We had almost made
the circle. My family and I started our vacation in Dublin City, Ireland, a
thriving, bursting-at-the-seams kind of place, with young professionals and
expensive European cars. We hopped from Dublin to London where we discovered
more opulence. Wealth oozed from every street, storefront, and passerby. Our
hotel overlooked the Marble Arch, and through it many a Lamborghini, Ferrari,
Bentley and Aston Martin purred its way toward, I’m sure, a swanky address. We
left London impressed by its culture, scenery, and extravagance. We took the
Caledonia Sleeper overnight from London to Inverness, Scotland. We toured
Scotland, which in its own right is on the upward swing, then headed over the
waters back to Ireland, this time to Belfast.

We disembarked
from our ferry ride, hailed a cab with a driver who had obviously read volumes
on Muslims, Iraq, and the conflicts between east and west. His comments were
intelligent and insightful, and I left the cab feeling a little deflated from
my own lack of study and knowledge.