Impressions of Ireland

     Russ and I have just returned from nearly 2 weeks visiting Ireland, both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Anyone interested in the politics of why there are different sections or interested in the geologic causes of its features or the history of the island or the sociological sources of its people can read appropriate scholarly works. My blogs are just going to be my own observations and resulting philosophical thoughts about not only Ireland but humans in general.
     I have wanted to visit Ireland for as long as I can remember. I love Celtic music and dance. I have enjoyed Irish characters in movies but I guess I developed a strong desire to actually go there once I knew I had ancestors who lived there and emigrated to the US. I have been unable to find out anything about their life or connections there, which is a great disappointment. I guess I may have to wait until I meet them on the other side of the veil. In the meantime, I will occasionally poke around whatever information I can about the Irish immigrants during the potato famine and records that may become available in the future, if any.
     On first sight, from an airplane window, I thought Ireland looked like a great quilt with lush green squares divided by rock fences and dotted with white sheep and occasional cows.

 As we drove around the island for the next 13 days, I saw that, even up close, it was intensely green. The nearly constant rain gave us a clue as to how it gets so green. Rocks are greatly plentiful, too.

Although there are a very few sandy beaches, there are dramatic cliffs to the point that you have to wonder how people throughout the island's history have managed to approach and leave in boats. The rocks have been a primary source of construction material for inhabitants since prehistory.

One of the major "tourist spots" is Newgrange which is just a little north and west of Dublin and is the site of a prehistoric burial mound dating back before the Egyptian pyramids. I was struck more than once by the age of Ireland. As a political entity, it is relatively "new" in the world but not only is the island ancient, it has been inhabited for a very, very long time.  This mound is one of many rock mounds which, over the years have been overgrown with sod. There are also LOTS of rock fences which have been used primarily to hold sheep in a specific area and some of these fences have also been overgrown with sod. It is probably much more pleasant to visit during warm, sunny summer months but we were happy to have avoided big crowds. Despite the cold and rain, we found the people there to be very pleasant.