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Last Updated: 03. Mai 2000
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Ireland
The Emerald Isle with "Forty Shades of Green"
Arriving on the Ferry
The Irish People
The Magic Road
Blarney Castle
Ring of Kerry
County Westmeath
Dublin
Arriving on the Ferry
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We had the "luck of the Irish" with all the ferry rides. We did not have a long waiting time for a ferry and we typically arrived just prior to departing. This is significant because there are only 2 or 3 ferries per day. There is no comparison between Washington State Ferry System and the ferries between France and England or between England and Ireland. The ferry ride between France and England is almost two hours long whereas the ferry ride between England and Ireland is almost 4 hours long. The Irish ferries are quite impressive. The ferry has duty free stores, decent fast food places like McDonald's or an international cafeteria, play areas for children, comfy cushioned chairs and even a cinema. After Erika played for a while, we watched "Prince of Egypt". Then we had an early dinner of fish and chips since it was a 2-hour drive before we got to the nearest campground.
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The Irish People
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All the Irish people that we met were very friendly. In fact, Chris thought that I disappeared at the first campground. Maybe, one of the wee people took me! Actually, I was talking with the owner for about 45 minutes.
That's another funny story. We called the campground before we arrived at the ferry dock in Ireland. So fortunately, the owner was expecting us because it took much longer to drive to Carrick-on-Suir then we expected. It was late when we arrived and the reception desk for the campground was closed. We stopped at the first mobile home but discovered that it was not the owner of the campground. Those people directed us to the reception office. The owner asked his son to watch and wait for us, so when the owner's son saw a camping van waiting outside the campground gate, he approached us from the house across the street. It reminds me of a small community with a great neighborhood watch system. So, the owner's son opened the campground gate for us and directed me to his father's (the owner's) house. Chris did not see where I disappeared to and he did not know whether we had a campsite for the night, so he was a bit concerned. All he could do was to wait. When I finally appeared from behind the hedges, he was very relieved to see me and obviously to hear that we had a campsite for the night. During our 45-minute conversation, the owner and I discussed many things, where we live in America, my Irish heritage, his Irish heritage, the local town of Carrick-on-Suir, the Irish pubs, and the beautiful Irish countryside and history. While we talked, the owner told me about County Cork, the Magic Road, and the Blarney Castle. Many Irish people have the "gift of gab" but only a few have the true gift of eloquent speech. The owner of the campground informed me that it was necessary to kiss the Blarney Stone many times before receiving the gift of eloquent speech. If fact, the owner has kissed the Blarney Stone many times. Perhaps that explains why the Irish speak so much, they have all kissed the Blarney Stone many times!
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The Magic Road
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The next day we followed the campground owner's directions to the Magic Road. We first needed to find the cow road gate and then the two fairy trees. After we found those landmarks, the remaining directions were to put the car in neutral and remove your foot from the brake and then the car will go backwards at a speed of 25 kilometers per hour. It really worked! With his scientific nature, Chris tried to figure out how it happened. He took his level out and tried to determine if the "level road" was actually a slight hill. In other words, did the surrounding landscape create an optical illusion. Chris decided that it must be an optical illusion.
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Blarney Castle
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On the same day, we drove to Blarney Castle in County Cork. There is an old Irish folklore that if you kiss the Blarney Stone that is located at the top of Blarney Castle, then you will have the gift of eloquent speech. In reality, if you are Irish, you may only have the gift of gab. Well, since I heard this tale told from the time I was knee high to a buzzard, then I had to go and kiss the Blarney Stone. So we climbed the hundreds of steep and narrow steps to the top of Blarney Castle. Then each one of us bent over backwards to kiss the Blarney Stone.
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Ring of Kerry
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To experience the 40 shades of green, blue, and gray in Ireland, we drove around the Ring of Kerry in southwestern Ireland. During this trip, we realized that Ireland is actually a very colorful place. Each Irish village has very colorful houses painted in bright middle tone colors from kelly green to goldenrod to muddy pink and then to red orche. It was delightful and very picturesque. Ireland's weather is much like the Pacific Northwest - it rains a lot. If it's raining, then just wait a short while and it will be sunny again. If it's sunny, then just wait a short while and it will rain again. We saw many beautiful rainbows as we drove through the countryside and imagined many pots of gold and wee ones at the end of the rainbow. While we were driving in northern France, we also saw many rainbows. In fact, we could almost see the rainbow in a nearby field. We could almost touch it!
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County Westmeath
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We drove through this valley looking for information about the Martin family. The families of both my grandmother and grandfather are from County Westmeath. All the tourist centers were closed because it was not tourist season yet. The drive through the county was very picturesque and colorful. We did find a framed postcard with the Martin family shield. The motto of the Martin family is "My help is from the Lord". We also discovered that the Martins were one of the "14 tribes of Galway". The Martins owned 200,000 acres in Connemara with an avenue of 30 miles to Ballynahinch Castle.
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Dublin
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We visited Trinity College to see the Book of Kells and the National Museum to see an exhibit about Viking ships. Both exhibits were informative about early Irish history. The Book of Kells dates from around 800 A.D. and is one of the oldest books in the world. It is an excellent example of an illuminated manuscript. Trinity College has a museum that explains the techniques involved in making the book that include grinding stones into various pigments, the paper making process and bookbinding. There are short videos to explain the technical details of the process. Trinity College also has a good description of the meaning of the various religious symbols that are used throughout the book. The illustrations are very detailed and appear to be very laborious and time-consuming. The monks were skillful artists and craftsmen who produced an inspirational masterpiece devoted to God's word.
The National Museum of Ireland has many good exhibits that focus on early Irish history including a detailed explanation about the Viking influence on the Emerald Isle. There was a special exhibit about Viking ships and the museum provided a worksheet for elementary students. So, Erika had to search for the answers at the various stations of the exhibit.
On our way back, we took 2 ferries and drove a long way back to Kaiserslautern. In fact, it took about 2 1/2 days for the return trip. It was fun and I think that we found some of the roots of our Anglo-Saxon and Irish culture throughout England and Ireland.
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Die Fotogalerie von der Irland
You can contact us by email to either Chris or Pat.
We will try to respond as soon as possible.
See you all later.
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