An early summer trip to Ireland followed by time in New York City.... a lot of fun. Ireland was cold in mid June, but green and beautiful. It's rolling hills, quilt-like with fences made not by wood nor wire, but rather, green-growth bushes, makes for a unique pastoral beauty. Dublin is a large city with fine public transportation. With their Irish accents, the people are warm and helpful. "The Book of Kells" written in 800 A.D. was unique. Housed in famed Trinity College (which felt very much like we were in a Harry Potter book/movie) in Dublin's City Centre, this unique work of biblical art, influenced by Celtic culture & design, was worth seeing. Also, a unique Viking Tour of Dublin was worth our time. Unsuspectingly, we were allowed to go deep into underground crypts, seeing not only coffins, but leather skeletons. In fact, we were allowed to touch the hand of a Crusader. A train trip to southern Ireland's Cork region was especially fun. There on Ireland's southern coast we enjoyed a fine Museum "Queenstown Story" that highlighted the last place where the Titanic ship had taken on passengers: many of those 3rd class Irish immigrants featured in the movie. "Cove" is the English translation, from the Gaelic, for this little Celtic village with such rich history. Cork was also the site of Blarney Castle where the Blarney Stone was kissed, albeit lying down, head back and kissing this stone of historical significance, at the top of the castle. I was thankful for bars to hold onto as well as a man there that held me so that I wouldn't fall down, head first, to the ground so far below, where a beautiful garden lay; but dark, because it was a Poison Garden: all the plants growing therein were poisonous. Seems the keeper of the castle liked to have ready-available poisons in the event that an evening dinner guest ticked him off.
A fine meal with Irish music and storytelling was enjoyed one evening at Ireland's oldest pub, dating back to 1198. That my plundering & traveling Danish Viking ancestors may have been at this very pub back in the day was not lost on me. (I prefer to think that my Viking heritage is from one of the tribes that did not raid, but rather, stayed in Denmark where fishing for herring and agriculture pursuits were preferred over murder and theft. Of the 5 different Viking tribes, three were peaceful and opted to stay at home.) The Viking Splash land/water tour was a lot of fun too.
The River Liffey is a fine river that divides Dublin in two sections: the south side and the north side. I loved all the pedestrian bridges that span it, especially the "ha penny" (half penny) bridge. On a Sunday evening, (the sun didn't go down until 10:30) I took a nice walk thru a residential area and enjoyed unique plants and although very small, some very nice manicured yards. Irish wool mills were wonderful places to see hand woven sweaters. The country was strong financially in the 1990's, earning the nickname Celtic Tiger years. But now.... the country is experiencing extreme difficulties related to the worldwide economic recession beginning in 2007. Things are very, very expensive, and one pays, literally, for everything. To my surprise, they are dealing with an acute problem of Senior Citizen suicides. The country's economic problems have depleted the retirement accounts of the populace, and so those that had worked hard their entire lives are now left without retirement funds. This, understandably, has left them very bitter and angry. Also, religion, in general, is largely questioned. Bishops in the Catholic Church have been caught in lies and scandals leaving the populace distrusting and loathing religion. There is a faction of the population, in fact, that opts to relinquish all Christianity and return to the rites of the ancient Celts.
We enjoyed watching "hurling", on t.v. at nights. NOT the hurling game where my young daughters would fake throwing up, but rather, this most amazing competitive game where men compete in a kind of LaCrosse/Baseball/Soccer/Football sport. It is an amazing and wonderful sport. We really enjoyed this. It's fast paced, and requires great skill. Google it. Learn more about it. Hurling. A great game! One of my favorite parts of the trip was finding the Irish National Stadium and track where I was given permission to run at daily. It was a fine, fine track.
But....my favorite place to run is Central Park in New York, and it was there, upon our return that once again I ran over the many beautiful stone and wrought iron bridges and arches. For a unique treat to yourself, google these words: Bridges of Central Park, and then look at "images". What a fun place to run. We took in the opening night presentation of the ballet Cinderella by the American Ballet Company at Lincoln Center. I love that place. Yes, Broadway and the theater district where we stayed is always fun, Times Square is fun. But it is Lincoln Center where rich culture lives. We again attended a session at the Manhattan Temple across the street from Lincoln Center. I love how all the door handles there are brass motifs of the liberty torch on the Statue of Liberty. Simple, but very classy. And so being back in New York again was especially wonderful.
Be well. Do good.
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