On Tuesday we had booked a Wild Rover tour to Kilkenny, Wicklow Mountains & Glendalough. The trip to our first stop in Kilkenny was a a very scenic ride through the Irish countryside. When we arrived in Kilkenny I did my own tour as they moved to quickly for me. I enjoyed the small shops in the downtown and enjoyed just meeting people and talking. I talked with one of the shop owner for probably 30 min. It was a good conversation as she enjoyed talking to an American. She was very interesting in things in America. I met a mother on the street with her three year old twin sons they were perplexed about my accent, I conversed with them for a while. It was fun to watch people come and go and say hello with my good ole southern accent. I then went and had tea and a brownie.

We then boarded the bus and headed to the Wicklow Mountains and on the way we went through Hollywood Ireland. The tour guide told us it was immigrant brothers from Ireland that named the town of Hollywood, California. They were working in California and when it came time to name the town they had it named it after their hometown in Ireland. The mountains were beautiful and so were the Lochs (lakes) and streams. We saw a herd of the indigenous deer and the guide said that was unusual as they tended to be very shy creatures. I was glad that someone else was driving as the roads became more and more narrow. The local roads made Old Liberty Road in Grays Chapel look like a super highway!

Our next stop was in Glendalough. The highlight of this stop was Glendalough's Monastic City, an ancient window into the golden era of Irish history - the Early Christian period. The Monastic city is heralded as a national monument of immense importance and it is here that Irish monks 'saved civilization' while the rest of Europe went through the Dark Ages. The monastic site dates back to 600 AD and played an important role in reintroducing Christianity to Northern and Central Europe after the Dark Ages. It was here that the Irish monk Saint Kevin founded his monastery and round tower. This location later acted as a shelter for Christian manuscripts to protect them from the barbarous marauding Vikings. I always went to God's Cottage and talked with a retired monk for a while. It was an interesting visit and I learned a little about some of the misconceptions I as a protestant have of the Catholic faith. I do believe it is important for all religions to work with the beliefs we have in common and quit letting satan divide us. (as long as we can adhere to scripture).

The last stop on the tour was to watch the border collies be trained to herd the sheep. The border collies were interesting to watch and they were so disciplined. Afterwards I was able to pet one of the dogs. It made me miss having a dog at home as for the first time in my life I do not have a pet at home. The rest of the trip home was a nice relaxing ride. We were dropped off in a different location from where we were picked us because there was a demonstration downtown the was supporting a change in the law to legalize abortion. We ate nearby as it was convenient. When we took a taxi back to the room we met a real nice taxi driver - we met him again the next day as we were lost looking for the rental car return - we though it was a blessed coincidence to meet the same driver twice. It was good to make it back to the room and rest as we were traveling to Scotland tomorrow.

We arose and had breakfast and then went through the packing and weighing and weighing and repacking to meet the airlines strict weight limits. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful as they all went to downtown to tour and I rested and typed. I had to stop and fill our van with gas and the local school had let out so the students could attend the rugby match at the stadium across from gas station. The stadium was rocking - sounded about like an App State football game. I had a tough time finding the group in downtown. I was meeting them at Saint Patrick's Cathedral and I assumed it would just be the big stone church. They are many big stone churches in Dublin. I did find them and we managed to wander to the correct terminal at the airport. We all made it through security except for Emma.... The flight and everything went well and we made it to the B&B in Edinburgh for a well needed nights rest.

On Friday I took a day of rest as everyone else went to the Edinburgh Castle and Holyrood Palace. Lynn and I had been to both before. They are very interested historical places. Holyrood is the Queens vacation home and was so names because they were reputed to have a splinter from the cross of Christ - hence the name Holyrod/Holyrood.. I did rest and do laundry today (I actually practiced my servanthood and we did the laundry for everyone who needed laundry done) We are still figuring the odd washing machines here. We had one load run for 3 hours. In Ireland I had to google how to work the washing machine there. I am ready for the adventure tomorrow has in store! God is Good!!!