Irish Sea & Irish Countryside
Since Obama came into town today, most of downtown Dublin was barricaded to automobile traffic, and so we took the coach to the Irish Sea. Even in the cloudy weather, the ocean was a turquoise-green color. We stopped at Fourtyfoot, where a lot of Irish people go swimming. A good part of Jame's Joyce's Ulysses takes place here. Today was the windiest day I've ever experienced in my entire life. There were several times when i had to hold the cap of my hat, hold onto my scar, and try not to get blown off a cliff. On our country drive I save a greater variety of architecture, even Italian-style homes. If I hadn't known it was cold and windy, I would have thought we were in a much warmer place. I can't really think of a time when I saw the Oregon Coast on a completely sunny day, so maybe my perceptions are skewed.
We drove out to some Irish "mountains" that really seemed more like tall, steep hills. Only one mountain was tiny. Our tour guide said the tallest mountain in Ireland is 3000 feet high. I'm pretty sure the Three Sisters in Oregon are at least twice that high, if not moreso. Mount Hood is around 11,000, I think.
The Irish grow Christmas trees as cash crops and exports them to England and Germany. Sound familiar to anyone back home? I also learned that purple-flowered rhododendrons grow wild here, so much so that people consider them weeds. Braveheart and P.S. I Love You were filmed here in Whidlock.
Monastery of Glendelock
Our tour guide led us on a tour of a monastery's ruins. I love ruins. Is that weird? They have to be outdoor ruins though. The British Museum just didn't quite cut it for me. The monastery was built over 1,000 years ago. If a criminal could get through the gates and touch the holy stone, they would have refuge in the monastery for one year and one day. People believed that if they were buried in churches they would go to heaven the quickest. I also learned that St. Patrick converted the Irish without any martyrs. He had Bible stories carved on Celtic crosses.
After lunch I spent most of my hike to the lakes trying to keep up with our tour guide. She walks super fast.
Dublin--Obama's visit
As soon as we got back to our hotel I went with a group to go and see Obama speak. We couldn't get within a block of the stage because of the barricades, but we really lucked out when it came to the procession routes. No police officer would give a definite answer on the best place to see or hear him, so we just guessed, and tried to get as close as we possibly could. We couldn't hear the stage at all, but we got to see the press and several vehicles of secret service unload near the backstage entrance. We were dropping our jaws when we finally saw the formation of Irish police on motorcycles escorting the president's limo and a decoy limo. All of us were so shocked that none of us got a good picture of Obama waving at us. That's as close as I've ever gotten to a president. It's pretty cool, regardless of how I feel about some of his policies. Like I said, we couldn't hear the speakers at all, so we tried to find a way back to the Hard Rock Cafe, only to find out that our entire block was barricaded. We were stuck, so we did what a lot of Irish people were doing, and dropped in on a pub to listen to the speech on television. So many people filled the pub that I couldn't get past the doorway.
It was cool to see how the Irish reacted to Obama's speech. It was mostly about his Irish heritage, and the common ground between Ireland and America. Maybe it's a good thing to look for a common ground, not just differences. I didn't hear it because of a fussy baby nearby, but Obama ended his speech by saying "Yes we can" in Gaelic.
To see Obama's speech in Dublin: click here and here . Unfortunately, it's not the best quality video, but it's the best I could find of the entire speech.
As Obama left, he rode down the street we spilled onto, as we waited for the barricades to lift. I switched my camera to sports mode and snapped 5 pictures above the crowds even though I couldn't see very well. The guys in our group had to tell me when to snap a picture, there were so many cameras, arms, and hands in the way. This time I got a picture where you can actually make out Obama's head and his hand as he's waving.
Hard Rock Cafe--Dublin
We barely made it back on time to our reservation at the Hard Rock Cafe. I normally don't order burgers at restaurant,s but their group menu didn't offer many other choices. Surprisingly the cheeseburger I had was pretty good, as well as the appetizers. My favorite part was the chocolate ice cream. I've never had ice cream that tasted so much like fudge. Not even gelato captured the flavor so well.
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