Ireland, Part II

Well, this has taken a lot longer than I expected. Sorry. There was a lot of pictures to sort through!

On the Friday we spent in Ireland, we experienced some lovely liquid sunshine, but we had more castles to see so off we went. Honestly, I felt right at home in the rain. Especially when the toes of my shoes started to get squishy and the bottom two inches of my pant legs were wet. It reminded me of my own years of guiding tourists around.

We first visited the Rock of Cashel. Our pictures, partly due to the weather, don't do it justice. It's enormous but the mist and rain obscured a lot of it and a lot of the pictures turned out really dark. It was a fascinating place, though. My inner historian was thrilled to learn that the oldest portions of it date from the 5th century. Parts of the chapel were undergoing renovation, so scaffolding got in the way of our pictures. A lot of the places we visited have been or were in the process of being renovated, or had been destroyed and then rebuilt; only portions were still authentically old. There are some frescos painted on the ceiling of the chapel that were discovered in the 1990's and are remarkably intact for their age.

Our next stop was Cahir Castle. It was by far the best castle we visited because so much of it was the original structure and yet was still accessible to the public. We were able to climb the narrow, winding staircases, walk up along the walls, and go into some of the tiny rooms. There wasn't a guided tour of this one, though, due to the weather. Too bad, but we were able to explore on our own.

On Friday evening we walked around Limerick a little bit. We didn't get to see much because everything in Ireland closes at 5 or 6:00. But we followed a walking tour trail and learned about some of the buildings near King John's Castle that sits on the banks of the River Shannon.

Saturday morning was spent at the Cliffs of Moher. They were spectacular. Again, our pictures don't really do them justice. There was also a nice visitor's center with some fascinating information about how the cliffs were formed and such.

After seeing the Cliffs of Moher, we drove back to Limerick, making a few stops along the way. There was a small memorial to the Great Hunger just outside the town of Ennistymon. I got choked up just reading the three little plaques. There are many more memorials throughout Ireland; I wish we'd seen the one in Dublin. Next time, right?

On Sunday we went to church in Limerick, which was nice. I love how it's the same everywhere; the Primary children were practicing for their sacrament meeting program and singing all the same songs we did here. After church we happened to meet an older single lady who needed some help. Melvin helped her and then she invited us in for "tea and biscuits." We spent the afternoon chatting with Jean and she graciously invited us to stay in her spare bedroom for the night. Since our other option was to sleep in a chair at the airport, we accepted her offer. It was nice to relax in her home and she was wonderfully eccentric and entertaining. We woke early the next morning and drove to Dublin to catch our flight back home.

All in all, it was a fantastic trip. We owe a huge thank you to Mel's mom, Jane, and her husband, Duane. They bravely took on the task of watching our kids for the 11 days we were gone. We also owe thanks to a family in our ward who took care of Audrey for a week so she wouldn't miss too much school. So, thanks! Don't you hope we can do it again some time soon?