As promised, this is the first of eleven videos about our trip to Ireland. The trip began when we flew into Dublin and stayed two nights. One day only gave us enough time to walk the city center, see the Dublinia Museum, Christ Church, the Temple Bar district, and I saw the Art Gallery while my husband did more city walking. Unfortunately, it rained the whole day which made it a messy way to see Dublin. Still, we got a good feel for the city and I loved it.
What makes Ireland so special, besides the beauty, are the people. They are friendly, curious, helpful, good-natured and good-humored, warm, casual, and love to talk to you, especially in the pubs. Everywhere we went, I was in a conversation with someone within 5 minutes in a pub. All it took was one question about the food or the weather or where to find live music and that began a three-hour conversation. I learned a lot about the politics, the medical system, immigration, the economy, culture, history and language. Their humor was so refreshing too. For instance, I was asking a woman on the bus where Gardner Street was and she happily told me. Then when the bus stopped suddenly I almost hit my head on the rail, and without skipping a beat, she said, “Oh, and you’ll find the hospital that way,’ with a mischievous grin on her face. Another time a man was cleaning up a terrible mess on the table next to me and looked at me and commented, “I’m too old for this. I need to get a job that’s not so hard…like fire-eating.” I loved every minute of my time with the Irish people. I literally fell in love with them.
Here’s my first video of Ireland: Dublin. You’ll see the Dublinia Museum in the video which focused on Irish history, primarily starting with the Vikings and ending in Medieval times. It was a little hokey but also very interesting. The Irish music could be found everywhere every night and we took advantage of that fact.
This second video contains a song and conversation in Gaelec (Gallic) or Irish. Notice how it’s part Nordic, part Germanic, part Latin, and even has some sounds you find in Native American language and Arabic (at least that’s what I hear but I’m not a linquist). Anyway, I found the language fascinating. They had an exhibit at Dublinia which allowed you to hear German (or the Germanic language of the time), Latin, Gaelic, French and English from the 1300′s. Both my husband and I were stunned by how similar the languages sounded 700 years ago. Even English had the gutteral sounds you can find in German, Arabic or French today.
May 27th, 2012 at 6:41 pm
Enjoyed them both, especially the pub music and the explanation by the man in the second video. I love to listen to Gallic and when he was speaking it sounded Dutch also. Great how languages evolve and take on words and aspects of others. Thanks for the posting.
May 29th, 2012 at 9:15 am
Dublin’s a lively city, the best places can sometimes be the less traveled, a nice pub like Neary’s where your more apt to find some space and a proper Guinness.
The music performers were nice especially the young lady who was quite good on the whistle. For day trips from Dublin you sometimes can take a bus to Johnny Foxes for good food and entertainment, or travel throughout he village of Enniskerry for a more relaxed day off from the city, your trip makes me jealous,
Cheers,
Brian
May 29th, 2012 at 9:27 am
Thanks for the tips, Brian. I’ll keep them because I definitely plan to be back to Dublin and the West/South Coasts again. I love Ireland and the Irish people! Cynthia
September 2nd, 2012 at 7:08 pm
I really enjoyed watching your videos. I’m heading over in two weeks and can’t wait to explore Dublin and the South West.
September 2nd, 2012 at 7:34 pm
Have a great trip, Wanderlust Megan. Ireland is at the top of my list of favorite countries for now and the people are definitely the BEST! Enjoy your trip. Cynthia
September 3rd, 2012 at 6:37 pm
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