Our trip is almost over

I spent the entire day yesterday in bed, recovering from what was apparently a vicious 24-hour stomach bug. My illness was not at all helped by reflecting on the typical Irish cuisine. Eck. But that's over, I hope. I felt well enough today to get up and go to the Aran Island of Inishmore, and I'm very thankful for that. The island was absoultely beautiful. We went to the Seven Churches (of which only two were actually churches, and the rest domestic buildings according to our driver), which were ruins about 1200 years old. They were surrounded by graves (or memorials, as seems more likely, since the island only has about three inches of soil on top of limestone), some more recent and some so old their faces had been weathered blank. I was particularly struck by one such stone, which had only the faintest traces of lettering remaining, yet was adorned with fresh flowers. Very odd. We walked up a long, rocky hill to Dun Aonghasa, a fort that was built in 1500 BC or so. Hard to believe something from such an ancient time could still stand--you don't get that kind of historical perspective in America. Another interesting thing about the islands is that it is one of the few places in Ireland where the native language of Gaelic is still spoken regularly.

On Sunday we saw the Cliffs of Moher, which were absolutely soul-shaking, though a little overcrowded and touristy. We also drove through the Burren, which is like being in a completely different country, as the majority of the landscape is made up of limestone plates. I'm shocked at how diverse the landscape is here. At some points I feel as if I'm in a jungle. Other times it looks like a wasteland. But always beautiful.