5 Days Left

The first day I was in Ireland was a busy one, Damien White made sure of it. I woke up before 8 so we could get on the road by 8:15. Now, I’ve been overseas for a week now and it’s time I can relax and deflate a bit. So I did. I had an anxiety attack during breakfast, I think having the realization that I’m really doing this, that I’m with people who know members of my family more than me. It was a bit overwhelming. But after I calmed down, I was good for the rest of the day.

We went to Bunratty Castle which was built in the 1400s and was different from Alnwick. For one, no one lives here. It’s kept as a tourist attraction, but it’s very dark and small. A big American like me was not meant for that kind of castle. We learned Irish history and explored most of it on our own. We walked up two towers and saw the Shannon River and the surrounding lands. It was drizzling, but that didn’t keep my awe down. As one can see in my pictures, there were lots of different clocks all around. I took pictures because I’m interested in the construct of time and want to know more about when we started caring and adhering to clocks. Anyway...

The lands also have reconstructed homes from different areas of the Irish countryside. There were lower, middle, and upper farmhouses. They ranged from a one room building with a leaky roof to a four bedroom house with one bedroom being up in a loft. Damien even stoked a fire in one house. A fiddler came by and played some jolly tunes, which gathered an audience. We checked out the schoolhouse which wasn’t unlike the one Damien grew up attending. They recreated a Georgian townfront and we walked those cobbled roads. We finished our morning there and headed west.

Our next destination was the Cliffs of Moher, but we had to get through the country first. We stopped at a pub and had a small lunch. We stopped and took pictures of towers (Damien could tell you if they were Norman or not by their windows). We made our way to Fenore beach. Some ridiculous people were in wet suits and surfing. It was really windy by now, but thankfully no rain. I was bold and ran into the Atlantic barefoot. I’ve now put my right foot in the east coast of England and my left in the west coast of Ireland. I stood above the British Isles.

After many winding roads through the countryside and along the coast we made it to the cliffs. They were HUGE. They were GORGEOUS. It was sunshiny and mild. We walked both sides to see the different views. This was a goal of my trip and it couldn’t have been better conditions for it. We watched a video in the visitors’ center about the wildlife around here. I didn’t know dolphins came this far north! Puffins, humpback whales, gulls, and seals are common at the Cliffs of Moher. It was so bright with the sun reflecting off the Atlantic. It was perfect.

Yesterday was my chill day. It was raining all day, so I slept late and watched tv all day. I got educated in Irish media by watching all the first season of Derry Girls, an episode of Fawlty Towers, and Fr Ted. Damien and Catherine’s grandkids came over and I talked to them for a bit. They’re both under the age of 10 and love superheroes. It was nice meeting and talking to Peter, their dad. He said I remind him of my cousin Lynn. We chatted lots with his father: politics, books, movies. No subject was left untouched. It was nice meeting the infamous Whites.

My last day in Ireland, we packed up in the morning and headed to Dublin for the day. Damien and I showed up first, so we went to the Collins Barracks branch of the National Museum of Ireland. Got to learn lots of Irish military history. I didn’t know how involved the Irish were in almost every war, including the American Civil War (on both sides). Saw a beautiful exhibit on Irish clothes the last 250 years. I always find it amazing how long fabric can last. Many of these pieces were intricate and gorgeous. At the turn of the century I recognized the styles from Downton Abbey. That museum was a labyrinth and it took me forever to get back to the Whites. I found them and we left to take the tram.

They wanted to show me how the tram worked, so we rode to the end of the line. They were telling me how Dublin wasn’t this industrialized 30 years ago. It’s grown so fast. We rode through the financial district and got off near Trinity College. We wandered the streets full of tourists, weaving in and out of crowds. I hate it when giant groups of people stop in the middle of the walkway. We walked around Trinity College and their daughter had attended it. We checked out a museum then went to my favorite part of this stay: the Book of Kells and the Library. It’s huge and gorgeous and wooden and smells of so many old books. The Book of Kells was beautiful and amazing. It’s the gospels written before 900 AD in Ireland. There’s so many details and the lettering is like calligraphy. It’s old and it’s important. Damien and Catherine has never been, but they loved it. How could they have missed it before?

I’m waiting on my plane to take me back to England. I’ve enjoyed my stay with the Whites and I can’t wait to see them again!