The Craic was Mighty!

It's Thursday evening here. Our time in Ireland is quickly coming to an end! We've had the most amazing experience over the past 3 days. I think we all agree that Ireland will be hard to beat when it comes to all the places we will visit. It is such a unique place where the people that live here have such a pride in their unique way of speaking, the songs that are their own, their stories, and history. It is clear that the Irish love their country. Yesterday we had an amazing day - on a 12 hour tour that took us to the Cliffs of Moher (aka the cliffs of despair - according to the movie "The Princess Bride"), and along the west coast of Ireland through many  charming villages. We saw some castles, traditional old Irish homes, lots of rock walls everywhere, and the lush green landscape (actually much like Oregon in that sense). It tends to rain a lot here, but we are thankful to have the greatest weather. Yesterday on our tour, we actually got a little more time to look around because of the uncommonly beautiful warm sunny weather. This morning it was drizzly, but cleared up pretty soon. Today was a fun day of walking around Dublin seeing more of the sights. We saw 2 very old beautiful churches that have great significance in Christian history here in Ireland. We even attended a evensong (a  tradition service mostly sung by an amazing choir). I will let Scott write more about that. We saw Trinity College, walked through St. Stephens gardens, browsed down the famous Grafton Street, did some shopping, and ate lunch at the original and historical Temple Bar.We have learned about the culture and history here. Our tour guide yesterday was Mike Murphy, born and raised in the South part of Ireland. He told many stories, gave a ton of history of religion, politics, and things that make Ireland unique. Occassionally, he would break into song - so we got to hear many traditional Irish songs and the history behind why they were written and what they mean.  He was quite funny, and shared with us many phrases and words that are used only here in Ireland. The one probably most used - was "The Craic was Mighty" which interpreted means we had fun, or we had a great time. We heard it a lot by many people.. so now of course the kids are using it constantly. Sorry this is so long, but there is just too much to say about our stay here. Tomorrow we leave for London. We will miss Ireland and are thankful for our time and experiences here. ~ Angela