The Wonder of God's Creation: Getting out of Dublin for the Day

The streets were quiet in the predawn hour as sea gulls screeched over head.  Paler streaks of deep blue showed in the sky as we waited on O'Connell Street across from the old post office which was the headquarters of the 1916 rebellion,  to be picked up by the tour group.  We had had pastries and coffee in the room before walking to the rendezvous point.  The bus arrived and our little group joined a few others on the large green bus, collected another group, crossed the River Liffey mirroring the lights of the city,  and headed via one of Ireland's modern motorways to what I have always envisioned as "Ireland the way God made it."  Actually, "Ireland the way Barbara imagines it might be more correct."  However, now after the day, it is stored in my catalogue as "Ireland!"

The rain started not long after we left the buildings and sprawl of the awakening city.  Our group of people from around the world,  United States, Brazil, India, Pakistan, Spain, was soon speaking the same language....gentle snores!

Adare, one of the oldest villages was our first stop.  We again thanked Traci in our minds for reminding us to bring jackets!

We pulled the hoods over our heads and admired the thatched cottages which are now shops and the old church, ducking in to admire the beautiful stained glass windows

and utter another quiet prayer of thanksgiving that all our friends and family were safe at home even though they were being mightily inconvenienced by the power outages.

Our next stops were in Killarney National Park, a large enclave including Ireland's tallest mountains and acreas and acres of beautiful forest, ferns, waterfalls, and nature the way God created it.

We also stopped at a huge old manor home in the park and walked around the grounds before returning to Killarney for a lunch and shop stop.

We chose a little restaurant and ordered one of the daily specials which included a whole lot more of the roast beef, mashed potatoes, rutabagas, and cabbage than I could eat.  Klep ate everything except all his potatoes which came boiled.  There were four pretty good sized ones!

After our stop in the Irish Craft Shop where everything in the store is made in Ireland, we reloaded and headed into more of the rolling countryside covered with sheep grazing in their plots, and occasional herd of cows, and houses dotting the countryside.  As we left town, we passed a cathedral where over 3,000 people are buried who died in the great famine.  St. Catherine's was used as a hospital during this time and under one tree in the church yard, 300 babies are buried.  What a sad time this was that sparked the great immigration to the United States and Canada during the late 1840's!

We passed through the village of Melton where every Thursday farmers gather to sell sheep, near where The Quiet Man, a movie starring John Wayne was set.  We were headed down the Dingle Penninsula to the Inch Strand hoping the sunshine would hold.  We were soon seeing water behind the rolling green fields to the left of the bus.  By the time we parked at the Inch Strand to go on the beach, the wind was howling and it was difficult to walk toward the water.  The young men on our bus were not stopped by the challenge but made their way to the water and put their feet in.

As we waited for all our travelers to returned, we chatted for awhile with one of the young men from Mumbai, India  working in finance at J.P. Morgan temporarily in Dublin.

We next drove to the setting of scenes from Ryan's Daughter on Trallee Bay.  By now the sun had broken through the clouds turning the Atlantic into a swirling mass of greens and blues.  Across the bay we could see the islands where the last seven minutes of Star Wars #7 were filmed.  We swung around, headed to the motorway, and drove back to Dublin, refreshed by the wind and the fresh, cool air.

We pulled in at Adare to switch drivers and have a short stop.  Klep and I were delighted to find that the ice cream stand selling a local product was open.

Many of our group again fell asleep, but the younger group continued their conversations.  I wish I could have understood their language!

We were dropped at the O'Connell Bridge and walked up the street to our turn to the hotel.  We stopped at Insomnia and picked up some decaf latte and pastries for munchies.  When we came out, a good steady rain had started and we sloshed along until the welcome doors took us in for the evening.

Ireland!