Ireland by Tim Vicary

I read Ireland this week. It's about Ireland, a country with beautiful high mountains, big empty beaches, long deep rivers. But it is not only side of Ireland. Another Ireland is a countly of stories and music. Most Irish people can sing, and there are many famous musicans and writers. Furthermore, Ireland has a side of blood, bombs, and death. When it comes to Ireland, I have an image of a tall round tower. I sometimes saw them when I watched Ireland movies. In the 20th centuries, Norwegian Vikings came to Ireland to steal many beautiful and expensive things in the Irish churches and mountains. Because of this, tall round towers were built beside them. Also, the story about Vikings is on page10-11. One day two different Viking ships came to a beautiful place in Ulster, and tried to fight each other to get the place at first. However, tha idea that thay will decide by racing to the beach in their ships was choosen, and they raced. When one ship came to win, another ship took out his sord and cut off his hand with it. The hand fell on the beach, so he insisted that he won. It's called the story of the Red Hand of Ulster, and you can see the Red Hand on the flags of Northen Ireland. I was so surprised to read it. Did he believe that the place was worth of his one hand? There are many pictures of beautiful views in this book. After reading it, I got interested in four Irish cities, Cork, Londonderry or Derry, Galway, and Waterford. I'd like to visit them.