A Tale of Two Cathedrals

Not that any Irishman (or woman) need an excuse to go and have a drink but just in case the need ever arises they have conjured up a way to included God's approval, the ultimate trump card! There are two prominent families in Dublin, the Guinnesses and the Jamesons. The Guinnesses make beer and the Jamesons make whiskey. At one point in time Christ Church cathedral was in disrepair and the Guinness family spent an awful lot of money to get it back into shape. Not to be outdone the Jameson family decided that restoring churches was up their ally too. So, they paid for the repairs needed on St-Patrick's cathedral. Now, if you want to have a whiskey your ultimate excuse for doing so is that you are contributing to upkeep of St-Pat's. And, the ultimate excuse if you want to have a beer is that you're paying so Christ Church stays on the map.

So this is the Guinness church... errrrrrr... Christ Church cathedral

And, this is St-Patrick's cathedral.

Some more random photos because this is a pretty small post otherwise.

The new swivel bridge on the Liffey!

Answering once and for all the question "Why is Ireland called the Emerald Isle?"

 The cliffs of Moher on a nice day!

Yeah, you need to click on the pictures once again.

Celts and Vikings and Normans Oh My!

Ireland was an island peopled by the Celts since 3000bc. Before Ireland became known for it's pubs it was known for it's monasteries. Monasteries back then were not only places of worship, they were used more or less as banks. Someone with something of value would give it to a monastery for safekeeping. Which is why they where being knocked over and pillaged by the local kings and chieftans! The vikings hearing wind of this probably felt jealous of them and decided to stop pounding on the french (Normandy) for a time and see what all this irish gold and precious stuff was all about. They came and went for a time and after a while they liked it so much they decided to stay and they chose Dubh Linn (black pool) as their chief settlement. Of course that place is modern Dublin. Oh and then the Normans came. 

Lots of history in a nutshell, all that to show a few pictures!!! 

 

 This guy is called "Strongbow" like the cider. Actually the cider was named after him. His real name is Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke. He was a Cambro-Norman who took Ireland for England in the 1170's.

 

These are tent "poles". I like the horse design on them and thought that maybe I could carve something like it one day, so I took a picture as reference.

 

 These are combs made of bone and wood. I find the worksmanship remarkable given that these are over 800 years old.

 

A brooch in the Celtic pattern, which I love. Most of these pictures are not all they could be. There is a reason for that: I'm not familiar enough yet with my new camera and we were not supposed to take pictures so I took them at chest height without flash.

 

Finally a cross. Crosses were allways important to the Celts and later the Christians. This peculiar one is Christian in design but nicely executed, I thought. 

Simon's Survival Guide to Ireland

or Ireland in Three Easy Steps

Many things have happenned in the last month or so and there is much to write on these pages. As most of you who read this page already know I took my mom on a trip to Ireland and that, boys and girls, is where our story begins. Before going too far in the telling of this story, though, I thought it would be a good idea to give you pointers (and stern warnings) about Ireland and how to survive in that strange and wonderful land.

First off; when a state of dryness about the throat is about to manifest itself it is allways a good idea to start looking for a suitable watering hole. Now, in Ireland that may not seem to be such a problem because not only is there a pub at every street corner there is also one or two between the ones on the corners. The problem is that if you are not careful you may find yourself in a sub-standard bar. How do you find a good pub I hear you ask. Well, gold lettering is allways a worthy clue as to the status of the pub.

In this picture of a bar in Killarney we find one of the irrefutable clues that this pub is indeed a quality establishment. Notice the Murphy's delivery van, a sure sign! If that van was painted with the colours of any american beer.... BEWARE.

If you prefer a more pastoral experience you may go out of town to enjoy your pint. The view is often times quite breathtaking. Durty Nelly's is in the small town of Bunratty. (small town, big castle) Quite literally breathtaking because if you try to look to the top of Bunratty castle whilst seated on your bar stool you will run out of breath.

By the way, I don't know who Nelly is but I'm sure I'd like her.

The man on the left is your friend. The man on the right may or may not be your friend and this is a complex subject that depends on how many he's had, wether or not his team is winning and ......... arrr forget it for now, he's got pretty big arms and you are still too sober to fight.

The best way to get a drink in Ireland is to walk up to the barkeep and say GUINNESS. He will instantly know that you would like to have a pint of GUINNESS unless you are a girl then he might ask if you would like to have a half pint. I'm not here to start a war between the sexes that's just how it is.

Your other choices are Murphy's Extra Stout or Bulmer's cider. The rest of the taps are there to impress the tourists and they contain vile concoctions called Carlsberg and Heineken. I'm sure I don't need to tell you to stay away from them especially in the presence of the brewing greatness that is Irish beer (and cider!).

Finally, with yur bum firmly on the stool you may enjoy the prize of all your hard labour.

Once you have enjoyed five or six pints your mind is now ready to tackle the great challenge of determining if the guy on the right is a friend or not!

As allways you might want to click on the pictures to get a bigger view.