Ultimately faith is the only key to the universe: Our Trip to Ireland (Cliffs of Moher, Doolin, The Burren etc.)

(Updated May 14)

On May 6, our neighbour Michael popped over and started to chat with me. He and his wife were in their summer home for the weekend. Michael is the brother-in-law of Helen, the woman we had rented from. He was very chatty and invited me to come over and meet his wife Eileen which I did. Before I knew it I was drinking wine with them.

I had just run over to their house with my slippers on (not expecting to stay long), when Fred came downstairs shortly thereafter and I was no where to be found. He saw that my shoes were still at the door and puzzled over that. Where had I gone in my slippers? Hopefully not too far. He finally figured out where I had run off to, and before he knew it, he had joined us for a lively conversation with our new friends in their big kitchen.

Before we said good-bye, Michael had invited us over the following morning for an Irish breakfast and promised to drive us about the area before their return to Dublin that afternoon.

It was an offer we couldn't refuse. It was especially appreciated, since we didn't have a car of our own to drive and we would get to see some of the area.

Breakfast the next morning was wonderful (Irish bacon, eggs, sausages, coffee, juice, grilled tomatoes and bread. I said no thanks to the blood pudding; Fred said yes thanks.) and off we went on our little tour.

Doolin, Liscannor (where Pope Francis is the Parish Priest. I kid you not.), the Rock Shop in the Burren, St. Brigid's Well (many miracles have been attributed to St. Brigid here). Michael also pointed out to us where the famous Cliffs of Moher were, although we didn't actually see them that day.

It was a fun morning and gave us a better idea of where we were going to return to later. We had already decided that we would visit these same spots again via taxi or bus hire.

And we did return on May 22 after our daughters had arrived.

We hired Pete McNamara to take us out on his bus to do the tour that day. He took us to all of the same places and it was a full day event this time.

Pete was a wonderful guide, explaining all the sites with lots of stories along the way and leaving us to explore the places for as long as we needed. The day included the Cliffs of Moher which were awesome. We were also very taken with the Burren and it's rocky beauty.

Naturally I took a ton of pictures.

We bought a few gifts at the Cliffs, had lunch in O'Connor's Pub in Doolin (very yummy) and bought rocky road chocolate (and other varieties of chocolate) at the chocolate store on Pete's recommendation.

And the sun shone the entire day. Praise Jesus.

Michael, Fred and Eileen on our foray into Clare country