Ireland, as I remember it
A couple of years ago my dad took me on a business trip to his favourite country - Ireland. He had appointments in Dublin, Cork and Belfast and so we rent a car and just started driving across the Island.
He had been here many times and he told me a lot about the country and it´s incredibly awesome people.
Here are some things I particularly remember:
Bloomsday
We arrived in Dublin about a week before bloomsday and everywhere you could see posters that announced the 16th of July, and as a foreigner you might have got the impression of a national holiday coming up - well, not exactly.
The Irish love their many famous writers, especially James Joyce. Actually they love him THAT much, they dedicated this certain day to the main character of Joyces novel Ulysses, Leopold Bloom. In his veeeeery weighty tome Joyce describes just one day, the 16th of July. (it is said that noone ever has read the entire novel and so far I haven´t met anyone who has ;)
Here is a picture of me in 2011
Colorful doors
Did you ever walk through Dublins streets? If so you might have recognised the colorful doors. Here's the story my dad told me: I cannot guarantee it is true, since he is a pretty good storyteller ;)
When Queen Victoria died in 1900 England ordered to paint all front doors visible black, as a sign of sorrow. The rebellous Irish, however, who wanted to do everything possible to enclose themselves from England, did the exact opposite - they painted their doors colorful.
Another version of this story is, that the doors were painted in different colors to help drunk people find their homes more easily ;)
B&B
During our trip we stayed at so called Bed & Breakfasts (B&B). This is a pretty popular thing in Ireland. Houses offer a room and Breakfast for people who stay a few nights in their town. I was amazed by the hospitality and kindness of all this people at whose houses we were staying. Staying at B&Bs is really cheap and a great way to get to know some of the really nice people there and to get to hear their storys. (My impression was that they were all really talkative ;)
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Gaelic
Even though not many Irish people do still speak Gaelic, it is Irelands official language (with English being a second official language). Road signs and signs in general are bilingual. Also, while in Dublin you will come across this phrase quite often, if you look around in gift shops. (Kiss my ass)
40 shades of green
If you come to Ireland there will be one dominating colour- green. Green, green and even more green. Beautiful landscapes, fresh, grassy meadows everywhere. Thats why it is said Ireland got forty shades of green ;) Johnny Cash adapted the term and made it a title of his song referring to Ireland.
