I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfallen.
We are in Killarney National Park, camped (well, in our motor home) on the shores of Lough Leanne. Perfect stillness. Saw a swan and 7 grey cygnets. Enjoyed a walk through lush rain forest, thick with ferns, bracket fungi, massive oaks and strawberry bushes, to a perfect view, the lake with gentle sound of water lapping at its shores, and a 180 degree view of a mountain range, MacGillicuddy’s Reeks.
We rowed today to the Lake Isle of Innishfallen, incredibly peaceful and well-maintained with the ruins of a 7th century monastery established by Finian the Leper. Lovely trails around the Island. Wonderful rowing though a flock of swans, which we appeared to be herding. Nothing more relaxing than mucking around in boats.
The Monks of Innisfallen painstakingly wrote The Annals of Innisfallen, a chonicle of Irish Church history between 433 and 1450 AD. It is now in the Bodleian Library, in Oxford, which ironically, we toured last week.
One day, perhaps all expropriated artefacts will be returned to their countries of origin? Though probably not in my lifetime!
Gustav Vigeland and Vigelanda Sculpture Park, Oslo, Norway
One of the most memorable things from our trip to Oslo last year was the Vigelanda Sculpture Park, 212 massive bronze and granite figures, all designed by Gustav Vigeland. What a joy that flow of creativity, and creating them must have been.
Humanity in all its many phases and stages!
Gustav Vigeland, Monolith
The longing to travel
I love to travel, and I love to travel to strange mysterious countries, with pristine, old misty towering forests; semi-abandoned wayside stone churches; remote, lonely.
What country am I thinking of, Switzerland, Scotland, or somewhere I have never travelled?
Albania? Slovakia? Slovenia? Russia? Denmark? Macedonia?
Or the undiscovered country from whose bourne no traveller returns?
The ultimate land of the heart’s desire!!
Faith like Stained Glass Windows
I visited the 13th century Gothic Cathedral of Reims, where Joan of Arc got the Dauphin crowned on the first day of our Easter holidays.
The massive stained glass windows were dark and dusty from the outside, hardly seemed worth exploring with one of our children cathedral-resistant in a town of patisseries.
But we stepped inside. Inside it was flooded with splendid multi-coloured light, the brightest reds, blues and greens the mind can conceive.
Ah, I thought, like faith. Dreary, and restricting from the outside. Inside a world of light and magic and joy!I loved the tiny stained glass figures, hundreds of feet above ground, barely discernible by the naked eye.
Art for its own sake, and for the sake of God. Humankind’s love for God and for each other has inspired most of the greatest art.
All great art springs from love.
Dreaming of Iceland
I love the unearthly beauty of Iceland, its lunar landscapes. We had pretty much decided to go there last summer, then decided that Norway was higher up on our hit-list. Ireland is now top of the list (the kids’ lobby, we’ve been there), then Denmark, then perhaps, Iceland! It would have been amazing to have seen that volcano erupt!
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