Quick Impressions of Ireland

I'm planning to do some posting on our trip (yes, with photos!) on several topics over the next couple of weeks. Until then, here are some quick thoughts on our trip.

~The QG family does not handle jet lag well despite taking Ambien, drinking lots of water and following all the advice we get from well-traveled friends. We do fine flying home, but it seems to take us 3 days to recover when we fly east. This trip was no exception. Man (and woman) were not meant to cross several time zones in a few hours!

~Ireland is indeed green, green, green. See my photo taken at Galway Bay at left. This was not photo-shopped!

~A tourist would be forgiven for thinking that Ireland is an island of golf courses floating on a sea of Guiness Stout and Jameson Whiskey with more sheep than people. In fact I suggest the national anthem should be Bach's "Sheep May Safely Graze."

~The Irish people are incredibly welcoming and helpful to random tourists like ourselves. But the fact that the streets change names almost every block and there are very few street signs makes for confusion and frustration when trying to follow a map.

~Ireland was having its national election while we were there. El Jefe tried hard to get a grip on the issues by reading the local newspapers, but failed.

~Huge cranes litter the Dublin landscape as there is a tremendous building boom, fueled by the fact that Ireland is a member of the EU and has an educated work force that speaks English, the international language of business.

~The Taoiseach is the head of government (like a Prime Minister). This is pronounced Tea-Shock, a Celtic word meaning "chieftan." There was some kind of financial scandal surrounding the incumbent that was reminiscent of American politics. You had your Clintonesque head of state (Bernie Ahern, the longtime Taoiseach), your foreign influence peddler (a Brit in this case), your financial funny business and much posturing on all sides with the Irish press having a field day in the middle of it all. And the Irish people, like Americans, were utterly bored by all the fuss.

~The official language of Ireland is Irish Celtic and you see it everywhere. It's completely unrecognizable to those of us who are familiar with Germanic and Latin-based languages. Think Tolkein's Elvish and you get the idea. Babs learned that the Irish version of her real name is Sinead!

~Ireland is the most homogeneous population that I remember seeing anywhere. There are almost no Africans, Asians, or Arabs in evidence even in the capital city of Dublin. With their membership in the EU, this is going to change and no doubt the Irish Republic will have conflicts between diverse groups.

~As God is my witness, I will never fly tourist class across the Atlantic again. I can't get my long legs stuffed into those seats and was in utter agony by the time we landed. Poor Babs (our "shrimp" at a mere 5'10 1/2") has bruises all over her shins from the flights. El Jefe ( 6'5 1/2") is usually stoic about it, given the cost differential, but this time admitted that he was really miserable, too, and indulged in a major whinefest. Next time I will use those frequent flyer miles and try to upgrade. Thus spake Scarlett O'Grace.