Ireland - Day 5, 6, 7 & 8

Catching up the story is tough, leaving it longer would be tougher....

So for those who don't know, we're on a bus tour of Ireland. We're circling (approximately) the island. We have a driver and a guide and they're both lovely, funny men. Dan & Ken know an awful lot about the history of Ireland, from thousands of years ago. Obviously they get a lot of practice but it's quite an amazing skill, keeping so many names and dates straight. I am now able to understand how my grandfather could be in both the Royal Navy AND the IRA back in the 1920s. The ability to drive the bus on these extremely narrow roads is quite a skill. They're good singers too.

We visited beautiful national park with a castle. I skipped the castle tour to spend time in the extensive gardens and hills around it. Glenveagh would be a great place to return to for hiking and meditation.

Driving around some of the northern Donegal coast was wonderful. Some amazing beaches and sheltered bays. Yesterday we arrived in the North, in Derry. The local guide was a truly gifted man, he's a teacher, has young children and a positive view of the future of an area that has seen so much division and violence in recent history. We were there at a very exciting time for the city, that morning it was announced that Derry was chosen as the UK's inaugural City of Culture which will take place in 2013. Now that's the kind of event that can benefit and have the participation of the whole community as compared to, say, the Olympics (!). We were in the Guild Hall plaza when the media were setting up for the politicians' press conference. They knew our guide, Ronan McNamara, and so our group got on the news report! Then we got to meet the deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland, Martin McGuinness (also former leader of the Provisional IRA) who happened to be there as well. Very interesting moment, honoured to share it with them. This means lots of positive media interest in Derry for the future, helping the healing process.

The one thing I was probably looking most forward to on the trip was going the the Giant's Causeway and I wasn't disappointed. I could spend a whole day there, maybe more. Truly phenomenal rocks and the ability to stand out against the North Atlantic.

My dad & I got dropped off going through the town my mother's family all come from, Ballycastle. We tramped up to a couple of churches, looking for graves of my ancestors. We think we found what was likely my great-grandparents' grave at the Catholic church, we'll be checking with my cousin when we return as she has a photo of it. We got a taxi to catch us up with our group and the driver (who was the owner of the company) was a great guy, originally from Belfast, who we chatted with the whole way down the beautiful Antrim coast. Ballycastle is a nice little town of about 3000, it's got a great beach and a famous festival in August. Another place worthy of returning to.

Tonight we arrived in Dublin and had traditional music and dancing with our supper. I enjoyed this show more than the one in Galway as it was more grassroots, more spirited. The other one was great too but quite polished. We were able to sing along tonight and the songs were familiar. Tomorrow we'll be looking at the Viking origins of Dublin and visiting the Guinness factory!