Our Irish pilgrimage

Ireland, where do I start? From the moment we got in the cab and checked into the hotel, we were greeted by the friendliest people you can imagine. Our first night in Dublin was spent at a "traditional Irish house party". Of course, it was a tourist's version, but stlll a lot of fun. For those who have seen the movie "Once" that we've been evangelizing for a couple of years, they have a house party scene where friends gather and everyone is expected to sing, dance or otherwise entertain the group. We simulated this pretty well. I shocked Sue by volunteering for the Irish dancing portion of the night. Sue shocked me back by not volunteering along with me. Two members of the audience also got up and sang solo for the group which was very authentic.

We did the mandatory Guinness brewery and Jameson distillery tours in Dublin and of course hit a good sampling of pubs with Irish music. Although after they mixed in two Simon Garfunkel songs and a John Denver song, we realized that the musicians were likely tired of singing Molly Malone ("Alive, alive oh!") and other classics. There wasn't a Danny Boy in sight. Unlike Rome where they would sell out their Nona for a buck, the Irish were more discerning in what they played.

As great as Dublin was, we set off for the authentic part of our Irish trip. We rented a Mini, complete with manual transmission and headed 3 hours across country to Galway Bay. When offered an automatic car for 10 Euro more, Sue was quick to point out that stickshifting with your left hand was part of the adventure. I agreed and didn't regret it until the first roundabout only a few hundred meters into the journey. Actually, we did great driving. As always, it was the tension around navigating and missing exits that caused the volume inside the car to rise. We were quite smug in our ability to drive a standard on the "wrong" side of the road.

Checking into a B&B in Galway was the first indication we were about to experience authentic Ireland. As we sat in our first pub, Tig Coulis, and listened to traditional Irish music, Sue made a smiling comment to the 60 year old local sitting next to us at the bar. Well, he lit up like a molotov cocktail and starting telling us his life story. Ok, he wasn't exactly making eye contact with me, but in case I haven't mentioned it before, Sue is big with the over 60 crowd. It's always fun to hear an interesting memoir over a free Guinness courtesy of the local and Sue's smile.

The next day we headed out for a driving tour of the countryside (Connemara). We were met immediately by a rugged beauty dotted with sheep. The countryside is rocky the way Saskatchewan is flat. Clearly no fruit or vegetable would grow on this land, but for some reason, blue and red sheep roamed quite free. Ok, they weren't actually blue sheep, but they were all spray painted with colourful spots. We were told later that the colour let the farmer spot his sheep in the midst of a rocky countryside. Add sheep farmer to the list of jobs off limits to the colour blind.

The country is also where the driving got more interesting. The roads were very narrow, even for a Mini, and it was fairly common to hear Sue scream as the brush rubbed up against the left side of the car while I veered away from the center line. And yes, when Sue took over the driving, I screamed at a slightly higher pitch than she had.

Nearing the end of our 5 hour countryside tour, we decided to cap off our Sunday drive with a stop at a small village pub for a pint of Guinness with the locals. When we entered, we found a couple of dozen 22 year olds on day three of a Stag for one of boys. They had been drinking since Friday evening but couldn't have been friendlier. Instead of keeping to themselves, they starting chatting with us, asking about our story. It turned out two of the guys were heading to Toronto in December to look for work. I've never heard Toronto called "brilliant" so many times. The recession has really hit Ireland hard, and I couldn't help but think we were reliving a bygone era of emigration in Ireland.

The groom-to-be was dressed in this superhero costume and was a real character. The outfit allowed him to stick memorabilia down his shirt and he wasn't shy about collecting items from their pub tour. We watched as he added to the collection by pouring a dish full of sugar and salt packets down his shirt... followed by the dish and salt shaker. He insisted on giving Sue a gift and fished out a light bulb. We couldn't accept.

We'll miss the people, the Guinness, the fish and chips, the Irish stew and the music. Ireland is brilliant.

Slainte!