Waterford rolls up the streets at 5 pm

 I came to Waterford because it is where my dad’s family is from. I have traced the family back to about 1785.  That would be my 4th great grandfather David. I have located his son Philip born 1810’s, address. Philips son John, born 1844, left Ireland in 1868 at 24 and eventually ended up in Minnesota and married Ellen, also from Ireland.  They had Joseph Patrick in 1879 who married Leona and had my dad Bill in in 1922. Then came me and my brother.

And there you are.

Waterford is a charming town. It looks European. Sits on the River Suir. It is the oldest city in Ireland. It was the first place to fly the Irish flag. 

It was established in 862 by Viking raiders. They were driven out by native Irish in 902, but made a comebackin 914. and stayed until 1162. Then the king of England landed and the English took over. There was a brief Catholic government from 1642-1649 but it was squashed and the British retook control of Waterford. That lasted until 1922 when Ireland gained conditional independence from the British, and then real independence in 1949. John Finn was long gone by then.

Waterford was a big shipping port. It became famous for a crystal company that started in 1783. My family were farmers. I think some of them still live along the same road that Philip did. 

Waterford doesn’t feel like a tourist town. I don’t think it gets a lot of tourists from other countries unless there is some kind of connection for them. It is interesting that we have not seen one Irish tourist shop since we have been here. I think people come from surrounding small towns to the pubs and shopping. 

It has a pretty long Main Street. There are no big name stores here. There are locally owned stores and pubs. It’s a city of 53,000.  It’s pretty diverse for a city it’s size. The stores close at 5 pm, the pubs at 1230 am. 

I like it.

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August 21, 2022 at 09:05PM

3 months on the road: reflections

 

So far we we’ve been to London, Cardiff, Wales, Manchester, Edinburgh, Belfast and Dublin.

My favorite so far: definitely Scotland. I loved everything about Edinburgh - the people, music, culture, the landmarks, the beauty. Linlithgow, where we stayed, was absolutely beautiful by the loch there. 

There is just something about Scotland. It’s.moody and temperamental. The people seem down to earth, friendly, authentic, a little bit eccentric. Perfect. I plan to go back some day and see more of that beautiful country. 

Every place has been great! Starting in historic London with its beautiful architecture and distinct neighborhoods.  It was fasted paced and crowded. The diversity made it really interesting.

On to Cardiff, a place we never expected to go. We added at the last minute. I loved Cardiff. Compared to the other cities, it was a small town. It was like a relic with a big castle in the middle. It felt like an easy place to fit in, accepting and no frills.

Manchester was fun. Young and hip. A mix of old and new. I loved riding through the neighborhoods along the canals. Water everywhere. No too big and not too smalll. Has everything you’d want: culture, music, restaurants, bars without being frenzied. One of my favorite places. 

Ah, Belfast, a city with a sad history and a lot of it continues to this day. Walls between religions still stand long after the peace agreements. The troubles still hang over the city. Hopefully some day, this city can come together. 

Last but certainly not least, Dublin. I read a lot of the history of Dublin and Ireland while I was here. Learned where the struggle for Irish independence took place in Dublin particularly.  History is everywhere going to medieval times with churches and old buildings and pubs. 

A lot of Irelands history had been tragic, but they have been resilient. So many people died and left Ireland during the famine, it devastated the country but they overcame again and again. 

With all the immigration, Irish culture, music, history has spread around the world, especially in the United States. 

This coming week is our last one in the UK and Ireland. We will be in Waterford, where my dads family came from.

Ireland is magic

Ireland is magic

So what are my impressions of Dublin, of Ireland so far? The people are resilient. The countryside is beautiful. Sounds kind of corny, but it’s magical.

Until the 17th century. Ireland was a series of territories ruled by kings or chiefs. It was made up of clans and divided by class (In other words, haves and have nots). The territories often fought with other. Gaelic Ireland had its own distinct dress, music, art, sport, etc.

Christianity came in the 4th century replacing paganism. The Vikings came in the 8th century. In 1169 came the Norma invasion and turbulent 800 years of English Rule. In 1916 rebels rose up for Irish independence but failed. Six years they would achieve  independence but with continued apron strings tied to England. In 1949 finall full independence finally came.

The Irish story, like that of many others, is one of struggle and perseverance. They kept coming back. People here know their history and are proud of it. They tell you about it.

Ireland is as beautiful as you think it is with hills and valleys, beautiful coastlines. It is as green as you have seen in pictures. The weather is temperamental with fog, clouds, rain and sun all in one day. It adds to the mystical qualities. When it’s foggy , you can imagine creatures from the other world hiding in the nooks and crannies.

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August 18, 2022 at 09:20PM

Dublin is more than the temple bar and leprechauns

 

Four Courts

The Temple bar area, all the Irish gift shops, hop on hop off buses are such a small part of Dublin.

The real Dublin is in the north part of the city which is rich in history. It is in the General Post Office (GPO) building which was the headquarters of the Easter rising rebels in 1916.  On April 24th 1916 Patrick Pearce read the Proclamation of the Irish Republic there. 

The uprising was a failure. All the leaders were executed. They were buried in Arbour Hill Cemetery on the north side. Their efforts were a failure but they inspired a struggle for freedom for Ireland.

