It's beautiful, and as green and full of cows and sheep as everyone describes it to be. I was especially taken by the Irish people, who were friendly and kind and always willing to offer directions, which we asked for often (although the Irish give terrible directions). We spent plenty of time driving around lost in a country that doesn't seem to see a need for roads wider than one lane(!), but that's another story.
While we spent most of our trip in the Republic of Ireland near Dublin, we visited Northern Ireland a couple of times because of its close promiximity (the border is about an hour-and-a-half from Dublin). The official border crossing station was gone, but we could see where it had been. In Northern Ireland we saw memorials to people who had died fighting in the country's civil war. Everything seemed so peaceful, though, that conflict was unimaginable - you know, maybe just an exaggerated tale like the Irish are prone to spin.
But two incidents in the past week have changed the peaceful Northern Ireland we visited last year - a bombing incident that killed two soldiers and a separate event in which a police officer died - both of which were said be the work of IRA terrorists. Craigavon, where the constable was killed, is about 15 miles from the bed and breakfast in Armagh City where we spent the night last year. The area is mostly rural - cows and sheep - so conflict is unimaginable.
It's history repeating itself. For millennia humans have fought over land and religion. So it goes in this beautiful island. May the fragile peace of the past ten years reign once again.
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