First Irish Wedding

This weekend, John and I went to our first Irish wedding. Well, actually we went to the afters. Unlike at home, weddings in Ireland are broken into parts. Some people are invited to the ceremony and dinner. More people are then invited to the afters, that is the dancing after the meal. The festivities officially ended at 12:30 but my understanding is that many people were going to go to the club in the hotel and that the festivities usually don't end until well into the night or morning!

Anyway, we went to the afters and got there about 9:00 PM. The DJ was playing and a few people were dancing. Mostly people were talking. About 10:00 PM there was a show by Irish dancers that lasted about 30 minutes. After they danced a few songs, they then called the bridal party out onto the dance floor and the Irish dancers then danced with the bridal party as well. It looked like a lot of fun! Towards the end of the evening, more food was offered to guests. It was the standard pub/party type food: chips, chicken wings, chicken goujons, and calamari (at least that's what we think it was). All in all, it was a good night.

drinking

While in Kilkenny, we went into a couple pubs to have a couple pints and sometimes get food. While sipping our pints, I observed the people and noticed some things that I found interesting. First, when I asked for my Bulmers with a splash of black current, they gave me a quizzical look (it tastes really good). After the wait staff/bartenders recovered from that, they always asked me if I wanted a glass or a pint. I always responded that I wanted a pint. I generally don't drink a glass of beer/cider since it looks wimpy and then I'd have to order two eventually.

While watching people, we noticed that the vast majority of women were drinking from smaller glasses. Almost none of them drank pints. We also noticed that many of the women were drinking beer, but they were lighter beers, often things like Coors Light, Budweiser, or Corona. Very few women drank what we classify as "real beer." Meanwhile, most of the men drank Bulmers cider or darker beers from pint glasses. Many ordered bottles but then drank from a pint glass. Only one man drank from a glass. We thought it was strange because it wasn't the proper glass for the beer, so that couldn't be the reason that he was drinking from a glass instead of a pint glass.

To contrast, in Dublin, we frequently see women ordering pints. I rarely get asked if I want a glass or a pint when I order here. People just assume pint unless told otherwise. I also notice a wider variety in what women drink. Men seem to stick to cider and varieties of beer. I wonder what that is. What makes cocktails and wine more of women's drinks while in pubs?

Food festival

Two weeks ago there was an international food festival down in Marlay Park. We actually organized ourselves to head down there since the sun was actually out and we have been a bit "lazy" on the weekends. So, we hopped the bus and spent a couple hours wandering around and eating. On Saturdays, there is a market so we took a bit of a wander through that as well. We got me a nice big ceramic mug for my tea and hot chocolate.

Overall, we were pretty happy with the diversity of food. We did wonder, however, why Dublin got its own designation as a culture. See, the rest of the flags were names of countries. The U.S. stand had chocolate chip cookies and such. The Mexican stand had yummy Mexican food and salsa and other sauces to sell. It was actually through the Mexican stand that we found out about the festival because they are usually at the Saturday market that we go to get our salsa. There was even a sushi making class!

After we ate our fill, we wandered around the park a bit until it closed.

Rain, rain, go away!

So, it has been raining A LOT in Dublin, and all of Ireland in fact. According to Met Eirann, June was the rainiest since 1958!!! It was also twice as wet as usual. Rain fell at the Dublin Airport 25 days in the month of June. And it doesn't seem to be stopping. I think it has rained most days in July as well. At least there was a bit of sun yesterday before it lashed. Today was just grey.

In the spirit of all the rain, here are the descriptions of rain that I am aware of:

soft day: a wet, light rain, a drizzle
lashing: this is the usual term for rain. It is supposed to mean rain with a lot of wind.
wet rain: this one I just learned. It is the term for big, heavy drops of heavy rain that no matter what protection you are wearing, you will get soaked.

Rarely, people just say that it is raining.

Kilmainham Gaol

Upon John's recommendation, we went to tour the Kilmainham Goal (jail) in Dublin. I thought it was strange to take my sister and niece to tour a jail but he had seen it before and liked it so we went to see it. I was surprised at how interesting it was and the guide was very good. He gave a lot of history. The jail is quite old, having its first prisoners in 1796.

The Goal's "claim to fame" is that it was used to hold political prisoners. Many famous Irish were held in the prison. When the cell that an important figure in Irish history stayed in could be verified, a plaque with the person's name is above the cells. It was the executions of some key members of the 1916 uprising that has raised the goal's importance as well as changed public opinion of the uprising.

The jail itself is a dismal place. The walls are quite thick, the cells small, and it has a musty feel. As an old jail should be, it is quite eery. The newer part of the jail reminds me of modern jails and apparently is the model that most modern jails are built on. Overall, I would highly recommend this tour. Even K enjoyed it but then she likes history. I think she enjoyed the guide and that we could add a bit of information for her to help her understand why people were put in the prison.

St. Patrick's Cathedral

When we came to visit Dublin before moving here, we went to see some sites. One of them was St. Patrick's cathedral. I remembered being impressed by it when we saw it the first time so I decided to take K and R to see it. It was as pretty as I remembered it being. This time, however, I found myself comparing it to other churches that we have seen in Europe. While it doesn't compare to some in Italy, it is a beautiful church.

Dublin Castle

I've lived here almost two years now. I am finally doing tourist things. This is sooner than in my last city. I never did them there. :) One of the things that I took R and K to see was Dublin Castle. Since I've been on the Malahide Castle tour a couple times now and don't really like it, I thought I would take them to the Dublin Castle in city centre. This tour is much better. It gives more history and they let you take pictures. :) Seriously, though, the castle was K's favorite part of her trip to Ireland. During the tour, they take you down to the medieval part that excavations have uncovered. It is quite interesting to see a part of the old Dublin wall.

Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of Lady Justice because this monument is a bit unique. She faces the palace, not the people. She is also not blindfolded. And in the rain, reportedly the scales are not equal!

Inside, the palace is quite nice, not as ornate as the palace we saw in Munich but nice none the less.

Taxis

During the course of the week and a half that my sister and niece came out to visit, we took a few taxis. I took one the morning of their arrival to get to the airport. It cost me 17 Euro from city centre. On the way back, it was 25 Euro. On the way back to the airport yesterday it was 30 Euro. Now, that is quite the difference. I know there are differences in the cost for different times of day, extra cost for extra passengers and bags, but come on. There shouldn't be a 5 Euro difference for the same number of bags and people.

The reason the last taxi cost more was the route taken. Each taxi driver took a different route each trip to/from the airport. The driver with just me in the car took a "usual" route (there are 3). When my sister and niece were heading back to the airport, the driver went up past Clare Hall in Swords. Now, this is farther north than the airport and a good bit out of the way. Certainly not the most effective way to go, no matter what time of day it is (and it was early on a Sat morning with little traffic). When the drivers were going an out of the way route, I know I should say something, but I didn't. Dublin isn't that big and since I take a lot of taxis, I may have the driver again. I also can't help but wonder how much of this difference was the accent and that my sister and niece were obviously tourists.

Céilí Mor

As part of our celebrations for Paddy's Day, we met up with some of my friends and went to listen to Celtic music before heading to a pub for a couple pints. There was a pretty good crowd there and everyone seemed to be having a great time. These pictures I took. :) I didn't take very many, though, since it started to rain shortly after we arrived.

St. Patrick's Day

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, we went to the parade. It was fun and I think there were more people there than last year. However, since we didn't have our friend J to wake us up, we got there later this year than last and didn't have quite as good of seats as last year. Therefore, John took the pictures for me. :) I think he did a good job.