Éire go brách

I spent this past weekend in Ireland, and it was a really great trip. Ireland was the one other place I had to get to before coming home, and I'm so happy I got the chance.

Ashley and I stayed in Dublin. It's a fun city. Although, apparently Galway is the place to go. Our tour guide couldn't say enough about it. But Dublin has its charms. It's really in touch with its heritage and culture, which I think is great. Overall, I got the impression that Dublin and Ireland in general is a very proud, patriotic place, which makes sense looking at its history.

I was pretty excited to find the statue of James Joyce. Ever since reading Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, he's been one of my favourite writers.

There's the statue of Molly Malone. To be honest though, I don't know who she is. But I do know she was a fishmonger.

We paid a visit to Kilmainham Goal. Intense place. And "kil" is actually an Irish word (the language is called Irish and not Gaelic as I thought) that means "church," which is why it appears so often in the names of places in Ireland, ie Kilkenny, Killarny, Kildare, etc.

The prison is made out of limestone, which was a bad idea because it retains moisture and cold. It's much colder inside than outside. The prison is famous for housing a lot of political prisoners, especially from the Easter Rising 1916 (see Yeats' Easter 1916). During the famine, there were prisoners as young as 12 who were imprisoned for stealing bread. It's a tragic place. Also incredibly intimidating.

I learned that the Irish flag is a sign of peace. The green is for those in favor of an independent Ireland, the orange for unity with England, and the white for peace connecting the two.

Saturday Ashley and I got up before the sun to go on the Paddywagon tour to the Blarney Castle. It was absolutely worth it.

We stopped briefly in Limerick, apparently nicknamed "stab city." No one really explained that one to us. But we got to see the River Shannon.

It takes about four hours to get to Blarney, so we made another stop a little further on in Adare. Adare is a small town the English particularly like. There's a golf course and a lot of English style houses. It's a really cute town.

The Blarney Castle is amazing. Going there was one of the best trips of my life. It's a small castle though with very narrow stairways, which are awkward for right handed people to walk up, but it was designed that way on purpose. Despite my dislike for small spaces and heights, the anxiety was well worth it. The castle itself is amazing to see. How often do you get to go inside a 15th century castle? And the views from the top are really beautiful.

I know the actual Blarney Stone is really just a tourist trap, but I was still excited to kiss it. It's a little scary to hang upside down like that, but how many people can say they've done it? So now I have the gift of gab (as if I really needed it). And did you know Winston Churchill kissed the stone?

Of course I made a pilgrimage to the Guinness factory. Honestly, it's slightly overrated, because you don't really get to see much of the process at all. It's more like a museum. But still cool. Guinness basically ran Ireland for a long time, and is still a huge force. Basically Guinness and whiskey distillers owned Dublin. They kept the churches and schools open during economic hardship. And I do enjoy a good Guinness, although it takes me forever to finish a pint because it's so intense. But Guinness is good for you. I swear left the storehouse smelling like Guinness.

Ireland is a great place to see, and I highly recommend it. The people are really friendly, and it's got a nice vibe to it.