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 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.

Dublin day

The National Museum is small (compared to other national museums, like the Smithsonian), but terrific (and free!). Celtic, Viking, Medieval objects dominate, including a Viking longboat. The best -- and most nightmare-producing -- were the bog people. About 3000 years ago it seems certain men (possibly kings) were treated, well, like kings, for a few months (including a hair pomade from France) then killed and their bodies put into bogs at the boundary lines between tribes. The bogs haven't got enough oxygen to support the microbes that decay things, so some of these bodies have been found. They look like flattened brown-leather people, but in at least one case, the face is still recognizable with its red hair and red stubble on the chin. Bog people have also been found in other northern European countries. Very eerie to look on a face that was a real live person nearly 3000 years ago.

We enjoyed a folk music concert in St. Stephen's Green, shopping (that would be my daughter's favorite), the 300-year-old Marsh Library (including cages where they locked students in so they wouldn't steal the books!). And we ended the day with the Guinness tour, including a pint in the 7th-floor bar with a 360-degree view of Dublin. Back to the house. Take-away fish and chips for dinner.

Love this house-swap!

Best free concert in Dublin

We went to the Evensong service at Christ Church in Dublin today. The service was mostly sung by the fantastic choir, and the organ was incredible. My Mom used to play organ at our church back in Chattanooga, but it was nothing like this one! This organ has more than 2000 pipes, some 4 stories tall. It was music you could feel in your bones.

And, of course, the history of Christ Church is amazing. It was founded around 1030 on the former site of a Viking church. Over the years it's been both Catholic and Protestant, depending on who was ruling Ireland. Now it's Protestant, with a ritual-rich high church service. Luckily over the years it's been repaired as needed, so the interior is gorgeous. The above photo of Christ Church's interior was taken by our friend John Dallas.

Ireland -- expensive?

This house swap is certainly a comfortable way to explore a new country, and it's keeping our expenses way below what they would be with hotels. Not only have we swapped houses, we've swapped cars. It took my husband about a day to master driving on the left, with the driver's seat on the right side of the car, and the gear shift operated with his left hand. (I'm not attempting to drive here!) Our Irish friend Albert was a great help, as he drove ahead, letting us follow his car as we got used to the roads.

We've used trams, a train, and taxis, too. And they're quite expensive. A tram trip into town is the equivalent of $3.10 each way (times 4 for our family). A taxi ride starts at about $8 and goes up from there. Restaurant meals are also expensive. The cheapest so far was a sandwich and Coke at Trinity College's Buttery (cafeteria), for about $7.50. A real meal starts at about $20 for lunch, $30 for dinner (again, multiply by 4).

But, surprisingly, grocery store prices are about like at home. So, again, having a house is wonderful. We're even packing peanut butter sandwiches for some lunches, saving our restaurant budget for meals we can really enjoy. Two restaurants I recommend are Cafe Bleu and Harry's Cafe, both on Dawson Street. Both offer 2-course menus with wonderful options like fish cakes and salad with "rocket" (arugula).

Still waaay out -- Dublin, Ireland - weather

When we arrived in Dublin a week ago, it felt like Colorado weather -- sunny, cool, breezy. Everyone here said this was unusual. Fair-skinned Irish natives thronged into the parks to soak up the sun. By evening those fair skins were all sunburned.

Yesterday we understood this passion for the sun. The weather turned blustery and downright cold. We got soaked to the skin walking a few blocks, despite rain gear and umbrellas. Who would have thought we'd need to turn on heat in June?

Today is cloudy, but without the blasting winds. And we're totally spoiled by vacationing in a house. Having four bedrooms, several bathrooms, a stocked kitchen, and a washing machine are a whole lot better than cramming into a hotel room.

Despite the weather we visited Malahide Castle. It's supposedly the most haunted castle around, but no ghosts showed up during our tour. A family lived there 700+ years, with the last one leaving in the 1970s -- can you imagine? In America we think a 30-year house is old!

Out of the south (waaay out) - Newgrange, Ireland

My family is on vacation, participating in a house-swap with a family from Dublin, Ireland. Today we visited Newgrange, just north of Dublin. An incredible place. A thousand years before the pyramids or Stonehenge, built a sacred mound/burial site/astronomical observatory here.

The stones were transported from dozens of miles away, and the central passageway has stood without collapsing (without even water getting inside!) for all these years. The stone interior is covered by huge amounts of dirt, and so it looks like a grassy, stone-edged acre-sized mound from a distance.

I entered a lottery to win a ticket to come back for the winter solstice, to see the sunrise illuminate the passageway all the way to the center of the mound. Think I'll win?