Ireland -- tips

We've been home a few days, getting through the mail and over jet lag. I may post more about the trip later, but I wanted to make sure I got these tips online.

Shopping:

Europeans in general are more conscious about the environment than we Americans are. Take your own bags when grocery shopping, or be prepared to pay 30 cents or more per bag

We found restaurants prohibitively expensive in Ireland, so we had picnics a lot. But most grocery stores don't carry plastic cutlery. When we finally found a deli counter, they charged about 20 cents for a flimsy fork and knife (no spoon). Next time we'll take the plastic cutlery from the airplane meal on the flight over.

Recycling is much more extensive than here. Even food packaging is recycled. Try to fit in and recycle while you're there.

You'll need a Euro coin to disengage the shopping cart for your use. When you return it, you'll get your Euro back.

Clothing:

Be prepared for cold, rainy weather anywhere in Europe (except maybe the most southern countries) anytime of year. Most of our time in Ireland I was comfortable in a long-sleeved shirt and polarfleece jacket (in June). On rainy days I added an undershirt and a hooded windbreaker. On really sunny days I could pare back to a tank shirt and capris. To us Atlantans, it felt like winter weather.

This trip I had two pair of cotton pants (both black) and a pair of denim capris. With an assortment of shirts, I could layer up or down as needed. For shoes I had my athletic shoes and a sturdy pair of sandals. I could fit all my clothes (with room for souvenirs) into one carry-on bag. Pants can go several wearings without being washed. Take shirts you can wash in the sink if needed. (Shampoo works fine for this.)

Be prepared to walk. If the shoes hurt after a couple of blocks, leave them at home. And know that cobblestones and high heels are not a good mix.

I have never needed a skirt in Europe. Nice pants will do for most occasions. I wore black pants, a sweater, and a scarf to Ireland's National Concert Hall. Others were dressed better, but my outfit was not out of place.

Odds and ends:

You can buy most anything you need in Ireland -- moisturizer, shampoo, contact solution, band-aids. The only thing that might be hard to get are non-prescription medicines. I didn't have to get anything in Ireland, but I know from our time in Germany that simple medicines like Tylenol may be by prescription only. So pack a few of whatever non-prescription meds you might need, especially Pepto Bismol chewables. They work for a host of tummy troubles.

Advice:

Courtesy and a smile go a long way. The Irish were very kind to us -- helping us buy tram tickets, lending us a cell phone when we needed taxis on a rainy night, giving us directions when we were lost. In Ireland it seemed like everyone we met had either traveled in the US, or had relatives here or in Canada. Makes us all seem like family.

Sláinte!

(Cheers in Irish)

Dublin, home of Guinness

One of the popular tourist stops in Dublin is a tour of the Guinness factory (well, actually it's more like a museum instead of the real factory), ending with a pint of the real stuff in a 7th floor bar with a 360-degree view of Dublin. The tour itself was only mildly interesting -- we found the old silent movie of how beer casks were made to be the most engaging part. But the view and the pint at the end were well worth the 34-Euro price for our family (the teens got sodas instead of Guinness).

So here's a (not great) photo of me toasting the Sigma Chi guys who introduced me to beer so very, very long ago!

Dublin streets

Grafton street is said to be the busiest shopping street in the world. It's pedestrians only, and buskers perform at every opportunity. We spent an hour over tea and scones at an upstairs window in Bewley's Oriental Cafe today watching a man dressed as a James Joyce statue. He looked so much like a real statue that people would pass him by until he suddenly tapped them on the shoulder with his cane, startling them.

Yesterday while shopping, my daughter and I heard faux-Beatles, Irish folksingers, and earnest young men belting out songs.

It's not a scene you get in the States.

The photo above isn't from Grafton Street, but from the nearby area known as Temple Bar. The pubs have inventive names. Hairy Lemon is my favorite so far!

Fish and Chips

As I bemoaned earlier, the weak dollar and capital-city-prices conspire to make restaurant dining in Dublin expensive. Here's a lunch photo of fish and chips at Cafe Bleu. It was 15 Euro (about $20). But it tasted great! If you were dining out in Atlanta, $20 would get you salad, wine, and dessert as well as the entree for that price!

Bloomsday

All day I've been pretending I've read Ulysses by James Joyce. A Dublin native, Joyce set his novel Ulysses on June 16th and (apparently) it follows a man around the area for the day. It broke the traditional story mold by telling of the day in a stream-of-consciousness manner that results in very very very long sentences which meander from thought to thought, like what he might have for lunch, and how that woman reminds him of someone else, and there goes a dog, and wouldn't it be great to have a gorgonzola sandwich, and how the clouds look, and such stuff.

So today, being June 16th, it's Bloomsday in Dublin. We heard readings from Ulysses in both Spanish and English. An opera singer sang something based on the novel. People were wandering around dressed in costume, and Dixieland bands were playing in some of the squares.

Sigh. I guess I have to read Ulysses now.

Clonmacnoise -- Ireland

Clonmacnoise was a great center of learning and spirituality in central Ireland, along the River Shannon. It was founded around 545 AD, and even though it's isolated today, at the time the Shannon was one of the great travel routes in Ireland. Despite the 62-foot-high round tower (seen in back of the chapel ruins) that was used for observation and defense, this site was plundered by the Vikings, the Anglo-Normans, and, finally, by the English in 1552.

(Note the people in the photo. They give a size perspective on the round tower, and the flat grave slabs give size perspective on the Celtic crosses. These medieval people knew how to build big!)

Connemara -- where "The Quiet Man" was filmed

Here's one for all you old movie buffs out there. John Ford filmed "The Quiet Man" with John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara (who was born in Dublin) in a small village, Cong, in the Connemara area of Ireland. Here's a bridge that featured in the movie. (I can't remember exactly where. I'll have to watch the movie again when I get home.)

Connemara is gorgeous -- a combination of Montana's open skies with a mix of Alpine and Mediterranean plants, dotted with crystal-clear lakes, studded with castles and other stony ruins, and full of sheep. (Not killer sheep as my kids would have you believe!)

Best photo I've ever taken -- Galway, Ireland

Summer days are long in Galway, on the western coast of Ireland. The sky got light about 4 a.m. and finally darkened about 11 p.m. This photo was taken with my wide-angle lens, on a digital Canon Rebel XT body, about 9 p.m. I love how the wide-angle lens curves everything slightly, as if we're on the edge of the world. I guess from Galway's river/bay area into the wild North Atlantic, it was the edge of the world for thousands of years.

Dublin and the eastern part of Ireland are great, but my next trip here will concentrate on the western side of Ireland, particularly from Galway north into Connemara.