Travelogue
Friday, October 14, 2011
Having recently returned from a 10-day trip to the Republic of Ireland (my first trans-Atlantic sojourn), I am struck by how little I actually had known or appreciated about the Green Isle. A history that dates back to before the Egyptian pharaohs, the important role its monks played helping western civilization recover from the dark ages, and the still quite unsettled and abrasive status of separation from the six counties comprising Northern Ireland.
Even the first brewing of Guinness stout predates our Declaration of Independence and, contrary to the belief of some, is and has been served cold for a long time. I personally verified that at every stop along our way.
The old and new came together when we stopped to see some “beehive huts." We had to cross land belonging to an 80-year old woman, Mary, who charged two euros for passage. She invited us into her home where a photograph of a New York firefighter helping at the Twin Towers on 9/11 was displayed - her son-in-law. Happily, he had survived.
The music, the warmth and good humor of the people despite challenging economic times, the seafood, and an occasional rainbow that gave some purpose to the rainy days, combined to welcome the traveler as family. It is good to get far away from time to time.
- Posted by David Myers
