Easter Day was spent in this little red van belonging to "Over the Top" tour company with our Gaelic-speaking driver, Eaman. My husband balked when he saw how tightly the 16 of us would be packed in, but he took a deep breath and determined he could manage. It turned out to be a good decision. We were a motley crew, to be sure -- we came from Denmark, Canada, Switzerland, France, and, of course, the two of us from the U.S. The French group comprised partyers who were practicing their English phrases on me. My favorite was this one: "Besides being incredibly sexy, what do you do in your life?" I wonder if they had a chance to try it out at the pubs.
We drove up low mountains to the fields of what would be purple and pink heather later in the season, except that they were brown this time of year. Down below we could see the lush green meadows and mirror-like lakes. One such lake had only one mansion on its shores that belonged to the Guinness Family. It also looked as though it had a helipad.
We stopped at a pub in the town of Wicklow, where we were served huge plates of pork roast, potatoes (two kinds), rutabagas, carrots, peas and cranberry sauce for our Easter dinner.
But the last stop was the most impressive -- Glendalough (glen between two lakes). We visited a monastery that dated from the 6th century with a stone (not slate) roof. The graveyard was a dramatic look at Irish history. It was very powerful, and made me think of the book "How the Irish Saved Civilization." I could just imagine the monks sitting in this beautiful but isolated place in their austere, cold accommodations copying the works of the classics. A day worth the miles and tight seating on the bus!
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