Day Four: Dublin!

"One, two, three, four, five
Hunt the hare and turn her down the rocky road
And all the way to Dublin..."

September 15, Dublin
We started off today to go to church. On the way, we passed the oldest pub in Ireland! Didn't stop in. :) We went to an LDS 11:00 ward in Dublin, and that was an AMAZING experience. The people here are so kind to us. It was the primary program in their ward, which was the best EVER. The kids sang loudly, and it was so beautiful. As they sang the song, "I am a Child of God", it hit me so strongly that God loves and watches over all His children, no matter what race or nationality. I felt the spirit so strongly that moment. 

The ward was kind enough to serve us lunch, which we were all grateful for. Afterwards, we broke off into groups to explore Dublin. We saw the Yeats exhibit at the library, with his original manuscripts and handwritten letters.

Molly Malone

We found this beautiful old chapel that we thought was Saint Patrick's Cathedral. We took a great many pictures of it before checking the map and realizing it was NOT Saint Patrick's. Oh well, great pictures, anyway!

This old statue at the building looked a bit like King Lear, don't you think?

Finally we found Saint Patrick's, and what a beautiful place!

I saw some names drawn in a heart on a tree that made me smile. Dani and Paco, I hope you're happy!

 I had an EPIC photobomber. Perhaps he didn't mean to steal the picture, but he does, doesn't he? I never even SAW him, until I looked through my pictures a while later. Good sir, you should feel proud.

We saw Christ's Church, and then walked over the Ha'Penny bridge to Papa Johns in the Supermac's. We had a great time having a pizza eating contest, where we discovered our group leader could pack in the pizza faster than we could blink! The Irishman at the booth next to us found our antics quite amusing. It's hard to keep our loud American voices down in restaurants! We went exploring next, which was so fun. We went to the hostel again (dear old Jacob's Inn), where we had a grand Fanta chugging contest. Unfortunately, none of us realized that the Fanta was "exotic fruit" flavored, something they just don't have in the US, and... we'll just say, much of the drinks ended up on the floor of the room. Don't worry, we're excellent floor scrubbers. We had a rather confusing conversation with some girls from Germany about popcorn, before finally heading to our rooms and going to sleep.

A kind Dublin native posed for me on this lovely bench

Profile

"I am a Mormon."
I said this to a kind lady at Glastonbury Abbey, and she responded immediately, 
"What is a Mormon?"

A rather appropriate question, I thought. Well, anyway, here's what a Mormon is, as well as why I am one! Check out my profile at http://mormon.org/me/D6WM.
 Also see my other page, "His Blood Upon the Rose", named after the famous Irish poem by Joseph Mary Plunkett, which explains more about the subject.
P.S. The photo is me at Stourhead, on my UK adventure.... Spoilers!!

Day Three: Boyne Valley

September 14, Dublin
It was sad to leave Ennis. I miss the yellow and blue flags! County Clare has a hurling competition in Dublin tonight--it's a big deal, it's the finals! I miss the kind people the most; people from County Clare are just genuinely amazing. We started off this morning across Ireland to Dublin. The roads are so narrow; our fantastic coach driver clips the hedges as he drives. Everything is so beautiful. We had to get out of the hostel so fast because we wanted to get into the Boyne valley pretty fast. We passed a lot of interesting things I couldn't photograph, including a cylindrical tower, which can only be found in Ireland and which pre-date the vikings. We also passed the castle where Braveheart was filmed, which is the largest inclosed castle in all of Europe.
We went to Newgrange, one of the most sacred spots in Ireland. Newgrange tombs are 500 years older than the pyramids. Newgrange is this incredibly preserved burial mound, which we were able to actually go in. What an experience! The feeling inside was just incredible. We got to see a small demonstration of what happens there at the Winter Solstice--this little tiny bit of light snakes through the chamber, bit by bit, until it fills the whole room, brightening everything for just one moment. What an amazing feeling, knowing that, on the darkest day of the year, the ancient people would go there to see the light fill the room, just on that one day. It did feel, I don't know, holy I guess, in a way. I wonder what all those ancient people knew. Brother Merrill talked about what a struggle they had to understand the meaning of life. Being in there, though, I wondered if maybe they understood life well enough, and if it's us that are all struggling still to grasp it. 

