Kiss Me I'm Irish!

We've come full circle and end up in Dublin on St. Patrick's Day.  We make our way to O'Connell Street to the parade route along with throngs of other revelers.   It is bitter cold and rainy but it doesn't dampen our spirits or the others there to celebrate the Patron Saint of Ireland.

The moment we reach O'Connell Street the bagpipes begin piping, people start cheering and the parade commences.  It's quite a surreal moment.



I'm dismayed as initially all I can see are the backs of heads.

We notice everyone there has ladders and realize we are woefully unprepared.  I see a family with a ladder and ask in my best Southern drawl, "Do you think I could step up on your ladder for a quick look-see?  We've come all the way from Texas and I just want to get a glimpse of the parade."  Well, that's all it took.  This woman let me climb up her ladder and get a great view of the parade.  She explained that they are locals and that her family has come to the parade every year for the past 20 years so if I came all the way from Texas, I deserved to see the parade.  

Like Moses, I descend from my mountain where my new friend makes me an honorary Irish citizen and bestows upon me the a most awesome hat and banner that declares, "I'm Irish!"  Being Southern, I feel a strong kinship with this woman as she goes out of her way to make us feel welcome.  KISS ME I'M IRISH!

It literally begins to rain on our parade so we seek shelter in a pub along with hundreds of other leprechauns.

No one cares that the pubs are packed and you have to wait a couple of extra minutes for your Guinness.  We're kindred spirits.  We wander from pub to pub to pub to pub, enjoying Guinness and listening to live music.

This guy obviously has a sense of humor!

We pub hop the rest of the day before heading back to our hotel.  As we leave the last pub, I catch sight of the poem On Raglan Road painted on the side of the pub.  This is a famous poem written by Patrick Kavanagh about a love affair he had with a young woman.

"I saw the danger yet I walked along the enchanted way.  And I said let grief be a fallen leaf at the dawning of the day."  This is our love affair with Ireland.

Dublin Day 2 - Books, Bells and Beer

"A tavern is a place where madness is sold by the bottle."  Jonathan Swift

First night in a foreign country no one sleeps well.  Our body clocks are off and we are apparently sharing a room with a bear.  Note to self - take the hotel's suggestion and use the ear plugs they provide.

We head out with our first stop of the day at Trinity College.  The college was founded in 1592 and modeled after Oxford and Cambridge.  According to Wikipedia, the ecclesiastical origins of the College are reflected in its motto, which is directly derived from Christian Scripture (1 Thessalonians 5:21), "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good."  This also happens to be my McLeod family motto.

There are many noteworthy structures on the grounds but perhaps the most impressive is the Library which is the largest research library in Ireland.  The Library holds the Book of Kells, an illuminated manuscript of the four Gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.  Written on vellum it contains a masterwork of calligraphy and illustrations.  No pictures of the book can be taken so you'll have to take my word on how magnificent it is.

The Long Room of the Library is over 200 feet long and holds more than 200,000 books.  Being a book lover, I am overwhelmed when I walk into the room. I wish I could crawl into every nook and cranny to peruse all the dusty, old tomes.

It's here that I become obsessed with all things Swift.  Not the great American poet Taylor Swift but Jonathan Swift, the great satirist, essayist, poet and author of Gulliver's Travels.  One of the displays in the Long Room pointed out that Swift wrote an inflammatory response to a pamphlet written in 1714 where he called the Scots a "poor, fierce Northern people."  This inflammatory remark was considered an act of rebellion for disparaging the 1707 Union between England and Scotland.  I think this is why I feel a kinship with him - he was not only funny but a rebel rouser!

The library also holds Swift's desk mask.  We marvel over the macabre display.

Apparently Swifty, as I now fondly call him, was quite the ladies man.  He was "hanging out" (as my boys used to say) with a girl named Stella who was 15 years younger than himself.  Now I know the man is dead and all, but judging from this death mask, he was not blessed in the looks department which leaves me wondering what young Stella saw in Swifty.

A local informs us that Swift is buried in St. Patrick's Cathedral standing up!  Intrigued, we head off to have a look-see and are welcomed by St. Patrick's bells tolling loudly as we round the corner.

We locate Swift's grave but no one confirms whether he is really standing.

The cathedral is breathtakingly beautiful.

And like all good Irishmen, we end our day in a few pubs.  We order pints and toast to Swifty . . . and to standing up.  Slainte!

Galway Girl - Days 6 and 7

We land in Galway, a hopping town on the west coast of Ireland.  The National University of Ireland is located here.  It's definitely a college town.  It has a lively nightlife along Quay and High Streets.  It also boasts the lovely Eyre Square at the city center.

While in Galway, we opt to take the Aran Islands tour.  We tour Inis Mor, meaning big island, which is one of the last Irish Gaelic speaking islands.  We set out early and catch the ferry to the island.  The sea is turbulent and we rock and roll all the way to Inishmore.  It's not a good sign when the crew passes out barf bags.

We spend the day touring the entire island including the Seven Churches and burial grounds which dates back to the 8th century.

We stop for lunch at the finest restaurant on the island (maybe the only restaurant on the island) run by some lovely ladies and where I finally get my traditional Irish stew.  It's a frigid and blustery day so the stew hits the spot.

Our bellies full, we make the trek to the Dun Aengus Fort, a prehistoric fort dating from the Iron Age. For the uninitiated, that's 500 BC - 500 AD.  (Ok, I had to look it up.)  It sits on the highest point of the cliffs of Inis Mor.  The view rivals the Cliffs of Moher.  I've heard some say it's better just because it's not as touristy.  Whatever your opinion, the views are spectacular!

Perhaps the most fortuitous event of the day is meeting our Galway Girl and new friend, Mandy.  She's a Yankee traveling alone on business and hangs with us the entire day.  She is affable and intelligent and as we like to say in the south, we can tell she's been "raised right."   We enjoy her company so much that we invite her to join us for dinner that evening as we celebrate Peyton's birthday.  

We vow to keep in touch after we part company and send Mandy on her way.  We're definitely feeling the luck of the Irish as we end our time in Galway.

Day 6 - Go mall!

We're in the car again heading to Dingle.  Yes, I turn into a 12-year old child as I giggle at the name.  It's the westernmost town in Ireland on the Atlantic coast of the Dingle peninsula. You don't just happen upon Dingle - you have to want to go there.  And we do.

It's not easy getting to Dingle.  The road is two lanes, narrow and winding.  There are many places along the way where "Go Mall" is painted directly onto the road.  Apparently this means "drive like a maniac and give your wife a heart attack" in Gaelic.

The scenery is spectacular and I can see why many famous people (Julia Roberts and Dolly Parton to name a couple) like to vacation here.

The town is small and, like most of Ireland, the streets are lined with cute cottages, stores and pubs.  There's even a fast flowing stream that runs under some of the buildings as it makes its way to the bay.

And like Dublin, many of the cottages boast colorful doors.

Getting here hasn't been easy so we reward our efforts with Murphy's Ice Cream, a locally made ice cream.  They use local cream from Kerry cows, free range eggs and organic sugar.  They claim they're the best in Ireland, maybe the world and we agree!  It's delicious!

After indulging in our ice cream and some shopping where we pick up beautiful Irish linens and wool scarves, we hit the road again for our next destination, Galway.