In 2010, my husband and I took an unforgettable trip to Ireland.

The first thing I thought as Pete and I traveled through the extravagantly lush countryside: “I can sure see why they call this place the Emerald Isle.”

The green seemed unusually vivid as we rode in a fabulous jaunting car in Killarney National Park.

We gawked at lovely lakes and rolling hills outside Killarney.

Castles like this one in County Kerry were tucked into the green landscape everywhere.

Of course we visited Blarney Castle (below).

Here’s the view from a window inside Blarney Castle.

We got to drink in plenty of other gorgeous colors as well. Like yellow. Whole fields of yellow. These flowers, called furze or gorse, were thick on the landscape all over Ireland.

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Purple and white heather also added color to the countryside.

Even the horse farm we visited was lush.

The horse farm included a Japanese garden.

Alas, there was not as much green in Dublin, but we did get to meet this pigeon. Some things are the same everywhere.