Last night we actually slept for the longest time since we
began this journey. I will apologize for my writing of before. At least two of
the nights, I don’t remember writing or what I wrote about. I was so sleep
deprived forming a sentence seemed impossible. So this morning we woke after
getting enough sleep to sunny skies again. We have been blessed with sunny
weather most of our time in Ireland. We had our breakfast and headed out for
the day.
Sam and I have been was trying to imagine how busy this city
must be in peak tourist season. The sidewalks now are very crowded with people
from all over the world. Standing in one place, you can hear at least three
different languages not counting English in some form. Sam and I try to have
contests to see if we can guess the language, every so often. He has the
advantage since he has actually spoken to people who speak some of the other
languages. I will say that he loses at times because he usually will say he
thinks it is Russian. I have heard Russian before and it doesn’t ever sound
like Russian, but if you know Sam, he will say he is right, even if he
discovers he is wrong. The one thing we both agree on is that people are
people. It doesn’t seem to matter what language you speak, or where you are
from, when it comes down to it, everyone is the same where ever you go.
Our first stop we went to was the Jameson Distillery. I was
kind of excited for this as I like whiskey and love to learn how things are
made. I had some insider information for this tour. They pick volunteers to
have a whiskey tasting in each group. I was told to look enthusiastic and raise
my hand. I made Sam line up early so we could be in the front. Being rather
short in stature, I needed to be up front so the guide could see me raise my
hand. It wouldn’t do me any good to be enthusiastic if I couldn’t be seen. What
I didn’t realize was that we would be led into a theater to watch a short film.
So the plan to be in front had to be reworked on the spot. Luckily I can thing
fast on my feet, so I marched to the front row before anyone else could get there
and sat in the A seats. Being the girl on this trip, I also use my pretend
secret powers. My blond hair and big green eyes do come in handy sometimes.
When the guide asked for volunteers I raised my hand and rewarded with the
coveted green tube. There are eight tubes given out and I was lucky to receive
one. He never came back to the front row. We went through the tour and at the
end was the tasting. You get a free shot with the tour and the tasters get to
taste three different kinds of whiskey and compare them. It was very
interesting to see the differences. I have decided that Jameson Whiskey is the
best among them. For my participation I received a certificate stating I am an official
whiskey taster.
After that we went to Christ Church and actually went in. It
was beautiful, but does not compare to the beauty of the Italian churches. We
went through the crypt and learned about the history of the church. It was fascinating
to learn that the church was only partly original. It had been restored and
redone in the 1800’s. Much of the design was changed and you can see evidence
of the different times of the building of it by looking at the arches. It was
started in the Romanesque period with the round arches and finished in the
Baroque period with the pointed arches.
After that we walked around just looking at things. Sam
would quiz me on where we were and we were both surprised to see that I could
find my way back to the hotel. You see, I get lost in parking lots all the
time. When I come out of a store I always stop and let whoever is with me find
the car. Dublin is set up in a way that makes it easy to navigate around in. We
went back to St Stephen’s Green (I always call it St James Green, maybe that
was his brother?)We love this park and it must be a favorite for many others as
well, as there are always many people in this park. We watched a family feeding
the seagulls that frequent this park. Irish seem to have more respect for these
birds and we found out tonight for the magpies as well.
After that we went and found a few souvenirs. Sam wanted a
shirt or sweat pants and we searched several store to find him one that he
liked. We came back to the hotel and got ready for the farewell dinner we had
be looking forward to.
Our farewell dinner had been suggested by one of Sam’s
coworkers. She felt that it should be added to their tour and wanted Sam to
check it out. It takes place at the Brazen Head Pub. This is Dublin’s oldest
pub. It was opened in the 12th century. We got there early and went
in and had a pint in the bar. We decided that the Guinness tastes better in
Ireland and that we both really liked it here. After our pint, we went up to
the second floor to our table. Seated at our table was a mom and daughter from
upstate New York, and husband and wife from Calgary, two friends from Tennessee
(one had relocated to Texas), and another mom and daughter from New Hampshire.
Everyone at our table was friendly and we talked and shared stories.
The presenter was a storyteller. He was originally a tour
guide and studied the legends at the colleges. He started the evening out by
talking about the history of the Irish potato famine. It was interesting to
hear about it from a native. We learned quite a bit from him. We then got our
starters and ate those. After we finished that, he came back in and started
talking about the legend of the faeries. I love to hear the folklore and tales
of different cultures. This is what I had been missing in Ireland. It is a
beautiful country and the people are nice, but I wanted to be exposed to the culture.
Not the touristy culture, nor the drinking culture, but the tales they told
their children. He talked about the fairy trees and fairy forts. He told of the
good faeries and the bad faeries. He really made you feel like you were part of
their inner group. We then got our main course and while we ate, we had traditional
Irish music performed by two musicians. The fiddle the lady was playing was
from the 1700’s and she played it beautifully. When they were done and the desert
was served, out storyteller came back in and talked of how important the spoken
word was to Ireland and the tales they have. They were different from other
cultures in that they did record these stories, but they were told by the
families usually in the winter. They encourage everyone to tell a story or sing
a song. He made you realize how important these stories are and how the same
stories were told by different cultures all over the world with their own interpretations.
This was the Ireland I was looking for. The culture in the
stories, music, food and laughter. This is what makes the places real to us.
The Guinness’s and Jameson’s are fun, but the people make it real. And that is
what I will miss about Ireland.
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