OUR IRELAND TRIP
With the closing of the temple for cleaning, we had a little time on our hands and were asked by another missionary couple if we would like to go with them to Ireland. We jumped at the chance and took off on a "coach tour" of Ireland. We were welcomed to Belfast, our first stop, with rioting both nights we were there. I think they just wanted to make me feel at home.
Here is the capitol building in Northern Ireland. It is called Stormont.
This is a new building recently built in Belfast. It is part of the Titanic Experience. The Titanic was built in Belfast. The people here say of the Titanic, "Well, it worked just fine when it left here."
This is a strange statue in Belfast. We never found out much about it, although we did find out about the doll on the ball and the floozy in the jacuzzi.
From Belfast we headed North up into the Antrim coast to see the Old Bushmill's distillery and the Giant's Causeway. Even with free samples, the distillery wasn't all that neat (except for the gift shop, where Peggy found lots to buy), but the causeway was very impressive.
These pictures give you a little idea of what the Giant's Causeway was like. From here we went back to Belfast and went on a tour of the city. Then it was on to Donegal and into the Republic of Ireland. At this point our money (pounds) weren't much good and we had to use Euros.
This is Donegal Bay, not to be confused with Galway Bay or Dingle Bay.
Donegal has a very beautiful bay and is a small city with quaint buildings. We went to a show in the evening that was pretty authentic Irish entertainment, with folk songs, Irish dancing, and Irish humor. We also had a chance to do a little shopping and Peggy found an Aran sweater she liked. From Donegal, we headed to Galway. It also has a famous bay and is quite a bit bigger than Donegal. We found Galway very beautiful and interesting.
This is the carriage and driver we took on a brief tour of Galway. Below is Galway Bay.
From Galway we headed for Killarney. On the way we stopped to stretch our legs and get some lunch in Limerick. Limerick has a nice big castle, but we had seen enough castles in England and passed on the opportunity to pay money to see another one. But we could tell that we were getting to the heart of Ireland from the scenery.
The street signs (and many other signs) in Ireland are printed in both English and Gaelic.
From Limerick we headed to Tralee and the Ring of Kerry. The Ring of Kerry is a loop of 107 miles that you can drive around and see some pretty spectacular scenery. Most of it is coastline.
As you travel around the Ring of Kerry you come to several small villages, but no large towns. It was in the little village of Sneem that I finally found an Aran sweater that looked good and fit me.
After the Ring of Kerry and Tralee, we headed for Dublin, the final stop on our tour.
We toured Dublin and visited Trinity College where they have a very old book called the Book of Kells. It is three of the gospels and was hand-written by monks a few hundred years after Christ. From Dublin, it was a short flight back to Gatwick and then to the Accommodation Center.
