Ireland/Scotland Vacation July 16-28, 2005 by Donna Eubanks This summer, Vanessa and I traveled to our ancestral homeland(s), Ireland and Scotland and saw a great deal of history We had tried to get our husbands to go with us but to no avail. Larry told us the IRA was going to get us and Brad told me he was glad I was going with Vanessa instead of him. Vanessa and I arrived in Dublin, Ireland on July 17, which was considered day one and met our tour group. Day Two was a tour of St. Patrick's Cathedral, founded in 1190 and then walked through the cobbled courtyards of Trinity College to its famed library and a truly unique world treasure, the 8th century Book of Kells. Day Three we traveled through the Midlands to County Mayo. There we toured some 12th century Irish Cistercian architecture mansion with the oldest kitchen I have ever seen along with the galley. Prior to this, I had only read about them and could never have imagined how those kitchens were set up. From there we traveled westward to Tubbernault Holy Well. For a long period of time the Protestants were persecuted by the Catholics and were not allowed to practice their religion. But in the 1700's the Protestants had the upper hand and although they didn't start out treating the Catholics as they had been treated it soon came to that. The Tubbernault Holy Well was used by the Catholics to secretly hold masses and baptisms. On Day Four, we stopped in Knock, renowned all over the world since 15 locals experienced apparitions of Mary in 1879. Then on to Connemara where we planned to watch the sunset over Galway Bay. It was too cloudy that day to see the sun let alone a sunset. Day Five brought us to Galway Cathedral and a stop at Rathbaum Farm. Rathbaun Farm is a working farm where the farmer demonstrated how he maneuvers his flock of sheep with the help of his dog, then a demonstration on how to sheer sheep. This farm was our first view of a thatched roofed farmhouse. We continued traveling west to the Cliffs of Moher, which rise approximately 700 feet above the pounding Atlantic waves. This was supposed to be a truly outstanding view; however, the fog was so thick that day that neither the Atlantic nor the cliffs were visible. We missed what was touted as being the most beautiful natural site in Ireland. Day Six found us driving to Adare, which is renowned as the "prettiest village in Ireland" with more of the thatched cottages with stonewalls and on around the Iveragh Peninsula known as "The Ring of Kerry." This was a beautiful landscape of mountains, valleys, lakes and sea blended together. It really made us wonder what we had missed from the Cliffs of Moher. On Day Seven we visited Blarney Castle with its magical stone that gives the gift of love or the eloquence of gab for a kiss. No, we didn't kiss the Blarney Stone. In order to that, one has to get on their back and lean backward over a vacant spasm (with someone holding you so you won't fall through the spasm) and kiss this stone. First, I would hate to have to get in that position and second, I don't want to kiss something that billions before me have slobbered on. From there we went to County Cork to Middleton and toured the Jameson Distillery. From there was a tour of "The Cozy Thatch Pub" where we were entertained by a local and national Irish singer, Tom Comerford, who told us the story of the Pub. For some reason when the proprietor's wife died, they either didn't have a funeral home or couldn't get her to the funeral home. So they held the wake at the home which served not only as their home but the main part of the house was also their place of business, the Pub. They held the wake in the bedroom and opened the pub in the main room of the house. As legend goes, they had a lot of mourners. From that day on, when there was a death in the village they brought the deceased to the pub for the wake. There is an extremely old bed (the proprietor's and his wife's original bed) that has the nickname "the death bed" as well as other antiques of that time still in the Pub. We had no desire to lay in that bed as some of our tour group did. Day Eight brought us to the ancient Viking town of Waterford famous for its Waterford Crystal Factory. We had a guided tour of how crystal is made. I was amazed to know that if the glassblowers make a mess up on the piece the cost comes out of their salary; however, if they are involved in a planning project they are paid for the project not the piece. From Waterford, we went back to Dublin where we departed the next day for Scotland. We found through our touring Ireland that the Irish do not have "th" in their vocabulary and therefore cannot pronounce that sound. We also were amazed to learn that even in a foreign country they recognize an American southern accent. At the Waterford Crystal Factory they told us they were amazed at the southern drawl of even little children. They told of the children coming in for a tour and how they could hear the southern drawl when the children would just say, "Yes Ma'am." in that beautiful southern accent. I never expected a foreign country to pick up on a southern accent nor did I think I had that much of one. While our tour of Ireland was guided, our trip to Scotland was not and we really missed having a tour guide, as we were on our own. The first day in Scotland was a walking tour of Edinburgh where we toured Edinburgh Castle, The Royal Museum, The Royal Botanic Gardens, and Holyroodhouse Palace. We contemplated on buying kilts for Larry, Brad and Allen but knew it would be a waste of good money. Also we could just imagine what Allen would have to say. We got quite a laugh out of visualizing that scenario. We found and dined at Howie Restaurant as that is the surname of the maternal side of my family. Day Two in Scotland found us traveling from Edinburgh through Glasgow, Dunbar, and on to Fenwick. Just outside of Fenwick is Lochgoin Farm, home of Thomas Howie. Lochgoin Farm and Thomas Howie are known as being a safe house and hiding place for James Paton, a martyr in the Scottish Covenanter wars. The Covenaters were those people in Scotland who signed the National Covenant in 1638 to confirm their opposition to the interference by the Stuart kings in the affairs of the Presbyterian church of Scotland. The Stuart kings held the belief they had the Divine Right of the Monarch. Not only did they believe that God wished them to be the infallible rulers of their kingdom but they also believed that they were the spiritual heads of the Church of Scotland. The Scots could not accept the latter belief because they believed no man, not even a king, could be spiritual head of their church. Only Jesus Christ could be spiritual head of a Christian church. The Scots were, and would have been, loyal to the Stuart dynasty but for that one sticking point. From the time the Covenant was signed in 1638 until the Glorious Revolution in 1688 a great deal of suffering, torture, imprisonment, transportation and executions were witnessed. There was a period of very severe repression when ministers with Covenanting sympathies were ousted from their churches by the authorities. Many ministers continued to preach in the open air, barns, or homes. This became an offence punishable by death. Citizens who did not attend their local churches (which were now in the charge of Episcopalian "curates" could be fined and tortured. They could be asked to take various oaths, which not only declared loyalty to the king, but also to accept the king as head of the church. Failure to take such an oath could result in execution. When James Paton was hung for his stand and fight against these injustices, he handed his Bible to his wife from the gallows. That Bible and the drum from one of the battles are at Lochgoin Farm. On Day Three, we traveled from Kenwick back to Edinburgh and then backtracked back to Dublin where we caught our flight back to the States. We had an English lesson in Scotland too. At the train station at Fenwick I pronounced it "Fen-wick." I was told that in Scotland if the "w" is in the middle of the word it is silent. However the "w" at the beginning of the word is always pronounced. At the end of the word such as in Glasgow it is sometimes sounded and sometimes not. I looked for family crests everywhere I went and did not locate one for any spelling of Eubanks or Howie. Although we had a great time and saw a lot of history, we could hardly wait to get home. That little girl from Kansas sure knew what she was talking about when she said, "There's no place like home."