It is in the Garden of Remembrance on Parnell Square.  It is a place for “all those who gave their lives in the cause of Irish Freedom”. It is also the place where the Irish Volunteers were founded. They would later become the Irish Republican Army (IRA). The IRA played a large part in the war for independence. 

Last, it is in the Four Courts. The Four Courts is a series of buildings that house different court systems for Ireland.

 There was a civil war after a treaty was negotiated with England that gave Ireland independence but still kept it in the commonwealth. The newly formed government favored the treaty. It divided the IRA with some favoring the treaty and some rejecting it because they thought Ireland should be completely free. 

The anti treaty rebels occupied the Four Courts buildings.It was attacked by the army. The fight went on for a week destroying part of the complex. The rebels lost and the treaty was accepted. It wouldn’t be until 1949 that Ireland would gain full independence.

To think I am staying right in the middle of where that all happened.

What a bloody mess

Breakfast is included in the price of the hotel we are staying at. It offers a full “Irish breakfast”. 

What’s in an Irish breakfast you say? Well let me tell you.  There are scrambled eggs. There is bacon. The bacon is not your thin crispy strip of bacon common in the U.S. No, this bacon is round, thick and not as done as I’m used to. It’s kind of like round Canadian bacon. There are sausages, BIG sausages. There are sautéed mushrooms. There are baked beans. There are potato cakes. 

And now the funnest part of the meal - the pudding.When I think pudding, I thinking creamy chocolate goodness. But oh no …this not creamy goodness. 

I had been wondering what these dishes of black disc shaped things were. Beside it was a dish of lighter color disc shaped ones.  I thought it was some kind of overcooked sausage.  Nope, turns off this is pudding - black and white pudding. Also served in the UK.

I had looked it up and black pudding has pork or beef blood, pork or beef fat and oatmeal or barley. It also has a herb called pennyroyal, a sort of mint type herb.

White pudding has oatmeal or barley, pork or beef fat, breadcrumbs, spices and sometimes pork meat or liver. No blood in this one.

It’s the notorious pudding of the UK and Irish. Why is it called pudding for cripes sake? Pudding is liquify. Everybody knows that (smh).

So there you have it - an Irish breakfast. I have been reluctant to try some of of the local foods on this trip like haggis, fish pie, sausage roll, etc., but this looked so, shall we say different, I had to try it. 

So I bravely bit into it…wait for it…it tasted like spiced bread, yeasty, kinda bland. It wasn’t awful. It wasn’t great. It just was. It’s all in what you are used to I guess Did I go back for more? No.

Could you eat 14 lbs of potatoes a day?

 Between 1841 and 1901 Ireland lost six million people. The population was cut in half. People had been emigrating prior to the famine, but that crisis opened the flood gates. 

My great grandpa John was born in Waterford Ireland to Phillip and Catherine  on the eve of the famine in 1844. He emigrated when he was 25 years old. So he left in 1869. He was part of the great immigration from Ireland to the U.S.

In 1845 half of the potato crop was destroyed by blight, a type of fungus. People managed to survive that year. When it came back the following year people started to starve to death.

For most of the Irish people potatoes were the daily diet. They were easy to grow and plentiful in the climate. The way Ireland was set up with the English owning most of the land and renting it to the Irish, it was all they could afford. So when the crop failed they were in serious trouble.

With little help from the English government they began to die of starvation and disease. They couldn’t pay rent so they were evicted by the thousands. 

0ne million people died during the famine. One million people left Ireland during the famine. After the famine and potato blight ended, people kept leaving leaving by the hundreds of thousands til half the population was gone, among them my great granddad John. He settled in Minnesota, married and had 10 children, among them my grandpa Joe. 

Grandpa Joe had eleven children, among them my father Bill. Can you tell they were Irish Catholics? 

The average Irish man ate 14 pounds of potatoes a day prior to the famine. Seems like a lot of potatoes doesnt it? It isn’t if you divide into 3 meals a day.  That’s 4.6 pounds of potatoes a meal or maybe 5-6 potatoes a meal.

Brazen Head debauchery

 What would Dublin be without pubs? There would be plenty of space since there are 776 of them in Dublin alone. 

The city of Dublin has 544,000 people. That’s 1 pub per 700 people. Thats about 3 times as many bars here compared to where I live. 

The pub is one of the central aspects of Irish culture. Going

way back to when there were kings in each area of Ireland. One of the rules was that each king had their own brewer. It was expected in ancient Ireland that there would be a place of hospitality for anyone to meet, rest and have a drink in each county.

In the 17th and 18th century pubs became the norm for common people as a place to gather without having to pay a fee for a private club. If you could pay for a pint, you were welcome.

They became a place for political gatherings as well. The Easter uprising and war of independence were planned in pubs. 

The oldest pub in Dublin is the Brazen Head dating back to the 17th century still serving pints today. There’s debauchery in that there pub. I tell ya there is…

Pubs are places locals hang out in their neighborhood to socialize, hear news, watch football and of course drink. People know each other. It’s a part of life and Irish culture.  Every neighborhood has a local pub or two or three, maybe four.

They can also be big money makers. Tourist flock to them in the Temple Bar district every night of the week. The Temple bar itself has had thousand of selfies in front of it. The bouncer sits there with a smirk on his face taking it all in.