truth18 wrote:Wait what 15th? Your family seriously is from County Cork? So is the only Irish/Caucasian part of mine.
My great-great grand father was Irish (a doctor in the Caribbean and through a bunch of Internet forum research, my mom actually found our family there (Lougheed, his name, is somewhat unique) and is in concact with them.
That's SO weird, man. **** County Cork what a coincidence. I will def watch that.
There is a guy in the town from our family who looks lot like me only white lol. In general they seem like good people. Apparently a lot of us (distant relatives) ended up in Canada as well.
Amy advice on visiting? I have some playwright friends in Dublin who will probably drive down with me, but is there anything specific I should hit up in the county? Or nearby?
Dublin's cool, but a lot like every other Major European City IMO, it was pretty generic for your average global city, outside of the major mall there charging you to go to the can---that was new (for me). If you visit Ireland, Dublin's about the last place to checkout IMO. I don't want to sound like I dislike it, it's just the closest thing to home there. Didn't partake in the nightlife in Dublin, though--- stayed in a new, yet to open, hotel about 30 mins out... right near the oldest pub in Europe, supposedly (they played country music).
If you get the chance to check out Trinity College though, I'm sure your Irish local friends will get bored of it fairly quickly, but it felt like dipping into Hogwarts for a bit. Your in downtown Dublin, near the heart of the city, and you meander through these huge double doors and all of a sudden your in the middle of picturesque Academia--- I've lived near Harvard literally my entire life, and I would never use that kind of description for Harvard--- this was, different. If your in the city, it's worth 20 mins of your time.
I walked around the Guinness brewery, even got in line like I was gonna take the damn tour, but from the Swedes I talked to, It wasn't worth the price of admission (pics in front of St James gate are readily available for free, brewery's like 8 blocks deep).. I was walking around the other side of the city and some seedy guy ushered me and the old man into some seedy bar--- turns out it was the temp location for the Jameson distillery.. they give you about a 10 minute documentary on Jameson, but they pay you in 2+ shots of whiskey. Totally worth it, but with the distillery back in place and more than likely handing over their product a bit more precociously--- I can't speak to the current state of the tour.
First night I spent in the country was in Galway, which has the reputation of being the young person's city of Eire--- rumbling brooks roar through the city, magnificent churches (the kind you don't regret visiting, no Catholic guilt involved) and generally a great place to get plastered (+ I got lucky).
Belfast, while not technically in the country
, is the most politically oriented city I've ever been to and while I'm certainly not a well traveled man, Belfast is completely fascinating--- I've never seen so much City-approved political "street art." At the time, they had these murals of George W hovering (in menacing fashion) over Cuba, not something you'd see at home. Kind of one of those "stupid American" moments, you know? Where you realize people actually give a crap about politics elsewhere. Figuring out whether to pay in sterling vs. Euros is kind of a bitch--- as a parking attendent downtown told me (after asking how to pay in Euros), "Nothing in Belfast is easy,"
The most interesting things were outside of the cities. The Ring of Kerry was like dipping into the Lord of the Rings--- we started our trek of it a bit late and once it's dark, the beauty is lost on you, so I only got about half of the experience... so plan accordingly.
Inch Beach was cool, my old man told me some famous-ish movie was shot there, but the cool part was actually getting there--- driving through these huge valleys occupied by nothing but sheep is a certain tranquility I have yet to replicate stateside... and my grandma's an OG Vermonter (g-parents met at UVM), so I've been through the Gauntlet w/ the Beyond Ben & Jerry's experience of VT. I've jumped off 30+ foot bridges in rural Vermont and it's nothing like the beauty of those valleys in rural Ireland.
I'm sure I've left out a few important things, so follow-up PMs are welcome. I visited Ireland in the "down season" (february) and it was surprisingly not ishtty (+ cheap!)--- it would get kind of damp and dreary everyday at some point (w/ brief "showers," more like "prevalent dampness"), but I'd trade it for Winter here any day... including Philly's winters, as I've been down there around this time of year.
P.S. Little known fact, Ireland has a crapload of palm trees. Now, these may not scientifically be palm trees, probably some cousin of palms, idk... but you & I look at these things and the first thing your thinking is, "Holy F, are those Palm Trees in Ireland??" In my cousins yard, along the coast---- just craploads of palm trees.
EDIT: Gotta check out the Cliffs of Moher, depending on how far a trek it is for you (not much to actually do there), but the
view is amazing. Winds were so strong up there that they actually bent the door of our Peugeot backwards. We pretty much got out, dicked around for 15 mins and left, so not worth spending a day to hunt down or anything.
great to see where you all come form and what you are about.