We went to Knowth, next, which also was an amazing experience. All these ancient, ancient places, with such rich history and mysterious background. 

We finally ended up in Dublin, after a long drive, where we wandered about a bit and set up for the night. Church in the morning, then we'll see the rest of Dublin.

 

Day Two: Aran Islands

"If you ever go across the sea to Ireland,

Then maybe at the closing of your day,

You can sit and watch the moonrise over Claddagh,

And see the sun go down on Galway Bay"

September 13, Ennis, Ireland

Another fantastic day, but I’m exhausted. I can barely write! Oh, my wee legs hurt. So today we started with looking at some lovely countryside. Everything is so beautiful, it seriously make me want to cry. Even the cows are beautiful.

We first stopped for a quick look at Saint Bridget’s Well. It was lovely. Our coach driver told us the story of Saint Bridget’s cloak. Saint Bridget, who travelled all of Ireland in her missionary work, asked the local county official for a bit of land, but the greedy man refused it to her. She begged him for any amount of land, but he was stubborn and unfeeling. Humbly, she asked him for merely a piece of land large enough to spread her cloak over. The man shrewdly agreed to give it to her, and told her to lay down her cloak. This she did, and before the man could say another word, her meager cloak spread to cover the entire county. The man kept his bargain to Saint Bridget, and so the county was under her watch and care, which it may still be today.

The next place we stopped at: the Aran Islands, which, in my opinion, are the most beautiful places on earth. So gorgeous. We went on a ferry to Inis-mor, the largest of the Islands. The ferry ride was so beautiful. The weather was cloudy at first, so the sea was black, black, black. Then the sun hit it, and I couldn’t believe how blue and clear the water was! We saw tons of jellyfish. It was just beautiful, with the wind in my face and everything so gorgeous. We spent the day on the island, which is the perfect place (except maybe Scotland). We biked all ‘round the isle, which KILLED, I hurt so badly! But it was worth it. Wonderful discoveries to be made everywhere, things to look at, seals, and, of course, the sacred donkeys (we almost had a biking accident at that one). Being silly American tourists, we kept cycling on the wrong side of the road, making it terrifying when cars or horse carriages came through. The roads are tiny, and they weren’t going to stop for us! We stopped in the little sweater markets, and the sweaters were beautiful, some of them hand-knitted. I got lost for a little while after the shops, but I found Brother Merrill, who told me the others had all gone up to the fort without me. “It’s just a little hike up there, you’ll catch up with them in no time.” Hah! Did Brother Merrill realize I had been biking around an entire island? When I saw the fort way up at the top of a hill overlooking the ocean, I almost cried. But I made it, and got to look down the enormous cliffs. It was stunning! We were so tired, but we had to bike all the way back. The scenery was spectacular, I can’t even describe it. When we got back to the bike rental place, the kind gent who ran it gave us some water bottle refills from his hose around back—“Don’t worry, ‘t won’t kill you.”

We rode the ferry back and then saw the cliffs of Moher (a.k.a cliffs of Insanity). Oh! It was breathtaking. Most beautiful place on earth. We saw a wedding going on at the cliffs, which just added to the magic of everything.

Tonight I got a microwave steak and kidney pie, which was… interesting.

The best part of the day was when we sang “Nearer, My God, To Thee” on the coach. The spirit on the coach was so strong, we all were in tears. There was no way you could mistake it. It’s amazing the peace that music and the gospel can bring.

Goodnight from Ennis!

P.S.: From my window right now I can hear Irish voices singing pub songs across the way.