Cliffs of Moher and the Burren - Part 2

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Okay, so my plan was to finish up the Dublin blog tonight, after we got back in from our Edinburgh tour....I so want to try to keep everything fresh in my mind as I'm writing, but lo and behold, I had to change memory cards the last hour of our Scottish Highland tour, and I got off the bus without realizing that the memory card had fallen out of my pocket! It only took me about 15 minutes to realize that I was missing the card and I had a major panic! After a quick call to the tour agency, they had the driver check the van (thanks Tony, you were wonderful!), found the card and I get to pick it up tomorrow! I was beyond heartsick at the thought of losing all those pictures and SO happy they found it! BTW, I highly recommend Rabbie's Tours in the U.K.!

So back to our Cliffs of Moher tour (and I'll post pictures when I get the memory card back lol), the high point of the cliffs rise 702 feet above the Atlantic Ocean, straight down into the water, huge caves open and gaping in the side, seagulls flying two thirds of the way down the cliffs, castle ruins and watchtowers are standing sentinels, and except for the parking lots and gift shop, I know it looks much like it has for hundreds of years. It's quite easy to tune those other things out and imagine standing on the edge of the cliffs alone, listening to the cry of the seagulls and watching the sea for loved ones returning. I think that's what struck me most about Ireland.....the countryside, the coast, anywhere we went outside of Dublin, seemed very much as it had been for centuries. Maybe the roads were a little wider, and I give the tour bus drivers a TON of credit for manuevering those narrow roads, and maybe the accomodations along the way were a little better than at one time, but it's as though you easily stepped back in time and little has changed about the Irish landscape or the Irish way of life.

And speaking of the Irish.....the Irish people were as genuine and sincere as any I could imagine. We had nothing but wonderful eperiences with them at every moment. The overall sense of Ireland that I had while we were there....and nothing related to experiences we had, but something undefinable.... was one of oppression and struggle. I can't really explain that feeling other than to say it just an indefineable sense of what was. Not that we had anything but great moments! But it felt like there had been long and hard struggles, great losses, yet the people were strong and kind and genuine and willing to share whatever joy they found in the moments at hand. They loved Americans (and American music from the 80's especially....and Converse All-Stars)....and they loved that you were visiting and they loved sharing their history, and their optimism, and their stories and they were willing to share whatever happy, laughing moments were at hand.

And speaking of that, we were walking our mile and a half back to our hotel at the end of our tour, and we passed an pub/restaurant that had live entertainment playing traditional Irish music. So being our last night in Ireland, we stopped in for a while. It was a fun to listen to, and I loved the Irish flute! The lead singer took a break and sang some Johnny Cash.....that's not what you expect in Ireland, but they also had an Elvis impersonator, so who knew! But at the end of the night came the biggest surprise. They called the last song of the evening, and he started singing John Denver, Take Me Home, Country Roads, and every single person in there started singing along at the top of their voice!! Now, i'm a big mush anyways, but I can't even tell you why that hit me the way it did, but it brought tears to my eyes and what a way to end the evening! Just not even sure how to describe it!

So the next morning, after a great breakfast at our hotel, we head back to the airport to catch our flight to Scotland. And what better way to sum it up, then a quote that was on the wall in the airport right by our departure gate...." after the day's hot journey, she stood by the sea-wall and smelt and beheld again all of this unchanging, unforgotten Paradise....." - Kate O'Brien

And I knew what she meant.

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