Ireland is a magical place.

We’ve visited some incredible places on this trip and have truly enjoyed ourselves everywhere we went. I wish I could have spent some more time in Spain, particularly Valencia, and eaten just a few more plates of pasta in Italy.

But when we arrived in Ireland, I felt like we had crossed through a mirror and wound up in a different world. Like the feeling you get when you’ve come home after a long time away, only things have changed a lot, and for the better.

Certainly it was comforting to hear our native English spoken again, and so lyrically, after all the Spanish, Basque, Italian and French over the past five weeks. Our taxi driver’s accent was so thick and wonderful that I could only make out about half of what he said on the drive to the hotel. But what I did understand was all friendliness and mirth. This seems to characterize just about everyone we’ve met here.

While the weather here is rainy and cool, very close to Seattle, the break from the heat of Spain and Italy is refreshing, bracing. And all this cool weather has created a rich, rich intellectual life, with cool bookstores and amazing public and university libraries, particularly in Dublin.

Music, live music, is everywhere you turn. Pub to pub to pub there are musicians playing Irish folk songs in the evenings. And the pubs themselves are places of community and comfort for locals and weary travelers alike.

I could feel the ghosts of Yeats and Swift and Joyce mill about me as I stood, awestruck, in the old library at Trinity College.

We spent three days exploring Dublin and then rented a car to explore the countryside over ten days. Lisa volunteered to drive and she has taken to the left side of the road and right side of the car with aplomb.

We have had some incredible driving adventures. The best by far was when our GPS rerouted us on our way from Kensale to Kenmare over a mountain pass via a narrow dirt path that was overrun by cattle and sheep and at least one wild horse. The vistas were unbelievable. Meeting other cars was terrifying. The pictures don’t do this place justice.

Today we drove the Ring of Kerry. Wow. Wow!

We’re exploring the Dingle Peninsula tomorrow and then off to Galway for a long weekend. Let the enchantment continue!

by