Today we set out for Glendalough...which means "valley of 2 lakes" in Irish Gaelic. It is set in County Wicklow. Emmmmmm....so we set out by car, driving the winding tiny roads past farmhouses and pastures of sheep...to the Wicklow mountains (which is a bit south of the Dublin area). Incredible beauty! Vibrant greens of the hills speckled with purple thistles and heather. We stopped a couple of times alongside the road to frolick on the hills...what an incredible feeling to go hiking out on the heather and the moss and the peat and over old rocks. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh. We made it to Glendalough by lunchtime. We sat and ate our sandwiches and crisps before heading into the visitor center. There we got a tour around the site. It was a sort of monastic abbey started by St. Kevin around the 10th century. There was an incredible graveyard with old celtic crosses, a tall round tower (used for various things like defense and such), and the ruins of a cathedral and a wee church...which is all set in a valley near a river...and near a couple of lakes. I was in photography heaven! I sure hope my film turns out...I've been trying to get some great photos of archways, celtic crosses, gravestones, windows, and rock walls. Here's a bit of a sidenote...this place is a favorite place for friends (Rod & Theresa who used to live in Dublin...but now are in Boise) and before I made my trip to Scotland in 2001 (for the 9 month stay) they commissioned me to do a 30x40 oil painting of the area of Glendalough for them (it is currently hanging in their living room in Boise). Sooooooooo....today I actually got to stand where I had painted!!! It was quite a surreal feeling....like I was walking into my painting. I was speechless. It was quite a blessing from God. On our way back to Trim as we drove thru the mountains again we stopped alongside the road to again go hiking out upon the heather...and I found a flowing river that was like a continuous waterfall down the valley...and of course, me being the adventurous explorere who has to touch and feel and be IN it...I set out climbing the huge rocks and out into the middle of this waterfall in the middle of this valley in the mountains in the middle of Ireland! WOW! I can't even adequately describe to you how that felt to be out there in the midst of Irish nature as the clouds hung over the mountains like a mist and the cool breezes blew my red hair while I stood on a rock in the middle of a flowing river that cascaded down a valley over huge rocks in the middle of the peat and heather! I breathed it in...and I share it with you. It was wonderful! God is so good! After all that wonderful communing with nature we drove to the town of Naas and went shopping! I bought the recently released special U2 greatest hits from 1990-2000 2 cd with a dvd set for only €13.99 (that's about $17). This week is the LIVE 8 concerts held around the world (and the main one being held in London's Hyde Park today) "making poverty history" protesting and trying to be a voice of the poor in Africa for the G8 conference in Edinburgh next week (the 8 major countries dealing with trade issues). This is history being made. And the Live 8 is supposed to be larger than the Live Aid held in the 80's for Ethiopia. We saw protest marches in Dublin Thursday...and the tele has had several kinds of advertisements about it. I bought a paper today so I have some sort of record of what's going on over here. I also bought a paper that is printed in Irish Gaelic. Speaking of Irish Gaelic (which is similiar to Scottish Gaelic from what I understand)...they print it first above English on road signs and street signs and shop signs. It's very much a spoken language here. In fact we were watching a channel last night on the tele that was entirely Gaelic. It makes driving quite interesting...as yer flying by at incredibly fast speeds on tiny roads that wind with trees and bushes hanging over...and then a sign pops out of nowhere (that is quite small and perhaps hidden in the bushes) and you have to quickly try to read the words to figure out if you're going in the right direction. Oh...fun!!! We haven't hit any sheep...but we have encountered a few stragglers on the sides of the road...quite exciting actually. Anyways, that's today. Tomorrow we head up to the County Cavan (this is the main region that my mom's side of the family...The McCabe's...come from) we just want to explore and see the countryside and perhaps stop and gab with a few locals. Then it's on to Galway on the west coast. We'll be there a couple of days. We'll drive through the Burrens and over to the Cliffs of Moher. Then it'll be on to Limirick for a night...and then on down to the Ring of Kerry and over to Blarney and staying in Kilarney...and then over to Waterford and staying in Wexford. We will be in Ireland till the early morning of Sunday the 10th when we catch our ferry to Wales...and then we travel to Bath (where we'll for a bit) and then on to London again. I don't know what the email situation will be like from here on out in Ireland...I've been really blessed so far....but I don't know from one place to another if I'll have the chance to email...so I just wanna let you know. Please keep us in your prayers. Thank you! Until the next time...I send my love....Slainte!
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