Ireland
This holiday season, my family and I have taken our first ever, exciting and adventurous trip to the British Isles. We started out in Ireland, getting a taste of what the small, yet incredible country had to offer. After four days, around 1000 pictures, and a yearning to go back already, here's a taste of the bits of Ireland we saw.
When I was about thirteen, my mom showed me one of those PBS fundraising programs. It was four Irish guys and one Scottish man singing their hearts out as they covered some traditional songs from those isles up north. Something about those songs and the joy of seeing them performed caught my attention. And thus, my obsession with Ireland began.
Lots of maps were used, lots of cobblestone streets were walked on.
And we met people with their wonderful Irish accents. This man made me laugh as he stood staring at a sign that said "PLEASE KEEP OFF LAWNS." A few minutes later he came up to me and laughingly explained how in his childhood of constantly being told what to do, he vowed to always break the rules when he grew up. That's the spirit I'd like to head into adulthood with.
We also visited a church that was renovated into a bar and casually had a beer next to a statue of a reverend. Just as contrasting ideas make a good narrative in art, a bar in the center of a traditional church was quite a sight and a quality stereotype of Ireland.
In the center of Dublin, there was a park with trails and a small pond with seagulls and swans, bringing extra peace and transporting visitors away from the busy streets.
We got to see views from castle windows, where buildings of stone meet the hills of green, where hills of green meet the misty rolling fog.
We stood in the humongous medieval book collection in a crazy beautiful room.
Due to my slight obsession with Ireland and the ability to zoom into small town with google maps because technology is crazy, I found a town in rural Ireland named Palatine, also the name of our hometown in Illinois. So we visited, I ran their roads for the fun of it, and we got a few stares from people wondering why a family of tourists were taking pictures on their little streets.
A few miles outside Palatine, we explored the ruins of a thirteenth century church.
It's kind of surreal realizing that 800 years ago is so long ago, but still not that far in the grand scheme of creation.
Coming from Chicago, where you drive two hours and see mostly corn fields, it's also surreal to drive two hilly hours from Dublin and seeing the Cliffs of Moher with their rhythm and their form.
All these surreal scenes make it hard to process the last few days,
but I made sure to take the complimentary bags of Irish Breakfast Tea, so when I make it back home, I can sit, recompose, and let the tea jog these memories.
Until then, we will make our way to Scotland. Bagpipes, beer, and Scottish Breakfast Tea.~kj