Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Most people associate Ireland with Guinness, pubs, red heads, leprechaun-like accents, and crap weather. We experienced all of those except for the bad weather. My weather karma held out alll the way to Ireland where they were having the best weather since 1995, woohoo!
Sonia and I started our week in Ireland in Galway so we could check out the countryside. Our first day we wanted to familiarize ourselves with the local culture and see the locals in their natural habitat which we decided could only be accomplished by hitting up just about every pub in the Latin Quarter (odd name since there was no Latin anything or anyone in sight). We discovered quite a few things through this very scientific approach:
--Irish music is awesome, it makes you smile, clap and I think I may have even danced a jig.
--Irish people are the nicest and they're pretty funny. From Pat our cabdriver who cracked himself up telling us about the aphrodisiac effect of oysters to Dave the bartender who likes merlot because it goes down easier (that's what we get for ordering wine at a pub) and John who told us about the best places to go for Irish music and showed us around, we just felt so welcome. In fact in Ireland when they say "you're welcome" it's not in response to a thank you, it's because they literally mean you're welcome to their country and everyone says it. I love that.
--Galway has some of the best pizza I've ever had, yes Galway, it's run by some guys from Napoli and it was the perfect night cap on more than 1 night.
--A lot of pubs close around 11pm but if you're already inside all that means is that they close the curtains turn off the lights and you can continue drinking. Genius.
--It's official, there are Africans in every corner of the world. I was just getting used to being exotic in Galway until we ran into some Congolese at a French wine bar of all places.
--Guiness really does taste better in Ireland. In the words of one of the locals, "guiness, like a woman, doesn't travel well."
So after sleeping in until 3pm the next day, we were ready to see the real Ireland. We spent the next 2 days going out to the Burren, the Cliffs of Moher and the Aran Islands and it was all so visually stunning it's hard to describe but hopefully the pictures help. I had no idea there were so many shades of green and the light changes in the most incredible ways making everything look different minute to minute. I've never seen anything like it before. The cliffs are majestic and look even more spectacular in person than they do in The Princess Bride and Harry Potter. The Burren looks like something from another planet, to say it's rocky would be an understatement. It's hard to believe that you can grow anything on that land. People had to clear the rocks by hand and then used the rocks they'd dug up to build short walls to mark territory and create enclosures for animals. These walls are just rocks stacked on top of each other in a way that doesn't make geometric sense and they've stood for hundreds of years. The land isn't the only problem, when you add in crappy weather, a history of subjugation by different people, and more recently the economic crisis, it paints a picture of how difficult life was and is in the country, especially on the Aran islands. But if you just see the desolate landscape and not the beauty in the way that the land, sea and sky reflect each other, if you only see the financial struggle but not the community that saves up to build a home for seniors so the elderly don't have to leave the island and can stay close to their families, you miss what makes Ireland special.
There's a pride in being Irish, in speaking Gaelic and in preserving the culture that is beyond admirable. Michael, our amazing tour guide (who also made more mother-in-law jokes and quips than I've ever heard) said something about the Irish that stuck with me: "we sing when we're happy and equally we sing when we're sad." The tenacity and persistence of the Irish people and spirit is something I have great respect for after this trip.
- comments
danica BRAVO! (insert slow clap) - this one really knocked it out of the park, love taxi stories - hopefully someone got you to sing out there....perhaps we could get a kissing scene in the next entry...pretty please?
Lauren Keane Love this entry. Marrying into an Irish family, I can attest to the mass amounts of singing present in nearly every get-together. They really are the nicest (until you meet the Italians, of course!) Love to you and Lolo. xo
Luwam So why aren't you a famed author by now? Your words describe perfectly what I was imaging. Beautiful!
kris ahhhh... lovely.
Sonya Gill I love it!! PS you're a wicked writer!