Sabbatical update : Wales and Ireland!

We had quite the adventure in Wales and Ireland. First we took the train to Holyhead from Hull, going via Manchester. We arrived and wheeled our bags uphill half a mile (a lot harder than it sounds on narrow streets) to our BnB. Having thankfully eaten dinner already, we settled in the parlor with a free drink and chatted with guests from Northern Ireland and Germany. The next day I spotted this little one having milk near the BnB.

We checked out St. Cybi's church, the site of a Roman fort that had been then taken over as a Christian church. There is a local pilgrimage between this church and another church associated with another local saint, St. Seiriol. St. Cybi would walk to meet St. Sieriol to visit, and since he walked towards the sun he would become tanned and got a nickname as such. By contrast. Sieriol was light skinned as the sun was always at his back.

In Holyhead we also walked by the water and took the bus to another bustling oceanside area. I stuck my feet into the ocean (not too cold in that area!) and we got some Indian food (there are many good Indian places all across the UK).

Then we were "on the road again" - or rather "on the boat"! We went via Ferry from Holyhead to Dublin. The trip was about 3 hours long and we got to check out the lounge area which was very relaxing. But we also went out on deck to get some air and see the water and also did some shopping for gifts. The ferry was sort of a minor cruise ship, a lot more deluxe than any ferry I have ridden in the US. When we arrived in Dublin, we checked into our rented studio apartment (very compact) and ventured out for food and music. On the way the solar eclipse was occurring and if you look at Alene's hands to the left on this picture you can see the little crescents that were the sun at the moment. It was trippy but fun. After finding a great salad bar at a local market, we stopped in the tiny and overpacked Cobblestone pub. We got to see some amazing fiddling and harmonica playing. I squeezed through to get a half pint and we even filmed a song for a lady visiting from the NYC area who was playing some tunes.

The next morning, we participated in a Dublin Historical Walking Tour. It was very insightful to learn from a PhD student of Irish history about the long history of Ireland and how the periods of conflict have shaped Irish life and politics to this day. We began at Trinity College and next to the Irish parliament and learned about how both institutions were built by the British to support the Anglican landed gentry who they supported in power in Ireland. 

We then traveled to the Post Office where the 1916 insurrection participants were under siege and saw bullet holes still in statues and in buildings as a result of this conflict. We ventured on to the Dublin Castle area (a bit of a misnomer- it is more a fancy government office) and nearby saw a site of the brutality of the black and tan forces during the conflict. It was sad to hear how Ireland still does not celebrate its Independence Day because the South feels it will not be complete without the North. As a born Brit, it was sobering to hear about the complex and difficult history in greater depth and I am very grateful to our guide, below, for shedding balanced light upon this history. I remember from my youth being terrified of the IRA bombings in London, and those were inexcusable. At the same time, I understood the sense of oppression so much more.

After the tour we headed to lunch where we saw a reminder that Ireland was never under Roman rule but rather was very affected by the Vikings. In fact, Christ Church Cathedral, which we visited next, was at one point a Viking church. Surprising? Yes, in fact there were Christian vikings (and probably still are some!)

Christ Church Cathedral was beautiful, with recreated tiles from the medieval period, including ones depicting foxes as pilgrims, called the "foxy friars." Below is a picture of the altar area. 

Underneath, in the crypt, we spotted a book, the "black book," containing an early copy of the Magna Carta and other texts important to the monks. We also saw a mummified cat and rat. Apparently, an unlucky cat chased a rat into the organ at some point, ended up in a pipe, and due to the lack of oxygen, died and was preserved until the organ was opened for refurbishing. At a prayer station in the cathedral, we stopped for prayer for the prayer requests that had been shared with us.

Later that day, we headed out to Howth Harbor to catch dinner and a sunset cruise. We hoped to see puffins but knew it was a bit late in the season (sadly), but saw a nice sunset, some seals, many, many gulls, cormorants and some shags. We also saw a cave where the IRA smuggled arms into Ireland for the uprising, as well as a small tower they used.

The next day, we had St. Brigid on the brain. We took the train to Kildare, where we checked out St. Brigid's Cathedral. In the cathedral the below stained glass window shows scenes from the lives of St. Brigid and St. Columba.

This space felt especially holy to us as St. Brigid is one of Alene's ordination saints. It was special to stop and pray. We also checked out a bishop's tombstone, which in addition to having appropriately religious carvings, also had a female fertility symbol carved underneath the lid- the joke of the carver perhaps? There was an earthiness to St. Brigid's Cathedral, a sense of an embodied spirituality.

By the Cathedral there is a special square area where for millennia the druids kept a holy flame alive, one that could only be tended by druid priestesses. When Brigid was put in charge of the abbey and church, she dedicated the flame to Christ and kept it going. On it went until the reign of King Henry the Eighth, who had the flame extinguished during his closing of the monasteries. I asked if they kept a flame in there now and was told they did not (although there is one down the road at Solas Bride, a retreat center), but sometimes pagan or druid groups come and light a flame and then extinguish it.

This Cathedral was made of wood at first, and the Vikings came many times and burned it down, after which it was always rebuilt. Eventually, the monastery built a tower six flights high in order to keep watch for Vikings and also to stay safe and hide valuables when they came. I was able to climb the tower, all six wooden ladders of it, and was rewarded with the view above of the entire area on a clear day.

There were crosses like this one, Brigid crosses that have trinitarian symbolism, all over the town.

There were also some amazing murals such as the above that show what a powerful spiritual influence Brigid is on the area.

Having been told we should not visit Kildare without another stop, we headed to the National Stud. 
This is where the famous racehorses of Ireland are raised and then also return when they retire from racing. We got to see some beautiful horses up close and these below are retired prizewinning racehorses enjoying some happy rest.

But just as spectacular were the gardens. There was St. Fiacre's Garden, modeled on the garden of an Irish saint, and with a statue of him contemplating the water, and with beehive-style monastic cells.

There was also a beautiful Japanese garden that symbolically took the walker through the stages of life, designed by a Japanese horticultural artist in the early 1900s and still beautifully tended/restored. 
After a lovely last day in Dublin, we found a delicious dinner at a local pub that sources local meats and produce and Alene had the best pork and cabbage of her life; I had a delicious chicken sandwich. The bartender laughed when I asked if they "also did food," saying "sometimes, I think so!" Little did I know it was one of the best restaurants in Dublin, steps from where we stayed on Stoneybatter Place. 

The next day we headed back to the US from Dublin, stopping in Portland for the night, and are now with dear friends in Eugene OR for a couple of days before heading home to re-enter. This has been an amazing journey. Spiritually deep, it has also reminded me that seeing different places opens up new places inside of us to explore. I suspect I will be processing these learnings for some time. Thanks for reading!