most Irish Catholics desired complete independence from Britain, but Irish Protestants feared living in a country ruled by a Catholics.

 Education interests me because I’d like to be a teacher. In Ireland it is a required thing for children ages 6-16 or until students have completed 3 years of second level education. Irish education is made up of primary, second, third-level education and further education. State funded education is available at all levels, unless you choose to send your child to a private school. Ireland has a long and noted tradition in education. Ireland has the highest education participation rates in the world. 81% of students in Ireland complete second-level and approx 60% go on to higher education. Ireland is known for excellence in education from traditions, cultural and literary, learning to leading-edge 21^st science and technology

Irish Boarding School

I hope that you enjoyed reading my blog about Ireland. I enjoyed re-searching and writing it. Someday I'd like to visit Ireland and see it's beauty and culture.

~Tina

A Quick Trip Across Liechtenstein

Here's an interesting article we found.  Andrew Evans is National Geographic's Digital Nomad - traveling the world, taking pictures and blogging along the way - what a job!!

 Andrew, who is not really a runner, decided that it would be a good challenge to run across a country.  He picked his country carefully, and ran across Liechtenstein, the sixth smallest nation in the world.  To be fair, her ran the long way - from top to bottom - Austria to Switzerland - a total of 16.6 miles.  His article is well written and includes several videos that are fun if not photographically inspiring.

http://digitalnomad.nationalgeographic.com/2012/10/08/cross-country/#more-30597


Andrew is about to begin a journey around the world in a private plane.  You can follow him on Facebook or by connecting to his National Geographic blog.  If the journey proves to be as interesting as we expect, we will post some additional articles right here!!