Ireland 22-25 June

Ahhh...the Emerald Isle.

This adventure brought me opportunity to meet some very special people. Leicester Uni offered a HOST program for its international students - all we had to do was to tell HOST where we wanted to visit and HOST would use its mighty resources to link us with a generous volunteer host in that area. Hosts volunteer not only to give room and board, but to show us the gems of their homeland. I think I ended up with the best host ever! I wanted to visit Northern Ireland and had the great blessing of being linked up with Henrietta. What a woman! The fact that she was willing to open her home to an international stranger already speaks volumes about her....I had the pleasure of staying with her son Christopher and his cute little son Finlay too. That's Henri, Chris, and Finlay in the bottom photo. We were at the Doagh Famine Village, enjoying some nice tea (juice) and scones after learning about life during the devastating Potato Famine in the 1840s. Very interesting!

Giant's Causeway

One of the ultimate highlights of our holiday was going to Giant's Causeway. It was incredible! In our man-made, genetically-altered world, I must reassure you that these octagon-shaped rocks are all-natural! There's all sorts of Irish mythology crowding about to explain the freakish natural phenomenon of such strange geology; one story involves two giants...one Scotch and one Irish...and some massive stone-throwing contests.... Henri and Marie are in the bottom photo. Lovely Marie is one of Henri's best friends and she joined us on some of our excursions. I LOVED Giant's Causeway. In Ireland, things are just THERE and its stunning. There's no loud fanfare or brash advertisements - its just there for you to experience and enjoy.

Fisherman selling their fresh catch straight from the dock.

Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge

This little rope bridge joins two craggy cliffs as the ocean surges underneath. It was originally constructed by fishermen and is now a tourist attraction! I'd seen so many cool pictures of it...I can hardly believe I'VE actually been across it!

Henri and I went on the most AMAZING walk through a valley of seven springs, Irish woodland, and gorgeous waterfalls. In the last picture, if you look very hard, you can see Scotland on the horizon. Magical!

Jonny and Joe's

This is Henri and her amazing mum Mary at Jonny and Joe's Pub. It was the most awesome traditional pub I have ever been to...a rare gem from past generations and tragically a dying breed. It was so historic, so chill - locals brought their own instruments (Mary played her accordian) and they took turns playing and singing traditional Irish songs. It was bliss. It was then that the word 'pub', or public house, really made sense to me...it ws a house open to the public and the community gathered there. Unfortunately this picture is really blurry.

Belfast

Belfast has always held fascination for me - it's religious tension, civil upheaval...it's so foreign to my own experience that I find it intriguing - call it thanatos or curiosity. I didn't want to leave Northern Ireland without visiting it. So I hopped on a train and visited for a couple of hours. The only outright, superficial sign of relgious conflict I saw was a pipe which had grafitted 'No pope across this line' on it....is that a sign of progress? I hope so.

And, by the grace of God, I made my flight (I got there late) and then had to say a sad goodbye to Henri :( She is such a lovely person and I had SUCH a special, memorable time! I've decided that in the future I want to tour the Isle of Man, take a ferry to Belfast, and hike the Causeway Coastline. Want to join me? xx Goodbye for now, Ireland!