We returned safely from our tour of Ireland with the
South Carolina Public TV Endowment group and our subsequent journey into Great
Britain. There were a few “issues” along
the way but overall it was a fantastic excursion. This posting will cover the first half of the
Ireland tour including Dublin, the National Botanic Gardens of Ireland, an
estate named Powerscourt, the English Market in Cork, Millstreet County Park
with red deer and a ride in a jaunting car pulled by a stout pony named Mickey
Mouse, all topped off by a boat ride through the lakes at the Gap of Dunloe. The rest of the tour will be described in the
next installment. Even though it was a
fantastic journey it took a while for me to recover from it, that is why this
posting has been somewhat delayed.
There were no Urantia contacts during the Ireland tour,
but later we did attend a study group meeting in Reading, England. Since this posting is about traveling to
foreign lands and meeting other peoples, the quotations deal with brotherhood.
Economic interdependence and social
fraternity will ultimately conduce to brotherhood. Man is naturally a dreamer,
but science is sobering him so that religion can presently activate him with
far less danger of precipitating fanatical reactions. Economic necessities tie
man up with reality, and personal religious experience brings this same man
face to face with the eternal realities of an ever-expanding and progressing
cosmic citizenship. Urantia
Book (1093.3)
We
(Betty Lou and I) arrived in Dublin a day early to give us a day to acclimate
ourselves to the change in time zone before the rest of the group arrived and
the formal tour began. A few others also
arrived a day early so we took a walking tour of Dublin. Before going to the old part of town we had
lunch in a diner that looked as if it was straight out of the 70’s. After lunch we walked along the River Laffey
toward the old part of town. Our
informal tour included Christ Cathedral, established about 1030 by the Norse
King Sitriuc Silkenbeard. They were
about to have services so we could not go into the cathedral. We also walked to St. Patrick’s Cathedral,
which was established in 1192 and which also was not open. There was a fine grassy park around the later
cathedral and families were enjoying the sunny day with their children and dogs. In fact we had very little rain during our
visit overseas; we were prepared for rain but the weather was mostly
delightful. Our leisurely stroll this
first day was a peaceful interlude before the tightly scheduled tour.
The window of our hotel room looked out over Dublin and
one of the most interesting sights we enjoyed there was to watch a family of
Common Gulls on a nearby rooftop. One
adult was always on guard watching the chicks.
There are three small chicks, in this photo one is partly hidden by the
adult in the foreground. The first thing
we did each morning and the last thing in the evening was to see what was
happening to this family.
Common
Gull Family next door
The
next day the formal tour began and in addition to the 50 or so in the tour, we
had a naturalist, Patrick McMillan who does the PBS show “Expeditions,” as well
as a local tour director, Patrick Riordan, who made things interesting with a
steady stream of descriptions of the countryside we were traveling through and
its colorful history.
It was difficult to select only a few photos to include
in this blog, so several stops do not have photos in the postings.
The next stop was at the National Botanic Gardens of
Ireland where it was delightful to stroll the grounds and greenhouses listening
to Patrick the naturalist telling us about all the interesting plants. Among the photos I obtained there was one of
a black iris, not a common sight.
Powerscourt
The house at Powerscourt was rebuilt in the 1730’s and
at the same time the gardens were extensively rebuilt. The mansion and grounds was overseen by a
series of Viscount Powerscourt. It was
an impressive sight but we could not help but think of the large number of
workers that were necessary to keep the extensive gardens and manicured lawns
pretty for a few noblemen. Nevertheless
the visit to the grounds was enjoyable.
We also went to the Irish National Stud Farm and
Gardens. The mares were out in the
pasture while the studs had comfy lodgings in a barn. Again the gardens were lovely, while there I
obtained a photo of a swan sitting on her nest.
From there we drove through the Wicklow Mountains National Park to our hotel,
which was in Colonmel. All the hotels on
the tour were fine places to stay. The
only difficulty was the tight schedule we were under, frequently we would
arrive late in the afternoon and need to be on the bus by 9 AM the next morning.
The next day we were taken to Cork City where we had a
chance to explore the English Market.
This indoor market has been in operation since 1788 and was a delightful
place. The food, most of which was
organic, was attractively presented and everything was clean. We naturally did some shopping, buying dates,
cherries, olives and white dulse seaweed.
Cork
Market
Near Cork City is the Blarney Castle. Some in our group stood in long lines so they
could climb up narrow stars in dim light, lean backwards in an uncomfortable
position and kiss some rock (the Blarney Stone) that hundreds of tourists have
previously kissed. Not for us. Instead we explored the grounds and took a
tour through the Manor House which was completed in 1874 and is still inhabited
by the current owners. One interesting
sight on the grounds was a large Redwood tree that had two strange curvy
trunks; we were informed that the tree was only 75 years old. There was also a poison garden with many
poisonous plants that also included many we do not think of as being poisonous
such as rhubarb.
Another interesting stop was at Millstreet Country Park
where we had a local guide in addition to our own naturalist. Among the interesting sights were Red Deer,
what we call Elk. One pasture held the does
but they were too far away to photograph well.
The stags on the other hand were in another pasture near the path and
taking it easy.
Red
Deer (Elk) in Millstreet County Park
Our next hotel was in Killarney, which is a lovely
little town that we fell in love with.
It had an air of happiness and comradery; it did not have the feel of a
tourist town, which in fact it is. We
stayed in Killarney two nights.
Our first morning in Killarney we rode along the Gap of
Dunloe; looking down on the three lakes that separate two highlands. Our adventure
this day was riding in a small cart, called a jaunting cart, pulled by Mickey
Mouse, our stout pony. The ride took a few
hours; at one place the incline was too much for our pony so we got out and
walked. Our pony is in the background in
the photo, but it does give an idea of what the cart looked like. Each cart had four passengers plus the
driver, who occasionally walked.
Jaunting
Carts in Gap of Dunloe
After lunch at the far end of the lakes, we went by
boat to Ross Castle at the end of the three lakes, a journey of a few more
hours. These boats were fairly small
with about six or eight passengers each.
Along the way we saw mountain goats and the scenery was impressive. One small island had a lovely cottage that
would be an excellent place to get away from it all. There was a considerable amount of
Rhododendron along the shore and it is pretty but it is an invasive species here,
spreading across the land.
The second installment of our Ireland excursion will be
coming soon. I also have exciting news
but this blog is long overdue, so that will wait until another posting,
hopefully much sooner than this was.
Pentecost endowed mortal man with
the power to forgive personal injuries, to keep sweet in the midst of the
gravest injustice, to remain unmoved in the face of appalling danger, and to
challenge the evils of hate and anger by the fearless acts of love and
forbearance. Urantia has passed through the ravages of great and destructive
wars in its history. All participants in these terrible struggles met with
defeat. There was but one victor; there was only one who came out of these
embittered struggles with an enhanced reputation — that was Jesus of Nazareth
and his gospel of overcoming evil with good. The secret of a better civilization
is bound up in the Master’s teachings of the brotherhood of man, the good will
of love and mutual trust. Urantia
Book (2064.4)
All photos by Doug
Cable
