We’ve been in Dublin for about 36 hours now so, first impressions of Ireland? Honestly, it reminds me of Pittsburgh. More or less. Today I’m just going to run through some of my general observation over the last day and a half.
First, weather; It’s cold and rainy, just like Pittsburgh. Except, turn it up a few notches. The first joke I heard in Ireland came from our bus driver; he said ” It only rained twice last week (in Dublin), once for 3 days and once for 4!”. I feel like that wasn’t really an exaggeration. It has rained off and on since we got here. The major difference between Pittsburgh and Dublin is the way people approach the weather. In the U.S. we tend to complain about the bad weather and then just hunker down in our houses and apartments, but here they just accept it as part of life. Pretty much everyone has a raincoat with in arms reach at all times, and they just go about their business. Just because it is a rainy evening don’t expect it to be a slow night at the Pub!
Living accommodations; again its very similar to certain neighborhoods of Pittsburgh with long sections of row houses that all look the same. The differences being there seems to be much, much more of them, and they are also significantly smaller than the house you’ll find in the U.S.. We are staying at a extended stay/furnished hotel set up and its surprise just how small everything is, from the T.V. (no flat screen HD-4K for us spoiled Americans) twin beds, and micro-sized laundry machines. Even the toilets don’t flush with as much power as they do in the States. I think a lot of this has to do with reasons that tie in to my first observation; the Irish are a very social culture, they don’t need big houses and fancy T.V.’s to entertain because much of there social lives revolve around the local pubs, home is simply a place to lay your head down at night. Another reason all the housing are small compact row homes in stead of large shiny new apartment and condo buildings is because the Irish very much cherish the fact that they have a low profile sky line and are very particular when it comes to how and were new builds are allowed. They want to protect the historical look and feel of these neighborhoods.
Transportation; one of the first things you’ll notice about Dublin drivers is that they are very aggressive, not unlike the lunatics on Pittsburgh’s roads, except, here there really isn’t any right of way laws for pedestrians and they expect you to get your A** out of the road as quickly as possible. They aren’t even going to think about tapping that break… Horn yes, break no. With the cars coming from the left side of you it can be a little dicey crossing the road, were cars seemingly come out of nowhere because we aren’t accustomed to looking for moving objects from the left side as we step on to the street. I always though that public transportation was pretty good in Pittsburgh, as I’ve never had an issue getting some where that I needed to be. With the buses and light rail I can get mostly any where in Pittsburgh in a pretty timely fashion, but the bus system here in Dublin is on a whole other level. Double decker buses everywhere and they are pretty much always packed, but one thing that really sets them apart are the fact that every seat has a USB port you can plug your phone in to and they all have free WiFi, yes, you read that right! Also people are much more prone to walking places here in Dublin, even when it’s dumping buckets you’ll still see people moving around on the streets. This is great because the road systems in Dublin are very old and if everyone relied on their cars like they did stateside this city would be impossible to navigate.
Sports Culture; I thought the Pittsburgh Steelers inspired loyalty, but the Irish again are on a whole other level, with die hard loyal ties to local amateur sports club organizations specifically those that participate in the Gaelic Games (hurling and football). We took a tour of Croke Park today which seats somewhere in the neighborhood of 80,000 people. Croke is where the finals are held each year for a national tournament for the Gaelic Games, it also has a long and storied past and is deeply imbedded in the culture of the Irish. Long story short, it’s kind of at the level high school football powerhouse schools have on their small towns, its just part of life and if your club is playing you care! We were told approximately 1 in 6 Irishmen actively participates in their local club. Last year Limerick won the championship for the first time in 45 years, and people from all of the world flew back to their home town, just to great the champions. The community is less that 85,000 people and more than 100,000 showed up to great the team when hey arrived home.
Despite the dreary weather, the Ireland Experience has been a pretty eventful trip and there is something refreshing about the Irish’s “Suck it up buttercup” approach to the weather and how they just keep trudging on, with purpose. See what I did there? That’s called a throwback. After a little bit of rest, today was a much easier day than yesterday and I can’t wait to see what else we get into here on the Emerald (or should it be Gray?) Island.
Final thought: Saturday is the Cliffs of Moher, hopefully the travel gods smile upon me once more, I’d really like to get my fancy-smancy camera out and get some killer pictures. Pray for me!